Analogy · Ajahn Brahm
Blessings are cheering for your team
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
when you shout for your football team. ‘Come on, the Dockers, come on, the West Coast Eagles, come on!’. When you actually shout for your team and you've got lots of supporters, of course, the team do much better. You're encouraging them. So that's what I do to you. When I do the chanting and the blessings, I just shout for you, ‘come on, you can do it, yeah, come on, yes yes yes!’. That's what I did for that guy in the ICU, ‘come on, you can come out of coma, come on, yeah, you can, yes, you did it
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 59:59 (to 1:00:31)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
When fans shout for the Dockers, the team plays better, and that's how Ajahn Brahm sees his chanting: cheering for you. Blessings aren't magic deals; they're encouragement. Be that voice for someone facing an exam, an operation or a hard week. Come on, you can do it.
In brief (our summary)
Simile: when supporters shout 'Come on, the Dockers! Come on, the Eagles!', the team does better. That's what his chanting and blessings are — shouting for you: 'Come on, you can do it!' It's what he did for the man in the ICU: 'Come on, you can come out of coma — yes, you did it!'
Teaching point
Blessings work as encouragement that gives confidence.
When this story may help
- exams
- asking for blessings
- supporting others
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Give Yourself Peace, Kindness and Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 29 January 2021 · 2021-01-29 · ▶ watch from 59:59 to 1:00:31 · 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