# The emperor's ring: “This too will pass”

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-this-too-will-pass-ring
- Themes: impermanence, hope, heedfulness, leadership
- Life situations: hard times, depression, financial difficulty, success and complacency

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A young emperor feasts in good times and sulks in bad, so neither works; his ministers give him a ring engraved “this too will pass.” Looking at it in hard times gives him hope to work, and in good times reminds him not to be heedless — and his reign prospers.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

it's a powerful story, about an emperor, a young man who took over the kingdom when he wasn't really mature enough to know how to lead. And so whenever things were going well in his kingdom he'd always have celebrations and parties. And because he was spending too much resources and too much time celebrating, and not actually doing the running of the kingdom, the good times never lasted all that long. And when the terrible times, the bad times, bad economy, unrest, social disorder, whenever there was trouble in his kingdom he'd get so upset and depressed he'd stay in his room and sulk and cry, which meant he wasn't working during the difficult times. And the ministers they realised that their leader, their king, their emperor, wasn't really working properly, and that's the reason why there were too many bad times and not enough prosperous times. You can't just tell these people what to do. Even these ministers in the Howard Government, they can't tell John Howard what to do. They've got to be sneaky, they've got to be wise, and so what these ministers did, instead of telling their emperor what to do, they just went to a goldsmith, asked for him to make a ring, the only difference between that ring and ordinary rings was what was engraved on the outside, which was the words "this too will pass". And they gave that ring with the engraved words "this too will pass" to the emperor, told him to wear it on all occasions, that's all, and the emperor did. Whenever there were bad times he would look upon the ring, "this too will pass", he knew by nature he didn't have to force those negative emotions and those bad times out of his kingdom, he knew they would pass naturally. And because he knew the bad times would pass, it gave him what's called hope, and when there's hope we can work, where it's hopeless we think the grief is going to last forever, the broken heart was always going to be there, you'll never find another partner ever in life. Or you'll never find that money again on the stock market, or whatever it is your chance to win the cup is gone forever. When you think it's forever that just makes life hopeless and you don't work. You don't make kamma anymore. But when actually you have hope, there's always something you can do. It gives you that motivation to work even in difficult times of your life. And actually the reason I'm saying this was because the photograph someone sent me was actually from the graduation ceremony of Virginia Tech university, recently, and I think you all know what happened at Virginia Tech in April, I was in London at that time. I think it was 39 young men and women were shot down by that murderer? You know, while they were on campus. And at the graduation ceremony one of the graduates, you know the funny hats they wear, they're called mortarboards, with the flat top, on the top of his mortarboard he'd actually painted the words "this too will pass", in memoriam of the pain that had happened in that university in the biggest serial killer murder in United States history. That's why he said "I don't know whether this guy's read your book or what", by he's obviously got the message. And it is a powerful message because it gives you hope, it allows you to let these things pass away. So "this too will pass". The other part of that story, which is very valuable to consider, is that that emperor wore that ring not just in difficult times but also in the happy times as well. Because it's in the prosperous, happy, good times that we should always remember, "this too will pass". Because he knew that the happy prosperous times were also fragile, he had a few celebrations but not many, because he knew he had to work hard to make sure those prosperous happy good times lasted as long as they possibly can. And they did. He became a very successful and well-loved emperor because the bad times were very short and the happy long times were longer than anybody could ever remember.

## Teaching point

“This too will pass” — in bad times it gives hope; in good times it reminds you to keep caring for what is fragile.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

In bad times, "this too will pass" brings hope so you can keep going instead of sulking forever. In good times, the same words keep you careful: health, love and community also pass if we stop caring for them. Wear the ring on both kinds of day.

## Source

- [Dealing with Emotions | Ajahn Brahm | 15-06-2007](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_TtOysQOA) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 37:25 to 42:17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_TtOysQOA&t=2245s

Other tellings of this story:

- [What to do when everything falls apart | by Ajahn Brahm | 18-05-2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4gks2rAGg) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 24:36 to 26:56: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4gks2rAGg&t=1476s
- [Depression | Ajahn Brahm | 25-06-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N_jjY7W_fs) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 28:07 to 32:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N_jjY7W_fs&t=1687s
- [Change | Ajahn Brahm | 17 December 2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgeXSJr9a4E) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 30:06 to 32:16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgeXSJr9a4E&t=1806s
- [Peace in Turmoil | Ajahn Brahm | 13 March 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tr0UiuAOOg) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 39:41 to 40:09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tr0UiuAOOg&t=2381s
- [Transcending Disasters | Ajahn Brahm | 25-02-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk49Udlvlbk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 12:12 to 15:50: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk49Udlvlbk&t=732s