Stories about intuition
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about intuition from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Ask the dogStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm advises people whose vet says to put a pet down to ask the animal what it wants. Judy, in the audience, did this: her dog had cancer and the vet wanted to put it…
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Judy was telling me that she did that with her dog. She went to the vet, it had a cancer. And the vet said, "Your dog's in such great pain. I've got to put it down." She took it aside. And as she took it aside, she felt the dog didn't want to go. So she told the vet, "No, I'm taking it home" and the vet was very angry at her. "So you Buddhists are very cruel. You're heartless. You're supposed to be compassionate. The dog is in great pain, and you are keeping it alive. You cruel person." But good on her. She sort of took it home. Six months later, she took the dog back to the vet. He had made a full recovery.
- Heads I marry himStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Oslo University a young woman asks how to make a really important decision. To make it concrete, he suggests: suppose you were deciding whether to marry the boy sitting next…
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I was in Oslo University question came really important decision to make in my life how do I make it really important this young woman I shouldn't have done this because I said well let's make it more concrete suppose you were considering marrying the boy sitting next to you and his poor woman she put her hands front of it she went beetle red because that's exactly the decisions he was contemplating I should have done that so I said so easy so you got your boy next to you not sure it's a big decision in life you're gonna marry him or you're not gonna marry him accept the proposal or not so simple get out a coin heads I marry him tell us I don't but that's not the end of it you toss up the coin heads I marry him tells the dough he comes up heads what's your reaction if you think yes that means you really wanted to marry him all along if it comes up heads and see let's try two out of three then that means you don't want to marry him
- The vet who wept when his dog was hitStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Victorian vet driving to a weekend party is overcome with unexplained grief, pulls over and weeps; later learns his dog was hit by a car at that exact time.
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vet who finished work early on a Friday afternoon and went to somewhere in the Country of Victoria for a nice weekend party with his friends. So, on the way, maybe two or three hour journey, in the middle of the journey, he was overcome with unexpected intense grief. It was so bad he had to stop his car, park by the side of the road and just weep for about 15 or 20 minutes and he hadn't got a clue why. He just felt like crying and when he pulled himself together, and drove off to this house where he's gonna have the weekend party with his friends, the message was waiting for him. His dog had been hit by a car
- Toss a coin to find out what you wantAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Advice for a hard decision: toss a coin — heads I marry her, tails I don't. If it comes up heads and you think 'two out of three?', you don't want it; if you think 'yes!', you…
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But, if you read my book, you toss a coin, you marry her, tails I get divorced. Oh no, you can't get divorced until you're married. Heads I marry her, tails I don't. And the point is, once it comes up heads, how do you feel? Heads I marry her, do you think 2 out of 3? In other words, you're not happy with the decision. Then of course what that's telling you is how you feel inside. If it comes up heads, heads I marry her, yes! That means you really want to do it in the first place. So tossing a coin, it's finding out what you really want to do. So you make a decision, heads I go left, tails I go right. After you've tossed a coin, how do you feel? What's the emotion inside? It's just getting that intuition up to your brain.