Stories about Ajahn Chah
28 Buddhist wisdom stories about Ajahn Chah from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A Buddha to stop bulletsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A long-time supporter of Ajahn Chah, drafted into the Thai army, begs him for a blessed Buddha amulet to protect him from bullets — after all the food and donations he's given.…
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even ajahn Chah the great master is this great story when one of his disciples had been around a long time was drafted into the Thai Army and there's always a lot of problems being in the army sometimes the skirmishes on the border or down the south of Thailand people actually get killed when he joined the army so you've got drafted in the army and he waited to see the very teacher said look can you please give me something to protect me from harm especially from bullets he said I know that you've got these amazing powers I'm sure if you could give me some amulet to wear around my necks a little Buddha to wear around my neck I'm sure that that will protect me from bullets so though we don't get into that you know this is not what a monk is supposed to do we're supposed to teach you how to live a good life and how to look after yourself and take responsibility for yourself you know to keep out of harm's way sort of being mindful being learns when you're in the army because a lot of times people get injured because of stupidity he said no you know there's always things go on go on I might be unlucky I didn't I please give me a Buddha statue and I've been looking after you for such a long time I come to the temple I give all these dollars in a donation box I give you food come on I'm only asking for them for Buddha to wear around my neck you could do that so the great brass said Oh Hey I will give you a Buddha statue to wear around your neck and he said I guarantee they were protected from bullets 100% and they thought wow this great monk with all his powers can bless a little ambulance a bullet a bullet proof ambulance and there was a movie about that bulletproof monk or something but anyway this was a real story I much probably bulletproof mic was was based on I'm not sure I never seen that movie but anyway he said okay I'll give you a Buddha to wear around your neck which will protect you from bullets oh thank you thank you thank you where is it and now John shall see that Big Buddha like the one behind me over here in the main hall put that around your neck and I guess it will stop any bullets
- Ajahn Chah plays at being a monkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Asked why he ordained, Ajahn Chah tells how, as a poor village boy in north-east Thailand with no toys, games or TV, the children made up games — football, playing houses,…
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remember the time when someone asked him why did you ordained ajahn Chah and yeah snow why did I join shall become a month you know the answer he said that when he was a kid in the villages of Northeast Thailand no just an ordinary dish poor they didn't have any computer games or any games or TVs or radios they just make up games like kids do in poor places of the world so one of the guys when they fed up with playing football or they would play like houses they play monks so one of the kids would volunteer to be the monk and said a giant child always volunteer to play the monk and what he would do he would find a rock he would sit on the rock he get some ground cloth around him and you sit there on the rock but it was only about four or five at the time and he'd ask all his friends to go get him something to eat we said ever since that's hot he always want to become a buck when he grew up
- Ajahn Chah pushed their car out of the mudStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Devotees stuck in mud meet a forest monk who helps push the car out — it is Ajahn Chah. Later the story mutates into 'we've seen his psychic powers' even though the helper was…
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pushed their car out of the mud now that's a humble monk who doesn't mind getting wet who can actually help other people doesn't matter if you're a big monk or big abber you can push the car and get mud and wet and soaked that's what a real is they were very very impressed of the real compassion of a monk so they didn't need to get wet but then it was only about couple hundred meters to the hall where they get to give the talk and there they saw a and sha sitting there completely dry not a speck of mud on him and they thought wow a Char left his body or made a double body like in The Matrix and actually pushed our car out out of compassion not only is it compassion this guy's got psychic powers we've seen it
- Ajahn Chah reads a palmStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A lay supporter asks Ajahn Chah to read his palm. Ajahn Chah says Buddhist monks don't do that. The man argues cleverly: you just taught gratitude, I've fed you and driven you…
