Stories for depression
12 Buddhist wisdom stories for depression from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- 'Are you the YouTube monk?'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Walking through Paddington Station on his way to teach in Oxford, Ajahn Brahm is stopped by a woman running up: 'Are you the YouTube monk? ... Yes, you are.' She tells him that…
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Last time I was in the UK, just getting off the Underground, going to Paddington station to get to Oxford where I was going to give a talk. Just walking through Paddington Station, just minding my own business. And this woman came running towards me and said, "Are you the YouTube monk?" [laughter] That's what she called me "the YouTube monk". And then, I didn't have time to answer. She looked me in the face. "Yes, you are." And then she said, "I just want to say thank you to you. You saved my life". She was going through a divorce, oh not a divorce, a separation from her long term partner. And that she got really depressed, suicidal. Doctor couldn't help, psychologist couldn't help, psychiatrists, whoever she saw, none of them could help. And then she was just at the end of her rope, as they say; And then she just managed somehow or other, to get on YouTube. And I think she got that one of my famous talks 'four ways of letting go'. And she listened to it and "wow It made so much sense". She listed about three or four that time, one after the other. She said that got her through her crisis. She told all her friends, "You must go and listen to these things as well from the BSWA, all for free." And then, afterwards, she said, "Thank you Thank you so much for saving my life."
- Churchill's bedside BuddhaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An Australian monk visiting England is taken to Churchill's stately home when a castle is closed. In the entrance hall hangs a painting by Churchill of a Buddha statue; the…
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you know that um Winston Churchill the prime minister of UK during the second world war had a Buddha statue next to his bed every night of that war not a a um a crucifix but a Buddha statue we found that out once when one of our monks was visiting um England and the host wanted to take him to a castle he was Australian you know people have to see castles but the castle was closed so what else can we oh the stately home of the wartime prime minister prime minister Churchill we take you there and that was open and just apparently as you went into the entrance to that stately home where Winston Churchill lived as soon as you went in there there was a big painting because Winston church was also an artist he painted this a Buddha statue a bur star and so the monk asked the Creator you know what's this he painted a Buddha statue why and the Creator said oh this was a a painting of The Statue which was by his bedside every day during the second world war you know he broke or he lost it somewhere but he still has a painting why because imagine this if you imagine like your stress imagine being the leader of a country during that terrible terrible War just how much stress and how much pain one decision thousands of people die that's huge and he had that statue next to him because it gave him peace it gave him encouragement kindness even look at that and it would help him with his famous depression so that a fact he had a Buddha statue there
- Depression privileges — a third bowl of ice creamJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: He tells a depressed man not to advertise recovery too soon — wife and boss will put him back to work. The man later reports: when depressed he got two bowls of ice cream; if he…
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You got very many privileges being depressed." And I remember this because he told me afterwards, "Yes, so true. You know, this morning I had two bowls of ice cream. My wife would never let me have two bowls of ice cream when I was okay. But now she thinks I'm depressed. Oh, you have a third bowl
- Interrupted by the radioStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A former caretaker of the Perth centre retired to Beverley for a peaceful life but fell into depression. He went into his shed, tied a noose to the rafter, set up the chair, and…
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he lives over in Beverly he was an old caretaker of our Center here he left to have a nice peaceful time up in Beverly and but you know we all go through difficult times he went through a depression and he got so deped pressed he actually went into his shed and tied a rope to the rafter tied a noose got the chair ready and went into the Caravan where he was saying to write his suicide note he had the he had the uh the radio one at the time just the local radio and as he was writing a suicide note you know just halfway through who would come on the radio aan brah and he said oh no I can't do anything without this m getting in the way so he ripped up his suicide now untied the rope and came and told me about it afterwards he said it's really too difficult to commit suicide you even get on the radio and stop me that's another guy I've got saved his life
- “My nose is too big”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In his first year in Perth a 13-year-old girl, brought by her father after every other psychologist and psychiatrist had failed, finally admits her problem: her nose is too big.…
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I still remember this when I first came to Perth the very first year this thirteen year old girl came to see me. Her father organised a meeting, she wanted counselling, she'd been to all the other psychologists, psychiatrists or whatever in Perth and this was the last resort to go and see a Buddhist monk. They must have been desperate in those days to come see a Buddhist monk. Because we didn't have much of a reputation and I asked her what's your problem and she took a long time to get it out of her cause you know when people really feel they have a big problem and they just don't want to share it with you especially a thirteen or fourteen year old young girl. And eventually I got it out of her. She said, looking down at the floor feeling so embarrassed, she said 'my nose is too big'. Now you know, you girls you know that, you know where she's coming from, that to her every time she looked in the mirror she saw her nose and it was too big. I tried to use like a scientific approach to her problem, you know I mentally I measured her nose and I've seen many noses in my life and I measured it in my mind and I told her, lady that your nose is pretty average. It's not the most beautiful nose, it's certainly not the most ugly nose, its just a nose, it's average ok. But she wouldn't accept that for her it was the biggest problem because it was right in front of her face. I didn't, I didn't actually help her, but she helped me to understand the negativity of fault finding.
