Stories for study
4 Buddhist wisdom stories for study from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Half of what we teach you is wrongStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A doctor driving Ajahn Brahm to a retreat recalls the welcome speech at his Sydney medical school: the head of the school told the new students that 50% of what they would be…
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he was the head of warp in Salford Hospital in Sydney head of the Medical School and I heard this from one of the the doctors who's taking me driving me to a retreat who said there are the beginning of his years as a as in medical school the head of the department giving the welcome speech to everybody who was gonna spend the next four years in war pins half-wit Hospital Medical School who said 50% of what we're going to teach you in the next four years is wrong this was the professor saying what we're gonna teach him next for you is 50% of it is wrong the problem is he said we're not quite sure which 50% it is
- If you understand, you can explain it to the barmaidAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Heisenberg (via Brahm): if you really understand quantum physics you can explain it to the bar girl serving a pint — and she will understand. Same test for Nibbana: if it's…
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there was this very powerful quote by one of the most famous Quantum physicists Vera Heisenberg which even if you weren't a physicist everybody knows Heisenberg by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle you know at least I think you do anyway but you also know that quantum physics is incredibly complicated but this man he's quoted as saying if you really understand quantum physics if you really understand it you can explain it to the bar girl serving you a pint of beer in the pub and she will understand it so if you really understand Nana or God you'll be able to to explain it to somebody serving you beer in a nightclub and they will understand in other words if what you say is Goble cook it means you don't understand so when I gave up Christianity and became a Buddhist
- Where everybody thinks the same, no one thinks at allAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Dalhousie University he joked their Latin motto should be replaced with: where everybody thinks the same, no one thinks at all — praising rebellious, deeper seeing.
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change the name to the old slogan where everybody thinks the same where everybody thinks the same no one thinks at all
- Why some are born intelligentStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: From a sutta: a man asks the Buddha what karma makes people wealthy, then what makes them beautiful or ugly (Ajahn Brahm breaks off to explain why he now stares at the carpet…
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And there they tell the story of this man who came up to the Buddha and asked him like a question on karma. He was saying, you know, I've noticed in this world, some people are just born wealthy, and they managed to maintain that wealth and increase it. Now other people are born poor, and sometimes they get wealthy, but you know, there are some people, they're poor, they work really hard, and they try very hard and they work just all hours of the night and still, it's just so hard to make ends meet. Why can't you be wealthy? While other people they seem to work much less than you, they just got the gift of making money. It must be some karma from a past life that we're born poor in this life. So he asked, What do I have to do in this life? What karma do I have to make in this life to be rich in my next life?" That's a fair enough question. so the Buddha gave him an answer. He was so happy with it. He asked the second question, he said, I've also noticed that sometimes people are very beautiful, while other people are ugly. And you may notice when I mentioned the word "ugly", I stared at the carpet. And the reason for this, the reason for this is I told this story in Singapore once. And I just, I just happened to be looking at a certain woman when I mentioned the word "ugly". Oh, my goodness, did she complain. She said, "Why did you mention the word ugly when you're looking at me?" It's even worse, if I've mentioned the word "beautiful" when I'm looking at someone, they get the wrong idea. (laughter) So anyway, he, the Buddha explained the cause for beauty and ugliness in your next life. But then the killer question, why are some people intelligent, and other people they just have such a hard time at school and university. You've been with some people, they hardly do any of the homework, they just float through school, they get the prizes, and they go to universities, they get double first. You know, for the rest of us. It's just so hard just now just getting the TEE passed. He said, "Why is it? What's the karmic reason why people are born intelligent, and other people aren't intelligent? What's the karmic cause?" And the Buddha said, and this was a beautiful answer. "The karmic reason for stupidity in your next life is not asking questions in this life."