The NHS invitation — bad for my health

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• “I always wanted to become a monk — but not now!”

  In brief: At a 2,000-strong talk in Singapore, a man challenges what a monk could know about real-world stress. Ajahn Brahm gives an hour-by-hour…

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  I remember giving a simile like this earlier on when I was in Singapore giving a big talk to about 2000 people and at the end of the talk somebody asked a question, it wasn't much of a question, more like a comment, It was very much what I just said, they said to me how do you, you are a Buddhist monk how do you know what stress is. What you said may make sense in theory but in the real world where we do have to work so hard, it is much different, what do you know about stress, and then I told him what I had done that day in Singapore. Getting up at 4'o clock, how many of you get up at 4'o clock in the morning and you start working from the very beginning and that day I listed all the things which I had done that day, visiting people in hospital, doing work as the Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore and Director of the Brahm Centre, Singapore, that is overseas, this is not my core business, which is right here, all this stuff which I am doing, I gave hour by hour account of what I had done that day, and after I told what I've done that day, to say, "look I qualify, all the work which I do and get done, I qualify as someone who knows what I am talking about--working hard and dealing with stress". Then they came to the microphone afterwards and said Wow...I never realised how hard monks have to work in our modern world, he said you know, I always wanted to become a monk one day but not now...no..no..no !!

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• “I'm doing nothing — and I'm not finished yet”

  In brief: Someone asks the monk to come and chant to bust a ghost in their house. “Sorry, I'm busy.” “Doing what?” “Nothing.” They call again the…

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  about the monk who was called up in his monastery by someone, "Can you please come round to do a blessing at my house?" The monk said, "I'm sorry, I'm busy, I can't come." And the caller said, "What are you doing, monk?!" He said, "I'm doing nothing. That's what monks are supposed to do, nothing." And the caller understood and he appreciate, "Monks are supposed to be left the world and find peace and not just be in the monastery doing things all day. That's the purpose of being a monk or a nun, to sit out there and just to contemplate life and to be still and to be peaceful and to let go of things and just sit under a tree and just watch the trees grow, that's what we're supposed to be doing. So the man actually understood that. and said, "Ok, very good monk." So he rang the next day, he said, "Look, I really need you to do a blessing, can you come to my house?" He said, "No, I'm busy." "That's what you said yesterday, what are you doing?" "I'm doing nothing" said the monk. "But you said that's what you were doing yesterday!". And the monk replied, "Yes, but I'm not finished yet.

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• The big rocks go in first

  In brief: A business-school professor fills a jar with large stones and asks if it's full; the students say yes. He adds gravel, shaking it into the…

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  This a professor came into his lecture hall. This was at uh a business school. And he had a jug and he asked he took out some from his briefcase took out a bag of stones and one by one put the stones into this jug until he could get no more stones inside the jug. And he asked his students, "Is the jug full?" Said, "Yeah, of course. You can't get any more stones in. He smiled and from his briefcase he picked out a bag of gravel, smaller stones. And one by one he put those into the jar, shook the jar, and many of those smaller stones found their way in the spaces between the big rocks and the smaller rocks. Is it full? No, they said they were on to him by now. So from his bag, he picked out his briefcase. He got a bag of fine sand, sprinkled the fine sand onto the rocks and gravel, shook the jar until much of the sand found its way in the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. "Is it full yet?" he asked the class. He had nothing more in his briefcase and said, "No, you'll probably find some other thing to put in there. He got the water jar and poured the water into that big jar. So that much of the water found its way between the rocks, the s the gravel and the sand. And he didn't want to try and find any other thing to put in that jar. He said, "Now what is the meaning of this lesson?" Modern times. Okay. Business school. One smart ass kid put their hand up and said, "It shows us, sir, no matter how busy we are, we can always fit something more in." Have you ever heard your bosses saying that? No, said the professor. What it shows us, if you want to put the big rocks in, the precious stones, you have to put them in first. Otherwise, you'll never get them in. You can fit the other stuff in afterwards, but the important things in life, you have to put in first priority.

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• Can I ask a meditation question — in the toilet?

  In brief: After a long Jockey Club auditorium talk and an hour of book-signing he finally reaches the gents; a man washing his hands turns: Ajahn…

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  by the time I got to the toilet you know as knows this was the jockey club auditorium in the one of the universities over again it was one of these big toilets you know the mail toilets and as soon as I got in it is the sense yes I can actually go to the toilet now and as soon as I walked in the door this guy was just washing his hands and he turned to me so Oh a giant problem can I ask you a question on meditation within the toilet there's a good good anecdote for people anyway just I survived somehow other

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