Stories about children
17 Buddhist wisdom stories about children from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Be quiet — children learning sadness at funeralsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At funeral services Ajahn Brahm has watched lively children run, play and laugh until adults snap 'be quiet, shut up'; the children's faces show confusion, then they become quiet…
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I've just noticed sometimes that when little children come into the service they're just full of energy and full of life they run around they play they joke and they laugh and I've seen the adults say be quiet shut up and I've seen those little children just their face show confusion and then be quiet and be sad because they're taught that that's what you have to do when you go to a funeral ceremony I've seen for so many years now how we condition our children to be sad when somebody dies and it's not natural it's imposed upon us
- Cards from the primary schoolStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Arriving early at Karnet prison farm, Ajahn Brahm is dragged by a prisoner, Nick, to a board covered in cards — and Nick is crying. A primary-school principal, wanting to warn…
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Nick, I remember his name, oh this is, okay I'm gonna go off on a tangent, but this is another emotional story which I really really love. Nick, he came up to me once, because I was at the airport waiting to pick up somebody else, another monk from the airport, and I felt the hand on my shoulder, turned around, it was Nick. I taught him in jail and he looked reasonably, in a really good suit, he said “look I'm doing really well now, thank you so much, I'm still meditating every day Ajahn Brahm! I'm still meditating!” And I always remember Nick because he was inside for dealing drugs. And I also remember this occasion once when I went to teach, arrived five minutes early, he grabbed me and said “come over here” and there was a wall. I was teaching meditation in the education part of the education wing of the prison and on the wall there was this huge number of cards, greeting cards, all to Nick, from little five, little grade five, grade six children: “Nick, thank you for coming to my school
- Hawaiian shirts at funeralsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Early Perth funerals are all black; he wants funeral directors in Hawaiian shirts — kids arrive full of life then learn sadness from black clothes and faces.
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when I first started doing funeral services here in Perth people were always in Black okay now that this some people have white but I want Funeral Directors to start wearing Hawaiian shirts a nice nice dresses or nice clothes not all this miserable stuff which actually makes people more and more depressed because uh to cry cases I've seen kids and kids are great teachers for me children come into these funerals playing around being naughty like children should be and they're full of life and joy and happiness and then they see everybody else just black wearing black and their faces look sort of black as well and these little kids full of life you can see just the the joy of life just go out of them
- His grandfather said you're stupidStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A brilliant monk in the monastery did terribly at school because his beloved grandfather once looked at his results and said 'you're stupid'. He believed it and stopped trying;…
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one day his grandfather took him aside saw his school results so far and said you're stupid and he loved his grandfather so much he believed it and he said from that moment on sort of he didn't do what at school at all everything else is brilliant if his grandfather hadn't said that he'd have been at University he's a very smart Monk
- His new BMX for a rabbitStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Boy with birthday BMX finds bigger kids torturing a rabbit; trades the bike for the animal. Parents tip West Australian — front-page inspiration.
