# Two monks argue about the fish tank

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-two-monks-fish-tank
- Themes: ethics, humour, perspective, animals
- Life situations: moral arguments, pets

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Waiting for lunch: one monk says fish tanks are prisons; the other says tanks protect fish from hooks and alien-abduction fishing — same tank, opposite morals.

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

two monks who were in somebody's house waiting for lunch and they were sitting in the room and they had a fish tank I know you may have a fish tank in your house and one of them Mark said that is crol what did the fish do to have to be put inside his prison in somebody's house you know it's bad to keep fish in a tank in your house just for your own amusement the fish should be free to swim in the lakes and the rivers to go where they wanted to it is bad to imprison fish in a tank in your house so be honest how many of you have got fish tanks in your house very good because the other monks said you don't understand he said it's good to put fish in a tank in your house why he said because imagine that you were a fish if you were swimming in the lakes and the rivers you know that people would be fishing for you trying to kill you and eat you and I often thought what it must be like being a fish in the rivers you swimming around riding your own business you see this nice juicy little worm and you wonder has it got a hook in it or is it a real worm because you've seen many of your friends know they see a worm they take it and suddenly they''re yanked out of your existence never to be seen again it's like being abducted by aliens

## Teaching point

Good and bad can be argued either way until you see what the argument is for.

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

Waiting for lunch, one monk called a fish tank a prison. The other said it was paradise: no hooks hidden in the worms, no big fish to eat you, every meal safe. Wild fish must suffer terrible indigestion. Same tank, opposite views. Good and bad often depend on how you look.

## Source

- [Seeing the goodness in the world | Ajahn Brahm | 28-11-2014](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPJ6aCrkgXY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:32 to 3:20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPJ6aCrkgXY&t=92s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Buddhist Values | Ajahn Brahm | 08-01-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpbWVaXBV4c) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 11:41 to 12:09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpbWVaXBV4c&t=701s
- [What is Freedom | Ajahn Brahm | 3 December 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B7f0JT25o) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 33:24 to 34:02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B7f0JT25o&t=2004s