- She flew from Bern just to say thank youStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Asked for a new foreword to Opening the Door of Your Heart, Ajahn Brahm recalls a woman from Bern who had flown to Perth only to thank him and go home. She had had cancer,…
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A woman came to Bodhinyana Monastery from Bern in Switzerland. And she came and she had no reason to lie. I believe exactly what she said. She said, "I flew all that way from Switzerland to Perth to find you. Now I found you, I'll go home. I wanted to say thank you personally. Cuz she had cancer, anxiety disorder, depression, you know, the whole works. You know, when you really get, you know, really screwed up inside. Said, "Doctors, no help. Psychologists, no help. Someone gave me your book, cured. Full remission. No anxiety anymore. Psychologist said, 'Go. You're okay.'" So, she wanted to come and thank me for that. And of course, as soon as said, "You have to remember, can you sign my book?" It was one of these dog-eared books. Not one of these books you put on the shelf. She had read this, I don't know how many times. "Can you please sign it?" When I signed it, she started weeping, crying. That is helping. That is aid. That is disaster relief in another way.
- The emperor's ring: “This too will pass”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A young emperor feasts in good times and sulks in bad, so neither works; his ministers give him a ring engraved “this too will pass.” Looking at it in hard times gives him hope…
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it's a powerful story, about an emperor, a young man who took over the kingdom when he wasn't really mature enough to know how to lead. And so whenever things were going well in his kingdom he'd always have celebrations and parties. And because he was spending too much resources and too much time celebrating, and not actually doing the running of the kingdom, the good times never lasted all that long. And when the terrible times, the bad times, bad economy, unrest, social disorder, whenever there was trouble in his kingdom he'd get so upset and depressed he'd stay in his room and sulk and cry, which meant he wasn't working during the difficult times. And the ministers they realised that their leader, their king, their emperor, wasn't really working properly, and that's the reason why there were too many bad times and not enough prosperous times. You can't just tell these people what to do. Even these ministers in the Howard Government, they can't tell John Howard what to do. They've got to be sneaky, they've got to be wise, and so what these ministers did, instead of telling their emperor what to do, they just went to a goldsmith, asked for him to make a ring, the only difference between that ring and ordinary rings was what was engraved on the outside, which was the words "this too will pass". And they gave that ring with the engraved words "this too will pass" to the emperor, told him to wear it on all occasions, that's all, and the emperor did. Whenever there were bad times he would look upon the ring, "this too will pass", he knew by nature he didn't have to force those negative emotions and those bad times out of his kingdom, he knew they would pass naturally. And because he knew the bad times would pass, it gave him what's called hope, and when there's hope we can work, where it's hopeless we think the grief is going to last forever, the broken heart was always going to be there, you'll never find another partner ever in life. Or you'll never find that money again on the stock market, or whatever it is your chance to win the cup is gone forever. When you think it's forever that just makes life hopeless and you don't work. You don't make kamma anymore. But when actually you have hope, there's always something you can do. It gives you that motivation to work even in difficult times of your life. And actually the reason I'm saying this was because the photograph someone sent me was actually from the graduation ceremony of Virginia Tech university, recently, and I think you all know what happened at Virginia Tech in April, I was in London at that time. I think it was 39 young men and women were shot down by that murderer? You know, while they were on campus. And at the graduation ceremony one of the graduates, you know the funny hats they wear, they're called mortarboards, with the flat top, on the top of his mortarboard he'd actually painted the words "this too will pass", in memoriam of the pain that had happened in that university in the biggest serial killer murder in United States history. That's why he said "I don't know whether this guy's read your book or what", by he's obviously got the message. And it is a powerful message because it gives you hope, it allows you to let these things pass away. So "this too will pass". The other part of that story, which is very valuable to consider, is that that emperor wore that ring not just in difficult times but also in the happy times as well. Because it's in the prosperous, happy, good times that we should always remember, "this too will pass". Because he knew that the happy prosperous times were also fragile, he had a few celebrations but not many, because he knew he had to work hard to make sure those prosperous happy good times lasted as long as they possibly can. And they did. He became a very successful and well-loved emperor because the bad times were very short and the happy long times were longer than anybody could ever remember.
