Stories about monastic life
76 Buddhist wisdom stories about monastic life from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A hundred cakes and nowhere to sleepStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: For a Serpentine monastery fundraiser, about a hundred home-baked cakes fill the tiny Magnolia Street kitchen. Ajahn Brahm's bedroom is next door; all night he smells fresh cake…
- A monk costs less than a dogStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: When monks of the tradition first went to England, supporters worried whether they could afford one. The head of the trust, an economist on the board of the Bank of England,…
- Ajahn Chah: you're leaving in two hoursStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Training under Ajahn Chah, a peaceful monastery stay could end with him saying you are going to another monastery — not next week, in two hours — with no chance to prepare.
- Ajahn Chah's cure for sexual fantasiesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A very good monk, a friend from Ajahn Brahm's early years, couldn't stop having sexual fantasies and asked Ajahn Chah how to stop. 'Very easy. Next time there's a public talk,…
- Ajahn Maha Bua said carry on eatingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting one of Thailand's strictest monks (captioned Ajahn Mahaboor — Maha Bua), where no one may eat after the teacher stops, skinny young Brahm at the end of the line put down…
- Ajahn Singtong came before the chickenStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Young Ajahn Singtong overslept at Ajahn Maha Bua's strict monastery, where missing the morning meeting meant no alms round and no food. He caught a forest chicken, tied a rope…
- All his questions vanished before Ajahn TateStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Tate, a famous monk once sent home from hospital to die of cancer (he lived another 25 years), is so revered that young Ajahn Brahm waits two days for an appointment, full…
- Alms offering on Pat Pong RoadStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Western monks visiting Bangkok are taken to Pat Pong, the red-light district, where sex workers clean their premises, dress appropriately, invite the monks for an alms offering,…
- Ānanda Maṅgala left the TrappistsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ānanda Maṅgala — Gandhi youth leader, friend of Nehru — tries Trappist life, then becomes a Buddhist monk; Trappist superiors summon theologians to talk him out of it.
- Barefoot in the Korean snowStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After the Pope's visit to South Korea, Korean Buddhists organised a World Meditation Masters gathering, planning seven famous monks (only four came). At the end of February, on…
- Crunchy frog and the bladder on the riceStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Early Thai forest austerity: Monty Python 'crunchy frog' becomes real — sticky rice and spoon-sized boiled frogs, then a whole toad on rice. Biology class pays off: he avoids the…
- Dr Yi Fa the 'Hinayana'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In Bangkok Ajahn Brahm banters with Mahayana nun Dr Yi Fa (Fo Guang Shan, San Diego): when will she train disciples? He has monks at the monastery — so she is the selfish…
- Dress code: long dressStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm is invited to a state dinner with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Parliament House at the time of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, under John Howard. He can't…
- Economy class was paradiseStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After seven years in austere forest monasteries he flies Bangkok–London on a cheap Philippine Airlines economy fare. He can't believe the luxury: a chair, ripe Western fruit, ice…
- First night at Bodhinyana, under a treeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On his first night at the Serpentine land that became Bodhinyana, Ajahn Brahm's bed was an old door — but he couldn't find it. The batteries in his torch gave out, and after…
- 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…
- Fridge full, no one cameStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the first year or two at Magnolia Street, food in the fridge could not be eaten unless presented that day. Sometimes nobody came; they watched the clock to noon with a full…
- Giving up tea for three monthsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: People told Ajahn Brahm he was addicted to tea. So he decided to give it up for the three-month Rains Retreat. The monks begged him not to: another monk had tried it and was 'a…
- Halloween on the London UndergroundStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: His brother puts him on the Tube toward the London Buddhist Society. The carriage fills with vampires, witches and ghosts — it is Halloween. For the first time in robes on the…
- 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…
- He likes solitude — monastery code for a troublemakerStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a senior monk he got transfer letters from other monasteries with coded praise: 'likes solitude' meant he can't get on with anybody; 'very good worker' meant he can't…
- 'I claim my prize!'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Sujato (he thinks) tells him: walking through Sydney in his robes, he is stopped by a man claiming his prize. A radio station is running a promotion — catch the guy in the…
- I think I'm enlightened — I don't feel myselfJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Monk wakes claiming enlightenment because he 'didn't feel himself' — Fennel Chan / anattā punchline.
- Income: nilStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Renewing his low-income health care card, Ajahn Brahm writes 'Nil' in every income box. The first time, the office wrote back asking him to explain how he supported himself:…
- Jack Kornfield waited outside Elizabeth ArdenStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Jack Kornfield back in the US still in robes visits his sister; she is in Elizabeth Arden; he sits outside in the chairs waiting — Westerner in robes amid the beauty salon.
