Stories for searching for meaning
4 Buddhist wisdom stories for searching for meaning from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Looking through the other end of the telescopeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a seminar in the old observatory next to Parliament House in Perth, a Catholic woman honestly admits that every look through a telescope at the vast universe challenges her…
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And I do remember going to the old observatory next to Parliament House, years ago, there was a seminar and that’s where, there was a Catholic girl, I really respected her honesty, because she said with science, every time she looks through a telescope and sees incredible universe, it challenges her Catholicism, the theology which she’s supposed to believe in. They asked me what did I think of that. And I said, as a scientist, (because I did science in Cambridge), as a scientist, I always imagine looking through the other end of the telescope, not the narrow end to the fat end, but looking at the fat end to the narrow end, looking in that end and looking in to see who’s watching, that challenges my science. So what science is, is looking through this end of the telescope out there. What religion is, what it should be, what spirituality is, what Buddhism should be, looking from the other end of the telescope, looking who the hell is watching all of this, and understanding that.
- Sheep circling a bush foreverStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A monk who grew up on a farm near Mundijong once found the sheep walking in a circle around a thick clump of bushes, each following the one in front, unable to see that the…
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When it comes to sheep, I always remember the little story told me by one of our monks, Vasavado [?] He grew up on a farm just outside of Mundijong, really was local boy. And he said, once, you know, he went out to check out on the sheep in the farm. And he saw the sheep, he didn’t know how they started, but they had formed a circle around a thick lump of bushes. So they could not see the other side of the bush, but they’d formed a circle and they were walking round and round and round, as sheep always do, following the one in front, and they didn’t realise that they were going round and round and round in a circle which had no end. And if he hadn’t chanced on this and pulled one of the sheep out of line, they’d still be walking around that circle [chuckles] years later.
- Ten pounds for the Sikkim orphanageStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a student who dozed through talks by professors and monks, Ajahn Brahm never forgets one by an old English woman, a Tibetan Buddhist nun running an orphanage for poor children…
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But I remember one of the talks which I heard which I would never forget, it didn't say very much about Buddhism at all. Not as I'd expected it, it didn't say about Four Noble Truths or seven enlightenment factors and all these other stuff which you can read in books anyway. It was just this old English woman, who was a Tibetan nun who was running an orphanage with very poor kids in Sikkim. And the way that she described her compassion was really inspiring. I realised from that time that Buddhism isn't a theory, Buddhism is actually what you do, how you behave, just your kindness, your virtue, your peace, your forgiveness, that's what Buddhism is. It's not what you find in the books. What you find in the interaction between two very kind and caring people. I didn't realise at that time but she taught Buddhism more eloquently than any professor or any monk at that time which I knew. So that's why, the day after, I was so inspired, I went to my bank and took 10 pounds out of my account. Now this was in 1969, I was a very poor student, that was 2 weeks food money for me. So I went hungry. I make up for it these days. But you know, [laughter], I was really hungry, I wasn't starving but I didn't have as much as I would normally have, and it hurt. And because it hurt, I got so much happiness out of that, so much joy, I put 10 pounds for this little orphanage for poor kids. That was meaning, that was purpose, that was something which made life have a resonance, and something very solid which I could respect. It was a pointer to how I could find deeper meaning in my life.
- “Whatever those monks are on, I want some”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A past president of the Buddhist Society, Rachel Green, first came only to learn meditation for panic attacks and anxiety. Seeing the Armadale group's monks always peaceful and…
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There's - one of our past presidents, she is not here this evening, so she was here about two or three weeks ago, that's Rachel Green. She won't mind me telling her name, because she wrote a little book about, her spiritual story. And the part which I like, well, I got to be honest, it was about me. And it's actually really about how she became a Buddhist. She was suffering from panic disorders and anxiety attacks. Like many of you know, if you actually come and do some meditation, it really helps overcome anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Meditation is a beautiful method of overcoming that. And many people know that, many people actually are sent by their GPs to places like this to learn meditation, so they can overcome their anxiety disorders and panic attacks - and it works very well. But anyway, she came along, just to learn some meditation to overcome her anxiety disorders, and then she saw these monks, and this is the Armadale group, always seem to be peaceful and happy. She wrote in her book, that when she first saw these guys, she thought they're just acting. Just a face you put on in public, and behind the scenes, you know you're just like anybody else - you know, grumpy, arrogant, selfish. So actually, she decided to try and visit our monasteries, and "check us out", to see whether this was real, or whether we're just faking it. And of course, now I really try hard to make everybody open, so you can come and see as many times, see us y'know, when we're off-guard, not in public, and hopefully, I think you'll probably see that as you see us now, is actually as we are at all times. When she saw that, she realized, "I don't know what those monks are on, but whatever they're on, I want some of it."