- The prisoner who fed the catStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A depressed prisoner insists he is only a bad person. Ajahn Brahm has him list bad deeds on the left of a sheet and good deeds on the right. At first the right side is empty…
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there was one of these prisoners who just so depressed? And when I said, why are you depressed? Look, I'm in jail. I did a bad thing. I feel so terrible. This my life is over. Finished. And then usually I asked him, well, what good things have you done? Nothing. You must have done something good. No, I'm a bad person. And then and then he he uh wrote out I wrote out this piece of paper line down the middle your name on the top. Now on the left hand side write all the bad I won't show it to anybody else. Write down all the bad things you've done. Things which you put been put in jail for and things which you did but weren't put in jail for. Put them all down. They won't show them to anybody else. He trusted me. That's one of the nice things about being a monk. People actually trust you and you know if that's what you say that's what you're going to do. So he wrote all these things on the left hand column all the terrible stuff he'd done. He felt good about confessing opening up. But then I asked him on the right hand side all the good things you've done. Nothing. No. Come on. You must have done something. The prison had a cat and I knew that he looked after the cat. Did you give the cat anything this morning? Said I gave it source of milk. Put it down. Had to force him to put down and write down. Fed the cat saucer of milk. But then he found another thing you could put down afterwards. Once you break that damn wall, it was amazing all the kind good things he'd done that past week. And you filled up the right hand side of that piece of paper. You know what I did next? tore that paper down the middle, threw away all the terrible things he did, and gave him the good things he did. Please keep this. Put it next to your bed in your cell. Photocopy if you like, but please keep that to realize you're not such a bad person after all
- The two chicken farmers: eggs or dung?Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: One chicken farmer fills his basket with chicken dung, leaves the eggs to rot and stinks out his house; the other brings home the eggs for an omelette and the market and leaves…
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The two chicken farmers story. My famous, favourite story and the reason why I keep repeating this is because people need to know this, so they don't suffer so much. Two chickens farmers, the first chicken farmer went into the shed early in the morning to collect the produce from the night before. Took in the basket and filled the basket full of chicken shit and he left the eggs in the shed to rot and he brought the shit back into the house, stunk the whole house out, he was a very dumb chicken farmer. There's a meaning to this story so stay with me. Second chicken farmer went into the shed with a basket and he put eggs in the basket and he left shit in the shed because it would become valuable fertilizer later on. But you don't bring it into the house with you, you bring the eggs back into the house so he could make an omelette for his family and sell the rest of the eggs in the market for cash. That's a smart chicken farmer, that's what you're supposed to do. And the moral of that story, and this was told by Ajahn Chah, he said when you collect the produce of your past and bring it into your present, what do you bring with you? When you collect what's done today or this week, what do you bring home with you? Are you shit collectors or egg collectors
- “They're all Buddhists” — the expensive clinicStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A very wealthy Kuala Lumpur businessman tells Ajahn Brahm he paid a fortune for therapy at a famous US clinic, even meeting the founder of the mindfulness movement — and came…
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This incredibly wealthy businessman, you know, he came up to me and he said he'd just been to the Mayo Clinic in Cleveland where all the film stars and pop stars, you know, go. It cost fortune to go to that clinic for therapy. Had depression, anxiety, I forget what it was, some addiction. And he went to this place cost him an absolute fortune. He had actually because he had money he had a personal in interview with John Kabbertson the guy who founded the mindfulness movement. And when he came back he said ajan bra all these guys here they're all Buddhists every one of them. And he said they teach the same thing as you do only not as clear. And he said I'm crazy. I spent all this money going to United States and I can hear better from you. He said, "Yeah, I teach these guys. You go to the source and it's really cheap when you come here.
