All stories, A–Z
1,224 Buddhist wisdom stories, analogies and jokes — page 6 of 13. Browse by theme or life situation, or describe your situation to get a match.
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- Nudist colony — slow down — naked chicks — A chicken farmer's council speed signs fail to stop cars killing his free-range chicks. Taking…
- Number one, above Harry Potter — In the Gramedia bookshop in Jakarta he is shown the top-ten bestsellers: number two is Harry…
- 'Number one!' — On the monks' Saturday-morning alms round in Perth, a young Australian gave Ajahn Brahm the…
- Number three after the Quran and the Bible — In Indonesia a bookseller tells Ajahn Brahm his books are always number three in the big Gramedia…
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- Oh my God — the Fremantle Docker — Four Catholic mothers compare pride: one son's a priest (Father), one's a bishop (Your Grace),…
- “Oh no, not again” — A baby boy born in a US maternity ward, still attached to the umbilical cord, is said to have…
- “Oh, you poor thing” — When Ajahn Brahm's father died, his mother was at peace — until a cousin came in with open arms…
- Okay darling — I'll help you pack — A Perth mother whose six-year-old wanted to leave home packed his teddy and PlayStation, made a…
- Old monks don't lie — A wandering old monk spends the rains retreat in a hut a poor farmer builds for him. Leaving, he…
- Old treasurer — migraine into the dark room — An old BSWA treasurer, not yet Buddhist, learned in the army to beat migraine attacks by sitting…
- Omega equals one — from a T-shirt — Science talk of Omega equals one (nothing excess; coming from nothing and going back) — Brahm…
- On the birth of my son — may he be stupid — Ajahn Brahm quotes Su Dongpo (as 'Sung Po'): parents want a child to be intelligent; having…
- On top of the pyramid at Tikal — At 18, in 1969, before university, Ajahn Brahm got bored of the USA and travelled into the jungles…
- One buffalo, or wanting two — Living among subsistence farmers in north-east Thailand, young Ajahn Brahm wonders why some…
- One empty room for emptiness — Analogy: why put a picture on every wall and a pot-plant in every corner? Keep one room in the…
- One Heinz baked bean after the retreat — After a long retreat, breakfast is baked beans from a tin. Ajahn Brahm puts a single bean on the…
- One leaf on a swept path — Ajahn Chah's image: when you've swept a path and one leaf falls on it, it stands out, because it…
- One moment of lust — crash landing — A jungle monk gains the power to fly; the king forces him to the palace as wise advisor. One…
- One phone call to the vice-chancellor — Many years ago a Sri Lankan nursing student at Curtin University lost her husband: working two…
- One sentence every seven years — In a strict silent monastery a monk may say one sentence to the abbot every seven years. After…
- One side is right but not correct — Ajahn Brahm quotes 'Great Master Ran': in an argument one side is right but not correct, the other…
- One toe in the pool — Simile: a four- or five-year-old who has only just learned to walk is taken to a pool for the…
- One-pound bet — sober for a year — As a student he bets a cousin one pound he can stay sober a year; decades later the cousin still…
- Only keeping four precepts today — Back in Thailand after some years in Australia, Ajahn Brahm watches people take the five precepts…
- Only tell them to do what they want to do — From the Chinese Art of War: a general whose soldiers never disobey — because he only ever tells…
- Only you, Ajahn Brahm — the retiring officer — Retiring high-security prison officer insists only Ajahn Brahm return to teach; Brahm feels busy…
- Opened the Door of the Heart — in the medical section — Adelaide friends hunt his book; self-help clerk joke; they find Opened the Door of the Heart…
- Opening the car boot (and the nun loophole) — Youth-group members can't open their locked car boot; Ajahn Brahm agrees to try if Ronnie promises…
- Ordain the nuns and we'll kick you out — After bhikkhunī ordination, old Thai-forest friends threaten expulsion; say the nuns aren't real…
- Owners of Labradors go blind — Two men talking: one plans to buy a Labrador. His mate: 'Don't be stupid. Haven't you noticed the…
- Oxfam charged for the corrugated iron — As a new monk Ajahn Brahm read about Oxfam's earthquake relief in Guatemala: instead of giving…
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- Paddington crash — those who skipped counselling did better — Paddington rush-hour crash; free counselling offered; follow-up finds (adjusted for severity)…
- Paid to be shouted at — In ancient Greece a teacher charges his students a few extra coins every time he has to shout at…
- Parachute the monks into Syria — Someone told Ajahn Brahm about an episode of the ABC's Q&A on violence in the Middle East. Asked…
- Parents who argued, then made up — In a tiny London flat Ajahn Brahm watched his parents argue until they would not speak for an hour…
- 'Pass this, and then you'll be happy' — As a boy Ajahn Brahm gave up soccer to study, because everyone said that if he passed his O levels…
- Pasta lives — On a retreat where rebirth is discussed, a written question reports two vivid dreams — in one life…
- Paṭācārā, who lost everything — Paṭācārā, from a good family, runs away with her low-born lover. Pregnant, she tries to return to…
- Paying for the timber: the builder's discount — Building Bodhinyana in the early days, Ajahn Brahm collected a lot of timber in a rush from a…
- Penance: a carrot for the rabbit — A postulant who broke a minor precept is very upset with himself and asks for a penance. Ajahn…
- Penang lady scared by her first jhāna — A Penang lady (not even a Buddhist) falls into deep jhāna without knowing what it is and is so…
- Perfect partner? Get a TV — or a dog — Advice: want someone always there, listening, entertaining, quiet on demand — get a TV; always…
- Permission to go — peaceful funeral — He tells a daughter she is holding her dying mother back; she gives full permission to depart. The…
- Perth Airport: 'That's my favorite book' — Landing at Perth Airport around 11 pm after Taiwan, the immigration officer asks if he has written…
- Peter already knew — Mom had just visited — Peter in Australia answers the phone: sister says Mom's dead. He already knows and is not upset —…
- Photo op in the galley — On a Garuda flight from Perth to Bali, a flight attendant puts her hand on her heart: 'I am your…
- Plant more flowers — Simile for 'repressed' emotions: your garden has weeds and flowers. Weeding isn't repression. But…
- Please — no jokes after the hysterectomy — The society's former secretary, after a painful hysterectomy, asked Ajahn Brahm to visit but…
- “Please don't die during our retreat” — At the start of the rains retreat Ajahn Brahm jokingly asks everyone not to die until October or…
- 'Please tell Julie how much I love her' — A doctor who attends the Buddhist Society told Ajahn Brahm of a dying patient (he thinks at Royal…
- Porky the Pig in the pram — After deep meditation he asks for his earliest memory and gets the smell of his baby pram at about…
- Prisoners smiled back at the circumambulation — At a Thai-community prison-temple opening ceremony, during circumambulation he catches two…
- Professor Blair and the zero-sum universe — At a UWA event with physicist David Blair he asks where the universe's mass-energy came from if it…
- Psychic battle with Hindu saints — In early meditation Ajahn Brahm's mind put on a movie: a psychic battle with Hindu saints flying…
- Pub arguments, then buy each other a drink — At university (and before), Ajahn Brahm and friends spent evenings in pubs arguing passionately…
- Puppies for young offenders — Ajahn Brahm reads that Western Australia gave repeat juvenile offenders, aged 16 or 17 and beyond…
- “Pushing the wheelbarrow is easy; thinking about it is the hard part” — Ajahn Chah asks the young monks to move a mountain of leftover earth; three days of gruelling work…
- Put a sticker on it — seven days — A friend's workshop driveway is blocked by an illegally parked car; the ranger can only ticket and…
- “Put your hand down, Ajahn Brahm!” — At a Singapore talk full of young singles too shy to ask each other out, the MC asks everyone who…
- “Put your hand under here” — A young builder from a poor family, renovating an old Perth house on stumps, hears a voice — with…
- Putting Descartes before the horse — A philosophy horse walks into a bar, says 'I think not,' and vanishes — Descartes: I think…
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- Quit while you're ahead — count the clean plates — Before washing up, count clean plates versus dirty ones; if clean outnumber dirty, quit while…
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- Rabbi Bernstein believed in rebirth — Moshe Bernstein, a rebellious Perth rabbi Brahm met via a cancer-support group, said he believed…
- Raged at in the Sydney airport lounge — In the Sydney airport lounge a woman asks if he is a monk from Thailand, then explodes: he took…
- Raining cats and dogs — People whose first language is not English, translating 'it was raining cats and dogs' word for…
- Raise them honest and questioning — An English Buddhist couple ask a monk how to bring up their first child without brainwashing —…
