Story · Ajahn Brahm

The emperor visits the two hermits

1 min read

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

two Hermits they were living these were monks and they were living up on the mountain they had you know the the top hermit just because he lived on the very top of the mountain and the one which lived halfway down you know because we were both Hermits they didn't want to live next to each other they're both really really good good monks and they very wise and very compassionate that when the Emperor of China was having problems you know in his country he decided to go and visit those Hermits so the emperor he went up to the the top hermit first

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 54:22 (to 55:01)

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

A troubled emperor climbed a mountain to make a wise hermit his chief minister. The hermit said nothing, just washed out his ears in the stream. Further down, a second hermit was warned not to drink that dirty water, and the emperor gave up. Wisdom knows that power soils the heart. Choose peace over status.

In brief (our summary)

Mahayana tale: top-of-mountain hermit and mid-slope hermit; Chinese emperor climbs to seek counsel from both — cooperation/wisdom frame (open).

Teaching point

Even an emperor has to choose which hermit to climb to first.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Building Hearts Not Halls | Ajahn Brahm | 01-01-2010 · 2010-01-05 · ▶ watch from 54:22 to 55:01 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned.

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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