Stories for monastery
6 Buddhist wisdom stories for monastery from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Ajahn Chah stopped breathing — medic takes blood samplesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After Ajahn Chah's stroke, a royal medic freaks when Chah stops breathing for hours. Monks say he's meditating. Compromise: frequent blood samples stay well oxygenated while he…
Read full story
stopped breathing and the medic on duty you know because the king of Thailand he the uh the former King he sort of paid for a medic to be on duty eight hour shifts and the medical Duty that night got freaked out when agent Charles stopped breathing and now I leave him alone he's only meditating he said no he's not breathing that's death if you don't do something quick there's no Oxygen going to the brain you get permanent break and he's already got Strokes I don't know what more you can do but he will die and so freaking out and it's very hard for monks to explain to doctors you know what's really happening and this was like a very highly trained medic and he was paranoid you know you get in trouble with the king of Thailand if you're the agent child die so they came to this wonderful compromise it was very interesting he wasn't breathing for a couple of hours so the medic would take blood sample
- Ajahn Chah's Buddhamus — Christmas as peace and loveStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah asks what Christmas is about; the Western monks say peace and harmony to all beings. He says why not — and every 25 December comes to celebrate 'Buddhamus' with them…
Read full story
Ajancha asking us what is this Christmas business all about? And we said straight away that peace and harmony to all beings, peace and love. He said, "Okay, we can celebrate that. Why not?" So every 25th of December in our monastery in Thailand, he would come there to celebrate Buddhamus
- Bangkok walking meditation — my name from miles awayStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On walking meditation in Bangkok years ago, Brahm hears his ordination name Brahmavamso as if from miles away. Paying attention, he finds another monk shouting it into his ear —…
Read full story
walking meditation uh this was in Bangkok many years ago that I heard this sound like it was a long distance away like miles away and it was it was my name no I don't promise another the name I'm known as now but the real name is Brahma wongsa and I heard this sound like from a really long distance brahmawang so Obama Wong so and I thought this was really weird because it felt so distant for me but then I just paid attention to it instead of my feet walking and I found out it was another mug was shouting in my ear hole
- First walk up Kingsbury DriveStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Building Bodhinyana, Brahm sends the car ahead and walks Kingsbury Drive alone for the first time after years living at the top — so slowly, turning to valley and hillside, that…
Read full story
I'm going to walk up the hill today alone." So, I send the car with a driver up ahead. I'm going to walk. And that kind of really shocked me. What I didn't get much exercise, I must admit, because I did walk so slowly. And every now and again, I turn to the left to see the valley, turn to the right and see the hillside. And my goodness, often I had to ask myself, "Where am I?" I could not recognize my location. And I've been living up that uh the top of that hill for about 5 or 6 years by that time. The first time I actually walked up that hill. It looked totally different
- Mango orchard planted by the BuddhaAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: First-year monk puzzled — no mango trees at Wat Pah Pong. Ajahn Chah: the monastery is a mango orchard planted by the Buddha himself, trees full of ripe sweet mangoes. Brahm…
Read full story
Wat Pah Pong was a mango orchard." I remember this simile the first year when I became a monk and stayed with him. I didn't see any mango trees in Wat Pah Pong in those days. I said, "What is wrong? There's no mango trees in Ajahn Chah's monastery." And he said, "This is a metaphor. There are so many mango trees in Ajahn Chah's monastery and they've all been planted by the Buddha himself. This is getting weird. Cuz the Buddha actually never visited Thailand. And would the Buddha actually go to this this forest in the northeast of Thailand and not other places? So anyway, he carried on. It was planted by the Buddha. And now all of those mango trees which the Buddha planted and now full of ripe sweet mangoes. And I got interested because I don't know about you, but I love the mangoes in the northeast of Thailand. They were really tasty. And there was something which you could eat when the only alternative was to eat things like frogs. Honestly. That was often part of the meal for the day. One meal of the day, frogs and sticky rice. But in the mango season, you had these beautiful delicious mangoes. So anyway, when I heard there were mangoes in Wat Pah Pong planted by the Buddha according to Ajahn Chah's statement, I thought I'd like to try some of those. And then they were delicious. But then I realized what Ajahn Chah actually was saying. What he was saying was the mangoes, they represent the wisdom of the Buddha
- Thai lady grabbed the tea towelStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After lunch at Bodhinyana Brahm goes into the kitchen to help wipe dishes; a Thai lady gives him a terrible look — 'Ajahn Brahm, you're not supposed to be in here' — and yanks…
Read full story
I went in there to pick up a a tea towel to help wipe the dishes. You know what happened? [laughter] [snorts] This Thai lady gave me this terrible look. "But Ajahn Brahm, you're not supposed to be in here." And grabbed the tea towel, pulled it [laughter] out from my grasp