Next to a media heir at the urinal

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• The lottery shop he blessed

  In brief: Asked to bless a friend-of-a-friend's new small business, a busy Ajahn Brahm gives it his full blessing without asking what it is. A year…

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  this was of this blessing once a Friend of mine here. He said the friend of a friend one of the people who came here very often And he's moved out of Perth now. He said one of his friends was opening up a small business Can I come and bless the business for him and of course you know just a blessing is just just giving you extra energy? You know making you feel good Just like you know the your honor the grounds of the football stadium or the cricket pitch and you cheer on your team Just my father cheered me on when I was playing soccer that meant a lot to me that made lifted up my spirit So I decided to go and chant for this business But you know I do get very busy sometimes and sometimes I forget to ask what type of business is it and this was a lottery store I Won't say which which shopping center this was in but I went there just opening out first time and I Really gave it a big full blessing ajahn brahm superpower And it was only about a year later two years later. I read in the West Australian Saturday edition clue to get the Saturday paper here to find out what's going on and There was a big article about this the most successful lottery outlet in Australia And I realized oh my goodness the one that I blessed I better not bless anymore

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• The lawyer who tried to take it with him

  In brief: A dying rich lawyer, sure he can find a loophole, has his wife stash suitcases of cash in the attic above his bed so he can grab them on…

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  This really wealthy lawyer, you know, he thought he was smart. He made a lot of money. And when he got very sick and the doctor said he only had a few weeks to live, he thought, "How can I take it with me? Just because other people say you can't take it with you, I'm a lawyer. I can find loopholes so I can take it with me. So he's looking for the loophole so he could take it with him afterwards. He worked so hard to get all that money and so laying in bed having nothing else to do but think he had this brilliant idea. He told his wife he said go to the bank with my two suitcases which I usually go overseas with big suitcases. go to the bank and draw out as much money as you can from my bank account in cash. I think the biggest note is euro note, isn't it? A€,000 euro note is,000 euro notes so I can get as much money in my bags as possible. And once you brought the suitcases back, stash with millions in cash, put them in the attic just above my bed. Because my plan is when I die and I go up to heaven, I can grab the bags on my way up and take them with me. That's my plan. So the wife now, it's a waste of time arguing with husbands, especially if he's a lawyer. a waste of time. So she said, "Okay, I'll do that." So she went to the bank, got all the money out, and put them in the attic above her husband's bed, just on either side of the bed. So he went straight up. He could actually grab them. Not too far to the left, not too far to the right. She got it perfect. And a couple of days later, he died. And after doing the ceremonies for him, she went up to the attic for the first time. And of course, the bags were still there full of cash. I say, "Stupid old guy. If he'd have asked me, I'd have put the bags in the room below him cuz I know where he's gone.

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• Money or wisdom?

  In brief: Gandhi's law professor asks him: if you found two bags in the street, one of money and one of wisdom, and could take only one, which would…

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  that Gandhi was challenged by his professor of law. Mr. Gandhi, if you walking down the street and you saw these two big bags, one contained money and the other contained wisdom. Which one would you take up? You can only take one up and take away with you. Money or wisdom? And Gandhi said, I would take the money. That's a trouble with you students these days. You only think of money. And Gandhi replied, "Sir, we always take that which we don't have." Implying very easily that Gandhi was a poor student, but his professor had no wisdom.

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• Easier for rich Buddhists

  In brief: At a talk to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in WA, a wealthy business audience asks about Jesus' saying that it's harder for a rich man…

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  I said this at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce about six months ago. I gave a talk at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in W.A and somebody actually asked this question, so it didn't actually come from me, it comes from the audience. They said, because the Chinese Chamber of Commerce is all these rich Chinese business people, and of course you know, the rich people, yeah they're doing okay in this world, but they want to know what happens after you die. So they said they knew in the Christian Bible, it does actually say that it's harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, that's actually in there. Now a camel goes through the eye of a needle, that's a pretty tough thing to do. And actually a lot of people say, well doesn't actually mean like a sewing needle, it was some door in Jerusalem or something, but whatever it was, everyone agrees it's a very difficult thing for a camel to pass the eye of a needle, so it must be even more difficult for a rich person to go to Christian heaven. So when he asked me, so what do you say about that Ajahn Brahm? I said look we don't have that in Buddhism at all, so it's actually much much easier for rich people to go to heaven if they're Buddhists. You lot are rich people over there, so it's quite obvious what religion you should have if you want to go to heaven. I said, that's our marketing, you want to go to heaven and you're rich, come here. Of course we also get more donations that way. But that’s only jokes, so of course that totally untrue.

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