Stories about enlightenment
5 Buddhist wisdom stories about enlightenment from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- The Ananda method of enlightenmentStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After the Buddha's death, Ananda — his attendant for 25 years — is still not enlightened, while 499 of the 500 monks gathering for the great council are arahants with psychic…
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But Ananda, he was a He was the attendant of the Buddha, the chief No, the chief disciples of the Buddha, and when the Buddha passed away, Ananda was still not enlightened. And he thought, "If I can't be enlightened after being with the Buddha for 25 years, almost every day, listening to all of his teachings, being one of the greatest masters, and I've blown it. 25 years, I'm still not enlightened. What chance do I have now?" But there was a big meeting of all the great monks. 500 monks were meeting together. 499 of them were perfectly enlightened with psychic powers, all except this poor Ananda guy. Imagine the peer pressure. Imagine. So, he stayed up all night meditating and meditating and meditating. Now, that's the reason why he didn't get enlightened. Trying. Trying to get enlightened, trying to achieve something. But then when he got to dawn, he was absolutely nowhere, hopeless. You'll have that feeling sometimes. You're meditating and meditating, nowhere, absolutely hopeless. So, what did he do? He decided to go and take a nap. So, as he lay down, according to the legend, just before his head hit the pillow, he became fully enlightened with psychic powers as well. Brilliant. So, we call that the Ananda method of enlightenment.
- The boy who failed grade one three timesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A north-east Thai boy fails grade one three years running, so he is sent to the village monastery, where even the patient abbot can't teach him to chant 'Namo Tassa'. Sent on to…
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There was one of my favourite monks in Thailand long time ago. I only heard about him when I was a young monk. I never actually met him. But the reason why I was impressed by him was his story how he became a monk, and how he became fully enlightened. Because he was a young kid when he went to grade one in school in the northeast of Thailand, it was only basic education. Only four years of school. This was over 40 50 years ago. Only four years at school and then you are out in the fields ploughing and doing stuff with your father and mother. It was subsistence economy. So when he went to grade one at school after finishing the year, his teacher said "I'm sorry, I can't pass you. You can't go on to grade two. You have to repeat grade one." I don't know how anyone could fail grade one at school. Maybe plasticine, you can't do. Otherwise how can you fail grade one? But this kid was so stupid, he failed grade one and had to repeat it when all his friends went on to grade two. And after another year in grade one, his teacher said "Look, I'm sorry. Just for the best one in the world. You have to repeat it for third year." And after three years of repeating grade one at school, that teacher the headmaster again "Sorry we can't pass this kid. He's that stupid." And anyone who can't pass grade one after three tries, it's a waste of time, sort of getting him to help plough the fields. He doesn't know one end of a water buffalo from another end. And so the only place they could send him and this was in Thailand in those times if you're that stupid, you can't pass grade one after three years, was to send him into the monastery and make him a novice monk. Now not all novice monks start their life out like that. [laughter] And the reason they sent him to the monastery, village monastery, because that was just a catcher that was a social safety net. And at least the head monk in these monasteries they are always incredibly kind and so patient. Much more patient now than any sort of teacher in a school. So, this head monk in this monastery took this young kid under his wing and tried as much as he could to train him. Now we have to do some sort of chanting, you know, as a Buddhist monk. He tried to teach him how to chant simple things like the Namo Tassa. And so you get the first word Namo. Yeah, what's the second word? Tassa? Oh, yeah, Tassa. What's the first word again? He was just so dumb. He could not even do Namo Tassa. And after a couple of years in the monastery in the village, even the abbot just could not teach him. So the last resort, the final resting place for such hopeless little kids were the forest monasteries, where I come from. [laughter] They said send him to one of these forest monasteries. That's where you don't have to do the chanting, and you just meditate all day. And this fellow, his mind was so simple. They just asked him, just notice and watch your breath go in and out. And he could do it no problem at all. Because he, you know, he didn't think that much, not like you guys. And so this person who everyone thought was stupid, he got into the deep meditations really quickly, and very quickly became fully enlightened, an arahat. So you say, who's a stupid one? Not this guy, his mind was so peaceful, they're so pure and kind. Interestingly, I remember the story. They said, well, you know, as a monk, he has to do some chanting. And he could chant very well after that experience. Because what he actually did. So he said, with a powerful mind like that he could remember his past lives, remember the past life when he was a monk before and when he actually did learn the chanting. And he would actually connect with that past life whenever he had to do the chanting. So you know he's actually sent his memory back. And that's where he could chant in this life.