- Two bad bricks in the wallStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Building the broke new monastery at Serpentine, the ex-physicist monk lays his first brick wall with painstaking perfectionism — then sees two crooked bricks. He wants to…
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The story of the two bad bricks in the wall, twenty six years ago, twenty seven years ago when we moved to Serpentine to build that monastery down there we had no money, we were broke, and because... we owed money for the land, there were no buildings on that property. So I had to learn how to build. And I was theoretical physicist before, ok, in my head doing sums all day. Now I had to get out there and get my hands dirty and mix concrete and lay bricks and put on a roof and do plumbing. Everything we did. And even to this day, if any of you going into that main hall in our monastery, I am the builder. My name is on the building license for that. And it's still standing so that's pretty good. [LAUGHTER] So in particular, this story I had to learn how to lay bricks. Laying bricks was not a simple thing to do, it may look easy but it's so hard to get everything level. But, as most people would be I was a perfectionist. I had to make sure that brick was perfectly level before I went onto the next one. Sometimes one corner was high, you'd knock it down and another corner would go up. You knock that corner down then it would go out of line. You knock it back into line thinking it was finished, you notice one of the corners was high again. It was just one of those jobs which, where you couldn't get everything in the right place but you kept on trying until you got it. It took a long time but it didn't matter cause I wasn't being paid. So I could take however long I wanted. And when I finished that wall, that first brick wall, like anybody else you were proud, finished, you stood back to look at it and admire it, and it was only then when it was finished I noticed that two bricks were crooked. All the other bricks were straight, two bricks were crooked. So what would you do? What I did was try and scrape the mortar out so I could reset the bricks so they could be perfect. But the mortar was hard, you couldn't scrape it out. And the other monk who was with me at the time, Ajahn Jagaro, I asked him look can we afford, can we please afford some dynamite so I blow it up and start again? Bulldozer would do, push it over. Because...that spoiled the whole wall. Those two bad bricks, they ruined the whole thing. But we couldn't, I was stuck with it, we were too poor to do anything with it. So for three months, every time I went passed that wall I saw my mistakes and I felt so sad. I'd stuffed up. And the worst thing about stuffing up when you're building everybody could see it, you can't hide it. It's a big wall, out there in the open. So, every time there was a visitor, I would actually volunteer to take them around so I could, you know, take them somewhere else so they wouldn't see my mistakes. At night time I'd have nightmares about that wall. I would, I'd dream of it, because I'd really made a big mistake and everybody could see it. And it was three months, roughly, I'm not quite sure it's a long time ago now, about three months somebody else was with me and they saw that wall and they said that's a beautiful wall. And I just couldn't believe what I'd heard because for three months I'd been suffering so much with that wall and they said it's a beautiful wall. My first reaction was to ask them are you visually impaired, are you blind, did you leave your glasses in the car? Can't you see those two bad bricks, the crooked ones. And what they said next just changed much of the way I look at life and stopped a lot of inherent depression in myself. What they said was yes I can see the two bad bricks, but I can also see the nine hundred and ninety eight good bricks as well. And that really hit me, because I realised for three months I was blind. All I ever saw was my two mistakes and I just could not see all the beautiful perfect bricks which I had laid. And when that guy told me what about the nine hundred and ninety eight good bricks that was the first time in three months that I could actually see the bricks above, below, to the left and the right of my two mistakes. And I had to agree with the fellow, it was a beautiful wall, once I could see the whole picture.
