Stories about authority
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about authority from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Hands behind their backsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In his one year as a schoolteacher in Devon, walking down a narrow lane at lunchtime, he meets two sixth-formers whose hands go behind their backs — the dead giveaway of a hidden…
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for one year I was a school teacher. I remember just having a big conflict inside of myself. Should I sort of discipline those children in this school for doing things which I would have done only two or three years earlier? I remember these kids coming down, it was a nice day and I went for a walk down this lane in this uh summer time and lay off and then I saw it was lunchtime in the county of Devon. It was a beautiful day. I went down a lane and I saw a couple of the sixth formers when I was grade 12 or probably this uh the equivalent of the first year at university in Australia coming down the road. And as soon as they saw me, a teacher, their hands went behind their back. I know what that was was cuz that's what I used to do. That's when you're smoking and you're trying to hide a cigarette. A dead giveaway. And it was a narrow lane, they couldn't miss me and they couldn't turn around, so they were very, very embarrassed. And I I told them, "Look, that's not the way to hide a cigarette." But there's no way I would discipline those kids, even though it was against the school rules, because I felt being a hypocrite. I was rebelling against those rules. So why should I sort of impose those rules on others?
- The channelled spirit at the roulette tableJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A man channels a powerful being who gives him lots of advice; what he really wants is cash. “Go to the casino… the roulette table… put $10 on 19.” It wins. “All your winnings on…
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Here comes another joke about this person, and he channeled this powerful being and this powerful being gave all this advice, and the guy said, 'Well, look, it's nice having advice, but what I really want is some cash.' Okay, said this powerful being 'go to the casino.' So he went to the casino, and a powerful being said, 'go to the roulette table.' So he went to the roulette table. And this being said; he could hear it in his ears; channeling it. He said 'put $10 on number 19.' And the wheel went around, and the ball sat on number 19. 'Put all your winnings on number 22' said the being, He could hear it in his ears. Put all the winnings on number 22. And the ball went in number 22. 'Put all the winnings, he said, on number 16.' And he put all the winnings on number 16. the ball went round, and it fell in number 17. And he heard the being say "shit!" (laughter from audience) So even powerful beings make mistakes sometimes.
- The fourth cookie always went to the supervisorStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A psychology experiment split volunteers into threes: two wrote a report, one checked it. When five cookies arrived for three people (Western etiquette leaves the last), the…
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It was a cookie experiment. If those of you who know the cookie experiment it was actually quite revealing about the nature of human beings and what happens when they get into positions of authority. As you all know, a lot of troublesome people are those in positions of authority who boss you around and bully you. And of course, psychology experiments are very revealing because they take ordinary people and see what they do in in special situations and ordinary situations which reveal some of the nature of the human being. Not just special human beings, not uh failed human beings, but ordinary human beings. Because what they did, they had u these volunteers and they split them into groups of three. And they gave each of these little teams sort of a little job and a report to to write out. And two of the three were tasked with writing the report out and the third was supposed to check them. That's all just to check to make sure they wrote the report properly. So that third person was tacitly in a position of authority. And the main part of the experiment was when they brought a plate of cookies and some coffee in because it was hard work. They didn't realize that this was actually the main part of the experiment. It wasn't just a treat because they brought like was it five cookies in and there's only three people there. And apparently western psychology means that no one ever takes the last cookie. That's a no no. But it was the fourth cookie which was the interesting one. Who would take the fourth cookie? And that would always be the person who was checking everybody else. The supervisor, the one in authority, they would always think that they deserved that fourth cookie. And the other interesting thing was when they ate those two cookies, well, everyone else ate one, they would they would uh uh spill all sorts of cookie chips all over the place. They would have no proper sort of etiquette and eating because it was realized that for them in positions of authority, rules did not apply to them and they deserved more than anybody else
- Yeah, that's right — both monks and neitherStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Two monks argue whether rebirth matters; each separately gets 'yeah, that's right' from the abbot; together they protest they cannot both be right — abbot: yeah, that's right.
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two monks who were arguing arguing over you know, the truth of rebirth reincarnation. One said it's really important. The other one said it wasn't important. You got to live in the present moment. You're not dead yet. And so they had this argument, so they went to see the the Ajahn, the boss. And the first one went in there and said rebirth is really important. It's part of Buddhism." And he quoted the suttas and they the Ajahn said, "Yeah, that's right." He went and he told his friend. He said, "The boss said I was right." And then the other monk went, "He can't say you're right. This is about present moment awareness. How do you know you haven't died yet?" So, went in there and told the other monk and the head monk said, "Oh, yeah, that's right. You need to live in the present moment." So, the two monks, they got contradictory advice from the head monk. And so, they said, "We better go in there together and find out. You said that I was right." And then you said that he was right. We can't both be right. And the head monk said, "Yeah, that's right."