Stories about media
8 Buddhist wisdom stories about media from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Dixon of Dock Green vs the new cop showStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting his mother in London after seven years without TV, he watches a half-hour cop show with her and counts about a dozen people shot dead. He can't believe it: the police…
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I went to visit my mother in London about 15 years ago, the first time I'd seen TV in about 7 years. It was like a copper movie show. I forget what it was called - not Defenders, or something. Anyways, half an hour TV show, repeated every week. As I was watching it with my mother, for giving her company, I couldn't believe how many people died in about half an hour. I was actually counting them. I got to about a dozen or something got shot and killed. I couldn't believe this because before, when I was... before I became a monk, the TV was so tame. Because I had 7 years I hadn't seen the actual progress of violence on TV, the contrast was so strong inside of me because the police show I remembered as a kid was a police show - anyone old enough might remember this - Dixon of Dock Green. Dixon of Dock Green was this London bobby in the days when they didn't have guns. If he caught a burglar, the burglar would say, "Ah, Sergeant Dixon, it's an honor to be caught by you, sir." [Laughter]. And apparently they don't do that anymore. [Laughter]. Things have changed. And no one got shot, and if they did go ever get hurt, if there was a bullet, they'd go, "Ooh, ooh, ooh." You wouldn't see any blood at all. And they'd just fall on the floor without any gore or anything.
- First TV after seven yearsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After about seven years as a monk in Thailand, visiting Scotland, he sees a TV through two doorways for the first time. The fast-changing images and intense colours make his…
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for years I hadn't seen a TV when I was a monk in Thailand. I remember just going to after about seven years visiting uh UK, visiting Scotland. I remember seeing through two doorways a TV for the first time in seven years and oh that was just so hard for my brain. The images was just so changing so fast and also just the colors were so intense. And I actually recalled recoiled from it
- Interviewed on shipping because he had nothing to doStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a transport conference with minister Alannah MacTiernan he skips the late lunch; a reporter interviews him on shipping simply because he is hanging around doing nothing —…
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Allana Martina was the Transport Minister, I got to know her quite well and had a "the community conference on transport" or something. And at lunchtime they all went out for lunch but it was too late for me so I was hanging around there so a reporter came up to me and interviewed me because I was doing nothing so, yeah I'll do an interview for you and it was on shipping! (laughter from the audience) That's another theme which I am an expert on you know, my background theoretical physics and then becoming a monk I was a teacher for a while but he was interviewing me on the benefit of shipping as the main means of transport. So I did this interview for him and he came up to me about six months later just to tell me the results of that interview, he said and I will always remember this. He said that interview was syndicated to all the major shipping magazines and journals in our whole world everywhere. Singapore, Hong Kong, London, New York, Buenos Aires. It went everywhere now he gave it the key title of Zen and the Art of Shipping by Ajahn Brahm
- No Sex in the MonasteryStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Someone told him Sarah Jessica Parker had been seen in a US coffee shop reading Opening the Door of Your Heart. He imagined it was only a matter of time before he got a cameo in…
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some years ago somebody told me that uh Sarah Jessica Parker from Sex in a City. She was seen in a coffee shop in United States reading my book Open the Door of Your Heart. She was a Buddhist. She was a follower. So I thought, "Wow, if Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex in the City was one of my disciples, it was only a matter of time that I get a cameo invited to actually to come in to one of her episodes." And I thought that would be really interesting. Aan Brown in one of the episodes in Sex in the City. And then I started thinking, what would it be like? I I I wouldn't mind doing anything. Just within reason, not breaking my precepts. We'd have to change the episode title to instead of Sex in the City, No Sex in the Monastery. And then I thought, hang on, I don't think anyone would tune into that episode cuz I know human nature. So So that was the end of that idea.
- Super Monk and the DreamWorks emailStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a new monk in Thailand Ajahn Brahm reads a comic of 'Super Monk' who flies and saves people — but instead of killing villains, gives them the five precepts so they become good…
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someone showed me a copy of one of the tiny newspapers and even though I couldn't understand Thai that well I still as I do these days I like reading the comics so I saw a comic there and the comic was of a character called super monk nice 36 37 years ago so super monk was like a Superman or one of these superheroes and Superman could levitate of course being a super monk could fly through the air but also had these great powers to stop trains crashing and stop aircrafts or plunging into the ground he could save all these people from the bad guys but unlike modern times when Superman or these other superheroes they usually either killed the bad guy send him into prison forever in Superman comic he were given the five Buddhist precepts and they'd become very good people afterwards even they rejoin the Sangha become monks there's a much nicer ending and not violence because sometimes even these these superheroes they used too much violence instead of using violence using wisdom and compassion to solve the problems of the world and what a wonderful idea that was and so anyway I mentioned that I see the newspapers you know in the magazines they got all these superheroes I used to read about in the comics as a kid Batman and Green Lantern and the flash and all these other people they always Batman there was made movies of these people now and so the one movie which I thought they should have after the Buddhist Film Fest what a real Buddhist movie would be super Munk now you know I throw these ideas out and sometimes you think I'm just no hour wasting time but when you go to these meetings every now and again you meet someone interesting and at the end of my talk somebody stood up and they put their hand off the question said my ex our husband works for Steven Spielberg it DreamWorks I'm gonna email him tonight this suggestion so if you see in a one or two years time in the movies super Munk done by DreamWorks with the consultant as Adam Braun you know where the cave I thought what a wonderful thing because all these superheroes they end up punishing the bad guys
- The Grax gravy monk who levitatedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Old Aussie TV gravy ad: line of Theravāda-looking monks; abbot (dead ringer for Ajahn Jagaro) rejects food, produces Grax from under the robe, pours gravy, and levitates with…
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advertisement for this gravy called grax do still have grax gravy yeah we know what the advertisement was is on TV they had this line of Buddhist monks you know like like us not Tibetan Monks but you know this terada Forest monks a line of monks and the head monk apparently he was a dead ringer for my predecessor aan Jak the same glasses the same face and the people offered this this food and the abber looked at the food with great disgust and it wasn't tasty enough and from under his robe he got out a packet great Vox and he sent it to the novice and the novice made up the graay box and then the Habit poured it over his food that was so delicious he actually on the TV he levitated up in the air
- The locust plague that never cameStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Years ago The West Australian reports a locust plague advancing on Perth: twenty kilometres closer each day, arriving in two days, arriving tomorrow. Then nothing happens — the…
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I remember here in Perth many years ago there was a locust PL I remember in the West Australia you used to get those newspapers and it reached I think um somewhere like in gerton and it was coming to Perth and the next day it was 20 km closer and the next day and the next day and they said it's going to be coming in 2 days time and the next day we've got the paper it's coming tomorrow and nothing happened it was a complete sort of wind up cuz I think you know the Locust whatever they decided to go somewhere else didn't like per I don't know why but whatever it was it's a complete buildup of fear
- They watched the sunset on TV — the real one was at the windowAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A favourite Leunig cartoon: left half, a family watches a sunset on a nature channel; right half, an open window shows the actual sunset outside. They prefer the screen a few…
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There is a family watching the TV, that's in the left half of the cartoon they're watching a sunset, a beautiful sunset, portrayed on some nature channel on the TV, and in the right part of the cartoon is an open window, where the actual sunset is occurring. They prefer to watch it on the TV and just move a few feet and look through the window and see the real sunset happening