Stories about monks
5 Buddhist wisdom stories about monks from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Ajahn Sajato flew to the wrong airportStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Sajato flew to the wrong Indonesian city for a conference; as a moneyless monk with no phone he was stuck until someone recognised him and got him on another flight to the…
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ajahn sajata he was going to conference over in indonesia i don't know how he managed to do this but he flew to the wrong airport and he went to the airport and when he went through there's no one to meet him i wonder what the heck's going on and of course being a monk has no money no mobile phone what am i gonna do fortunately in his case anyway somebody recognized him don't just see your buddhist monk where you going he said it's supposed to be a conference here no conference on this town but i managed to find out where the conference was and give him another flight to go to the right place
- Face to face with a tiger — in the zooJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Asked about jungle stories, Ajahn Brahm says he once stood four feet from a huge tiger and was not scared at all — because the tiger was in the zoo, behind bars.
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I came so close to a tiger, a big tiger, he was only about four feet away from me. That's absolutely true this huge tiger, I was only four feet away and I wasn't all afraid. Is that amazing? Is that impressive? It was in the zoo! (laughter) There were big iron bars between me and the tiger
- From Perth Airport uncertainty to a Rolls-Royce in ArmadaleStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A visiting monk arrived at Perth Airport without saying which day, started walking, and within ~50 metres got a lift to Serpentine. The same monk later rode to the Armadale group…
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arrived at perth airport i knew he was coming sometime but he didn't tell me the day he was coming or the time he was coming he said he just wanted to just try just living with uncertainty and see what happens so he arrived at perth airport no one to pick him up no money or credit card or anything just started walking and i think he got to about 50 meters outside outside of the the the doors and someone stopped him in the car hey you're a mug where you going and so he said i'm going to certain time i'll give you a lift who needs taxis and you've got this lift all the way there so living with uncertainty he was actually also the mark had mentioned this story to someone today he was also the monk he was scheduled to give a talk at one of our groups which is in armadale in the armadale group and he was inviting down the monastery and that we had a very wealthy sri lankan man came to say hello and he came in a rolls royce so i think it's the only time we've seen the rolls-royce and burning down the monastery and so then it was on a tuesday afternoon and we said oh this month's got to go to the um the armadale group this evening would you like to give him a lift so he said yeah i can give him a lift so armada as many of you may know is a low socio-economic area and so it was really quite a first for a month to arrive at this group in a rolls royce and they never let him forget that is that taking a lift it's not mine anyway
- I knew you'd wake me for alms roundStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An old Scout friend visiting him in NE Thailand skipped the 3 a.m. wake-up but trusted Ajahn Brahm 100% to knock at 5:30 for village alms round — a reliability he said was rare…
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one of my old school friends you know we were in Boy Scout Cubs together and just I still remain friends over all these years he's not a Buddhist but he came to visit me in Thailand many years ago and part of in those days you know 30 something years ago over in the northeast of thaila one of the most beautiful experiences was the morning arms round we'd get up just you know we get up at 3:00 in the morning in that place and meditate and chant when the sun came up we'd go on arms around well we took our Bowl we walked to the local Village for our our rice our food for the day and that Village they expected us and they were part of their their day a few times when we never went they really missed us it was just like the Milkman coming or or whatever but anyway we'd always go there every morning and it was the first know time of the day it was really cool and beautiful people were waking up you can see the smoke from the little woodf fires coming up from the Village it was a beautiful Serene event to come with the monks as they walk silently through the village for arms round so I invited my friend know why don't come with me tomorrow morning we go on arms round in the village and he said look I don't get up that early how many people except monks get up you know at 3:00 in the morning or 4:00 in the morning what time do you get up I bet it's not that time actually most people don't go to bed till 3:00 4:00 in the morning when the MKS get up but anyway so I said look you don't have to worry I will wake you up tomorrow morning just before arms maybe about 5:30 or 6:00 you just sleep in your room and I'll be there tomorrow morning so that's what I did the following morning I woke him up you know 5 minutes early you can just put on something you don't have to get dressed to go for arms R in Northeast Thailand the villagers wear Rags so you can wear Rags too well not Rags but you know the sort of stuff which people used to wear those days so we went on arms around and on the way back he was just you know talking cuz he was an old friend we're talking how wonderful it was to have this experience of you know being on this ancient 2500 Year tradition of the monks going in the early morning on arms round and coming back again but he said the most amazing experience was when he went to bed that night cuz he said I knew that you would be there in the morning to wake me up I knew 100% And he said that's something which is very uncommon for me living in London he said many of people they promised me things and they say they will be there and they make all of these these plans that yes at that time I will do that for you and he said so often they let me down they're unreliable but for you you're a monk you're a good old friend I knew you'd be there
- The Japanese monk who just started walkingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Japanese fellow-monk of Ajahn Chah flew to Tokyo to visit family in the north without telling them, walked from the airport with no money or plans, made the news, and was taken…
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there's one monk he was a japanese monk a friend of mine and uh now with ajanchar and he decided to go and visit his family in japan but instead of actually just arranging everything he never even told his family he was coming his family lived up in the north of japan he just arrived at the airport in tokyo just got out of the uh the aircraft and just went to the customs and had his passport stabbed and then started walking just walked into tokyo and then just where he rested that night was just in the park in the morning got up and started walking again and you know we just had no plans no money first couple of days didn't get anything to eat but did you know go on arms round in tokyo and as he was walking somebody saw him he said who are you because he was japanese he spoke obviously perfect japanese language and then he said he was just a monk he's walking from the airport to visit his family and of course that was newsworthy he got on the news and after he got on the news the thai ambassador to japan saw that and so at last a real monk someone who doesn't make plans doesn't have money to survive somewhere and sleep outside and just walk and just living with the uncertainty of life and that she took him under her wing and just really looked after him and she later on became the ambassador thai ambassador to australia so you know she came here a couple of times that was suchitra and that's where she got her faith in buddhism again