Stories about jealousy
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about jealousy from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- The jealous husband's astral visitsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Burmese man working on air-conditioning contracts in Darwin, deeply in love with — and very jealous of — his English wife in Perth, would visit her now and then in his astral…
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There was this uh Burmese gentleman many many years ago and he told me just how he had this job in air conditioning um and you know just uh doing contracts. He had a job in Darwin. So he was in Darwin and his English wife was in Canning Canington somewhere and you know he was you know he really loved his wife. He's a very good man. was incredibly jealous. So, every [laughter] now and again he was over in Darwin and he'd come and visit his wife, you know, his his astral body just to check up that she wasn't misbehaving and she didn't have no none of those powers or anything, but she would know because he was the husband. He would know, okay, it's I can't say it. Say it was Simon. That wasn't his name. He had another name, but I don't want to give the game away who this was. Oh, he said, "Simon, look, I'm faithful to you. Go back to Darwin and go back to work." And it was true, you know, he sort of tell her afterwards that he was actually visiting just to check it out that she was okay.
- The minister who read their mindsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Long ago a Thai minister is so wise that the king always prefers his advice, and the other ministers, jealous, plot to embarrass him. In front of the king they flatter him:…
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There was this guy actually he was a a minister in the Thai government many many know decades ago, hundreds of years ago. And they he was really smart. He was so smart that everyone else was jealous of him. The king always prepare preferred this minister's advice than anybody else. So you know what it's like in politics. They decided to gang up to get rid of this guy. He was always embarrassing them. So they decided to challenge him. So in the morning in front of the king they said your minister you're so lucky to have such a wise and experienced minister you know he knows everything and the said yeah that's true he was so arrogant and the other minister said he probably knows how to read our minds and he said yes I do he'd fallen into their trap already agreed even if they he could read their minds. Even if he said exactly what they were thinking, they would deny it. How can you prove what a person is thinking? So he said, "Yes, I can read all your minds." So what are we thinking? And then this minister said, "Actually, every one of you is thinking the same thing. You're always thinking kind and benevolent and loyal thoughts towards his majesty. I said, "Yes, it's amazing. You read our minds." [laughter] Of of course they weren't thinking that at all, but to deny that would put them in big trouble.
- The mouldy hay outside the fenceStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A stingy farmer wants to get rid of last year's mouldy hay. His cows won't touch it in the paddock, and when he mixes it with good hay they nose the bad hay aside. Then he…
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the farmer with moldy hay. A long time ago, this Aussie farmer had a whole lot of hay, which was from last year, which was moldy. And of course, trying to save costs, he wanted to give it to his cows before he would give them the new hey. But the cows they knew that was moldy old hay. So, would they eat any of it? No, they refuse to eat it. So, plan number two - let's mix it up with the good hay, the new hay, the moldy hay, and the new hay, mix it all up together and the cows won't know what's what and they'll eat it all. That way he gets rid of the old hay. And the cows were much smarter than the farmer, they just with a nose pushed the old hay to one side, pushed the new hay to the other side, and ate the new hay. It is just like the kangaroos in Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine. Because when we go on retreat, we take food, the food that is given to us, we got all this food, the monks give us far too much, and a lot of time we put the excess food out for the kangaroos. Now people might say oh, that's bad for the kangaroos. Ask the kangaroos! They don't think it's bad, they love it. As I remember the first time I did that. You care for the animals, so you give them some healthy food, some carrots and lettuce and some apples and stuff. But I couldn't believe the first time I did that, had this really healthy food there for the kangaroos, they, with their nose, they pushed aside the carrot, they pushed aside the lettuce, you know what they went for? The pizza! They did! They left all the healthy food, they loved pizza. And I think this is the only kangaroos in the whole of Australia who get pizza. The kangaroos in a Buddhist monastery It is their good karma to be reborn in a Buddhist monastery. They get pizza, no other kangaroos get that. And they like it, they love it, so good on them. And some of those kangaroos that they know the monks now. Because the monks are just so kind, you know, and so sort of gentle. I remember that happened to me once - you put your bowl just outside the door, you just go inside to get something, and before you know it, the kangaroo has got his nose in your bowl. That's your one meal of the day. And he's getting the first choice - going to bowl, looking what he wants. It is nice to be with animals, but anyway. So the cows pushed aside the hay that didn´t want and ate the hay they did want. So, he was still left with all this moldy hay and didn't know what to do next. Until he got a brainwave, an insight; he should have done this to start with. If ever you go into the countryside, and you see cows in a field or sheep in a field, have you ever noticed there's always a fence around to keep the cows away from the road. But the cows or the sheep love putting their head through the fences. And eating the grass just on the other side of the fence. You always see that well eaten, well grazed. So, what he did? Very simple solution: he put all the moldy hay, not in the paddock, but outside of the paddock. Away from the fence, but just far enough, if they really stretch, they could just get it. And the moldy hay was gone in a day. Anything which is forbidden, anything which you don't know, anything, which is just on the other side of your fence.... is very delicious. I know that people did once say that hunger is the best sauce. No, that's not the best sauce. Being forbidden is the best sauce
- Why the German worked harder in AustraliaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A society member who migrated from West Germany before reunification is told by Australian workmates that Germans have a strong economy because they work hard. No, he says — he…
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many years ago when I first came there's one of the members he just migrated from West Germany this was before unification at that time I think the West German economy was the best in the world beating Japan China United states there's a very very strong economy and he told me that when he when he came and worked here in Western Australia his work friends sort of said to him oh you Germans you got such a good economy because you really know how to work hard no that's not right I work much harder here in Australia than I ever worked in Germany and I asked him well why was your economy so strong he said because when I was working in Germany family. This was before unification. He said we would work cooperatively here in Australia. He said we work like this competing against each other in the same office in the same company. He said that was why we had to work so hard to be competitive to be productive. Sorry when you work together you have cooperation instead of competition you get far more success far more productivity and also you don't have this jealousy business