Stories about empathy
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about empathy from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- I am the Thai pirateStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Early in his monkhood Ajahn Brahm was spun around by a poem of Thich Nhat Hanh from the boat-people years: I am the refugee, the pregnant woman, the woman raped by the Thai…
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poem by Venable tikat Hanan now you know he was a Vietnamese Monk and he was in his early years before he became famous he was really looking after the Vietnamese Community who had escaped from Vietnam on boats risking their lives many of them didn't make it the boats were even worse than they are these days most people died at Sea those people who survived were raped by Tha Pirates their money their collections disappeared it was a terrible terrible time and there any Vietnamese people here you know you understand what I mean and this monk wrote this poem which was both shock it just span me around but gave me an insight into how such conflicts can be resolved I can't remember the poem properly but it was something like I am I am the refugee in a boat tossed on the waves I am the woman pregnant in that boat I am the woman raped by the Thai pirate I am the Thai pirate raping this woman I am the Tai pirate stealing the money I am all of those people
- The magistrate who spent weeks in jailStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As someone told Ajahn Brahm (details half-remembered), an Australian magistrate spent three or four weeks in jail — possibly innocent — and said it was the best thing for her…
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there was one magistrate in Australia who went to jail for only for about 3 or 4 weeks. I forget what the crime was. I think she was innocent, but you know, she went to jail anyway. And she said that was the best thing that ever happened to her in her role as a magistrate because once she had experience firsthand of going in those cells with those iron doors closing and being in prison to actually feel it and experience it as a real person in prison, then that totally changed her attitude to her sentencing cuz she knew what she was doing when she sent someone into prison. whether it was for know 4 months or 40 years she knew what it was like
- 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