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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Four old men outside in the rain

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Four Old Men | Ajahn Brahm | 10-12-2010

2 min read

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

four old men and the four old men were outside in the rain. It couldn't have been in Australia, not Western Australia anyway, because we don't have rain anymore. But it were outside in the rain and it was cold and they getting wet and soaking. And the owner of the house, not the owner of the house, the woman of the house, she looked out the window and they saw these four old men there getting soaked. And so she invited them in. And they said, "No, we can't come in until your whole family comes home." And you decide which one of us to invite in because you can only invite one of one of us in. And if you invite the correct person, all four of us will come in. If you invite the wrong person, only one will come in. And this was the story. So when everybody came home, then the family had a meeting. They said, "These four old men are getting soaked outside. You've seen them outside, but they won't come in until we decide which one of them to invite first. And if we get it right, they'll all come in." And the four men were called wealth, success, peace, and harmony. And so the father said, "I work so hard. And even though I work hard, it's very difficult to make any money. The government takes most of it in tax. And what I bring home after tax is so many, many uh bills to pay." You know, life is so hard. So, what do I really want? I want wealth. And the wife said, "Oh, no. I want success. I want just my family and you to be successful in life." "Success is much more important than wealth." "No, it isn't," said the father. "Wealth is more important." "No," said the wife. "Success, wealth is more important." And the daughter said, "Shut up, you two. All I want is some peace." And they said, "That's actually quite true. We need some peace in the house." So he said some peace and the father said well some wealth could be good too and the mother said no no no I really really think success is the best and so the three of them started to argue and then the son said look all I ever want in my house between my mother my father my sister and me is some harmony that's really what I want and so they all thought actually I think you are correct so they invited harmony first into their house and when they invited did harmony in, he told them they'd made the correct choice. Because when harmony comes into your house, then following right behind comes peace. And with peace, you'll also find success. And with success, you'll also find wealth. So all the four old men came into the house following harmony. It was a wonderful story about the priority of having harmony

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 4:08 (to 7:16)

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

In a Chinese tale, four old men stand in the rain: Wealth, Success, Love and Harmony. The family may invite only one, and wisely choose Harmony. The others follow it in. Without harmony, nothing good stays. Most discord comes from insisting we're right. Let that go, and the house fills.

In brief (our summary)

Chinese parable: wealth, success, love and harmony stand as old men in the rain; the family can invite only one in first — harmony must enter or the other three will not stay.

Teaching point

Without harmony, wealth, success and love will not remain in the house.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Four Old Men | Ajahn Brahm | 10-12-2010 · 2010-12-12 · ▶ watch from 4:08 to 7:16 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, 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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