Story · Ajahn Brahm
Hahayana — the book title that stuck
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
a combination of uh Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, which became Hahayana, yes. Hahayana Buddhist teachings of Ajahn Brahm. [laughter] And then I've never got that far, but never mind
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:30:05 (to 1:30:27)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Ajahn Brahm once dreamed up a joke-book title combining Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana: Hahayana. He never wrote the book, but the laugh stuck. Asked who leads Buddhism, he points out the Buddha named no successor, only the teaching and the training. Follow the Dhamma, not a personality, and keep laughing.
In brief (our summary)
Idea for a joke book combining Hinayana/Mahayana/Vajrayana into Hahayana — title first, book maybe never; the laugh is the teaching.
Teaching point
Sometimes the title is already the Dhamma.
When this story may help
- creative ideas
- teaching
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Checking Your Expectations | Ajahn Brahm | 17 December 2021 · 2021-12-17 · ▶ watch from 1:30:05 to 1:30:27 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; 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