- Junior-monk suffering, senior-monk sufferingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a skinny young monk Ajahn Brahm resents the senior monks: they get the cushions while he sits on concrete (they have their own 'upholstery'), they do no hard labour, and they…
- Knocking in the coffin — the monks jumped firstStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Thai lady who comes on Tuesdays says an old woman in her village was in the coffin ready for cremation when knocking began. The monks jumped away first; most others fled; they…
- Laughing when you hit your headStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young monk in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm travelled to ceremonies in the back of a ute under a tarpaulin stretched over a metal frame. On the pot-holed dirt roads, every bump…
- Miso soup against the bombStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: When Ajahn Brahm first came to Perth in the early 1980s, many feared nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union; there were films about it. His predecessor Ajahn Jagaro made…
- Missed lunch for the woman at the airportStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At lunchtime a call: a woman in crisis had stabbed her mother-in-law (hospitalised), fled to the airport, and would see only Ajahn Brahm. He skipped the meal window and went…
- Move huts every two years — by wheelbarrowStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Bodhinyana rule: monks may stay in a hut only two years, then must move — no tractor or car, only a self-pushed wheelbarrow — which reveals how much stuff has accumulated.
- No bad hair daysJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: He hated hairdressers as a kid — they never got it right. Shave your head and it's always right: monks and nuns never have a bad hair day.
- No escape, even in the toiletStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Returning exhausted from Los Angeles via Singapore, Ajahn Brahm is met at the gate by supporters with an airport buggy who take him for tea and ask about meditation, Buddhism and…
- No side entrance — through the public barStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Lions Club talk at the back of a Pinjarra pub; he expects a side door for the monk — there is only one way in, straight through the public bar.
- No toilet stopsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a six- or seven-hour bus journey across north-east Thailand, the senior monk (captioned as Ajahn Liem) says there's no time for toilet stops: he walks down the bus handing…
- Photo op in the galleyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a Garuda flight from Perth to Bali, a flight attendant puts her hand on her heart: 'I am your greatest fan!' After the meal service she invites him to the galley, where all…
- Root canal without anaestheticStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young monk at the first Perth centre in North Perth, Ajahn Brahm goes to a free dental clinic and is assigned a trainee dentist — the son of a former society vice-president,…
- Seven days without food ended the monks' quarrelStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Kosambi (he places near modern Allahabad) monks argued endlessly; lay people stopped offering food for seven days until the starving monks settled the dispute. He maps it to…
- 'She'll do'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A now-senior monk honestly admits that as a young monk he'd sit in the temple and find himself eyeing a girl who came in — not particularly attractive, mousy hair — and think,…
- Sixty mosquitoes on one armStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Evening group sittings in the Thai jungle start at 6 p.m., exactly when mosquitoes come for dinner — and bald, bare-shouldered Western monks are a new cuisine, protected because…
- Sleeping on a door with a hole in itStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the first days of Bodhinyana Monastery the two monks sleep on doors propped on bricks; the senior monk gets the flat one, Ajahn Brahm the ribbed door with a hole where the…
- Strawberry ice cream on spaghetti bologneseStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Monks eat everything from one bowl. Once, the person serving Ajahn Brahm tipped strawberry ice cream straight on top of his spaghetti bolognese. Why think it's nasty? — though,…
- The 'scatty' monk emptied his wallet at the refugee campStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Proud young Brahm criticises a Thai monk for carrying money; the monk shares breakfast, takes him to a Lao refugee camp after the Vietnam War, and empties his wallet for the poor.
- The ants and the A-frame hutStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm builds the A-frame hut at Serpentine right next to an ant mound — against the Vinaya — after chanting and apologising to the ants and promising not to disturb them.…
- The filthy ragStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In front of the other monks, a monk angrily tells Ajahn Brahm that wiping his bowl with that filthy rag is a filthy habit. Tempted to argue — even to punch him — Ajahn Brahm…
- The forest monk chased by the tigerStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Dhammindu (caption: Mark Edge and Drew) tells of a wandering Thai forest monk who insists on camping on a tiger trail despite the headman's warning. Meditating peacefully…
- The ghost at the end of the caveStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On Vesak day at a cave monastery in the north of Thailand, Ajahn Brahm slips away from the abbot's dull talk and is asked by villager after villager the same questions: how many…
- The head on the morgue windowsillStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Because a Buddhist monk is not stopped in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm was able to walk into the autopsy room at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Arriving early, alone, he saw on a high…
- The hundred-baht wish listStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A grateful Thai supporter who knows the rules offers the young monk a 'mendicant allowance' of 100 baht for anything he personally wants. His mind goes blank, so he asks for a…
- The monastery monkey reborn as a boyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Thai Buddhist buys an abused monkey at a market and gives it to a forest monastery in Thailand. It becomes almost one of the monks — it even sits holding a cup of tea at the…
- The monk nominated president of the progress associationStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: The monk at the Albany temple, who makes an effort to connect with locals, joined the Elleker Progress Association and attended its meetings (never touching the beer). At the AGM…
- The monk who grabbed the king cobraStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Other monks Ajahn Brahm grew up with saw a king cobra wander into the hall; a monk who had been a snake-catcher as a layman simply grabbed it. Ajahn Brahm did not see it himself.
