Stories about joy
10 Buddhist wisdom stories about joy from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A Sunday in Singapore that 'Amnesty would call torture'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm recounts a Singapore Sunday from 6:15 a.m. meditation through a 'breakfast banquet', talks, counselling over lunch, a five-hour seminar and an evening launch, ending…
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Again just being in Singapore last Sunday -- there's couple of people here from Singapore, you know this is true -- started off my Sunday morning at 6:15 in the Canning Fort Park teaching meditation. It was only supposed to be a short meditation. But you know what it's like afterwards, people start asking you questions and taking photographs. I had to rush for the morning..so-called breakfast. It was not a breakfast, it was morning banquet. People saying "Please eat this, please eat that, because I made this specially for you Ajahn Brahm." [laughter] And now you may always see I'm a fat monk. It is not my fault. [laughter] I get pressured, forced, cajoled. And if you don't believe me, you just come and follow me for one day and see what happens. So I had to eat this big breakfast and then talk to people. And then as soon as that was finished, had to go off to this morning service at the Buddhist Fellowship, which was only supposed to be a talk for an hour but went on and on and on with questions and stuff. And then we were supposed to have some lunch. But on the lunch, people come up and ask you to sign a book and ask some questions because they have some really big problems in life. So you give them free counseling. You're trying to put a spoon of food in one mouth and counsel them about their marital problems in the other. It is really working. And after that was finished, then I had to sort of rush off to a seminar they'd organized for four hours of giving talks and asking questions. And of course it wasn't four hours, it lasted for five or six, finished about eight o'clock. And after that, I had to go to this golf club where they were having a sort of a launch of an education program which I had to give another talk; didn't get back to bed till about quarter to midnight. And if anyone looked at that schedule, you'd call that torture. Amnesty International will probably take the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore to court for that.. [laughter] human rights abuse; war crimes. But of course I enjoyed every minute of it.
- First five-minute meditation, 1969Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In 1969 — about fifty-five years before this talk — Ajahn Brahm sits for his first meditation, only five minutes. Even that tiny taste of peace and relaxation catches him; he…
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I sat down to do some meditation, which was in 1969. How many years ago is that? 55? 55 years ago. It was only for 5 minutes. And I remember that and it was just like, "That feels good. It's peaceful. It's relaxing." And it was a lot of only a tiny bit of happiness, but it really felt good. And it caught me the very first time I I did some meditation. And hopefully that every one of you can feel the same
- Happytitis — very contagiousAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Analogy/joke: not hepatitis — happytitis; stay long enough and you catch it.
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Not hepatitis, that's bad disease. This is happytitis. Very contagious. If you stay here long enough, you'll start [laughter] Okay, come on, laugh at it. You can catch it if you like
- Jimmy Hendrix cured the student coldStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a student with a terrible cold he puts on music he loves (Jimmy Hendrix); excitement and joy make the cold feel totally gone — happiness as medicine (COVID gag nested).
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my cold are totally gone. It's a great way to cure COVID. Listen, [laughter] Jimmy Hendris [laughter] or whatever else you like. For me, I was so excited, so enjoyed just listening to something which I hadn't listened to for a couple of weeks
- One Heinz baked bean after the retreatStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After a long retreat, breakfast is baked beans from a tin. Ajahn Brahm puts a single bean on the spoon — taste sensation so amazing he asks who the celebrity chef was. Cooks:…
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after the retreat was finished I had my breakfast the first breakfast and during that breakfast I just was a baked bean baked beans were given for breakfast they had baked beans this morning and when I bought I just put one baked bead just one a single one on a spoon and put it in my mouth I'm not exaggerating that was amazing it was a taste sensation I didn't know who would cook that baked bean was it one of these celebrity chefs who just made it just the most delicious single baked bean I've ever eaten in my life and I asked the cooks in my Monastery hook up there oh just out of the tin a tin of baked beans Mr Heinz or something but because my mindfulness had increased enormously that bait being tested so amazing
- Rubbing the monk's bellyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Around Chinese New Year, standing by the reception door of the Perth centre, Ajahn Brahm is approached by an elderly Chinese woman who takes one look at the fat-tummied monk and…
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I was here one day just sitting just now standing just by the the door of the reception area and it must have been I think Chinese New Year some around then and there's this woman came in you know quite elderly Chinese took one look at me a monk with a fat tummy rubbing it for luck and say what's the point of that we're not into Superstition in this place you know you don't get good luck by rubbing amongst my belly and it's offensive I could sue you for that it's assault but that's not how you learn to be and to train in Buddhism enjoy the moment so I laughed and she laughed and had a really good rub
- Ted's last dinnerStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ted, a Lancashire man dying of lung cancer, was one of the first patients in the new hospice next to Murdoch Hospital. Asked what he wanted for dinner, he listed what he couldn't…
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Finish off with the story of Ted. I I'll finish off now. I promise. Maybe [laughter] Ted. This guy, they just opened up St. John of God. No, no, no. One in Murdoch. Murdoch Hospice down in uh right next to Murdoch Hospital. really nice little hospital. They just opened up. So Ted was one of the first patients in there. Had lung cancer, was dying. So they put him in there to die. Just a one-way ticket. [clears throat] But with Ted, he was like from York. I got to be careful. From Lanasher. He's from on the borders between Lanasher and York. He was from Lancasher. And so the he told me afterwards I went to visit him a few times. The first night in the hospital, the nurse came up to him and said, "What do you want for dinner tonight, Ted?" And Ted said, "Well, you know, I got diabetes, so I can't have anything sweet. [gasps] I got sort of high cholesterol, so forget about anything oil or oily or or fried. I can't have anything like that. I can't have anything salty because I've got hardened arteries. I can't have. And the nurse looked at him and said, "What on earth are you talking about, Ted? You're not going to die of cholesterol or heart attack or or hardened arteries or diabetes. You're going to die of cancer in a couple of days." So Ted, the nurse said, "You can eat whatever you want. anything really. His eyes went wide apparently according to the nurse. Really? And so he had all this food, sweet, syrupy, salty, sugary, which is he told me his wife had never allowed him to eat for the last three or four years. And he ate it. Had lots of it. Why not? You're going to die soon. So, and we know what happened. Honest story. He went into remission and he walked out of that hospice. [laughter] True. I know. He's a good friend. God is his [laughter] daughter and and uh son-in-law was an ex monk and six months he had and then he went back into the hospice to die properly. [snorts] [laughter] He went back. He had six extra months because he cared for himself instead of trying to cure himself so much.
