The cat that steals the milk

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• “What do you guys get out of this?” — the free talk

  In brief: A caller keeps asking how much she must pay to attend Ajahn Brahm's talk; told repeatedly it is free, she finally asks in disbelief what…

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  There was somebody rang me up once from here, it was a Polish lady, actually I remember her, and she rang me up and said, "Are you giving a talk tonight?" I said, "Yeah, I'm given a talk tonight" here in this centre. She said, "How much do you have to pay to get in?" I said, "Nothing, you don't have to pay anything to get in," you all know that, and she stopped awhile and she said, "You don't understand me, how much money do you have to pay to get through the door?" I said, "Madam, you don't have to give any money to go through the door. You just come in and listen, if you don't like it you go out again." Then she paused again, she said, "LISTEN, how much dollar and cents do I have to cough up to come listen to your talk?" I said "Madam, you don't have to cough up anything. You don't have to pay any money to go in, you don't have to pay any money to go out, we don't give you sort of brochures and propaganda, you know, which would ask you money afterwards, it's totally for free, just come in and listen and you go out again afterwards." And then she paused, I always remember this pause because I knew that she was really surprised, and then she asked with utmost sincerity, "Well, what do you guys get out of this then?"

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• The burglar who came back for compassion

  In brief: An abbot finds a knife-wielding burglar at the donation box, hands him the key, notices how thin he is and offers him leftover food —…

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  its a nice story about a monastery somewhere in the world and in the middle of the night the Abbot was woken up when he heard a noise in the main shrine room So he got up and checked, and sure enough there was a burglar in the temple. As soon as the burglar saw the Abbot the burglar was trying to open the donation box and he told the Abbot just get out of here. And the Abbot took one look at the burglar instead of actually stopping the burglar opening the donation box 'here's the key' so the burglar took it and told not to do anything But the Abbot took one look at the burglar and like many burglars and this guy was so thin. So the Abbot asked him when was the last time you ate. Burglar said 'shut up' . When I give talks I always like to wake people up every now and again (audience laughs). 'Shut up' he said. But the Abbot didn't shut up he said 'look there is some left over food from this mornings meal in the cupboard, help yourself. And the man was hungry. So just looking at the Abbot and brandishing a knife from the kitchen he said 'don't come near. He quickly sort of stuffed some food into his mouth and the Abbot said 'don't rush, there is plenty of time' and the bugler opened the donation box emptied it, took some more food and ran away saying don't call the police, Abbot said I wan't the donations are there for charity, for compassion you are a poor person just take whatever you want I will clear with the committee tomorrow So the next day when the committee heard about this At least the guy was being kind and they liked the Abbot for being kind but usually what happens a few days later that bugler was caught robbing another house somewhere and was sentenced to jail The abbot forgot all about that and few years later The bugler returned with another knife. He came and said you remember me? I robbed this temple five years ago, now I have come to rob again; but the burglar said this time; but last time I took the wrong thing I took the money Putting down his knife he said now I have come to take compassion and wisdom, please show me how you were so kind to me, even though I was about to kill you and rob your tample. So the Bugler realizing for the first time he thought that money was happiness after those five years realized that kindness is more important than money he said the first time he have stolen the wrong thing now he come to take the right thing and asked the Abbot to teach him; compassion and Kindness.

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• Ten pounds for the Sikkim orphanage

  In brief: As a student who dozed through talks by professors and monks, Ajahn Brahm never forgets one by an old English woman, a Tibetan Buddhist…

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  But I remember one of the talks which I heard which I would never forget, it didn't say very much about Buddhism at all. Not as I'd expected it, it didn't say about Four Noble Truths or seven enlightenment factors and all these other stuff which you can read in books anyway. It was just this old English woman, who was a Tibetan nun who was running an orphanage with very poor kids in Sikkim. And the way that she described her compassion was really inspiring. I realised from that time that Buddhism isn't a theory, Buddhism is actually what you do, how you behave, just your kindness, your virtue, your peace, your forgiveness, that's what Buddhism is. It's not what you find in the books. What you find in the interaction between two very kind and caring people. I didn't realise at that time but she taught Buddhism more eloquently than any professor or any monk at that time which I knew. So that's why, the day after, I was so inspired, I went to my bank and took 10 pounds out of my account. Now this was in 1969, I was a very poor student, that was 2 weeks food money for me. So I went hungry. I make up for it these days. But you know, [laughter], I was really hungry, I wasn't starving but I didn't have as much as I would normally have, and it hurt. And because it hurt, I got so much happiness out of that, so much joy, I put 10 pounds for this little orphanage for poor kids. That was meaning, that was purpose, that was something which made life have a resonance, and something very solid which I could respect. It was a pointer to how I could find deeper meaning in my life.

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• The blank cheque he gave back

  In brief: 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…

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  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.

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