Analogy · Ajahn Brahm

Chicken-shit currency — Ajahn Chah's prediction

1 min read

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

prediction. He used to say that in the future people will run out of paper to make bank notes and they will run out of metal to make coins. And so in the future they will use something very very common for their currency. They will use little pellets of chicken shit. And you'll go to work and the end of the work you'll be given a big bag of chicken shit depending on how hard you work. And your bosses will earn the most shit. And you would go to the bank to deposit and and see how much chicken shit you've got in the bank. And the IMF will be the International Manure Fund

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 25:39 (to 26:36)

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

Ajahn Chah predicted that one day we'd be paid in chicken droppings: bosses earning the most, banks hoarding it, governments promising more. Ajahn Brahm explains: money is paper and metal, worth only what we agree. So what's really valuable in your life? Think outside the box and value different things.

In brief (our summary)

Chah predicts future currency will be pellets of chicken shit — bosses earn the most shit, IMF becomes International Manure Fund, governments promise more shit — value is what we ascribe.

Teaching point

Money is only as real as the story we agree to tell about dung.

When this story may help

  • money anxiety
  • values

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Not Blaming Others | Ajahn Brahm | 15 November 2019 · 2019-11-15 · ▶ watch from 25:39 to 26:36 · 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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