Stories for meditation retreat
4 Buddhist wisdom stories for meditation retreat from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- An hour to killStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a retreat in Thailand, a Kuala Lumpur woman — later a star meditator — gets nowhere for eight or nine days and is frustrated. After the closing blessings, everyone else packs…
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one of these star meditators who lives in Koala Lumpur. She was on one of the meditation retreats which I was given over in Thailand and she was just like everybody else was getting nowhere trying to meditate maybe getting into the breath maybe getting quiet and then sort of nothing happening and just after eight or nine days just really so frustrated as some people are and then we had the end of the retreat. We finished gave all the blessings the meta meditation finished off and lunch was in about 45 minutes or an hour and after the lunch now the buses were to take you back to the airport. Now people were supposed to go and use that time to clean up their rooms but she had another bus or another flight so you wasn't leaving to leave late afternoon. So she told me she had an hour to kill nothing to do. So she thought I might as well meditate to kill time. And that's when she wasn't expecting anything. She didn't try and control her mind. She didn't do anything. Just them doing nothing. Brilliant. That's when she got a beautiful meditation. And I love it when people have their first really deep meditation because they come up to me and and the nearest thing I can describe it is when like a young girl or young boy falls in love, you know, and they just all got sort of sparkles in their eyes and the whole world is beautiful. Oh, it's so nice. It's so wonderful. Oh, life is so good and so happy. Cuz that's what happens when you get deep meditation. You get enormous happiness. And she did that cuz you never expected it.
- The Ananda method of enlightenmentStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After the Buddha's death, Ananda — his attendant for 25 years — is still not enlightened, while 499 of the 500 monks gathering for the great council are arahants with psychic…
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But Ananda, he was a He was the attendant of the Buddha, the chief No, the chief disciples of the Buddha, and when the Buddha passed away, Ananda was still not enlightened. And he thought, "If I can't be enlightened after being with the Buddha for 25 years, almost every day, listening to all of his teachings, being one of the greatest masters, and I've blown it. 25 years, I'm still not enlightened. What chance do I have now?" But there was a big meeting of all the great monks. 500 monks were meeting together. 499 of them were perfectly enlightened with psychic powers, all except this poor Ananda guy. Imagine the peer pressure. Imagine. So, he stayed up all night meditating and meditating and meditating. Now, that's the reason why he didn't get enlightened. Trying. Trying to get enlightened, trying to achieve something. But then when he got to dawn, he was absolutely nowhere, hopeless. You'll have that feeling sometimes. You're meditating and meditating, nowhere, absolutely hopeless. So, what did he do? He decided to go and take a nap. So, as he lay down, according to the legend, just before his head hit the pillow, he became fully enlightened with psychic powers as well. Brilliant. So, we call that the Ananda method of enlightenment.
- The most beautiful thing in the toilet bowlStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On one retreat Ajahn Brahm's mind is so still and full of energy that everything looks beautiful. After going to the toilet he glances into the bowl and is overwhelmed: not one…
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And that was the story of when This is really over the top, but it's beautiful. That when during one retreat, I was getting some very very deep meditation. My mind was just so still and peaceful and just so much energy that whatever you saw was just so beautiful and joyful. That's just the nature of things. You're so still, you see so much more. And I am a human being, just everybody has to do the same. I had to go to the toilet. And after going to the toilet, I just happened to glance into the bowl to see its contents. Wow. That is so beautiful. I'd never in my whole life seen such a beautiful piece of The browns, they're not just one brown. Next time you go, have a look. It's not just one brown. It's all different shades of brown. And just the way they are just arranged together like some Picasso. And the way it's just covered with this beautiful film of, you know, a little bit of mucus and water. And it shines like a diamond, you know, in the sunshine. It was sparkling. And the fragrance, my goodness. It always makes people laugh. But that's actually a true story. If you'd have been there in the cubicle next to me, you'd probably call for the guys in the white coats to take this crazy bug cuz I was really getting off on this beautiful piece of turd. And the reason why cuz my mind had opened up, and it was beautiful. You know, it was one of the hardest things I did, but I'm used to letting go. Press the button and see it fall away. I wanted to take it out, take it home with me.
- The noisy breather on the Sydney retreatStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a nine-day retreat in Sydney one man breathes so loudly that a meditator complains. Ajahn Brahm explains he has a terminal tumour blocking both nostrils and has come as a last…
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At meditation retreats I always remember this one man when I was teaching a Meditation Retreat in Sydney many years ago and a 9-day retreat. You know that people are supposed to be quiet when they are meditating but this man (Ajahn breathing noisily) He was breathing so heavily through every meditation sitting so much so that someone came up to me to complain Can you please tell this person to keep quiet. I am trying to meditate. He had a tumor in his nasal passages blocking both nostrils. It was terminal; the doctor had given up surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy So the doctors have abandoned him and he came to the meditation retreat as a last resort So when I told all the meditators that, they felt very embarrassed and guilty that they were complaining about somebody who got only few weeks to live. He told me that; on the last day of the retreat (Ajahn making the sound) breathing loudly again but not thinking being silent; he had a 'pop' He said he could breath again. That's what he said 'a pop' as his nasal passage cleared but only for about 5 or 10 minutes then it closed again. That was an amazing thing which happened I thought that meditation was working but he left it a bit too late. I never thought he would survive. Few years later teaching meditation in Sydney, this guy came up to me 'do you remember me?' I said 'of course I don't remember, who are you? ' As a monk I am honest He was that man. He cared with his meditation and his nose had cleared and now he was going around teaching people how to be peaceful, how to be silent. because his cancer had got into regression even though he should have been dead years ago.