Stories about integrity
6 Buddhist wisdom stories about integrity from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Ask Gandhi — my son doesn't listen to meStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Mother brings defiant son to young Gandhi for a scolding about sweets; Gandhi asks her to return in weeks (or similar delay) so his word matches his own conduct — truth of…
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Gandhi. If ever you read his history, you know, this whole life was dedicated to what he called no satcha or or truth. And it wasn't just external truth but the truth of his own conduct and behavior. So incredibly virtuous man. And on this occasion remember this story from a long time ago he was studying law in UK in London and he was staying in a boarding house which people did in those days. And the the woman who owned the boarding house who cooked for these poor students had a son who was eating too much sugar. And this uh land lady took this Mr. Gandhi aside. He wasn't known. He was just a young man studying. He did. She didn't know this guy was going to become really world famous. But even then, he had authority. So much so that she said, "My son doesn't listen to me." But for some reason, he looks up to you. So, can you please tell my son not to eat so much sugar? I think he may listen to you. And Mr. Gandhi said, "Yes, ma'am, I will." Week passed, two weeks passed, and the land lady took Mr. Gandhi aside. So, Mr. Gandandy, do you remember that conversation we had two weeks ago? I asked you to tell my son not to eat so much sugar. He's still eating so much sugar. You said you would tell him. Why haven't you? And Mr. Gandhi said, "I did tell your son not to have so much sugar, but only this morning." "Why did you wait 2 weeks?" said the landlady. "Because," said Mr. Gandhi, it took me two weeks to give up taking sugar
- He gave the robe he was wearingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A monk gives the only robe he has on to a poorer man and walks back naked under monastic rules' logic; others ask if he was robbed — he says he gave it away. The monastery sees…
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this monk gave the robe he was wearing to a poor man now that is really a good spiritual leader the problem was though that the mark that's all he had on and now a lot of you ask you know what have you got underneath my robes I don't want to show you because you know I get arrested there's nothing underneath and so this Mark went back to the monastery totally naked and as soon as he know went into the door you know they they said get out of here you know this is a monastery not a place for deviant know naked people like you you know we don't like weirdos in our Monastery and he said look it's me I'm one of your monks yeah sure where's your robe and they started to recognize his voice and they realized it was one of the monks and they said took him and so what happened to you did he get robbed did he get assaulted You've Lost Your Rob he said no I just gave it away to a person more poor than I was and all the other monks in that Monastery thought wow that is someone who actually practices what he preaches
- Rabbi Bernstein believed in rebirthStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Moshe Bernstein, a rebellious Perth rabbi Brahm met via a cancer-support group, said he believed in rebirth; the head rabbi confirmed Jewish teaching doesn't — 'but Rabbi…
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Rabbi Bernstein. Still remember him, Moshi Bernstein. And one of the reasons I always remember him was because he was a rebel. You know, he told me when we just discussing things, he said, "No, I believe in rebirth, too." I thought, "But you're a rabbi, a Jewish person. You're not supposed to believe in rebirth." He said, "But I do." And then I checked him up with one of the head rabbis in Perth. He said, "No, Jewish people don't believe in rebirth, but Rabbi Bernstein does." Oh, yeah. Him. He was a rebel
- Steal where no one sees youStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A famous ancient Indian teacher must marry his daughter to his best disciple and also needs money for the couple. To 'cut two carrots with one knife', he tells his students to…
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in Ancient India many hundreds of years ago the education system was such that you went with a one teacher and the teacher had many many disciples and he taught you everything Le like what they call a polymath and once you graduated from your teacher then you could actually set yourself up as a teacher so in Ancient India many many centuries ago there was a very famous teacher who only receive a limited amount of disciples and he taught them many many things not just things like um medicine and calculation astronomy and all these other Arts which were there at the time but he also obviously taught them to be good people now what happened when they were just all about close to graduation he wanted to give them a test but it wasn't just a test to see how much they learned over those years he also had another problem and that problem was his daughter who was of marriageable age and it was a custom in those days to have arranged marriages and being a teacher he was supposed to marry off his daughter to his best disciple so he brought all of the guys together and said you know my daughter she's very pretty I know you all like her you know you all love to marry her and I got to choose which one should marry and