Story · Ajahn Brahm

The blank cheque he gave back

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Buddhism and Atheism | Ajahn Brahm | 16-04-2010

1 min read

Once ... a few months ago, I gave this talk on generosity. And I said that one of the most wonderful acts of generosity wouldn't it be wonderful if a person needs.... because sometimes you give things expecting something back in return, as I said last week about real giving. Sometimes one person..... I said in one talk, even actually, not even saying how much you're gonna give, let me decide, give me a blank check. And one person who's sitting here today gave me a blank check, signed, and I could put whatever amount I wanted on it. He said, put whatever you want on it, the blank check. Isn't that wonderful? Of course, you know what I did. I kept it for a couple of months. And then I gave it back to him. And said, you can put whatever you like on it; not me.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 30:18 (to 31:11)

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

Someone handed Ajahn Brahm a signed blank cheque, and after a couple of months he gave it back. He meant it as a picture of forgiveness: whatever you do, I'm still here for you. Offer that to a son, a friend, yourself. He finds such forgiveness frees people rather than spoiling them.

In brief (our summary)

After a talk on generosity in which Ajahn Brahm muses that the finest gift would be a blank cheque, a man in the audience actually gives him one, signed. Ajahn Brahm keeps it for a couple of months and then hands it back: you can put whatever you like on it — not me.

Teaching point

Blank cheques — like the blank cheque of forgiveness — are never abused.

When this story may help

giving and receiving
trust
forgiveness

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Buddhism and Atheism | Ajahn Brahm | 16-04-2010 · 2010-04-17 · ▶ watch from 30:18 to 31:11 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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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even just when I was going to Sydney last week last week after giving a Friday night talk the following morning after to S you to give some talks you get to the airport of course no monk don't have any money so how can a monk get himself a cup of tea so you look around and kind to somebody say oh do you want a cup of tea that' be very nice thank you it's amazing actually really if you have lots of compassion you don't need even need to have a credit card so one of our marks was trying this cuz we always have these um you know s of almost like competitions to see whether this actually things actually work and he decided he came back from overseas to Perth International Airport and he deliberately did not tell anyone of his flight details when he was going to arrive he just said I'll make my own way from per airport to Bing Monastery of serpentine and he thought you know it's a long way it's about 50 km he didn't put his know finger out a hit shik he just wed just to see how powerful kindness was he got about 100 m from the airport when the car stopped where you going and gave him a lift all the way to bodana Monastery and he was just so impressed just how powerful kindness is
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The twin who forgave at Auschwitz
In brief: Ajahn Brahm recalls an article about a woman who, as an identical twin at Auschwitz, was subjected to the experiments of Dr Mengele's…
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remember reading this article [snorts] about a lady and one of these articles which really moved me that she was in Awitz. [snorts] When she was in Awitz, she was there because she was a younger uh sister of a twin. And when they discovered they were identical twins, they're so not younger sister but identical twin. They were forced to go on this program of experimentation. I think the name of the doctor at the time, Dr. Mangali, I think it was this was doc, one of Dr. Mangali's assistants, she remembered as her sister, the other twin was basically just treated so badly and tortured and killed. as an experiment. His other sister survived and after many many many years she discovered the location of one of the doctors who had helped Dr. Mangali and according to the story which she wrote she invited the person who had basically tortured and killed and her sister to meet her in Awitz. This is a true story. when he met them there sort of she forgave him say said look I've been I found you and I've been hating you and hating what happened to my sister all my life now you're here I don't want to be a victim anymore I want to be a victor so she forgave
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Two child killings, two societies
In brief: Ajahn Brahm recalls an article comparing two similar tragedies. In England, a toddler (Jamie Bulger) was abducted from a Liverpool…
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Some few years ago, I should've kept this article because there was a brilliant article, it was concerning the killers of Jamie Bulger, (whatever his name was) this young -- was it two or three year old -- who was abducted in the shopping center in Liverpool tortured and killed on the railway track by some, was it, eight or nine year old children. And the whole culture of England at the time especially driven by the tabloid press, was wanting the blood of those two killers even though they were very, very young and they'd done a terrible terrible thing. To take the life of a two year old, and it's not just one person's death it's all the tears and the anxiety and the stress and the devastation of all of the people who knew that child, let alone the parents. But what I never knew at the time was pointed out in this article was that at about the same time a similar event happened in Norway in the town of Trondheim, north of Oslo where I think, two boys lured (I think) a girl into the snowfields, and had similarly killed her. And the similarities between the crimes were very close. But what was very dissimilar was the way those two societies dealt with the problem. As many of you know, the Jamie Bulger case, those two kids were put into some detention center, and the tabloid press just wanted them to be really punished hard and the parents were just waiting for them to be released so they could kill them. And even the public did not want them to be released. I read in the newspapers there was some idea of sending them to Australia where they wouldn't be known, new identities so they could live their life and the British public was saying, "No they don't deserve any freedom." That's what I read. With those other two kids the following day after they were caught they both went to school accompanied by psychiatrists and a social worker. They were not put into any punitive institution. Very, very soon, the mother and father of the child who died came to a closure, came to forgiveness and moved on in their life. Whereas the parents of Jamie Bulger never moved on as far as I know. The whole town of Trondheim came to a closure. They realized a terrible act, but the only way to move forward is not to wish harm on the killers. So many years later, one of the killers of that (I think it was a) little girl in Trondheim is perfectly well adjusted having a successful life completed the education, had really moved on, and so did the family and the rest of town. There's one of the killers still has social problems and some psychological problems, but nowhere near like the pain which was spread around England because of the Jamie Bulger case. To see those two separate accounts of a similar tragedy, one where there were many victims and their victimhood was, I dare to say, cherished and attached to and made much of. And the other one, where rehabilitation was the main aim and goal, to see the effects of those two cases I sure wish I'd lived in Norway than in England.
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Still in the POW camp
In brief: Two Australian veterans who were captured at the fall of Singapore and held in prisoner-of-war camps meet at a reunion. One asks the other…
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this was the story of those two Australian soldiers meeting together in a reunion, they'd both been in the Second World War, they'd both been in Singapore, the fall of Singapore, and both been put in P.O.W. camps. Well, one met the other, and said, "Have you forgiven the Japanese yet for what they did to us and our friends?" "No! Never! How can you forgive that??" said one of the soldiers. "What about you?" His friend said, "I forgave years ago. But you, my friend, are still in the P.O.W. camp." I love that story, simply because until you forgive -- until he forgave what those guards, those soldiers, did to him and his friends, in the camps in Changi on the Death Railway in Thailand on the Burmese border. Until they forgave, they were still being tortured. They're still in the camps. They can never be happy. His friend had let go and therefore he was free.
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The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)