Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Six out of seven dwarfs aren't happy

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Ultimate Reality | Ajahn Brahm | 5 May 2017

1 min read

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

six out of Seven Dwarfs aren't happy that terrible joke isn't it six out of Seven Dwarfs aren't happy because now one of the drawers was named happy

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 38:10 (to 38:28)

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

A psychological study, Ajahn Brahm reports, proved six of the Seven Dwarfs aren't happy, because only one is called Happy. A terrible joke, he admits, and the audience agrees. Labels can mislead as easily as statistics. Don't take a name for the truth about anyone, yourself included.

In brief (our summary)

A psychological 'assessment' of the Seven Dwarfs proves six out of seven aren't happy — because only one was named Happy.

Teaching point

Labels can fake statistics.

When this story may help

  • needing a light joke

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Ultimate Reality | Ajahn Brahm | 5 May 2017 · 2017-05-05 · ▶ watch from 38:10 to 38:28 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'drawers' = dwarfs.

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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