- The dancing lollipop ladyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Being driven to the airport early one morning in London as children went to school, Ajahn Brahm sees a 'lollipop lady' stopping traffic with her big round sign — not walking…
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these are the people who look after the crossings Here in Australia they have flags. Over in the UK they have these big poles with this circular 'stop' sign. And I will always remember this woman maybe 55-60 year old woman English lady with a lollypop, she was dancing she was doing rap with the lollypop dancing away across the road and she made so many people happy that morning including me going to work on a Monday morning, me going for a long flight. That's all you need to do! Just add a little bit of fun to being a lollypop girl
- The floor the monks finished overnightStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Building Jhana Grove for an Easter 2008 opening by its patron, former Premier Geoff Gallop, Ajahn Brahm is assured it will be ready well ahead of schedule. On the Thursday…
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Notice the floor in the meditation room, it hasn't got a carpet because we thought there's some people want to meditate and they have allergies. So, it's just a bamboo floor. It's very beautiful, but on bamboo floor. You know what happens again, Ajahn Brahm being the builder. I'm not really the builder, but it's my project, so I had to make sure everything was done properly. And it's a huge project, I asked the person in charge of doing the building, "Are you sure it's going to be ready by Easter 2008 or nine or 12? What was it, about 12/13 years ago? 2008. Are you sure it's going to be ready?" He said, "Yes! No trouble at all! Well ahead of schedule." And I should know by now. I'm really stupid. I trust people too much. Because it wasn't. It was a real rush. Especially the last day. We're going to have the opening ceremony, it was on the Easter retreat. And we're going to have it on Friday, the Good Friday. And we invited even the the former Premier, Geoff Gallop. He was gonna, he still is the what do you call it? The patron of Jhana Grove Retreat Centre. And he was gonna come and open it for us. And as soon as the opening was finished, we're gonna have our retreat, the 8/9 day retreat, and we had all this ceremony all arranged. And you know what happened? You know what happened? It wasn't finished. Thursday evening. Half the floor had not been laid. It was just concrete. Half the floor was finished. Half the floor was bare concrete. We tried to get floor makers in to come and finish it off for us. Would they work on Thursday evening, before the long weekend? No way. So what happened? Duh duh duh, in come the monks like the seventh cavalry to save the day again. And it was brilliant. It's beautiful. Ajahn Brahmali and Ajahn Santutthi, they were the main collaborators. They worked till 4am. All night. 4am. And that's a beautiful job they did. If you sit on that, when every time I see that, I feel so much joy and happiness. Just finishing off like that. They had a lot of fun. A lot of joy, not sleeping, working hard. Had an hour or two to sleep before we started the ceremony in the morning, big ceremony all day. Have a look at it. It's gorgeous. That is how we work. Do we get paid? Imagine if we did get paid. There'll be it's Easter. So that's double time. Overnight, that's double time again. So, night time work, oh, they could have made a fortune. If we were paid. But we don't do that. Do it for the fun of it, the joy of it because you don't have fault finding. You have the opposite. Joy finding, beauty finding. And that's one of the reasons why we don't get paid, we get exploited. Please exploit us some more. We don't think like other people. So instead, we just see the joy of doing these things and the wonder of doing these things, which means the fault fighting is not there. So we don't get upset and don't argue. And if you notice carefully, there is a mistake in that floor. Have any of you seen it? It's in the corner, which is closest to the entrance door. Doesn't quite match. But that's beautiful. It doesn't have to match and be perfect.
- The most beautiful thing in the toilet bowlStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On one retreat Ajahn Brahm's mind is so still and full of energy that everything looks beautiful. After going to the toilet he glances into the bowl and is overwhelmed: not one…
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And that was the story of when This is really over the top, but it's beautiful. That when during one retreat, I was getting some very very deep meditation. My mind was just so still and peaceful and just so much energy that whatever you saw was just so beautiful and joyful. That's just the nature of things. You're so still, you see so much more. And I am a human being, just everybody has to do the same. I had to go to the toilet. And after going to the toilet, I just happened to glance into the bowl to see its contents. Wow. That is so beautiful. I'd never in my whole life seen such a beautiful piece of The browns, they're not just one brown. Next time you go, have a look. It's not just one brown. It's all different shades of brown. And just the way they are just arranged together like some Picasso. And the way it's just covered with this beautiful film of, you know, a little bit of mucus and water. And it shines like a diamond, you know, in the sunshine. It was sparkling. And the fragrance, my goodness. It always makes people laugh. But that's actually a true story. If you'd have been there in the cubicle next to me, you'd probably call for the guys in the white coats to take this crazy bug cuz I was really getting off on this beautiful piece of turd. And the reason why cuz my mind had opened up, and it was beautiful. You know, it was one of the hardest things I did, but I'm used to letting go. Press the button and see it fall away. I wanted to take it out, take it home with me.