Stories for money worries
4 Buddhist wisdom stories for money worries from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A monk costs less than a dogStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: When monks of the tradition first went to England, supporters worried whether they could afford one. The head of the trust, an economist on the board of the Bank of England,…
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when the monks in this tradition first went to England, the people there were a bit concerned, I mean, can we... this was in the early days when there wasn't so many supporters. Now, can we afford to look after a monk? You know, how much does it cost to look after a monk and there was this guy he was, he became the head of this trust, which looked after our monastery in England. He was an economist, and he was actually on the board of the Bank of England. He was a professor at one of the universities in England. So you know, he really knew his stuff about economics, so he decided to work out before they invited any monks to their place. How much does it cost to look after a monk? And surprise, surprise, he found out that it's much cheaper to look after a monk or a nun than to look after a dog. Dogs are far more expensive.
- “Is this heavy?” — Ajahn Chah and the stickStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Walking back from alms round, Ajahn Chah picks up a stick and asks the young Ajahn Brahm whether it is heavy, then throws it away: it is only heavy while you hold it.
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The first way of letting go, it was starting off with an old experience with my teacher Ajahn Chah, a long time ago, we were walking back from alms round and a great teacher, they always find an opportunity to, sort of you know, give you some teaching, but not these teachings with so many words and big concepts just simple down-to-earth teachings which once you hear, you think "Crikey, that's really good," and you remember it, and it changes much of your life. What he did on this occasion walking back, he picked up this stick, there's forest all over the place, picked up a stick, turned around and says "Brahmavamso, is this heavy?" Is this heavy? [throws stick away] Not now. I was very careful, I didn't throw that too far, wonder what it's gonna bust. It's only heavy when you hold it. But if you let it go it's got no weight at all. Profound, simple, and unforgettable.
- The Mexican fishermanStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An American business professor on holiday meets a Mexican fisherman unloading his morning catch: enough to feed his family, then lunch, a siesta, playing with his kids, dinner…
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it's a story of the old Mexican fisherman you know there was American who went on vacation to the Caribbean coast and when he was uh just walking around by the shore he saw a fishing boat come in to unload its morning catch and his Mexican fisherman unloaded the catch and this American came up to have a conversation with him said what are you doing seor he told the American I've been out fishing all morning I've got enough fish here to sell to feed my family so now I'm going to go home and have a nice lunch after lunch I'm going to have a sleep a cesta it's good for your health you don't get stressed out if you have a siesta can you have a siesta or you're too busy I'm going to have a cester and after cester I'll be home when my kids come back from school they play with them help them with their homework and in the evening I'm going to have dinner with my wife and maybe you know go to the the canteen or the pub in Mexico having a a couple of tequilas not much and play the guitar with my friends now life is good and that's when the American said sir I am a professor of business studies in a business school in the United States I think I can help you don't be so lazy you are not exploiting this wonderful resource of a fishing boat yeah go home and have lunch but go out in the afternoon you'll catch twice as much fish with the extra profit from twice as much fish you'll be able to buy a much bigger boat with a crew that way you'll soon be able to catch about four or six times as many fish with that extra profit you'll be able to buy a second boat in about four or five years you'll probably have a whole Fleet of boats and then with a whole Fleet of boats you can even make your own caner so you can process the fish it's Downstream processing to make increase your profits and then with that business you can actually uh move the center of your business to Mexico City or even better to LA and then because you own the whole business you can float it on the stock market know sell shares because you're the CEO you can award yourself these amazing obscene salaries and give yourself stock options which means if the stock goes up you can buy if it doesn't you don't need to you can make a millionaire many times over in about 10 years now I'm a professor of business studies that's how it's done and the Mexican fisherman listened very respectfully until the end of this presentation the Mexican fisherman said but Senor what will I do with all those millions of dollars and Professor thought for a few moments he hadn't thought the business plan out that far so he had to think that's all people think about making the few Millions but then what and the professor said well yeah with all that Millions few Millions you know you can retire you know you can retire to you know a nice fishing Village like this buy yourself a small boat just to go out in the morning for fun you'll be able to have lunch with your your wife every day you'll be able to take a siesta afterwards and you always be home to play with your children when they come back from school and you'll be able to go out in the evening with no worries at all Senor I do that already
- The pound note that blew into the fireStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In his poor London childhood, a gust blows his father's one-pound note off the shelf into the coal fire; his father burns his hand trying to save it and his mother weeps — it was…
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that I would do remember once that there must have been at nine or ten or eleven that my we were Legitimately poor because my father put a 1 pound note on this shelf above the coal fire They didn't have electric fires just have coal now to keep you warm during the really freezing winters and This mother was sitting down their kids were myself and my brother doing homework or something I don't know how this happened, but a gust of air Just took that one pound note and it fell into the fireplace and started burning And my father just tried to get it out. He burned his hand and my mother's just started crying. Oh weeping That was so much for them