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There was a boy coming home from school. He just got given, it was his birthday a couple of days previously, a big BMX bike, a nice bike. He loved his bike. But then he saw some bigger kids. They had caught a rabbit and they were actually torturing the rabbit. You know, they really I'm not quite sure why they were doing that, but the kids stopped. And these were bigger kids. And he said to the bigger kids, "Leave that rabbit alone. What's that rabbit done to you?" And the two bigger kids told him to, you know, go off. He didn't actually say those words apparently, but you know, and he said, "No." And then the little kid said, "I will give you my bike if you give me the rabbit." This is a new bike. Very expensive. So the two other kids gave him the rabbit. They did that exchange. When he got home, his mom and dad said, "Where's your bike gone?" When he told the story, they knew somebody in the newspaper. They put that in the front page of the West Australian newspaper that day
- “How many of you have ever eaten rice pudding?”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Unexpectedly facing 60 Year 1 and 2 children, Ajahn Brahm asks who doesn't like rice pudding; a few hands go up, then, looking around, all of them. Then he asks how many have…
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some years ago i went to rolly stone primary school and they invited me to give a talk to some of these students there and i didn't realize who i was talking to and they were year grade ones and grade twos how can you teach buddhism to grade ones and grade twos you know can you actually tell that story about the most beautiful sound in the world to them or talk about the four noble truths the great great ones and great twos and i had no preparation but what i did there when i went into the room i had to think on my feet very quickly actually i wasn't standing so i thought on my aoi arse i was sitting down and i just asked them so how many of you like i don't know how many of you yet don't like rice pudding you know what rice pudding is you don't have to know but anyway how many of you don't like rice pudding and you know what grade ones and grade twos are like these little people we know two or three people put their hand up they did not like rice pudding all the other kids the boys and girls they were looking around they saw these three or four people had their hands up so they put their hands up as well and after two or three minutes the whole about 60 kids had their hands up they agreed in grade one grade two rollerstone primary school they didn't like rice pudding okay put your hands down now how many of you have ever eaten white sporty and two kids pull their hand up and everyone else laughed you taught dhamma to grade ones and grade twos they got it straight away and so did their parents and the teachers as well
- I know your little secretJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A boy learns a pocket-money trick: tell sister 'I know your little secret' and collect $20; try Mum for $50; Dad for $100. Monday morning he tries the milkman — who puts down the…
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there this one kid oh he was always having a hard time getting money from his parents you know for for pocket money so he talked about it with his friend his friend said look I've got this amazing trick it works every time so he told him the trick and that evening when he came home from school he went out to his sister he looked her in the eye and he told his sister I know your little secret he was making up he didn't know anything but his sister didn't know she said oh my God you don't do you said sister said how much he said $20 so sister gave him $20 but don't tell Mom and Dad okay I won't tell Mom and Dad he said it works so you can go out to anybody and say I know your little secret and they get so embarrassed how much 20 bucks so it worked so it worked so well the next day he tried it on his mom he went out to his mom and said Mommy I heard at school about your little secret you didn't please don't tell Daddy 50 bucks mom so he gave 50 bucks to his kid and of course on the weekend went up to Daddy found daddy alone and said Daddy I know your little secret too oh my God who told you we know everything at school sons of other people and daughters you know they we talk oh my God please don't tell Mommy 100 bucks and so his father had it over 100 bucks and thinking somebody else on a Monday morning just on the way to school he saw the Milkman so he went up to the Milkman who delivered milk and said Milkman I know your little secret and the Milkman put down the milk and said Son okay
- 'Miss, can we have quiet time now?'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A deputy principal who learned meditation with Ajahn Brahm teaches her Year 6 class 'quiet time' every morning, from five minutes at the start of the year to fifteen or twenty by…
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one of the uh the people who learned meditation with me uh she was a a deputy principal of one of the schools primary schools she's retired about 10 years ago now so it shows you how old the story is but she would uh be teaching meditation in her class of kids and there were year sixes grade sixes and know grade sixes you know they're starting to you know get close to puberty and starting to be a bit Troublesome but she started teaching the meditation from the very beginning of the year now she called it quiet time rather than meditation cuz now meditation is uh looked upon as being Buddhist and for a good reason cuz basically Buddhism invented meditation now we started it off so it has that Association even though that you know anyone can meditate you don't have to be a budhist to meditate and you even some people say that when they sit down meditating at home they the dogs meditate too which is one of the other nice areas they they sit quietly next to you and I'm sure that people who meditate next to their dogs their dogs bark less and they're much quieter maybe that could be could be a study on how to quiet down dogs but the uh she was teaching quiet time starting off with 5 minutes at the beginning of the year and finishing off with 15 or 20 minutes as a group activity which started every morning of the