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so this was happened to know my master ENT CH so my came up to him once and said can you please read the lines on my hand tell me my fortune I just said no Buddhist monks we don't do that we don't believe in fate and destiny he said I know you're saying that but it's not true read the lines on my palm he said no we can't and then he'd had this lay person was very very smart he thought he could outwit a monk don't ever try that he said you just gave a talk last week on gratitude on how important that is know someone helps you you have to have gratitude towards them and this I've been feeding you for years I've been going to your temple giving donations driving you around this the first time I ask for anything and you say no where's the Gratitude in that it's a really good argument so Rajan says okay I will read the lines on your hand and this is the one and only time this great master in Thailand ever read somebody's fortune and he was so excited because this was a great Master my teachers got many disciples all over the world great wise person and so aanch got his hand and with his finger started drawing the lines and every now and again he would stop and go H that's interesting and some going and this guy was was getting more and more excited it was really being wound up and aunch took forever to finish and when he finally did finish this guy was so excited he was going to get his fortune predicted by a monk he knew had powers and who could not lie would not lie whatever that monk said would have to be true and so aent when he finished he looked the guy in the eye and said sir yes yes yes yes your fortune yeah get on with it your future sir and I won't lie to you whatever I say will work yeah I know that come on your future sir is uncertain and it wasn't wrong
- Ajahn Chah's one word of EnglishStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Back from a few weeks in London, Ajahn Chah, who spoke no English, is asked in Thai whether he learned any English words. Yes, one: “cup of tea” — because all day in London…
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actually he did learn one word of English when he went to London for a few weeks when he came back we asked him in TI did you learn any English know any English words when you staying in L he said yeah I learned one word what was that cup of tea That's the only word could go pan lond he he that all the day cup of tea you want a cup of tea have a cup of tea
- 'Better to die than disrobe'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Pasanno, an old friend, suffers constant stomach pain in Thailand; a Bangkok doctor finds an ulcer and says the only cure is to eat in the afternoon — forbidden for monks.…
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This monk, you won't mind me mentioning Ajahn Passano, is a very good good monk, a good old friend. And he was over in in Thailand. Eventually went over to United States and started a monastery over there. But this one day, the you know, he always had terrible tummy ache. And when he checked it out with the doctor in Bangkok or somewhere, they found out it was a stomach ulcer. And how can you cure it? And the doctor said, "Well, you know, just the only way you can cure it is probably you have to eat in the afternoon." And that's a no-no for monks. We can't eat in the afternoon. Not allowed to. So he said went to see Ajahn Chah. Said, "Look, I have to eat in the afternoon, otherwise it's not going to heal. It's just really painful." You know what Ajahn Chah said, my teacher? I don't think you get away with it these days. He said "It's better to die than disrobe." He's really tough. It's not what Ajahn Passano wanted to hear. But anyways, I wasn't allowed to. But then uh we got to later, short time later, Ajahn Passano developed the scrub typhus, you know, which all of our monks got in that monastery. Had a very high fever. And when the typhus, you know, healed itself so did the stomach ulcer. He was okay.
- Brahn, why? — I don't knowStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah calls 'Brahn' and asks why; young monk says I don't know; Chah laughs and offers to tell the answer (wang / empty teaching frame).
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wang, empty, nothing there. And that story, I think it's in one of my books somewhere, that when he used to try to get enlightened me, he said, "Brahn, Ajahn Brahn." He didn't call me Ajahn Brahn cuz he was the Ajahn. Brahn, I'm wrong, sir. Why? The wonderful story. Why? I said, "I don't know." And he laughed. Stupid young monk. But then he said, "I'll tell you the answer
- Can I have a pineapple, please?Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At poor Wat Pah Pong, requisites were kept in a big water jar and you asked Ajahn Chah for what you needed. Needing soap, the new monk asks in his halting Thai — but mixes up the…
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And of course, you know, the first time I learnt the Thai language, many of the Thai people know this story. That very early days in Thailand, all the monasteries were very poor. Wat Pah Pong where Ajahn Chah lived when I first went was really poor. So whenever you got anything, they had a big water jar. And you just put those things in the water jar, maybe toothpaste or toothbrushes, or anything you needed, like a towel. And so if you needed something, you just go and ask Ajahn Chah and say, "I need some toothpaste" and he just look inside there and said, "There is some. " and just give it to you. So this time I needed some soap, obviously you know to wash. But you had to ask in Thai so you know my Thai was not that good. So, the word for "soap" is S̄bū̀, not "S̄ạbpard". It's hardly any differences there, "S̄ạbpard" ,"S̄bū̀" but apparently "S̄ạbpard" means pineapple. So, I asked my great master, "Can I have a pineapple, please?" [laughter] And he said to me, he's very kind, he said, "What do you want the pineapple for?" I said, "To wash!" He never let me forget that. He said, "Oh, you know people in England, you know, they don't use soap like us. They are far more advanced, they use pineapples. [laughter] This Western culture is way ahead of ours."
