Being Mindful Stories

Analogy · Ajahn Brahm

The broken pot of ghee

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Superstitions | Ajahn Brahm | 12-01-2007

1 min read

Content note: sutta simile; source not named in the talk (cf. SN 42.6 Asibandhakaputta — verify)

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

imagine this you take a pot of oil was actually ghee but ghee is a type of oil you take a clay pot of oil you take it to some sort of lake or Pond and you break it over that Lake then what would happen the clay heavy part would go to the bottom and the oil will float to the surface then said the Buddha suppose that some Monk went to the side of that Lake and started praying or doing some chanting do you think because of that chanting that the the Shar s of clay will float to the surface and the oil will go down to the bottom of course not it's in just the same way that beings will go according to their karma when they die

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 9:56 (to 10:43)

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

Smash a pot of ghee in a lake: the clay sinks and the oil floats, and no amount of chanting on the bank will reverse it. The Buddha used it to say that rituals can't override how we've lived. Chanting may give a small nudge. What really counts is the kindness you practise now.

In brief (our summary)

The Buddha's simile, asked whether chanting for the dead helps them: break a clay pot of ghee over a lake — the clay sinks and the oil floats. If a monk stood on the bank chanting, would the shards rise and the oil sink? Of course not. Just so, beings go according to their karma when they die; chanting can at most give a small nudge.

Teaching point

Rituals can't override karma; what you do in life is what counts.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Superstitions | Ajahn Brahm | 12-01-2007 · 2007-01-15 · ▶ watch from 9:56 to 10:43 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'Shar s of clay' = shards of clay; 'I would have said' probably = he (the Buddha) would have said.

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

  • The villages without grief

    In brief: Living nine years at a Thai cremation-ground monastery, Ajahn Brahm saw villagers bring their dead without grieving, which contradicted…

    Read full story

    the monastery I was staying most of the time was a cremation ground. So all the villagers in the local area used that place for the funerals. So we'd do the funeral, we'd see all the villagers, they'd come, bring their dead, we'd do all the chanting and the services, we'd see them that afternoon, that evening, the next day. And there was something very strange, there was no grief, they just didn't cry, not just cry, they weren't even sad when somebody died. This was not suppressing their grief because you saw them every day, they just, wasn't there, it was a culture in which grief was absent and that really shocked me, and I was there nine years so this was no just, short visit, and I thought that was impossible because my learning had said that when you lose someone you love you have to have grief. The truth of the matter, there was no grief there.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • Floating above the paddy fields

    In brief: An Australian soldier in Vietnam, going to help an injured mate, steps on a landmine that blows off his legs. After the intense pain, he…

    Read full story

    that was a story of one of the state mp no the government in peace a long time ago and now what was his name again but anyway he was in vietnam during the vietnam war australian soldier and he was helping one of his colleagues who was injured and as he went to help his colleague he stepped on a land mine and blew off his uh his legs and because he blew off his legs he described what happened next i remember reading the article which he wrote about this experience obviously immense pain but the next thing he noticed was so intense pain the next thing you notice in his words which i can always remember was floating above the paddy fields of vietnam without a care in the world one of the most happy peaceful blissful experiences of his life and of course this was written by a politician who was always trustworthy come on when they talk about worldly things maybe you can doubt what they're actually saying but this was actually real honestly describing what he felt one of the most blissful peaceful experiences of his life but then he recalled that his wife back here in perth had just given birth to his first child a son and the thought came up it is not a kind thing just to die for his wife who had just given birth he had to come back for her so he next thing he noticed was being pulled back into his body and when he was in his body it was enormous pain again so much that he uh fainted and when he came to again he was in the hospital getting treated starting the long journey to um being a recovery he had to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and apparently that because of him in the federal parliament in canberra they did make sure there was adequate wheelchair access for everybody but anyway the important part of that story was just what happened when he left his body the first initial shock of the explosion which blew his legs off so peaceful so blissful so joyful

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • “I can't understand Thai ghosts”

    In brief: At an open-air cremation in Thailand (of Ajahn Chah's brother, he thinks) all the monks leave as soon as the chanting ends. The young…

    Read full story

    When I remember I just went uh Ajahn Chah's I think his brother died when I first went up to to Thailand and they did this open cremation. And so, it's after they they had all the monks around the fire and we all did the chanting and as soon as we could, all the monks left. Then afterwards, I said, "Oh, I'm just going to go by the fire." They said, "You go by the fire?" I said, "Yeah." They said, "Alone?" I said, "Yeah." "Aren't you afraid of the ghosts?" I said, "No, I'm not afraid of the ghosts. I can't understand Thai." Cuz even if the ghost goes something in Thai, I don't know what they're talking about. So, what's the point of being afraid? Is that the case that Thai ghosts only speak in Thai? And Sri Lankans only in Sinhalese? So, if it's a Western ghost and you don't understand English, you've got nothing to worry about

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The wife who came back for the will

    In brief: A Thai woman who never trusted her Chinese husband asks Ajahn Brahm to do her funeral and pay for it, in return leaving her assets to the…

    Read full story

    there was this this Thai lady married to a Chinese man and she never trusted her husband at all. So much so she asked me a bra can you please uh do the funeral for me and pay for it and in return we'll I'll dedicate uh you know my assets is not that much my assets to the Buddhist society and I told them at the time I can't do that I can't do deals as a monk but I'll give it to our committee and they said yeah this is a nice little earner you know they're paying for funerals a few thousand dollars but the what would you get from the inheritance or from the will be worth much more than that. So we signed off on that and I did a funeral for them. Then after the funeral was finished that uh I did ask the widow George said have you got the the will said no I can't find it it's disappeared and I didn't want to harass him so just left it be. Then one morning that's when he came to monastery very early in the morning. George, I've never seen a man of any tradition so frightened. He said, "AJ," he came in a taxi all the way from, I think, Mlands all the way to Serpentine really early in the morning. He said, "AJ, can I give you this?" What is it? He says, "It's the will. Here, take it now, please. Quick, now." And what happened? Last night, my wife came as a ghost. George, George, you know where that will is. Take her to Ajam Brahm now. He was so scared. He was scared of her when she was alive. She was doubly scared. No, she was dead. So sometimes that's what you have to do. You just she was making sure her husband did the right thing and then after he did the right thing, then she could disappear.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation