All stories, A–Z
1,224 Buddhist wisdom stories, analogies and jokes — page 7 of 13. Browse by theme or life situation, or describe your situation to get a match.
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- She had to sign children away from their parents — A highly educated Thai woman on retreat carries the job of signing final judgments that remove…
- She never went to lectures and scored near-perfect — A Sri Lankan woman in Melbourne did a medical degree without tutorials or lectures — reading with…
- She sat all night in the stupa — On a Hong Kong and Indonesian retreat, a woman begins sitting on the stupa floor in the evening…
- She sat on the stone stairs when thunder came — A London Blitz survivor, years later, stops whatever she is doing at every thunderstorm and sits…
- She signed a blank cheque so the refugee could see her dying mother — In the Buddhist centre hall a Laotian refugee gets a telegram — mother dying in Oregon — no money…
- She thought she'd had a stroke — it was dehydration — A member of the three-month rains retreat in Joondalup grows very sick and is taken to hospital…
- She waved the gold medal at the monk — At Sydney 2000 a Thai monk in the Olympic village taught meditation to an Eastern European…
- 'She'll do' — A now-senior monk honestly admits that as a young monk he'd sit in the temple and find himself…
- 'She's in denial' — A Thai woman, a great early supporter of the monastery, calls him to hospital: what she thought…
- Sheep circling a bush forever — A monk who grew up on a farm near Mundijong once found the sheep walking in a circle around a…
- Singapore Airlines after the Friday talk — A supporter who had bailed out Jhana Grove finances lost her husband; they asked him to do the…
- Singing the anthem of his own free will — At a Cambridge psychical research society demonstration, a hypnotist puts a student in trance and…
- “Sir, you're drunk” — “Madam, you're ugly” — Ajahn Brahm tells the 'greatest put-down' he knows, which he attributes to Oscar Wilde: coming out…
- Sister Jittindria mistaken for Ajahn Brahm — One of the first nuns, Sister Jittindria, is driven off after Saturday lunch for a tour of Perth.…
- Sit and meditate — or get out — An ex-monk supporting the BSWA, meditating at a Thai cremation-ground monastery, feels a tug on…
- Sit still under the mango tree — Ajahn Chah's simile, taught in a monastery that was a mango orchard: the only way to get the…
- Six cooks talking, no one listening — Passing the Serpentine monastery kitchen one morning, Ajahn Brahm notices six Thai ladies…
- Six months alone and never lonely — Ajahn Brahm's record is six months alone, not speaking to or seeing anyone; food was left in a…
- Six months alone, and the kangaroos ate the pizza — Sometime between 2000 and 2008 his year's sabbatical shrank to six months. Instead of touring, he…
- Six months of silence — Ajahn Brahm spends six months in a little hut in total silence, seeing no one: a monk leaves food…
- Six out of seven dwarfs aren't happy — A psychological 'assessment' of the Seven Dwarfs proves six out of seven aren't happy — because…
- Sixteen fails, one blessing — A very intelligent Malaysian woman had failed the English language test for her Australian…
- Sixty mosquitoes on one arm — Evening group sittings in the Thai jungle start at 6 p.m., exactly when mosquitoes come for dinner…
- Sixty pilgrims' photographs and a near-missed flight — Changing flights at Singapore airport, Ajahn Brahm is recognised by 60 or 70 Indonesians returning…
- Sleeping on a door with a hole in it — In the first days of Bodhinyana Monastery the two monks sleep on doors propped on bricks; the…
- Snoopy: “Most days we won't” — Charlie Brown and Snoopy sit on a pier enjoying a beautiful view of mountains and lakes. Charlie…
- Something with diamonds in it — Asked what she wants for Valentine's Day, a wife says, “I need nothing, I've got you.” “Yes, but…
- Steal where no one sees you — A famous ancient Indian teacher must marry his daughter to his best disciple and also needs money…
- “Steve, you can die” — Visiting a dying man, Steve, Ajahn Brahm senses something is holding him back and asks his partner…
- Still in the POW camp — Two Australian veterans who were captured at the fall of Singapore and held in prisoner-of-war…
- Stop the train as it leaves the station — Simile: a train going 110 km/h with all its weight can't stop for an obstruction — it takes half a…
- Strawberry ice cream on spaghetti bolognese — Monks eat everything from one bowl. Once, the person serving Ajahn Brahm tipped strawberry ice…
- Stream-entry certificates on the wall — Analogy: a Burma monastery giving stream-winner certificates to hang next to degrees and swimming…
- Streets paved with gold — A refugee waiting for resettlement hears that Perth's streets are paved with gold. Walking out of…
- Stroked the boom gate — it opened — Parking boom gate stuck; Brahm gets out, strokes the boom kindly — 'nice boom gate… can you please…
- Stupid feet — In Ajahn Chah's monastery the monks went barefoot through the jungle, and the Western monks were…
- Sudhamma's flood jhāna and the laser eyes — A Thai princess friend (married to a man from Brahm's school) told him about Indonesian monk…
- “Suffering is asking from the world what it can never give you” — A rushed executive in Malaysia or Singapore demands a quick answer: “Four Noble Truths, suffering…
- Suicide is stuffing up one exam question — Parents who used to come to Friday talks lost a child to suicide just before the TEE exams. Ajahn…
- Suicide note to test reincarnation — Asked for evidence of reincarnation beyond meditation, Ajahn Brahm jokes that the best evidence is…
- Sundays church, Saturdays temple — Ajahn Jagaro marries a Thai Buddhist woman to an Italian Catholic. Asked how they should practise,…
- Sunsets need clouds — Simile from the hills at Serpentine: the best sunsets come when there's cloud or dust in the sky;…
- Super Monk and the death ray — An art student who watches his videos (from Czechoslovakia, he thinks) makes a cartoon of 'Super…
- Super Monk and the DreamWorks email — As a new monk in Thailand Ajahn Brahm reads a comic of 'Super Monk' who flies and saves people —…
- Surrounded in Burma: “Sit down and make a cup of tea” — An older fellow teacher tells young Ajahn Brahm how, as a frightened WWII conscript in Burma, his…
- Swings at the bus stop — Someone sent him a photo of Montreal bus stops fitted with playground swings. Waiting commuters…
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- 'Take her, take that little kid' — A woman volunteered for a year with an aid organisation in a drought-stricken African country.…
- “Take them out one by one” — Asked by Fr Frank Brennan how to deal with troublesome fundamentalists, Abbot Placid of New Norcia…
- Tarantula tickly feet — spider monk — Forest hut: looks forward to tarantulas falling on him; tickly feet running over him for a month…
- Tea-plantation monastery — 3 to 4 pm sexy time — After five years, young Brahm finds an abandoned mountain monastery in a tea plantation — ideal…
- Teach year threes and fours Buddhism — At the old North Perth temple a teacher dumps year-three/four kids on him: please teach Buddhism —…
- Teaching 650 schoolchildren to meditate — As a young maths teacher, Ajahn Brahm uses a week of school assemblies to teach 650 high-school…
- Tears at the Sarnath Buddha — On pilgrimage near Sarnath (deer park outside Varanasi), he searches the museum for the famous…
- Teased on the Charles Street bus — In the early Perth days people mock his robes: 'women's clothes', 'Hare Krishna', 'get a proper…
- Ted's last dinner — Ted, a Lancashire man dying of lung cancer, was one of the first patients in the new hospice next…
- Tell his girlfriend he might marry a dummy — A Perth father whose university son was clubbing and failing waited up until 1 a.m., invited son…
- Telling the kids what their dad got up to — Visiting his brother, Ajahn Brahm tells his young nephew and niece about all the naughty things…
- Ten pounds for the Sikkim orphanage — As a student who dozed through talks by professors and monks, Ajahn Brahm never forgets one by an…
- Thai insurgents forgiven — then hired — Northeast Thai insurgency collapses; rebel leaders give themselves up and instead of jail or…
- Thai lady grabbed the tea towel — After lunch at Bodhinyana Brahm goes into the kitchen to help wipe dishes; a Thai lady gives him a…
- Thank the burglar for the whiskey — Someone's house is burgled of expensive whiskey; Brahm says thank the burglar — he stopped you…
- 'Thank you for saving my life' — As a young monk assisting another teacher at a retreat in Oban, Scotland, Ajahn Brahm is dulled by…
- “Thank you for the car park” — After lunch at Bodhinyana a stranger turns out to be the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Shire building…
- Thank you, burglar — When burglars steal generators, chainsaws and expensive equipment from the Bodhinyana workshop,…
- “Thank you, I do deserve this medal” — At the annual John Curtin Medal ceremony, a woman with decades of community service insists others…
- “That monk, he's on the gear” — At a Buddha-statue installation in an English open prison, Ajahn Brahm is beaming as he circles…
- “That was the worst tape I've ever heard” — Angie, later president of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore, finds a 23-year-old cassette of…
- “That's a beautiful baby” on the Tube — On a depressing London Underground ride where nobody looks at anyone, Ajahn Brahm tells a young…
- That's not the dress I bought for her — Mother in a locked dementia ward; brother first notices she is wearing someone else's dress —…
- That's not what Ajahn Chah said — I was there — Ajahn Brahm read a monk's translation of an Ajahn Chah talk he had personally heard and protested…
- The 'bikie' who came to the retreat — A huge man with scraggly hair, tattooed all over, turns up at a Jhana Grove retreat. Stereotyping…
- The 'fearless' monk on the burning bus — During a spate of deadly bus fires in north-east Thailand, someone on Ajahn Brahm's bus shouts…
- The 'hopeless at maths' boy who came top — As a young schoolteacher, Ajahn Brahm is told a boy in his maths class is hopeless — he came…
- The 'scatty' monk emptied his wallet at the refugee camp — Proud young Brahm criticises a Thai monk for carrying money; the monk shares breakfast, takes him…
- The 17-year-old bricklayer who didn't look busy — Building a Sydney mansion, the wealthy client wants the apprentice bricklayer removed — he doesn't…
- The 18-hour flight delay — Ajahn Brahm's flight to Indonesia is delayed 18 hours; he thanks the desk and goes back to the…
- The 1991 bushfire and the hut that 'should not be here' — On 31 January 1991, at 47–48°C, a crown fire sweeps through Bodhinyana; eucalypts explode one…
- The 2012 doomsday bet — When people in Indonesia worry about the world ending in 2012, Ajahn Brahm offers to bet his…
- The 86-year-old who pleaded guilty — Two old men meet in the park for lunch every day. The 86-year-old disappears for a month; when he…
- The abbot who forecast the winter — In a mountain monastery in Ladakh, a newly elected abbot, a poor meditator, is asked whether the…
- The actuary they called “Flash” — Visiting England, Ajahn Brahm meets a Cambridge friend he hasn't seen for 40 years — now a highly…
- The Ananda method of enlightenment — After the Buddha's death, Ananda — his attendant for 25 years — is still not enlightened, while…
- The anger-eating demon — A monster sits on the emperor's throne and grows bigger with every angry word from the guards; the…
- The anti-war rally on Parliament steps — Just before an Iraq war, Ajahn Brahm, with Dennis, accepts an invitation to speak on the steps of…
- The ants and the A-frame hut — Ajahn Brahm builds the A-frame hut at Serpentine right next to an ant mound — against the Vinaya —…
- The ants left a circle of kindness around the monk — A famous Thai forest monk, waiting to give a village talk, sat by an ant mound; red ants bit him…
- The ants who buried the sugar cube — A visitor at the Serpentine monastery puts a hard sugar cube on top of an ants' nest to test them.…
- The ATM that gave twenty euros — A former monastery postulant studying in Germany adopts a campus ATM that 'gurgled' at him, sends…
- The Australian anjali — At an international bhikkhuni conference, fed up with endless photos with palms joined, Ajahn…
- The baby washed in wall acid — Building Bodhinyana's kitchen, Ajahn Brahm spends a morning acid-washing the brickwork. At lunch…
- The bad snake learned to hiss but not bite — Jātaka-based arc: bad snake gets religious, takes Five Precepts from a holy snake, kids torment…
- The bank robber who sat down to wait — True-story newspaper item: after robbing a bank the man sits in the foyer and waits to be arrested…
- The barium meal that wouldn't move — A monk in Thailand given an afternoon barium X-ray finds the meal won't move because his stomach…
- The bat-cave papaya — As a young monk Ajahn Brahm spent about six months meditating in a cave full of bats; to this day…
- The BBC cricket commentary blooper — Ajahn Brahm recalls the famous BBC Test Match Special blooper when, introducing an over with a…
- The bear attack and the sapling in her head — A nun, before ordaining, is meditating outside a Himalayan cave when a bear clamps its jaws on her…
- The benefits of dying at 30,000 feet — Ajahn Brahm lists the 'benefits' of dying in an aircraft explosion: instant painless death,…
- The best boarding-house cook in England — At 19, dreading the 'stodge, stodge and stodge' of a Cambridge boarding house, Ajahn Brahm goes on…
- The big rocks go in first — A business-school professor fills a jar with large stones and asks if it's full; the students say…
- The Biggest Loser — Challenging the slur 'loser', Ajahn Brahm lists what he lost becoming a monk — money, girlfriends,…