- Rajapaksa served baked beans and said 'I'm a failure' — Invited to breakfast at the Sri Lankan presidential palace, Brahm is served baked beans by…
- Ray-Bans on the meditation demon — Early in his practice a blood-dripping, skull-necklaced demon appears in Ajahn Brahm's deep…
- Razor blades sewn into the flat cap — His father, apprenticed as a bricklayer in late-1920s East End London, was taught first to sew…
- Relaxing into food poisoning — About fifteen months earlier, several monks at Bodhinyana get food poisoning, Ajahn Brahm…
- Road rage left him without a car — In a New York road-rage story he tells, an angry driver stopped at a red light, jumped out and…
- Ronnie Kray's promise — One of the most notorious prisoners he visited in England was Ronnie Kray, the mentally disturbed…
- Root canal without anaesthetic — As a young monk at the first Perth centre in North Perth, Ajahn Brahm goes to a free dental clinic…
- Roy Hudd remembered Dan Leno's house — English comedian Roy Hudd, lost in a new one-way system after a London show, turns down a street…
- Rubbing the monk's belly — Around Chinese New Year, standing by the reception door of the Perth centre, Ajahn Brahm is…
- Rumpelstiltskin — power in a name — He recalls the Grimm tale: know the demon's name and you have power over him. In the same way,…
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- Sadat just got in a plane to Jerusalem — After the Six Day War, what inspires him is President Sadat skipping endless cabinet politics — he…
- Safety Bay — combining metta with the breath — At a Catholic nuns' retreat centre in Safety Bay, senior monks say you can't combine techniques —…
- “Samsara sucks” — and the taxi's reply — After a week of breakdowns, missing shower water and redone tickets, Ajahn Brahm writes “samsara…
- Sanctuary — the temple cat on the monk's lap — Kitten brought into the meditation hall chooses an adopter; later another cat, seeing its owner…
- Sariputta and the novice who corrected him — Told as a monk that even kings must bow to him, Ajahn Brahm reads of Venerable Sariputta, wisest…
- Saturn's rings after 2001: A Space Odyssey — After watching 2001: A Space Odyssey as a student, he cycles with friends to an old Astronomical…
- Seeing his monastery through a visitor's eyes — When Ajahn Jagaro disrobes, Ajahn Brahm is left running Bodhinyana: building and abbot's work all…
- Send her back — she might resurrect — A man finally takes his difficult Christian wife to Israel; she dies there. Chaplain offers $500…
- Sensual pleasure is a loan — The Buddha's simile, as Ajahn Brahm gives it: sensual pleasure is like taking out a loan — joy at…
- Set the exam so most pass and no one gets 100% — As a school teacher for one year he was taught to set tests so most students get at least 50% but…
- Seven blind Australians and the kangaroo — Brahm adapts the blind-men-and-elephant into seven blind Australians feeling a kangaroo — tail…
- Seven days without food ended the monks' quarrel — At Kosambi (he places near modern Allahabad) monks argued endlessly; lay people stopped offering…
- Seven monks in a cave — Seven monks practise loving-kindness in a jungle cave: the abbot, his brother, his best friend,…
- Seven out of ten — As a maths teacher he set exams aiming for an average of seven out of ten: scores of three or four…
- Seven years to change a violent husband — About twenty years ago a woman thanks the monks for saving her life. For seven years she had come…
- Sexy dance for the Massey Ferguson — A farmer told by a marriage counsellor to do something sexy to attract his wife is later found…
- Sharing a room with the snorer — With no free rooms, a traveller accepts a twin share with a legendary snorer and sleeps perfectly.…
- She asked the dog if it wanted to die — A committee member's dog has cancer; the vet wants to euthanize. She asks for a few minutes, looks…
- She called me a pig — three more times — If someone calls you a pig and you keep replaying it — she's got no right, why did she — a wise…
- She called the police on the Zen stick — A Hong Kong / mainland China Zen retreat: the master hits a sleepy middle-aged woman with the…
- She came back to see what her husband was up to — A retreat participant tells how, dying in hospital while her husband raced to reach her, she was…
- She failed her exams — and blamed the monk — A first-year Malaysian student asks Ajahn Brahm to chant for her exams. Later her friends tell him…
- She flew from Bern just to say thank you — Asked for a new foreword to Opening the Door of Your Heart, Ajahn Brahm recalls a woman from Bern…
- 'She gave me the money and sent me' — A man keeps asking his wife if he can go on a weekend meditation retreat; each time there's too…