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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Steal where no one sees you

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Motivation | Ajahn Brahm | 08-07-2011

4 min read

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

in Ancient India many hundreds of years ago the education system was such that you went with a one teacher and the teacher had many many disciples and he taught you everything Le like what they call a polymath and once you graduated from your teacher then you could actually set yourself up as a teacher so in Ancient India many many centuries ago there was a very famous teacher who only receive a limited amount of disciples and he taught them many many things not just things like um medicine and calculation astronomy and all these other Arts which were there at the time but he also obviously taught them to be good people now what happened when they were just all about close to graduation he wanted to give them a test but it wasn't just a test to see how much they learned over those years he also had another problem and that problem was his daughter who was of marriageable age and it was a custom in those days to have arranged marriages and being a teacher he was supposed to marry off his daughter to his best disciple so he brought all of the guys together and said you know my daughter she's very pretty I know you all like her you know you all love to marry her and I got to choose which one should marry and it's also to give her find out which of you has learned the most over all the years you've been with me so I decided to give you a test to find out who's the smartest and the most obedient but also I have another problem you know when people get married they need to find themselves a house or at least a little Hut you know they got to get their sort of their basic necessities of life together he said I've got to find some money for the two of you and I'm so poor so in order to in the old days I would say kill two birds with one stone but being a Buddhist now I don't use that I say cut two carrots with one knife you know you got to use Buddhist terminology these days it's a terrible kill two birds with one stone that's a terrible so cut two carrots with the same knife there a much better one so in order to to cut two carrots with the same knife he said this is the test I'm going to give you I need some money I also got to find out who's a smartest so I want each one of you to go into the local villages at nighttime to steal take whatever you can find and bring it back and what we all steal will give to the winner of this competition and the one who steals the most will win my daughter you know everyone was really shocked the guy was asking him to steal this was terrible he said no this is what I want you to do but one important Point make sure no one sees you still and so all make sure no one sees you still so all the boys went in the middle of the night creeping through the villages waiting till the people went to sleep or they went out and they crept into the houses and they stole this and they stole that and they brought it back to their teacher and their teacher would keep a meticulous record of what they stol and from where and at the end of the the period of one week the teacher brought all the students together and said you've all stolen lots and lots of stuff there's enough here to keep the happy couple You Know Rich for a long time you're going to be very comfortable you've all stolen a lot and they always waiting to see which one has stol the most and the teacher said you've all stolen a lot except for one of you and this one little student was very ashamed and embarrassed he said why didn't you steal anything and he said because I followed your instructions teacher but my instructions were to steal he said yes I tried you also told us if anyone is watching don't steal he said I went into the houses at night I waited till no one was there and I went in there and I saw these valuable items I went to pick it up and I realized someone was looking me I was seeing me steal that's why I couldn't follow your instructions and of course the teacher said at last I've got one wise disciple after all I've taught you about self-responsibility it's true that other people won't see you but you see you and he said that's the only student that's followed my instructions after all these years only one of you is wise enough so you can marry my daughter and as for all this stuff you stolen I'm rich enough I don't need it take it back to where it came from and don't worry because I told all the villagers to expect you this was a setup a scab to find out how many of you knew what it meant not to steal if someone is watching

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 26:12 (to 31:59)

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

Told to steal where no one could see him, one student came back empty-handed: someone was always watching, himself. He won the teacher's daughter. Ajahn Brahm adds a twist: you count too. Compassion that leaves you out burns you out. Include yourself among the beings you care for.

In brief (our summary)

A famous ancient Indian teacher must marry his daughter to his best disciple and also needs money for the couple. To 'cut two carrots with one knife', he tells his students to steal from the villages at night — whoever steals most wins his daughter — but no one must see them steal. After a week all have stolen plenty except one ashamed boy: every time he reached for something, someone was watching — himself. The teacher declares him the only wise disciple and gives him his daughter; the rest must return the loot. The villagers had been warned — it was a setup.

Teaching point

Others may not see you, but you see you; and you count too in compassion.

When this story may help

  • temptation
  • being told to do wrong
  • tests of character

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Motivation | Ajahn Brahm | 08-07-2011 · 2011-07-09 · ▶ watch from 26:12 to 31:59 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'scab' probably 'scam' (not changed).

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

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