Being Mindful Stories

Analogy · Ajahn Brahm

Two cakes: karma as ingredients

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Dealing with Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 25 Nov 2016

2 min read

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

the best simile I've got two people baking a cake the first person baking the cake has got the very worst ingredients they got white flour which is so old it's got green moldy bits in it I remember flower like that when I was a student we couldn't afford anything so you know we'd have to take the green bits out and use the other bits white moldy flower uh diabetically enhanced sugar cholesterol enhanced butter and whatever fruit you can get you know to put in there and just an old kitchen to actually to cook it in the very worst ingredients but the second person has got the very best ingredients organically grown whole wheat flour gluten free if sown in a field where there has to be no genetically modified crops for a thousand kilometers surrounding a free range wheat that is I don't know what I'm talking about I sometimes read this on the stuff which I see and I don't know what it means but anyway and canola oil which is people I'm not sure if it's just true or not it's supposed to be cholesterol free beautiful honey from Western Australia and fresh fruit from their back Garden and the very best of ingredients and the most modern kitchen to cook it in so those are the two people who bakes the best cake and this is actually where you understand what karma is who makes the best cake it's not always the person with the best ingredients it's not always that you go to Asia Penang where'd you get the best food in the restaurants in the streets yeah the Hawkers they can't afford the best ingredients or the best kitchen but that the competition is so cutthroat that they have to make the best to survive they have to put so much more effort energy love and skill into their cooking they have to otherwise they won't survive and that's why they're cooking is much more delicious now that is like you know what the law of karma it's not just the ingredients you have to work with the most important part of calm is what you're doing with those ingredients how you put them together

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 31:02 (to 33:34)

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

Two cooks, one with poor ingredients and one with the finest, and the best cake may come from the first, like Penang's hawkers who must cook with skill and love. Your past gives you ingredients; what you make of them is up to you. You're not a victim of circumstance or politics. Bake something good.

In brief (our summary)

Simile (from Opening the Door of Your Heart): one person bakes a cake with mouldy old flour, cheap sugar and butter and an old kitchen; another has organic gluten-free flour, West Australian honey, fresh fruit and a modern kitchen. Who bakes the better cake? Not necessarily the one with the best ingredients — think of Penang's hawkers, who can't afford the best but must put in more effort, love and skill to survive. Past karma gives the ingredients; present karma is what you do with them.

Teaching point

You're not a victim of circumstances; what matters is what you make of the ingredients you're given.

When this story may help

  • feeling disempowered
  • hard circumstances
  • political anxiety

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Dealing with Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 25 Nov 2016 · 2016-11-25 · ▶ watch from 31:02 to 33:34 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'calm' = kamma/karma; 'flower' = flour.

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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