- The celebratory pork curry that ended his enlightenmentStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After four years as a monk Ajahn Brahm had a great satori and thought he was enlightened. That morning, instead of the usual rotten fish curry, there was rare pork curry from…
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When I had my great Satori experience Four years as a monk and everything became really clear I really thought I was Enlightened You can read the whole story, it's very self deprecating until the food came that morning usually we have rotten fish curry for that morning there was another pot of curry It was actually... sorry if you are vegetarian there was no vegetarian food around in Thailand those days and the other food was like a pork curry from town we never have that that is really rare and straight away I thought the heavenly beings are also celebrating my Enlightenment I thought wow this is great because that's such a rare event and I was number two monk and the head monk a local boy actually from that local village he should have liked the rotten fish curry he grew up on it that was a local dish and he never took any rotten fish curry He took -- incredible big ladles no one could eat that much of the pork curry He sloshed it into his bowl. I wasn't concerned about that because there was plenty left you know of the pork curry but what he did next was absolutely unforgivable he took what was left of the pork curry and he poured it into the rotten fish curry; stirred it up and said it's all the same, it's all the same What a hypocrite, if it was all the same why didn't he pour it in and mix it up before he took his and he spoiled my celebratory meal for being .. Arahant doesn't worry about food. That was ... oh no... I am not fully enlightened after all but I really felt like it for a long time had all the.... no sloth and torpor, incredible energy absolutely imperturbable that was great Shame it didn't last that long So that is what these satoris are And the only way you can find out if it is the real thing if it really persist over years So just one great insight not enough
- The fifth child wished to need no more wishesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Five children play the wishing game. First wants a Big Mac; second a McDonald's restaurant; third a billion euros; fourth three wishes forever. The fifth wins: 'I wish I was so…
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five children playing the wishing game it's a great story a wishing game goes like this every child has to think of a wish and the child who comes up with the best wish wins the wishing game so the first child a young boy was thinking and said yep if I had a wish I would wish for a Big Mac with double fries an ice cream afterwards and a coke cuz my mother never allows me she's a Buddhist she comes to the temple vegetarian she never allows me to go and have a Big Mac so that was his wish fair enough and asked the second girl what was your wish and the girl was thinkinking and she'd heard what the boy said had a bit more time bit smarter than the boy and said if I had a wish I would wish for a McDonald's restaurant when I've got a restaurant I can have many burgers whenever I want and fries and everything else cuz I own the joint so that would be my wish for McDonald's restaurant and obviously a much better wish so the third child a boy had again longer to think and he thought he was a very smart guy he said if I had a wish let's put away in this just restaurants let's go big time if I had a wish I would wish for $1 billion us I think it's going up again now was it which is worth more actually which is is euros worth more now okay 1 billion euros cuz with 1 billion EUR I can buy my own McDonald's restaurant that' be first of all there be plenty of money left the next thing I would buy said the boy was my own video game store cuz I love playing video games I can get whatever video game I want but thirdly my mother is always stopping me playing video games saying I should do my homework so the third thing I will buy is my own school cuz when I own a school I can always give myself top marks I employ the teachers and at the end of you know my school career I spent all time playing video games and no homework cuz I own the school when I graduate from the own my own school I sell the school and buy my own University you got lots of universities in the United States where you know they can give you degrees for anything so I buy my own University and at the end of two or 3 years give myself a first class honors degree or whatever and I can spend all my time doing video games and he said with $1 billion when I grow up I still have billion euros sorry I'll still have many many millions left to do whatever else I want whenever I wanted cuz $1 billion you just cannot spend in a whole lifetime and so the third child was a child with a $1 billion wish beat that saying $2 billion or 3 billion is it's not beating at all it's the same it means like as much money as you can ever spend so the fourth child the girl had to think very deeply how can I do better than the billion Euro wish she was really clever said I can beat that she said if I had a wish I would wish for three wishes that's a wish for my first wish I'd have the madonald restaurant my second wish I'd have the billion billion EUR and for my third wish I'll have three more wishes that way I can go on forever be that so the fourth child was a child with the Infinity of wishes can you do better than that the fifth child won the wishing game very clearly he managed to think of a wish which was clearly Superior than having an Infinity of wishes granted whenever you wanted a wish it was granted for you that fifth child said if I had a wish I wish I was so content I never needed any more wishes ever again
- The meteor's last blazeAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile for enlightenment: you're a meteor circling the solar system round and round, millions of times — samsara, many births. Then you hit the earth's atmosphere, grow hotter…
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It's like you are one of these uh meteors around the solar system going round and round and round. Not just three times but hundreds of thousands of times millions of times going round and round the solar system round and round and round and round. That's like sabsar and the many births. But then once you manage to hit the atmosphere of the earth and as you this meteor as it goes through the atmosphere of the earth it gets hotter and hotter and explodes in this beautiful uh meteor this like star in the sky. It can light up whole cities and then it just disappears forever. You go out in a blaze of happiness.