Analogy · Ajahn Brahm
The two arrows
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
that was a great simile of the two arrows. He said that it's like, when you're suffering, when you're in pain, when there is a difficulty in your life, There is like two arrows inside in you. The physical arrow and the mental arrow. He said that the physical arrow, you can't do much about. Disappointments happen in life, sicknesses happen, It doesn't matter just how much brown rice and veggies and exercise you do, you get sick. As for me, some of food I eat; is all types of rubbishy food. Now every morning, one thing I really like in my tea is sweetened condensed milk. Or if not that, the long-life milk. That's why I'm healthy because it's says "long-life" milk! That's the secret of living a long age you drink a lot of long-life milk. It says on the package, "long-life" milk. (Laughter) But sickness would come to me, I'm not gonna avoid it forever, you know, we all get sick from time to time. So, when you get sick, that's the physical arrow. When you lose your job, that's the physical arrow. When something happens to you, people criticise you, that's the physical arrow. He said "We're gonna accept that. That's the part of life." Each one of us will meet that from time to time. Number one. Look, it's not your fault. It doesn't matter what you do, you're gonna get sick, you're gonna lose your job, you're gonna have arguments in your relationships, some of you gonna get divorced, some of your kids are gonna just, you know, call you all sorts of terrible names. That's life. It happens. But the mental arrow is just what we add to that with our mind.
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 15:54 (to 17:45)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
The Buddha said suffering hits us like two arrows. The first is the event itself: illness, job loss, a relationship ending. It happens to everyone, however much brown rice you eat. The second is the guilt, blame and anger we add. Often nobody did anything wrong. You can pull that second arrow out.
In brief (our summary)
The Buddha's simile: when you suffer, it is as if two arrows strike you — the physical arrow and the mental arrow. The physical arrow (sickness, losing your job, criticism, disappointment) you can't do much about; it happens to everyone, however much brown rice you eat. The mental arrow is what the mind adds — guilt, blame, anger — and that is the one you can take out.
Teaching point
Accept the first arrow; don't shoot yourself with the second.
When this story may help
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Negativity of Positivity | Ajahn Brahm | 23-04-2010 · 2010-04-25 · ▶ watch from 15:54 to 17:45 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.
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