The moon in a still lake

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• How the donkey caught the carrot

  In brief: A stubborn donkey is driven by a carrot dangling on a string from a stick tied to its own back — always two feet ahead however fast it…

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  It's a story, one of my favourite stories of the donkey and the carrot. Those of you who know the story because you've been on the retreats, it's also in the book of "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond." You know that donkeys are very stubborn animals, that's why they say in English - as stubborn as a donkey. You hit them with a stick, they won't move. So the only way you get donkeys to move, is you tie the stick to their back, so the front of the stick is about 2 feet, in front of the donkey's head, at the end of the stick you put a string, on the end of the string, a carrot. So there's this donkey, seeing this carrot 2 foot in front of it , craving is what drives the donkey, not fear of punishment. So there the donkey moves forward to try and get the carrot but because this carrot is on the end of the stick, and the stick is tied to the donkey, it doesn't matter how fast the donkey moves forward, the carrot goes at the same speed so it's always 2 foot in front of the donkey's head. But it's stupid enough to think, well, if I run a bit faster I might catch that carrot. You understand the simile - that's called your life [laughter] chasing a carrot. Do you ever get it? Now it's always 2 foot in front, you almost get it, sometimes, just perfection you know, happiness, even deep meditation, it's almost there, and you just go a bit further, and it goes further away from you. But many donkeys have actually heard my talks on YouTube. [laughter] And they now know how to catch the carrot! How to find meaning in life. You know how you do that? The donkey's already been running really fast, and the donkey hears the word, "stop", stop chasing that carrot, "stop" so the donkey stops. You know what happens when you stop? The carrot moves further away than its ever been before. If you've got patience and trust and faith, you've heard Ajahn Brahm, you actually believe he may be on to something, so you stop. And as soon as it's 4 foot away from you, twice as far as it's ever been you get a little bit of doubt, is this going to happen, is it true? But then something amazing happens, the carrot starts coming towards you. And soon it's in its normal position, 2 foot in front of your mouth, but now it's coming at great speed [laughter] towards you, you don't have to do anything, you just sit there, And just at the right moment, you remember the most important phrase, "The door of my mouth is now open to you, carrot" [laughter] And the carrot gets into your own mouth!

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• The leaf moves only because of the wind

  In brief: Simile (from Ajahn Chah, as he tells it): Ajahn Chah would hold up his hand and wave it — not at flies — saying this is a leaf on a tree.…

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  This is a meditation teaching from Ajahn Chah, he would hold up his hand, [waves hand] this is for Liza in the United States, I'm not saying goodbye to you. He said: ‘This hand represents a leaf on a tree. And it only moves like this because it's the wind blowing. If the wind stops, the leaf still moves, but less and less and less, until it comes to a stop. Because the default position of a leaf is to be still. It's only the wind makes it move.' And Ajahn Chah said: ‘The default position of the human mind is to be still. It's the wind of wanting something makes you move.

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• The cold stone bench

  In brief: A simile he made up: on life's journey you come to a rough, cold, lumpy stone bench, the only place to stop. It's uncomfortable at first,…

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  a Sim which I made up is like on life we're always moving always going on to the next thing and sometimes it's because we got no place to stop so sometimes on the Journey of your life you find this old rough Cold Stone bench it's not even even it's all lumpy and it's cold and it's really hard but it's the only place you have so you stop your journey and you sit down on it for a few seconds and it's not comfortable when you first stop but on that stone bench the longer you sit on it the warmer and more comfortable it becomes soon the cold has disappeared and it's quite warm next the bumps disappear so it's very even next it's not hard anymore it becomes soft like a big cushion like a sofa and soon it becomes the most comfortable place you could ever sit the hard bench transforms into something so comfortable and so wonderful

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• A retreat at Disney

  In brief: Ajahn Brahm taught a 'Kindfulness' meditation retreat in the Disney hotel in Hong Kong. The first night they meditated in the Sleeping…

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  After leaving Korea I went to Hong Kong to do a meditation retreat. You know where we held the Meditation Retreat in Hong Kong last week-end? In Disney World! I taught a meditation retreat in Disney World, Hong Kong. That's the sort of crazy stuff which I love. So the first night we had the meditation, because it's a Disney World Hotel; they brand, so the first night we had the meditation in the Sleeping Beauty Room! (laughter from the audience) which is not a good place to meditate everyone was falling asleep and nodding. (Ajahn laughs) Sloth and torpor. So we moved to the Snow White Room that was much better. Snow White room was a much better place to meditate because Snow White .. purity, virtue and goodness, kindness. But all the interviews ... when we have a retreat we give personal interviews about their meditation. They chose the interview room to be ... because I was sitting there all the time people coming in to ask their questions when they go out someone else would come in. That was in the Prince Charming Room! (audience laughing) So I sat so many hours in the Prince Charming Room, I thought that was very sweet, and appropriate!

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