King Mahajanaka and the mango tree

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• Searching the mountains for a teacher

  In brief: Afraid of practising wrongly, Ajahn Chah wanders from mountain to mountain looking for a teacher, until, exhausted, he stops and finds…

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  Retold in our own words from Ajahn Chah's talk “Toward the Unconditioned”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 266–267.

  Ajahn Chah says that in the past he travelled all over looking for a teacher because he did not know how to practice and was always afraid he was practicing wrongly. He would constantly go from one mountain to another, from one place to another, until he stopped and reflected. He concludes that he must have been quite stupid: he went all over looking for places to practice meditation, not realizing it was already there in his heart — birth, old age, sickness and death were right there within him. He had said the Buddha's words about the wise knowing for themselves, but still did not know their meaning. He travelled until he was ready to drop dead from exhaustion; only then, when he stopped, did he find what he was looking for, inside himself. So now, he says, he can tell others about it.

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• The nun, the mouse, the cat and the cow

  In brief: A nun living contentedly in a cave finds a mouse has chewed her robe. To keep mice away she asks a supporter for a cat; the cat needs…

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  In this particular story, it was a story of a Buddhist nun. A Buddhist nun, who was living in a cave, just happy, meditating, peaceful, just being content with the simplicity of her life. But one day when she came back from her morning alms round, because the monks and the nuns, we traditionally go out in the morning, with our bowls, to collect almsfoods, from our disciples, and that's what we feed on. It's a very simple way of living. And when she came back from her alms round, she found that one of her robes, which she left in her cave had been chewed by a mouse.

  And so, then she had to get out some spare cloth, needle and thread, and sew up her robe. I remember doing that, many many times in Thailand, sometimes you had to be very careful, sometimes very poor. I remember one monk, he hung his robe on the line, he just went to the toilet, and a cow chewed it. Now, this is the only robe we got, we can't go to the robe shop and get a new one.

  So we just get some rags, or whatever, to sew it up. But after spending all this time sewing up her robe, she thought, "Why don't I get a cat?" The cat, you know maybe won't kill the mouse, but at least it'll chase it around, chase it out. The mouse will be able to smell the cat and it'll disappear. So the next time she was on alms round, she told one of the villagers there, her supporter, "Look, I really need a cat. You know, to make sure there's no mice, so I can keep my robe safe."

  So, they managed to find a little cat, and just left it with her. So she had a cat, so no more problem with the mice. But then the cat needed some milk. And she only got a little bit of food on alms round. So she had to ask one of her disciples, "Look, when I go on alms round in the morning, can you give a bit of milk? For the cat, not for me."

  So the disciples, and they're very supportive, so they started giving her some milk. But you know, sometimes it's hard to always be asking for things. So she thought, "Look, instead of having, asking for milk everyday, why don't I ask him for a cow? Because then I can actually make my own milk and I won't have to bother everybody." So she ask another of her disciples, "You got lots of cows, can you spare me one, so I can get some milk for my cat.

  So the mouse won't eat my robes." So they're very kind, yeah, you're all very kind to the monks and nuns here. So they managed to give the little nun, a cow, a very nice cow. But of course. The cow have to eat as well. And so, they were always asking the people in the town, "Can you bring some grass?" And so they'll come every morning, to bring grass for the cow. And she thought - such a hassle getting grass for the cow everyday, and then she asked, "Is there a small little piece of your farm - little field - can I just let my cow graze in your field?"

  And they said, "Okay, fine - we're Buddhists, we're very generous." So they gave her a little field so she could graze her cow. But you know what cows are like, sometimes they go in other people's field. So she realized, that, you know, to be able to make sure that she didn't allow her cow to go and graze in other people's field, she needed a little boy to look after the cow.

  So, you know there are such things like temple boys, those people who have been to Sri Lanka and Thailand. The young people, they can actually stay and look after the monks or the nuns, or the cows - in this case, and you know, they can go to school as well. So, that, one of the supporters said, "Yeah, I've got this son. It'll be very good, because they can associate with the nun, and maybe learn some Buddhism, and get very good character."

  So they sent this little boy to her, so she had a boy to look after the cow. But then, just like for monks, monks can't have, like women staying in their caves so she need some place for the boy to stay. So she asked the villagers, if they wouldn't mind sort of, building a little hut just outside the cave you know, for the boy. And then one day, one day, someone came up to her and said, " I'd like to ask you a few questions on meditation."

  She said, "No, I'm sorry, I can't make it right now, because I've got to look after the builders who are building the hut for the boy, who looks after the cow, who looks after the cat, who keeps the mice away from eating my robes." And, then she realised where she had gone wrong. Just a simple thing, just like trying to keep the mouse from eating her robes, and led to her having a cat, a cow, a field, a boy and trying to find a place for the boy to stay, and she realized, just how complicated things get.

  So what did she do? She sent the boy home, she sold the cow or gave it back, she sold the field, she even gave the cat away. And from then on, whenever her robes, the mouse returned, and she was very happy with her little mouse. And everytime the robes were bitten, and chewed, she would just put a little patch on it. Because that gave her much more time than having to look after all these other things.