- Walking up the hill instead of drivingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After nine years of only driving up to Bodhinyana, Ajahn Brahm gets out at the foot of the hill and walks; the familiar hillside becomes unrecognisably detailed and colourful,…
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I noticed the experience of walking up the hill to Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine. Now, many of you have been down there, hopefully some of you will come down on Sunday for our Katina Ceremony. We bought that 25 years ago, 26, I think now, and for about nine years, I'd gone up, and down, the road to the monastery, always in a car, in some sort of vehicle. It was like one of those days we had a couple of days ago, just warm spring morning. I remember just coming back from some sort of appointment, and feeling just so positive, so energized, and having plenty of time, I told the driver, "Drop me off at the foot of the hill, I'm going to walk up today." Not for exercise so much, just for enjoying the morning, I had plenty of time. So, I started walking from the southwest highway, up Kingsbury Drive, to the gate of Bodhinyana Monastery. As I started walking I got very surprised. Actually, it was a shock. As I looked around me, I could not recognize where I was. That hillside looked totally different from what I remembered seeing looking through the window of a car. It was totally different. I was seeing things which I never knew were there. What I saw had more detail, had more depth of colour. It was just basically more beautiful. Of course that surprised me, and not being in any rush, not being in a hurry, I just stood still. And as I stood still, the whole hillside changed again. It was like evolving. As a monk you're not on any sort of psychotropic substances, you don't take alcohol, although, during our rains retreat, somebody offered the monks some chocolate cake, and, fortunately, before we ate it, one of the monks looked at the little writing on the cover, saying it had alcohol in it! Fortunately, we stopped in time, because sometimes you're not sure when you get some chocolate cake sometimes they put the alcohol in there just for the taste and then they cook it and all the alcohol goes, it doesn't matter. But we didn't know whether it was put in before or afterwards, and so we decided not to take it. We gave it to one of our visitors who was very happy to be a guinea pig [laughter], Like a food taster. And when he came back the next week he said "That was a lot of alcohol." [laughter] It hadn't evaporated, it was a very good job we were very careful. Otherwise, we may have gone to our monastery just after lunch in a rains retreat and seeing all the monks singing and dancing and goodness knows what else. [laughter] Which would not have done very much for our reputation, so you've got to be very careful. So we don't take such things. We are sort of sober, mindful, alert. So here I was having an experience, like sometimes you have in life, when things become really weird and they start changing in front of your eyes. But what had happened was, what I was seeing, it had more detail, more information. That hillside, you started to see little flowers, started to see rocks, and just the shape of the rocks and the lichen on the rocks. And, just look at the tree barks, and the whole tree bark was just amazing, beautiful. What was also strange was that the colours, the colours of everything you saw, started to grow more intense, more rich, more deep and more beautiful. The whole thing was exquisite. Of course, when a monk has experiences like that, we don't just enjoy, we sort-of contemplate afterwards what the heck was going on. And I decided to analyze it through science, and it became quite clear to me that, when you see things, sight is a chemical reaction on the back of your eye, on the retina. What happens with most people is that when they see something, they move on to another image almost immediately. So, the image on the back of your eye doesn't have time to properly form, and the colors don't come out. They're just maybe 10 percent of what's there, and the detail is all smeared, because the image does not have time. When I walked, I was going slower. The images on the back of my eye, the light had more time, so you could see a much more full picture with more detail, and the colours were deeper because they had more time to manifest. It was just a simple physiology of sight which was occurring. And, of course, when I stood absolutely still, only then did my eyes have all the time they needed to form a full picture. And for the colours, which were out there all the time, to be fully represented in the image on the back of my eye. And for my mind to have time to explore it fully, to appreciate it, and to taste it 100 percent.