school year and she told actually it wasn't her but it was her principal because I remember going to the school once and obviously having some tea with the principal and he was he was not a Buddhist but he was praising sort of this lady and how that her meditation introduced in this year 60s the changes which he saw happen which was not just the children's intellectual ability increased because their attention was strengthened and but also and their academic uh results increased and he could see this having been a principal looking at it from objective position but also he found out some other things which were happening that the social interaction of the children in that class improve they are more sensitive more compassionate and less aggressive towards each other which was an important part of what happens when you do become more attentive more sensitive just the the mindfulness develops the compassion and the understanding and I remember her giving an example of what happened and many many times she said that sometimes in the class of kids in our modern schools sometimes there'll be some sort of argument or some sort of altercation and usually whether that would be a fight or a big argument now that one of the kids in the class would put up their hand and say Miss can we have quiet time now and when they had quiet time just for 5 minutes just doing a simple relaxation watching the breath calming the Mind down afterwards the altercation finished and there was no sort of big argument or big problem not only that that people were sensitive to each other because of their digital development of meditation year sixes they could actually tell when somebody was in a bad mood or someone was sick or someone was unhappy and because of that they had this beautiful little mini Society in their classroom which had been enhanced by doing a tiny bit of meditation every day
- She had to sign children away from their parentsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A highly educated Thai woman on retreat carries the job of signing final judgments that remove children from parents too damaged by addiction — she arrives late because that work…
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She was very highly educated Thai lady. And she was had a terrible, terrible, terrible job. It's the job she had was she had to sign off on people uh who she had to give the final judgment were in her opinion not capable looking after their kids. And when she signed that document, the children would be taken away from their parents
- Teach year threes and fours BuddhismStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At the old North Perth temple a teacher dumps year-three/four kids on him: please teach Buddhism — Four Noble Truths won't do; he must find kid-level virtue talk.
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year uh three or year fours who came to our they came to our um Temple when it was stood in North per many years ago and the teacher brought these kids to me I got loaded with them can you please teach our kids Buddhism something and of course it's always very difficult you know when you know you learn Buddhism sort of in place like Thailand you know all about for noble truths and dependent origination and all these very complicated subjects but how can you teach year three or year four year old
- The boy who spat on the classroom floorStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A school friend teaches at a tough comprehensive in Wandsworth around the time of the Brixton riots. A boy spits on the floor in front of him and, told to clean it up, swears at…
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I recall one of my old school friends. He became a teacher, a school teacher, and he chose one of the worst schools in the whole of England. It was in Wandsworth, Wandsworth Comprehensive School, I think it was. Actually I shouldn't say it's the worst school because the teachers were very motivated. They had some tough kids in that school. That was a suburb of London next to Brixton and it was at that time they had the big Brixton riots in the south of London. So they had some very tough kids in this school. He told the story once that his class of kids came into the classroom one day and one of the kids spat on his feet, on his shoes. Actually, not on his shoes, just on the floor just in front, just after walking in. So he was quite firm, he said, 'Clean that up.' And the kid said, 'Eff off.' Now what would you do as a teacher you know, if somebody did that and swore at you. So he said, 'Go straight to the deputy principal,' who was the disciplinarian. So he sent the kid to the deputy principal. About a half an hour, an hour later, the deputy principal came into the classroom with his arm around this boy. The deputy principal had time to find out what was happening with this kid and found out the night before the father had viciously beaten his mother and she was hospitalised. The police had been around. The whole family had been separated. Here was like a young 11 or 12 year-old who probably hardly slept that night who just witnessed his father and mother, who he depends upon, the mother he loved dearly, just viciously beaten and sent to hospital. He said, 'Now you understand why he did that.'
- The only one who knew the answerJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A boy tells his dad he was the only one in class who knew the right answer today. Surprised — usually it's detention — the proud father gives him $20. As the boy leaves, Dad…
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Of course it's a joke about the kid who came home from school and he told, his dad said, “How did you go at school today, Son?” and his son said, “Dad,today teacher asked a question, “and I was the only one in class who knew the right answer,” and the father was both surprised and impressed, say, “Usually you get detention, usually you get extra homework, “just how come today, you know, you did so well?” and he said, “Oh well, I just knew the right answer, Dad.” Dad said, “I'm so proud of you,” and gave him a $20 note as a reward, trying to encourage him to be smart in the future. So as the kid took the $20 and walked out of the room, the dad said, “Oh, by the way, what question did your teacher ask?” “Who broke the window in the classroom?”
