Stories about confidence
7 Buddhist wisdom stories about confidence from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Blessings are cheering for your teamAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile: when supporters shout 'Come on, the Dockers! Come on, the Eagles!', the team does better. That's what his chanting and blessings are — shouting for you: 'Come on, you can…
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when you shout for your football team. ‘Come on, the Dockers, come on, the West Coast Eagles, come on!’. When you actually shout for your team and you've got lots of supporters, of course, the team do much better. You're encouraging them. So that's what I do to you. When I do the chanting and the blessings, I just shout for you, ‘come on, you can do it, yeah, come on, yes yes yes!’. That's what I did for that guy in the ICU, ‘come on, you can come out of coma, come on, yeah, you can, yes, you did it
- “I haven't got a tail — I'm not a dog”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A parent tells Ajahn Brahm that their bullied son used a Thai teaching he'd brought back: if someone calls you a dog, look at your bottom to see if you have a tail; if not,…
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They said their son was being bullied at school, bullying is a big thing. And they said a little teaching which really helped them, a very simple teaching, was that teaching which I took back from Thailand, which means that you don't listen to other people's criticisms. It was that teaching, if somebody calls you a dog, you look at your bottom to see if you've got a tail. If you haven't got a tail, you're not a dog, it is the end of the problem. And this actually happened because these bullies, they called this kid a dog, and he would remember the story, this was a kid at school, remember the story, he looked at his bottom, "sorry I haven't got a tail, I'm not a dog". And those kids stopped bullying him after that.
- Sixteen fails, one blessingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A very intelligent Malaysian woman had failed the English language test for her Australian permanent visa 16 times. 'Take it again.' 'But I failed 16 times.' 'Ah, but you were…
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I can never forget this Malaysian girl. I don't know if she's here today, but you know, 16 times she failed the the ELS test, the you know, for getting a permanent visa. 16 times she failed and she needed that to stay in Australia. She's very intelligent lady. But then she asked me, so what should I do? And so I said, take it again. But I fell 16 times. Ah, but you never was blessed by Ajan Brah before, were you? So she did it and so I gave her a good blessing and a few days later she rang up. Yeah, you passed. How did you know? Cuz you were blessed by me. Of course. That was really good. That 16 times she failed, got the blessing and it worked. Just encouraging and making her confident. Not psychic powers or anything just the confidence giving you.
- Stroked the boom gate — it openedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Parking boom gate stuck; Brahm gets out, strokes the boom kindly — 'nice boom gate… can you please open?' — and it opens. Confidence matters.
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they boom wouldn't lift up. And there was a queue developing behind them. So of course, what do you do? I got out of the car. Well, I wasn't driving, obviously, someone else was. They couldn't get the gate to work. So I just you know, that boom thing, stroked it. It's a nice boom gate. Look, you know, it's very cold outside. We have to get to the next appointment where I'm giving a talk. Can you please open? Honestly, it opened. I don't know how that works, but you try it
- The Colombia coach brought her World Cup teamStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: The head coach of Colombia's women's soccer team, in Perth for the Women's World Cup, came to a Friday talk after listening on YouTube and brought her team for a boost; the next…
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head coach of the Colombian international women's soccer team. They're playing the Women's World Cup in Australia. And one of those teams from Colombia, they were playing here in Perth the following night on a Saturday evening. And she said she'd listened to my talks on YouTube and she brought her team along to be able to get a boost of energy. You know, even like meditation can help. You know, honestly, not exaggerating. Check it out if you wish. That evening or next evening, sorry, Saturday, that Colombia, they beat some other team or something in the women's World Cup. The only team we ever beat, but at least it was because of my chanting
- The kids throwing stones on Bunbury beachStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the early years in Australia, while Ajahn Brahm meditates on Bunbury beach, stones start whizzing past his ears. He stands up and walks towards the six or seven kids, who…
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once they threw stones at me. And that was over in Bunbury beach many years ago. These kids - I was just meditating there, minding my own business - and this stone came whizzing past my ears. Very good they were bad shots, but as they got closer and closer, I thought I better do something. So I just stood up and turned around. And there were these kids. For those of you who were old enough, that was when the orange people were here. They thought I was an orange person, fair enough mistake, this is pretty orange. But I actually started walking to them, and it's amazing, when you face people who do things like that, as soon as I started walking <u>towards</u> them, they started running away. [laughs] There was about six or seven kids there, and they could have easily beaten me up, but just the confidence there was enough to get them to scatter. And I just rushed after them, caught them up, and said "Look, why are you throwing stones? I'm a Buddhist monk". "Ohh, you're a Buddhist monk, sorry! We thought you were an orange person. Buddhist monks are cool.
- The kung fu poseStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Walking from his mother's flat in Acton to give a talk at the Sri Lankan temple, Ajahn Brahm takes the short way past a block of flats known as a no-go area. A gang of fourteen…
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I told him the story of when I was uh over in London visiting my mother and that's where I grew up in London in West London Actton. part of that area was very rough and I just in the afternoon I was walking from my mother's house or rather flat apartment to the Sri Lankan temple to give a talk that evening and I decided to go the shortest way which was also past this block of flats for poor people which was known as a hot bed of crime. Basically, it was like a nogo area unless you knew who you were and where, you know, and the other people knew you. So, I was walking along the street minding my own business. And this gang, maybe first of all, a dozen or maybe 14 or 15 guys came out just to meet together to, you know, find out what business they were going to get up to that evening. And as they saw me coming towards them, just walking peacefully, minding my own business, then they realized I was a Buddhist monk cuz they started chanting Buddha. Budda, Budda, Buddha. As I got closer, it became louder and faster. Buddha, Budda, Buddha, Buddha. They were trying to intimidate me. But even I was alone and these were many young you must call them thugs just they were waiting for me chanting louder and louder Buddha Buddha. I had a choice. I could turn around and just go back and go another way. I could cross the road to the other side of the street. That is not my character. My character was that I walked towards him calmly. When I got to within about five or six meters of them, they're really chanting loud now. Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, and I raised my arms in a kung fu pose. At least what I saw on the TV as a kung fu pose. You know, sometimes I actually did that sometime. I don't know if it was stupidity or courage, but I don't know, but it worked. and and I just walked the same pace with my arms like this [laughter] and they parted and let me right through. They didn't hit me at all or harm me at all. They could have wasted me so easily.