- The monk who ordained seven timesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the Buddha's time a man becomes a monk but misses his wife, so he disrobes; as soon as he gets home he wonders why he came back, and ordains again. Homesick, he disrobes again…
- The naughty hour from three to fourStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young monk in a silent forest paradise (one car a week) he fights thoughts — including old girlfriends — until exhausted. At the Buddha shrine he makes a deal: 3–4pm is…
- The novice who stoppedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A novice of 12 or 13 at Ajahn Chah's monastery, tired during a very long sermon, kept thinking: 'When is Ajahn Chah going to stop?' Then he turned it around: 'When am I going to…
- The nun and the last pokie coinStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After a UK retreat a famous Buddhist nun must eat before midday; the only place is next to a pub with pokies; the driver feeds coins as she arrives — last-coin / one-armed-bandit…
- The postulant who tried too hard to be perfectStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A former monastery postulant tells Ajahn Brahm in Melbourne that he was so afraid of breaking a rule, controlling his body, speech and mind, that the tension became unbearable…
- The priest who recognised Buddhist monksStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Early Australia: asks a Catholic priest if 'monk/nun' is alright; priest says yes — not for robes or bald heads but for poverty, service and surrender inside the robes.
- The Singaporean monk, the snake book, and the witch doctorStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Singaporean monk in NE Thailand asks for the snake book — to identify the snake that just bit him. Fang marks swell; village has thrown away antivenom. A herbal 'witch doctor'…
- The sludge that started to taste niceStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Told that monks should eat plain food, he recalls that in his first year as a monk, as a practice, he stirred everything in his one daily meal — sweets and all — into a single…
- The snake and the monk eyeball each otherStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: During chanting at a new jungle monastery in Thailand, a snake climbs up a monk's back; its head pops up over his shoulder. Monk and snake eyeball each other, both surprised. The…
- The Vietnam monk who blessed both armiesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: During the Vietnam War a monk receives government and communist soldiers alike for meditation and blessings; non-political goodness softens both sides.
- The wine gumsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: One Christmas when Ajahn Brahm was a young monk, four (now famous, unnamed) Canadian monks receive wine gums from their parents. Assuming they're just sweets, they eat them…
- The woman who swapped seats to talkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Exhausted on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth, Ajahn Brahm sits by the window. A woman asks if he's Ajahn Brahm because she really needs to talk; he points out there's someone…
- They auctioned his robe in MelbourneStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a Melbourne fundraiser for a new monastery, Ven. Mudita (captioned Moodau), whom he had ordained, asked for his robe to auction. He protested he'd be naked in cold Melbourne;…
- This is not what I signed up forStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Years earlier, midway through a two-hour Indonesian book-signing and photo queue, Ajahn Brahm thinks this is not what a monk should be doing — he wanted a cave. In that moment he…
- “This robe, or naked”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Norwegian manager ordains in Perth to his family's dismay. When his father falls ill his mother writes: come home, but wear a suit, not that stupid robe. Ajahn Brahm has him…
- Three-day village parties with petrol generatorsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young monk in rural Thailand he learns old parties ran for three days: when people tired they slept where they fell, woke, and danced again — with petrol generators and huge…
- Tiger's Nest climb — then a hot bathStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Bhutan: climbs Tiger's Nest in thin air panting; hotel has a bath — usually too much indulgence for a monk, but after the climb he soaks.
- 'Trespassers will be converted'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: To keep wanderers out of the quiet Jhana Grove retreat centre, the society knew 'Trespassers will be prosecuted' never works, because people aren't afraid. So they put up…
- “What day of the week is it?”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a forest monk he lived without calendars or clocks and sometimes didn't know the month or year. In the first months in Perth, at the small house in North Perth, a visiting…
- 'What prison were you in?'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: When Ajahn Brahm's predecessor Ajahn Jagaro disrobed and applied for jobs in the United States, employers asked about the 20-year gap. 'I've been a monk.' 'Yes, we've heard that…
- Worried he'd have to be abbotStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: When the 2004 tsunami hits, Ajahn Brahm is in Penang. His number-two monk back home hears that people have died in Penang and tries desperately to reach him. When he finally gets…
- You know when the Gurkha visited — your head falls offJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Former Gurkha monk: you always know when a Gurkha visited in the night — you wake, shake your head, and it falls off.
- 'You ordained to forget'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting Ajahn Juin, a famous old Thai monk at the top-hat-shaped mountain monastery Phu Tok, Ajahn Brahm hears a Bangkok lady ask him, 'Did you become a monk because you had a…
- “You're old enough to know better”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Walking in robes through Doncaster early one morning with Ajahn Sumedho, about 20 years his senior, a businessman on his way to work looks at them with disgust and says to Ajahn…