- Chicken-shit currency — Ajahn Chah's predictionAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Chah predicts future currency will be pellets of chicken shit — bosses earn the most shit, IMF becomes International Manure Fund, governments promise more shit — value is what we…
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prediction. He used to say that in the future people will run out of paper to make bank notes and they will run out of metal to make coins. And so in the future they will use something very very common for their currency. They will use little pellets of chicken shit. And you'll go to work and the end of the work you'll be given a big bag of chicken shit depending on how hard you work. And your bosses will earn the most shit. And you would go to the bank to deposit and and see how much chicken shit you've got in the bank. And the IMF will be the International Manure Fund
- Dig a hole, boil the waterStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Early one morning a village headman tells Ajahn Chah a woman has been possessed all night; villagers bring her in, screaming profanities and foaming at the mouth, held down by…
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One example, which I will never forget, this is about my master was a person who came to his temple possessed. At least that's what the villagers said, Just early in the morning, the Headman and his assistant came into the monastery, and told Ajahn Chah that there was a woman in their village, who've been possessed by some spirit, by some demon the night before. And they were totally crazy. They'd been trying to deal with her all night and they could not. So they were bringing her to see this Great Monk Ajahn Chah. Now, of course, in Thailand, they don't have a PET (Psychiatric Emergency Teams) team, they don't have psychiatrists. It's actually the monks who are the psychiatrists in those days. We're the ones, who have the psychological wherewithal to deal with such problems. And so they were bringing this lady into this monastery. And as they were bringing her in, you could actually hear her screams, even though it was a long way away. When people are crazy, I mean, they scream in such a loud voice. And they screamed profanities, even in like a temple and you know how devout Thai people are among their monks in their monasteries. But this lady was out of her head. And of course, what did Ajahn Chah , a great master do? He just ordered these two novices, "Dig a hole, I want a big hole dug." And another couple of novices, "Boil some water, I want some boiling water, lots of boiling water." And I began to wonder who was the mad person, This lady being dragged to the monastery or Ajahn Chah because I couldn't understand what the heck he was doing. You don't sort of treat a person, who's mad by digging a hole and boiling some water. What's he going to do? Give her a cup of tea? (laughter) And as she was coming closer, Ajahn Chah was very sort of fierce with the novices. "Come on, I need the hole dug quickly! And I need more water, lots of water. Boil heaps of water!" And again, we didn't know what he was up to. I couldn't figure this guy out. And when they brought this woman to him, it was this classic case. She was literally foaming at her mouth. And she was so crazy, and so powerful with her madness, You know, these were, you know, tough northeast Thai farmers and had about three or four of them holding her down. And they were just, that's all they could do to keep her from sort of lunging at Ajahn Chah. And then he led on what he was up to. He told the villagers, "This is a very, very dangerous demon who's got into this woman. The only thing we can do to help her is put her in this hole, pour boiling water over her, heaps and then bury her alive. It's too dangerous a demon." And that's what he said. He was going to pour all this boiling water over this lady and bury her alive. Now, you think that people just don't do this. But Ajahn Chah was so eccentric, so unique. I thought actually he might do this. And certainly, this girl thought he might do this. And she started calming down, before the water was boiled and the hole was dug, she was sitting in front of him as calm as anything, receiving the Buddhist precepts, exhausted. And after giving the precepts, they calmly took her home.
