Stories about peer pressure
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about peer pressure from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Be good — no, that's no funStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Between interviews at a Catholic retreat centre in Safety Bay he watched two middle-aged men leave Sunday service. One said 'be good'; the other answered 'no, that's no fun'. He…
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I still remember a time when I was teaching a retreat over in um safety Bay and just in a space between the interviews that some I was looking through the window and it was a a Catholic Retreat Center and as I looking through the window I saw these two people two maybe middle-aged men they just gone to church for the Sunday service and as they were shaking hands and saying goodbye to each other they parted with this greeting one of them said to the other be good and the other one said no that's no fun
- “Doctor Buddha's orders”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A new Buddhist refuses a drink at a work party — 'I'm a Buddhist' — and a colleague replies that Buddhism is all about letting go, so let go and have a beer; caught out, he…
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there was this one guy who used to come here, and he said that when he started keeping his five precepts and gave up drinking alcohol, it was very difficult for him because the first time he went to a party or a reception, one of his work friends gave him some alcohol and he said, "No, I can't take it cuz I'm a Buddhist." And his friend said, "Oh, you're a Buddhist? Yeah, I know about Buddhism. I really respect Buddhism. Buddhism is all about letting go. Come on, let go. Have a beer." So, he's caught out. That's the trouble that people know a little bit about Buddhism. They don't know enough. So, he had to take the beer that time. He was put in a spot, but afterwards he told me that he found the solution. Cuz the next time he went to a reception or a party at work and someone offered him a drink, he said, "No, I can't take the alcohol. Doctor's orders." And people left him alone. Because now, if it's doctor's orders, it's a medical condition, no one would actually challenge you. But when he told me that, I actually criticized him back. I said, "Aren't you keeping one precept by breaking another? You're lying. There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfectly healthy." But then he actually he actually taught me some Buddhism because now, he was what So, I make mistakes sometimes. Please correct me sometimes if I make a mistake and he actually taught me more because it was true. He said, "Look, don't you remember Ajahn Brahm? In many of those old teachings of the Buddhas, the sutras, many, many times he actually compared himself to a doctor." And so, it was a doctor's orders. Doctor Buddha's orders.
- The first beer tasted awfulStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At 14 in London, rebellious and egged on by mates, he sneaks his first glass of beer (the drinking age was 18) — and can't believe how disgusting it tastes, like something…
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one of my experiences as a young man is being like 14 years of age, being rebellious, you know, being with my mates, a bit of peer pressure, but also being rebellious, going to take my first glass of beer. The drinking age was 18. I was only 14. Sneak in there. I can take a glass of beer thinking how clever I am, how rebellious. And taking my first glass of beer I couldn't believe just how disgusting that tasted. I did see in the newspapers there was a uh suggestion of actually Perth drinking recycled waste water. You mean from your toilets. And that's what I thought beer was, somehow recycled from the lavatory. Cuz that's that's what it tastes like. Even actually people do call it piss in Australia. So that must have been that must have been recycled from somewhere. But it tasted awful. But because my culture, this was in London, said that beer is fun, beer is good, beer is what you're supposed to enjoy and you spend a lot of money and many evenings drinking the stuff, it only took me about three or four months to start to like the taste. And once I became a monk and I looked back on that experience, I thought why did I like that? Because I had to. I completely reconditioned myself to go against my natural instincts of disliking the taste of beer to actually thinking it was delicious. And being a monk when you stand back and you watch these things, how much more of what I think I like is actually been conditioned into me cuz I have to like it. Cuz my society says I must like it.