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• The Mexican fisherman

  In brief: An American business professor on holiday meets a Mexican fisherman unloading his morning catch: enough to feed his family, then lunch, a…

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  It's a story of the old Mexican fisherman, you know. There was American who went on vacation to the Caribbean coast. And when he was just walking around by the shore, he saw a fishing boat come in to unload its morning catch, and his Mexican fisherman unloaded the catch. And this American came up to have a conversation with him, said, what are you doing, Seor? He told the American I've been out fishing all morning, I've got enough fish here to sell, to feed my family.

  So now I'm going to go home and have a nice lunch after lunch, I'm going to have a sleep. A cesta. It's good for your health, you don't get stressed out. If you have a siesta, can you have a Siesta or you're too busy? I'm going to have a siesta, and after Siesta, I'll be home. When my kids come back from school, they play with them, help them with their homework. And in the evening, I'm going to have dinner with my wife. And maybe, you know, go to the canteen or the pub in Mexico, having a couple of tequilas, not much, and play the guitar with my friends.

  Now life is good, and that's when the American said, sir. I am a professor of business studies in a business school in the United States. I think I can help. You don't be so lazy, you are not exploiting this wonderful resource of a fishing boat. Yeah, go home and have lunch, but go out in the afternoon. You'll catch twice as much fish with the extra profit from twice as much fish, you'll be able to buy a much bigger boat with a crew. That way, you'll soon be able to catch about four or six times as many fish.

  With that extra profit, you'll be able to buy a second boat in about four or five years. You'll probably have a whole fleet of boats, and then with a whole fleet of boats. You can even make your own cannery so you can process the fish it's downstream processing to make increase your profits. And then with that business, you can actually move the center of your business to Mexico City. Or even better to la and then, because you own the whole business, you can float it on the stock market, know, sell shares. Because you're the CEO.

  You can award yourself these amazing, obscene salaries and give yourself stock options, which means if the stock goes up, you can buy. If it doesn't, you don't need to. You can make a millionaire many times over in about 10 years now, I'm a professor of business studies. That's how it's done. And the Mexican fisherman listened very respectfully until the end of this presentation, the Mexican fisherman said.

  But senor, what will I do with all those millions of dollars? And professor thought for a few moments he hadn't thought the business plan out that far, so he had to think that's all. People think about making the few millions. But then what? And the professor said, well, yeah, with all that millions, few millions, you know you can retire, you know you can retire to, you know, a nice fishing village like this. Buy yourself a small boat just to go out in the morning for fun. You'll be able to have lunch with your your wife every day.

  You'll be able to take a siesta afterwards. And you always be home to play with your children when they come back from school. And you'll be able to go out in the evening with no worries at all. SeNOR I do that already.

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• Imprisoned in a six-star hotel

  In brief: On a conference tour in Japan, his hosts put Ajahn Brahm in what he later hears was a six-star hotel room. He's afraid to touch the taps…

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  I remember going this one time and I was giving some talks in Japan and going to I'm not sure if it's possible because I couldn't speak Japanese, but this hotel, it looked like it was a six-star hotel. It was crazy. We was just, you know, going to give a series of talks and conferences and stuff when I got inside of there in this hotel and I don't know if you know the Japanese culture said, "Please, we want you to be in here because we want to know where you are." It was a bit of a conference and so had to make sure I was in the right place.

  And then just I was inside this and I thought this is like a prison for me. I'm a monk. I'm not used to hotels. They had this big bath and a jacuzzi or something. I never been in one of those before. I own too scared to turn on any tap cuz any button or something. If I turned it on, I don't know what would happen. And of course, being a monk, you can't turn on the TV. That's against our rules. And the beds not like beds we have in Serpentine where monastery where I live.

  And let many of you been inside my place where I live. And it's just it's not a bed. It's just a mat on the floor about that thick. That's happy for me. I don't if you put me on big bed, it's very hard to fall asleep. And a small bed is very very easy and comfortable for me. And so what am I doing with this big beds? They're buttons on them. I don't know what to do with those buttons. I must admit though, when I went inside the toilet in this fancy hotel, I well, I couldn't resist pressing the buttons and see what happened.

  It was crazy. They don't have toilet paper. They just press a button and something squirts out in the right place. And sometimes it's in the wrong place, but never mind. You get it hot and cold and all sorts of stuff. It was good fun. But then after a while I said, can't I just have a simple place to stay and it was one thing which I noticed that it was obviously that somebody paid a lot of money for me to spend a night in this hotel. It was part of a conference tour and I was thought I don't want to be in here.

  I just want to be a nice little cave know where I stay in serpentine or under just over here just a nice little room. You don't need all this special stuff. And you know after a few minutes I didn't want to be in there. I want to get something else more simple. It's just too elaborate for me. They had many sort of TVs in there. Obviously didn't know which one to turn on. I didn't turn any on. And after a while I realized that I was suffering. You know what was probably I think I heard later on it was a sixstar room in the hotel.

  Six star. Have you ever been in a six-star hotel room? It really sucks. It's terrible. If you're a monk, why on earth? And I realized that what is suffering is not if it's a six-star hotel or if it's just out in the bush somewhere. Any place you don't want to be is called suffering. Any place, even a six-star hotel, any place you like to be, you can feel something nice, beautiful, or simple, or whatever it is. If you want to be here, then you're free. You're happy. If you don't want to be here, you are in a prison.

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