- Sit still under the mango treeAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah's simile, taught in a monastery that was a mango orchard: the only way to get the mangoes is to sit perfectly still under the tree and hold out your hand, and a mango…
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I'm going to finish off with one of Ajahn Chah's profound stories which I usually only give at retreats but now I think it's good time to share it here I was telling this in Thailand many people, they have read books by Ajah Chah but this is not in any of those books. The great teacher was telling me how to meditate and get enlightened. How to be at peace with myself, how to be free And this is the essence of the talk which I have just being giving about no authority. One of the reasons why Buddhism is growing in our modern world. He said when I first went to his monastery about 38 years ago now. He said his monastery in this forest in the middle of the Northeast of Thailand; he said his forest was a mango orchard. He said those mango trees were planted by the Buddha himself. He said those mango trees are now mature; and there’re thousands of ripe juicy sweet mangoes hanging off the branches and twigs of all those trees. He said, "you monks, nuns, men and women in these days; you don't need to climb the tree to get a mango you don't need to shake the tree, you don't even need to throw a stick up at the tree to get a mango All you need to do to get a mango is just to hold out your hand, open our palm and a mango will fall into it". When I heard that I thought that's absolutely stupid and crazy. I have known mango trees; if I sat under a mango tree with my hand open way before, it would probably be hours before a mango fell anyway, if it did fell; knowing my luck it would fall on my head. (laughter) Never in my hand. But that was Ajahn Chah's simile. You know what he meant now.. Stop shaking the Mango Tree. Stop trying to control your partner. Stop trying to climb the tree of life. Sit underneath it, Open the door of your heart to the beautiful peace and happiness freedom whatever you want in life will just fall into it
- Stupid feetStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In Ajahn Chah's monastery the monks went barefoot through the jungle, and the Western monks were always stubbing toes and piercing their soles on roots, their feet covered in…
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as a monk with ajanta we didn't wear shoes or sandals a lot of the time and so walking through the jungles we were always stubbing our toes or piercing our souls of our feet with the the roots and other stuff in the forest we always had our our feet bandaged with so many Band-Aids saw this he said why on Earth are westerners always cutting themselves on the forest floor because they didn't wear any shoes and he said it's because you westerners have got stupid feet I never realized you could apply the word stupid to a foot but it was actually absolutely accurate always up in our head thinking about the meaning of life while we're training on thorns and stuff and and piercing our feet and making them bleed it was stupid feet
- That's not what Ajahn Chah said — I was thereStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm read a monk's translation of an Ajahn Chah talk he had personally heard and protested that it was not what Chah had said. The translator replied that he thought it…
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remember this one translation which was done by a monk I remember reading it and said what? that's not what Ajahn Chah said I was there when he gave that talk And the monk said oh .. yeah yeah but I think this is what Ajahn Chah wanted to say And you got to be very careful there, in translating
- The general's holy waterStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a time when generals were the power behind the Thai government, a major general comes to Ajahn Chah's hut in Ubon asking for holy water. Ajahn Chah says he hasn't any; the…
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aent think I told that story when this General asked for holy water aent child would very rarely give holy water and one day agent child was a joker but sometimes I thought you really go too far cuz this day this General came up to him and I was there at his H so you know you hang around cuz it's great entertainment sometimes to see what aent child was going to do next and it's major general you know that now again like the generals were in power in Thailand this was a time when they were always in power they had I think a uh lay government but the generals were the power behind the scenes and so this big Major General came up to see aan sha in uban to ask for some holy water I said I Haven got any holy water said no please that child poor they called please some holy water so bow okay bow down and that he spout all this saliva in his General's head and rubbed it in and I thought my goodness you've gone too far this time magenta you really have and this General bought it he said oh s s s I've got real holy water know from the how stupid could you be that's what he did
- The leaf moves only because of the windAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile (from Ajahn Chah, as he tells it): Ajahn Chah would hold up his hand and wave it — not at flies — saying this is a leaf on a tree. It moves only because of the wind; when…
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This is a meditation teaching from Ajahn Chah, he would hold up his hand, [waves hand] this is for Liza in the United States, I'm not saying goodbye to you. He said: ‘This hand represents a leaf on a tree. And it only moves like this because it's the wind blowing. If the wind stops, the leaf still moves, but less and less and less, until it comes to a stop. Because the default position of a leaf is to be still. It's only the wind makes it move.' And Ajahn Chah said: ‘The default position of the human mind is to be still. It's the wind of wanting something makes you move.
