Stories about authenticity
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about authenticity from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- The politician who talked the walkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a free afternoon in Singapore, Ajahn Brahm takes his followers to a charity walk raising funds for a fellow monk's indebted Buddhist library. A politician speaks first,…
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that reminded me that i was in singapore many years ago and i did have a free afternoon i can't actually remember what they're like but had a free afternoon and i did hear that one of you know the fellow monks he was the the head of the buddhist library in singapore and they were in a lot of debt because they wanted to get a good center but you know it's very expensive and they were having to pay off that so i heard they were having a charity walk in the afternoon so all the people who were following me over in singapore i said if you feel this afternoon let's go and help somebody else let's do some some nice kindness and raise some funds for one of my mates so we all went over there and of course the head mark over there was very very surprised and very happy that i turned up and that's because i was well known over there i was also asked to give a little speech but before i gave the speech it was a politician gave a speech first they invited a politician to also to speak at this event and he said you know best of luck i really support this it's a good temple and all the best and then i asked him when i gave my talk i said are you actually going on the walk he said no no it's too important i just i'm just giving the speech i'm going to another event and so i told him he said you're one of the politicians who talks the walk but you don't walk your talk and he took it well
- “Whatever those monks are on, I want some”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A past president of the Buddhist Society, Rachel Green, first came only to learn meditation for panic attacks and anxiety. Seeing the Armadale group's monks always peaceful and…
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There's - one of our past presidents, she is not here this evening, so she was here about two or three weeks ago, that's Rachel Green. She won't mind me telling her name, because she wrote a little book about, her spiritual story. And the part which I like, well, I got to be honest, it was about me. And it's actually really about how she became a Buddhist. She was suffering from panic disorders and anxiety attacks. Like many of you know, if you actually come and do some meditation, it really helps overcome anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Meditation is a beautiful method of overcoming that. And many people know that, many people actually are sent by their GPs to places like this to learn meditation, so they can overcome their anxiety disorders and panic attacks - and it works very well. But anyway, she came along, just to learn some meditation to overcome her anxiety disorders, and then she saw these monks, and this is the Armadale group, always seem to be peaceful and happy. She wrote in her book, that when she first saw these guys, she thought they're just acting. Just a face you put on in public, and behind the scenes, you know you're just like anybody else - you know, grumpy, arrogant, selfish. So actually, she decided to try and visit our monasteries, and "check us out", to see whether this was real, or whether we're just faking it. And of course, now I really try hard to make everybody open, so you can come and see as many times, see us y'know, when we're off-guard, not in public, and hopefully, I think you'll probably see that as you see us now, is actually as we are at all times. When she saw that, she realized, "I don't know what those monks are on, but whatever they're on, I want some of it."
- You've demoted meJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A sweet village woman finishes a Colombo meditation course and is certified a stream-winner (sotāpanna). She is furious — last year they said she was a non-returner. Course…
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there was this woman, you know, who went to Colombo in Sri Lanka, visiting her family and friends. And she came from a very remote village. But she was a very devout Buddhist, would go to the temple offering dana. Uh this is the food to the monks, and doing all of this chanting and stuff. And what most people in Colombo thought was one of these superficial Buddhists, just into the rituals and the ceremonies, but never really getting into the heart, the deep heart of Buddhism. But because she was an old lady and very sweet, they decided to sponsor her for this course, which was being held in Colombo. And in this course, they did meditation and then did studies on Buddhism. And at the end of the course, they gave them a little examination, maybe just uh uh an interview to find out about how deep their meditation was and how much understanding of Buddhism they had attained. And they would give them certificates at the end. Especially some of them they thought had got one of the four stages of enlightenment. And for those of you who do not know the four stages of enlightenment, the first stage of enlightenment is called the stream winner. The second one is called the once returner. The third one is a non-returner. The fourth one is fully enlightened. The four stages of enlightenment, which come one after the other. And they were giving out these certificates to everybody. Say, you're at the first stage. You're at the third stage. You're at the second stage. And after this woman had completed the course, they came up to her and said, "We've all decided you've done really, really, really well. Congratulations. You've made the first stage of enlightenment." And they used the Lankan say, "No, that's so one." They gave her a certificate to say that she was a so one, the first stage of enlightenment. And she got really angry. She got really upset. And they couldn't understand why. Why you got You know, you got on the first stage of enlightenment. That's a great achievement. That's wonderful. Why are you so upset? And then she told them, said, "You don't remember me, do you? I was here last year and you said I got onto the third stage of enlightenment. You've demoted me." They got closed down after that