Stories for teaching
8 Buddhist wisdom stories for teaching from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Class A and Class BStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An English school splits a year group into two classes of exactly equal ability by exam score — only the headmistress and two psychologists know the results — with equally good…
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This was a story of a test which was done in a school in England. Two classes of kids, the end of the year exams, you know, we just done the end of the year exams for our kids in school here in Western Australia. The school year is just finished or about to finish. And it's usually the usual thing is on the basis of the results this year, you know, that's how you'll be graded for, you know, the streams of learning for next year. And there was one school did this really interesting experiment. They had two classes in one year and having done their examination, they never published the results. There was, if I remember correctly, the head mistress and two psychologists were the only ones who knew what scores every kid got. But instead, what they did, they allocated the children as evenly as they possibly could. The kid who came top went in the same class as a kid who came fifth and sixth. No, fourth and fifth. Yeah. Fourth and fifth, 8th and 9th, 12th and 13th, 16th and 17th. They all went in one class. The kids who came second and third, sixth and seventh, 10th and 11th went in the other class. So they split the classes up as evenly as they possibly could. And the head mistress tried to find teachers who she thought were equally good. And they even went as far as to find classrooms with equal facilities. They made everything equal as possible except for one thing. They called one of those classes class A and the other one class B. And they were totally equal in ability based on the exam results. and they wanted to find out what would happen next year. Half of those kids went into class A and they weren't more brilliant, but their parents said, "I don't know how you did it, son. You're in class A. Carry on. Well done." And even the kids who came second and third going into class B. I want you to work harder next year. You know, no more privileges for you, more homework. the the parents thought class B meant the worst and even the teachers taught her to a lower level and the kids be know with her in class B the kids started to believe the class A kids were superior than the class B kids because one year later when they gave the exam again the children in class A did so well as if they were the top half chosen from the year before. And the class B kids did terribly. Literally after one year, half those children became class A children and the other one became class B simply because they gave that label and they believed in it, they became it.
- Hahayana — the book title that stuckStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Idea for a joke book combining Hinayana/Mahayana/Vajrayana into Hahayana — title first, book maybe never; the laugh is the teaching.
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a combination of uh Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, which became Hahayana, yes. Hahayana Buddhist teachings of Ajahn Brahm. [laughter] And then I've never got that far, but never mind
- I want happiness — scrub I, scrub wantJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Cartoon: angry man brings a monk a sign 'I want happiness'. Monk scrubs out the I (let go of self), then scrubs out want (craving), and holds up the remaining word: happiness.
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there was a cartoon first. This really angry guy going to the monk. I want happiness. And the monk takes one look at that. Problem number one, I let go of the sense of self. Yeah, just part of nature. Just just let that eye go. So he scrubs out the eye and then the sign reads want happiness. Second problem, want. So he scrubs that out and then he holds up the sign happiness
- Mahinda's mango-tree riddleStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: He says the first monk in Sri Lanka (Mahinda) tested the king with a riddle about a mango tree and other mangoes — answered correctly, so Buddhism stayed; Brahm jokes Australia…
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What's this tree called?" It was like a mango tree. Are there any other mango trees in Sri Lanka? Yes, said the king. Are there any trees other than those mangoes and the other trees? Yes, sir. The tree in front of me. Ah, smart person. Correct. So, that's why Buddhism started in Sri Lanka because of riddles
- Mr Howard — the jolly maths teacherStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: School maths head Mr Howard never scolds; laughs with students; praises them when they catch his board mistakes — Brahm credits him for love of maths and positive thinking.
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Mr Howard and the reason he was he was influential for me he was always a very jolly fellow you know he was the head of mathematics that's one of the reasons I was really interested in mathematics because he was Jolly always happy would never actually scold but always be laughing at you and laughing with you when he made a mistake on the board you know and you picked it out he praised you for it he wouldn't criticize you at all I learn a lot of compassion and positive thinking just from just one
- Penang lady scared by her first jhānaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Penang lady (not even a Buddhist) falls into deep jhāna without knowing what it is and is so scared/obsessed she tours psychologists and psychiatrists who have no clue.…
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lady in Penang many years ago and I don't even think she was a Buddhist but no she managed to get into one of these deep meditations his jaunders and she didn't know what it was at all and it really scared her to the point that uh she was so obsessed with trying to find out what the heck this was one of the best experiences of our life so she went to so many psychologists and psychiatrists and they didn't have a clue what was happening to her and eventually that she came to see me in Penang and there she sort of I explained exactly what it was and it was wonderful to describe you know will she describe what she felt and I described a few things you missed out telling me said yes that's it she was so happy that you know somebody else had understood what she'd experienced and it was quite safe and quite beautiful
- Safety Bay — combining metta with the breathStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a Catholic nuns' retreat centre in Safety Bay, senior monks say you can't combine techniques — so rebellious Brahm combines loving-kindness with breath meditation and finds it…
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Safety Bay. And that was when we used to hire this Catholic retreat center. It was run by Catholic nuns. They're very nice to us. And honestly, I didn't mind just whoever was running the retreat center, as long as they kept reasonably quiet, which these couple of nuns did. But while I was doing this retreat, and teaching it as well, in order to allow yourself to innovate, and to actually to experiment, to try other ways of teaching. One of the things which I did was uh combine two of the most powerful popular meditation techniques. And I remember asking monks who are much senior to me, "Can you do that?" And maybe I I hope that some of them said no, cuz that is a sure way of making me try it. I'm rebellious. You say you can't do it, of course you can do it. And I combined loving-kindness meditation together with breath
- The 'hopeless at maths' boy who came topStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young schoolteacher, Ajahn Brahm is told a boy in his maths class is hopeless — he came bottom of three or four classes the year before. For the school year Ajahn Brahm…
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another case this was from this time I was a school teacher I love doing experiments some of them were maybe not fair but they were worth it because there was a kid in my maths class and the teachers told me he's hopeless at Mass he came bottom the year before of those about three or four classes in this school now is his math teacher for one year so I decided to find out whether it was because he can't do maths or there was some other reason so for 12 months I don't know nine months of the school year after every lesson I'd ask him did you understand that give him extra attention praise him when he got the thing right go to his desk you know doing the exercises and give him a bit of a hand really just give him special attention I say it was unfair because I never gave that attention to any other child in the class just this one boy because I wanted to see whether it was a case that a person just cannot do math or because they believe they can't do it and of course it was a second case because at the end of the year that boy came top I moved him from bottom to top just by giving him a belief