Story · Ajahn Brahm

May you get whatever you want as soon as you want it

1 min read

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

two worst curses in the Arab world. And the worst curse you can second worst curse you can give to somebody was to wish somebody "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits." [laughter] The fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits. That's pretty gross. But worse than that was "May you get whatever you want as soon as you want it

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 40:13 (to 40:51)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A Middle Eastern curse wishes the fleas of a thousand camels in your armpits. Worse still: may you get whatever you want as soon as you want it. Oscar Wilde agreed: there are two tragedies, not getting what you want, and getting it. Wanting less is the real blessing.

In brief (our summary)

Middle-Eastern friend: second-worst curse is fleas of a thousand camels in your armpits; worst is getting whatever you want immediately.

Teaching point

Instant gratification can be a worse curse than fleas.

When this story may help

  • wanting
  • contentment

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Word of the Buddha (Part 1) | Ajahn Brahm | 22 January 2023 · 2023-01-22 · ▶ watch from 40:13 to 40:51 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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