Stories about conformity
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about conformity from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Green velvet jeans at the Isle of WightStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Going to the 1970 Isle of Wight rock festival, young Ajahn Brahm wears green velvet jeans to be rebellious and individual — and finds thousands of others in green velvet jeans:…
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remember going to the the Isle of Wight rock festival 1970 So the famous rock festival and I had to be cool, so I had green velvet jeans When I went down there I found I thought I was being rebellious, I thought I was being individual I thought I was just just rebelling against convention setting a new style And when I went down there I found thousands of other people had green velvet jeans It is another type of uniform
- “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
- Sheep circling a bush foreverStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A monk who grew up on a farm near Mundijong once found the sheep walking in a circle around a thick clump of bushes, each following the one in front, unable to see that the…
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When it comes to sheep, I always remember the little story told me by one of our monks, Vasavado [?] He grew up on a farm just outside of Mundijong, really was local boy. And he said, once, you know, he went out to check out on the sheep in the farm. And he saw the sheep, he didn’t know how they started, but they had formed a circle around a thick lump of bushes. So they could not see the other side of the bush, but they’d formed a circle and they were walking round and round and round, as sheep always do, following the one in front, and they didn’t realise that they were going round and round and round in a circle which had no end. And if he hadn’t chanced on this and pulled one of the sheep out of line, they’d still be walking around that circle [chuckles] years later.