Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The man who wouldn't drop his hemp

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Change | Ajahn Brahm | 17 December 2010

2 min read

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

There's one of the old Buddhist stories—this is a story from the Digha Nikaya—where two men went out to an abandoned region where people have migrated, to see if they'd left anything of value which they could bring home for which they could make some money. As they went out to that abandoned village, one person found some old hemp, and told his friend so they made a big bundle of hemp to carry back to the village—it was worth something. And on the way, one of them noticed that there was some cloth made of hemp. He said, "This is what the hemps is for: to make cloth," so he threw away his bundle of hemp and took up the cloth. The other guy said, "No, this is already packed up. This is good enough for me." He didn't want to change. And then, later on, they found some cotton cloth. He said, "Cotton cloth is more important than my hemp cloth, so I'm going to throw out my hemp cloth and take the cotton cloth." The other guy said, "No, this hemp is good enough for me." And then they found some silk. One guy through away the cotton cloth and got some silk. The other guy—still with the pieces of hemp on his head—said, "No, this will do for me." One person was always willing to change for something better. And then after they found some silk, they found some silver. So he threw away his silk and took some silver. And eventually they found some gold, so he threw away the silver to take the gold. And when they arrived back home, one had a whole pack of gold, the other one had some hemp. And the beautiful way the Buddha told this story, he said, "The one who brought the hemp back brought no happiness to his family and got scolded by them. And the one who brought the gold back was welcomed with a lot of smiles by his family.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 55:48 (to 57:43)

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

One scavenger kept swapping up, from hemp to cloth to silk to silver to gold, while his friend clung to the hemp because it was good enough. The Buddha meant views as much as goods. Holding an old idea only because it's comfortable is carrying hemp home. Stay curious, and be willing to trade up.

In brief (our summary)

Two men go to an abandoned region to scavenge. Both bundle up hemp. Finding hemp cloth, one throws his hemp away and takes the cloth; the other says his bundle is good enough. The first trades up again and again — cotton cloth, silk, silver, finally gold — while his friend keeps his hemp. At home, the hemp-carrier brings no happiness and is scolded by his family; the one with gold is welcomed with smiles.

Teaching point

Be willing to exchange views and ideas for better ones; attachment to old views just because they're comfortable keeps you carrying hemp.

When this story may help

  • resisting change
  • dogmatism
  • changing beliefs or religion

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Change | Ajahn Brahm | 17 December 2010 · 2010-12-18 · ▶ watch from 55:48 to 57:43 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is. 'through away' = threw away (not changed).

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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