it's also to give her find out which of you has learned the most over all the years you've been with me so I decided to give you a test to find out who's the smartest and the most obedient but also I have another problem you know when people get married they need to find themselves a house or at least a little Hut you know they got to get their sort of their basic necessities of life together he said I've got to find some money for the two of you and I'm so poor so in order to in the old days I would say kill two birds with one stone but being a Buddhist now I don't use that I say cut two carrots with one knife you know you got to use Buddhist terminology these days it's a terrible kill two birds with one stone that's a terrible so cut two carrots with the same knife there a much better one so in order to to cut two carrots with the same knife he said this is the test I'm going to give you I need some money I also got to find out who's a smartest so I want each one of you to go into the local villages at nighttime to steal take whatever you can find and bring it back and what we all steal will give to the winner of this competition and the one who steals the most will win my daughter you know everyone was really shocked the guy was asking him to steal this was terrible he said no this is what I want you to do but one important Point make sure no one sees you still and so all make sure no one sees you still so all the boys went in the middle of the night creeping through the villages waiting till the people went to sleep or they went out and they crept into the houses and they stole this and they stole that and they brought it back to their teacher and their teacher would keep a meticulous record of what they stol and from where and at the end of the the period of one week the teacher brought all the students together and said you've all stolen lots and lots of stuff there's enough here to keep the happy couple You Know Rich for a long time you're going to be very comfortable you've all stolen a lot and they always waiting to see which one has stol the most and the teacher said you've all stolen a lot except for one of you and this one little student was very ashamed and embarrassed he said why didn't you steal anything and he said because I followed your instructions teacher but my instructions were to steal he said yes I tried you also told us if anyone is watching don't steal he said I went into the houses at night I waited till no one was there and I went in there and I saw these valuable items I went to pick it up and I realized someone was looking me I was seeing me steal that's why I couldn't follow your instructions and of course the teacher said at last I've got one wise disciple after all I've taught you about self-responsibility it's true that other people won't see you but you see you and he said that's the only student that's followed my instructions after all these years only one of you is wise enough so you can marry my daughter and as for all this stuff you stolen I'm rich enough I don't need it take it back to where it came from and don't worry because I told all the villagers to expect you this was a setup a scab to find out how many of you knew what it meant not to steal if someone is watching
- That's not what Ajahn Chah said — I was thereStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm read a monk's translation of an Ajahn Chah talk he had personally heard and protested that it was not what Chah had said. The translator replied that he thought it…
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remember this one translation which was done by a monk I remember reading it and said what? that's not what Ajahn Chah said I was there when he gave that talk And the monk said oh .. yeah yeah but I think this is what Ajahn Chah wanted to say And you got to be very careful there, in translating
- The politician who talked the walkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a free afternoon in Singapore, Ajahn Brahm takes his followers to a charity walk raising funds for a fellow monk's indebted Buddhist library. A politician speaks first,…
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that reminded me that i was in singapore many years ago and i did have a free afternoon i can't actually remember what they're like but had a free afternoon and i did hear that one of you know the fellow monks he was the the head of the buddhist library in singapore and they were in a lot of debt because they wanted to get a good center but you know it's very expensive and they were having to pay off that so i heard they were having a charity walk in the afternoon so all the people who were following me over in singapore i said if you feel this afternoon let's go and help somebody else let's do some some nice kindness and raise some funds for one of my mates so we all went over there and of course the head mark over there was very very surprised and very happy that i turned up and that's because i was well known over there i was also asked to give a little speech but before i gave the speech it was a politician gave a speech first they invited a politician to also to speak at this event and he said you know best of luck i really support this it's a good temple and all the best and then i asked him when i gave my talk i said are you actually going on the walk he said no no it's too important i just i'm just giving the speech i'm going to another event and so i told him he said you're one of the politicians who talks the walk but you don't walk your talk and he took it well