- The monk with the divine ear sat in Ajahn Chah's chairStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A monk Ajahn Brahm knew in Thailand claimed he could hear people talking about 12 kilometres away; when tested it was true — a 'divine ear'. Pride followed: one day he sat in…
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and just to make things interesting there was one monk I knew when I first went to Thailand who had that power he was tested out when he said he could hear people talking about 12 kilo meters away. when he made that claim we said you are crazy he said, no it is true and when we went to check in it was absolutely true he had what they say in the suttas a divine ear this incredible hearing And the problem what happened with him was he started getting this psychic power, obviously with incredible meditation then he thought he was so highly attained and one day he actually sat in Ajahn Chah's chair and said... Ajahn Chah is nobody I am the real Abbot here And it was an example of the pride and ego which sometimes comes up when you start to attain such things which is one of the reasons why in monastic Buddhism they are suppressed If you do get any psychic powers we don't talk about it that much especially if the person is still alive If they are dead we don't mind
- The naughtiest noviceStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah, laughing, tells Ajahn Brahm about his naughtiest novice: an old monk slept so deeply in the afternoons that nothing woke him, so the novice tried to push a jackfruit…
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remember him once talking about the naughtiest novice he always like talking about these novice marks he said the naughtiest novice remember talking he was just laughing all over said this is what he's done this is on the side this naughtiest novice there was this old monk who was always really really sleepy so he sleep in the afternoon so when he slept he slept so deeply and nothing would wake him up so the no novice got one of these jack fruit seeds now jackf fruit seeds are about this big and he I'm going to tell you this because Adent child told me this he lifted up the back of his saong and tried to put it in his anus you know so be constipated this was a naughty novice and he tried to get it in but it was just couldn't get it in so he tried a couple of times so you can imagine sort of you know what stuff which was smeared on it so the novice started chewing it to make it soft enough that you push it inag fin vanished it so this poor old M when he woke up oh I can't go the toilet I can't get the toilet that was like a naughty novice
- The talk he couldn't rememberStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Years after Ajahn Chah's stroke left him unable to speak, Ajahn Brahm dreams — lucidly — that Ajahn Chah gives him a brilliant Dhamma talk. Knowing how rare and precious it is,…
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I remember a few Years later, Ajanchcha was still alive, but he couldn't travel, couldn't speak. I remember having this dream early in the morning of Ajancha coming in my dream and giving me this dharma talk. It was brilliant. And I remember at the time I had enough awareness. It was in a dream, but I was like a lucid dream. And I heard him giving this amazing dharma talk. And I remember at the time I said, "He's got a stroke. You know, this is so rare. It's just so precious. I must remember it. I was trying so hard to remember everything he said and when I woke up as the talk ended, you just woke up and then I couldn't remember a thing. That was so disappointing. That would have been amazing just almost like getting a sort of mind-to- mind dam talk from Ajancha when he was had a stroke and couldn't speak. He was alive but just not communicate communicating. I couldn't remember a thing. That was just one of the most disappointing mornings of my life.
- There are a thousand Ajahn ChahsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Ajahn Chah's funeral the Western monks argued about what he had really taught — pure mind or nothingness. Ajahn Jagaro settled it: there are a thousand Ajahn Chahs, because…
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anecdotal and this is praising my predecessor Ajahn Jagaro At Ajahn Chah's funeral service You know they hang out for a couple of days That's a very nice anecdote because as you would expect.. I was with Ajahn Chah for about 8, 9 years And we were all having a discussion what did Ajahn Chah teach Did he teach pure mind or did he teach nothingness What did he teach? And there was a big argument between all the monks What did Ajahn Chah actually teach Then Ajahn Jagaro really wisely he said there are thousand Ajahn Chahs because every disciple remembered something from Ajahn Chah which he thought was important and interesting and other stuff we just didn't even get to our perception So he said there are as many disciples of Ajahn Chah that's how many different teachings there are which is so wise So what did Ajahn Chah say? I got Ajahn Brahm's version of Ajahn Chah and hundreds of other versions of Ajahn Chah of what he said Because we all know what we could understand or what we could see, and that's what we remembered things which were beyond us we just didn't even remember That's why when you quote other people it is great with the Buddha because at least we got it in black and white
- Three months without looking at a girlStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: One of Ajahn Chah's own stories: as a lusty 18- or 19-year-old novice in a town monastery, he resolved that for the three-month rains retreat he wouldn't look at any girl at all,…
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one of Ajahn Chah's stories was that when he was a young, lusty novice, you-know, 18, 19 years of age, with all the hormones running through him, he wanted to become a monk, but, obviously, he saw young Thai girls, and he would have lust towards them. And so for three months, during a period of what we call Rains Retreat, the time when I don't come here, Sister Vayama doesn't come here. Those of you who have been coming here for a long time know for three months we always go back into our monasteries. He was staying in a town monastery, so for three months, he decided he would not look at any girl at all. He would keep his eyes down, and not even look at anybody, thinking that that type of restraint would overcome his lust. So for three months, he refused to even look at a girl. And he said what happened, for those three months he was fine, but after his resolution was completed, the first girl he looked at he went crazy with lust.
- Toothache in the nightStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In his first year at a Thai monastery, with an empty medicine cabinet and no telephone, Ajahn Brahm has a terrible toothache. He can't watch his breath; walking meditation turns…
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I told the story of very very very bad tooth ache which I had in the jungles of Thailand. I don't know why I am focusing on teeth this evening [laughter] but this was a very bad toothache. And again there was no telephone, no dentists for miles around, you're in the jungles. And there's no way of getting anywhere: no cars, no transport in the middle of the jungles, away from everywhere. And it was such a poor monastery there wasn't even any Aspirin or Paracetamol in the medicine cabinet, there was nothing to take at all. I don't know why it is when you get these pains, I know actually why it is now, When you get these pains they always get worse at night time. Why is that? I think it's because the fear grows at night time. And the fear makes that pain even more intense. But anyway as it got very very late the pain in my jaw was so intense.. I have read afterward, and the dentist will say, this is true, some of those pains, infections, in your teeth can get so incredibly strong, they can affect the brain, they can drive you crazy. And I thought it was really going to drive me crazy that was the worst toothache I have ever had in my life. Nothing else has matched that anywhere close. Intense pain. And I was trying everything I could to try and overcome that pain. First of all my meditation. But my meditation at the time I tried to suppress the pain. Tried to get rid of it with the force of the will Trying to move my mind somewhere else so I couldn't experience that pain. Never try that! Never try focusing somewhere else when there is a pain in one part of the body, trying to focus on other part. You won't be able to succeed If it really is an intense pain. The pain will keep compelling you to watch it. So I couldn't even meditate, the pain was just too strong. We have another type of meditation which we do called walking meditation. We very slowly mindfully walk backwards and forward on a path. Eventually I tried that but I had to give up that because I was not doing walking meditation I noticed I was doing running meditation (laughter) Because whenever you are in great pain you are so desperate you can't do anything slowly; everything is jerky and fast. I was running backwards and forwards. The last thing I tried was doing some chanting. Sometimes we have all these superstitions, if you do some special chanting miracles can happen. I never believed that at first because remember I was a scientist before theoretical physics at Cambridge University we don't believe things that easy. All this rigmarole of superstitious chanting I never really believed that at all. By I tried it anyway. Which is what you do when you are desperate anything you will try. I tried the chanting and I had to stop that after a few minutes because I realized I was shouting at the top of my voice and I was afraid I'd wake up all the other monks in this monastery because again when you are desperate you can't do anything softly even when you speak, you're shouting. And I had one of those wonderful experiences when your back was against the wall as Ajahn Chah used to say "you can't go forward, you can't go back you can't stay still. You're really.... everything is just hopeless. And those experiences, if you ever have those experiences you can't go forward, you can't go back and you can't stay still. Those are brilliant moments in your life. The opportunities to see things in a different way And the only thing I could think of was those words "just let go" And I did it. I let go! Because I had to; there was no choice. And as soon as I let go his is one of the great experiences of my life immediately, not just after second or two immediately the pain vanished. It just wasn't there anymore. And in its place was this incredible delightful bliss I was actually happy. It was such a weird experience that that could actually happen You could have intense pain and then let go, really let go. And it was just beautiful peace. Even though it was in the middle of the night Couldn't do anything else, except just meditate for a little while and then just lay down not really go to sleep but have a very light sleep because you are just too happy. Woke up in the morning and then I had a toothache not that bad Went to see the dentist afterwards The amazing thing was you can take an intense pain and just by letting it be, it vanished. What had happened was I had taken away the emotional, mental part of that pain. the physical part was there but it was tiny compared to the emotional. "I don't want, I can't stand this" It taught me that what you add what human beings add onto the physical feelings of pain is more than 90 percent
- Train so you can shoot over their headsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah's disciple faces conscription; Chah says train hard on the firing range so you are a good enough shot to always shoot over their heads and never kill — a bad shot…
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Make sure when you go on the firing range, you train, train, train, train so you're a good shot." Said, "Why?" So that means you can always shoot over their heads. If you're really good shot, you'll never kill anybody
- Two hours on Ajahn Chah instead of a car factoryStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Thaksin, then Prime Minister of Thailand, told Ajahn Brahm that a head of the Ford Motor Company came to see him about building a big factory in Thailand as a hub for Southeast…
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Interesting story about Tuxin by the way. You know this, he told me this. He's a prime minister of Thailand years ago that there was this big American industrialist called John Ford. You know, he was ahead of Ford Motor Company for a while. And so he went to see um the Thai prime minister who was a prime minister at the time because they were going to get a contract to build this big uh factory or whatever it was to actually to manufacture Ford vehicles in Thailand and to spread them around. that made that like the hub to spread those to Southeast Asia. And so that was a really big development. So they don't go through the uh small purple and the government went straight to the prime minister. So the two of them met John Ford and the prime minister of Thailand. Do you know what they talked about? John Ford said to the prime minister, "Do you do you know anything about this monk Ajancha? and and the B said, "Yeah, I've got quite a few of his books in my library." And so apparently they spent two hours talking about Dhamma [laughter] and Ajan and nothing about factories being built in Thailand.
- When am I going?Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Wat Pah Pong, Ajahn Chah tells the young monk Ajahn Jagaro he is being sent to another monastery ('the banana garden'). Jagaro asks when he's going; Ajahn Chah changes the…
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Agent Chow won't tell me when I'm gonna go. " He kept going there every day to ask him when he could go so that he could actually make arrangements and agent Chow would never tell him. This went on for about two weeks and agent Jack kept on asking, "When am I gonna go? I need to make preparations," and agent Chow would never tell him. Then one day, agent Jackrow never went to ask. And then agent Chow told me, "You're going the next day
- When we had no hospital, people were so healthyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: One of Ajahn Chah's chief disciples (interviewed in a BBC documentary; Brahm briefly confuses him with another monk who first went to see Chah) says honestly: when he was young…
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And I remember this other guy. He was one of Ajahn Chah's chief disciples. And he said something which really shocked me, but you know, he was very honest. And he was actually one of the people interviewed in the BBC documentary about Ajahn Chah many years ago. He said, "When I was young, we didn't have any hospital and people were so healthy. Now we have a hospital, there's so many sick people." Now that was fascinating comment because I trusted this fellow. He was very honest. And he was putting a window sort of into the past and into the the present. He's very, very old man, but very trustworthy. He was one of these guys he first went to see Ajahn Chah. No, so that's another guy. I'm getting him mixed up. But this was a very, very honest fellow, a very good man, one of the chief disciples. So I really trust, you know, what he said there because I was there in the very early days. But it was saying that sometimes development, what we think they need, that is one of the problems with with aid, with compassion.
- Why did I get shot?Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A man drafted into the Thai army, wounded in a border skirmish, comes to Ajahn Chah asking what bad karma caused it — did he kill someone in a past life, mistreat his parents?…
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To understand that part I'm going to digress now onto the story of the soldier. This is a powerful story which happened when I was a young monk in Thailand where I got a lot of my stories and understanding from. A young man was drafted into the Thai Army and he was wounded in a battle on the border. Even though there was not supposed to be any battles going on, there were still struggles in the border, both the Burmese border, the Laotian border, the Cambodian border which wasn't being reported for diplomatic reasons, but there was still firefights went on. He was wounded and so he had to leave the army and he came to see his teacher Ajahn Chah, with his arm bandaged and he said “oh I just had really really bad kamma because I got wounded in the battle, why did it happen to me?”, and Ajahn Chah looked at him and said, “what do you mean, why did it happen to you? You're a soldier! That's what happens to soldiers - you shoot bullets at other people, you can expect other people to shoot bullets at you, and some of those bullets would hit
- You disturb the noiseAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah's line via Brahm: it is not the children's noise that disturbs you — you disturb the noise. People are noisy; make peace with it when you cannot change it.
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it's not the noise of the children disturbs you you disturb the noise of the children that's what children do children make noise husbands you know keep on saying I'll do it tomorrow darling wives there's a nature of this world people make noise and this person from Malaysia I probably got somebody else over here and it's actually not tonight they've probably from your house they probably asked the same question how do I live with a noisy annoying and noisy people because you're probably annoying and noisy as well as the other people are we always think it's somebody else is a problem don't we they're noisy with everything I'm noisy we always said this happens you know when on my Retreats which I do over in China Grove is a room this Cottage with six people and someone says can you please tell people not to snore in the Cottages and then the other people also say can you tell people not to snow we never think we snow it's other people snoring but we snore as well so live with annoying and noise in people welcome to the world people are annoying and they are noisy and you're one of them and I'm one of them as well I'm sure I'm very annoying telling the same old jokes every week and very annoying noisy so how you do tolerance self in yourself and don't disturb the noise if there's something you can do do it if there's nothing you can do just make peace with it it was amazing just how you can make peace even in noisy environments
- You're just helping me sharpen my knifeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An Englishwoman argues with elderly Ajahn Chah for hours; others say leave him alone — Chah says no, she is helping him sharpen his knife: hard questions are welcome.
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you just helping me sharpen my knife and that's actually how he would uh regard when you ask difficult questions always it was accepted