- The Pinjarra girl who fed the tiger snakeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Elder in a Pinjarra home recalls: a little girl takes a saucer of milk under the stumped house each morning for a tiger snake. Mother finds out; father says leave it — next day…
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old people's home in Pinara and because they didn't get any visitors and seeing a monk in there was great you know this old old uh people and one of them told me this wonderful story I don't know how many years ago this would have been maybe 60 or 70 years ago when he saw this he was a young man at the time and this was about 30 years ago. He told me this story and he was you know in the old people's home now so maybe even older but he said that in that area in Pinter one of his friends you know living in one of these simple old houses and saw a um uh he had a daughter maybe four or five years of age and the daughter would ask the mother for a source of milk every morning and the mother you know they thought milk was going to be very healthy for the kid and asking for something We give the daughter a saucer of milk. Now why not a glass? She said no a saucer please. So after a while mom being very busy decided you know what's why does she want a saucer? Why does she drink it you know in the kitchen? Why does she take it outside? And so she followed her little five or six year old daughter and saw the five or sixyear-old daughter place the saucer of milk just on the foot of the house. you know, the the houses on stumps, raised on stumps, just and call out to whatever was living underneath the house. And a big tiger snake came out. And of course, the daughter was only a maybe a foot away from the tiger snake. And the mother freaked out because the tiger snakes were deadly, as many of you know, and her daughter was so close. And the daughter was feeding this tiger snake every day with a saucer of milk. And so she froze and waited for the snake to drink the milk and then slither away and told her her husband the next that evening. And the husband said, "I'll look after this. No need to do anything. Just give our daughter the source of milk tomorrow." Which she did. And so the little girl, five or six years of age, it went outside the house, put the source of milk down, and called out to its friend, the tiger snake. And the tiger snake slithered out. And just before it drank the milk, its head was blasted off by her father's gun, killed right in front of the girl. From that day on, the girl refused to eat. There's nothing they could do to make it to eat. And this old man said, you know, he called it she started ftting. Never heard that word in that context before. Was ftting and ftting. Eventually, she had to be admitted into the local hospital. But even the local hospital couldn't help her and she died in the hospital. Just so much sadness. so much trauma of seeing this snake killed right in front of her. And this old digger said the father might as well shot her daughter's head off at the time
- The Taiwanese school quieter than a cemeteryStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting a large traditional school in Taiwan, Ajahn Brahm thinks it must be a holiday because there is no sound — even cemeteries are louder. There are about 1,600 pupils.…
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Even I visited one Taiwanese school. You know, it was the the ancient tradition. And when I went there to this big school in Taiwan, I thought it was a holiday or they had some sort of day off school. Cuz when I went in there, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Even cemeteries are louder than that school. And I found there was about 1,600 pupils there. You can never go into a school in Australia that's quiet. They're always noisy. They're always alive.
- The tomboy who was a boy beforeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A girl of five or six is a stereotypical tomboy — hangs out with boys, beats them up — and says it is because she was a boy before. Brahm offers it as one of the rebirth cases…
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she was a typical really stereotypical tomboy never like to play with the girls always lose like hang out with the boys and beat them up you know it's only five six years of age really tomboy and it's obvious because you know it was a it was a girl I was a boy before so anyway there are cases like that
- There are zombies in your retreat centreStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Jhana Grove a visiting child tells him there are zombies — retreatants doing very slow walking meditation.
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zombie meditation I called it zombie meditation because it was a retreat being held at my retreat center in chag grve and a little kid went to visit with his parents and he came back to me I BR I BR I br there are zombies in your retreat center cuz they were doing what you can see outside now
- You can talk — I thought you were brain damagedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After Ajahn Chah left Perth, silent number-two monk Brahm gave his first Friday talk at Magnolia Street. A girl of about seven or eight who still comes to the centre ran up: that…
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after a few months, Ajahn Chah uh had to go off to Thailand. And so, I was uh I had to look after the Friday night and Saturday afternoon and Sunday program at the temple, the previous one to this. And I started giving a talk. And I do recall this young lady uh I see her here every now and again. She still keeps coming along. She will confirm this anecdote. As soon as I had finished my talk, she came up to me and said, "That was amazing. That was astounding. You can talk. I thought you were brain damaged." He said. She was about 7 or 8 years of age at the time