# The fifth child wished to need no more wishes

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-wishing-game-five-children
- Themes: enlightenment, contentment, desire, humour
- Life situations: chasing goals, spiritual ambition

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Five children play the wishing game. First wants a Big Mac; second a McDonald's restaurant; third a billion euros; fourth three wishes forever. The fifth wins: 'I wish I was so content I never needed any more wishes ever again' — Brahm's plain definition of enlightenment.

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

five children playing the wishing game it's a great story a wishing game goes like this every child has to think of a wish and the child who comes up with the best wish wins the wishing game so the first child a young boy was thinking and said yep if I had a wish I would wish for a Big Mac with double fries an ice cream afterwards and a coke cuz my mother never allows me she's a Buddhist she comes to the temple vegetarian she never allows me to go and have a Big Mac so that was his wish fair enough and asked the second girl what was your wish and the girl was thinkinking and she'd heard what the boy said had a bit more time bit smarter than the boy and said if I had a wish I would wish for a McDonald's restaurant when I've got a restaurant I can have many burgers whenever I want and fries and everything else cuz I own the joint so that would be my wish for McDonald's restaurant and obviously a much better wish so the third child a boy had again longer to think and he thought he was a very smart guy he said if I had a wish let's put away in this just restaurants let's go big time if I had a wish I would wish for $1 billion us I think it's going up again now was it which is worth more actually which is is euros worth more now okay 1 billion euros cuz with 1 billion EUR I can buy my own McDonald's restaurant that' be first of all there be plenty of money left the next thing I would buy said the boy was my own video game store cuz I love playing video games I can get whatever video game I want but thirdly my mother is always stopping me playing video games saying I should do my homework so the third thing I will buy is my own school cuz when I own a school I can always give myself top marks I employ the teachers and at the end of you know my school career I spent all time playing video games and no homework cuz I own the school when I graduate from the own my own school I sell the school and buy my own University you got lots of universities in the United States where you know they can give you degrees for anything so I buy my own University and at the end of two or 3 years give myself a first class honors degree or whatever and I can spend all my time doing video games and he said with $1 billion when I grow up I still have billion euros sorry I'll still have many many millions left to do whatever else I want whenever I wanted cuz $1 billion you just cannot spend in a whole lifetime and so the third child was a child with a $1 billion wish beat that saying $2 billion or 3 billion is it's not beating at all it's the same it means like as much money as you can ever spend so the fourth child the girl had to think very deeply how can I do better than the billion Euro wish she was really clever said I can beat that she said if I had a wish I would wish for three wishes that's a wish for my first wish I'd have the madonald restaurant my second wish I'd have the billion billion EUR and for my third wish I'll have three more wishes that way I can go on forever be that so the fourth child was a child with the Infinity of wishes can you do better than that the fifth child won the wishing game very clearly he managed to think of a wish which was clearly Superior than having an Infinity of wishes granted whenever you wanted a wish it was granted for you that fifth child said if I had a wish I wish I was so content I never needed any more wishes ever again

## Teaching point

Enlightenment is contentment so complete that craving has nowhere left to stand.

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

Five children play a wishing game: a burger, a whole restaurant, a billion euros, endless wishes. The fifth wins by wishing to be so content she'd never need another wish. That, Ajahn Brahm says, is enlightenment. Freedom isn't getting everything. It's no longer needing it.

## Source

- [Buddhism, Religion? | Ajahn Brahm | 27-03-2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIeLuMX-2p8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 24:25 to 28:58: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIeLuMX-2p8&t=1465s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Happiness and a Simple Life | Ajahn Brahm | 22 March 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQl6gClOBUk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 42:51 to 46:57: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQl6gClOBUk&t=2571s
- [Simple Happiness and Contentment | Ajahn Brahm | 7 February 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7keCxXJf18) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 17:21 to 18:27: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7keCxXJf18&t=1041s
- [The Middle Way of Wealth | Ajahn Brahm | 26 January 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnYkOjzYQgU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 39:18 to 46:44: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnYkOjzYQgU&t=2358s
- [Vesak and Inspiration | Ajahn Brahm | 21 May 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y85OWhID1c) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 31:46 to 32:19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y85OWhID1c&t=1906s
- [How to be of Service | Ajahn Brahm | 11 June 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKWRJ3Po44) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:00:38 to 1:03:04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKWRJ3Po44&t=3638s