Stories about perspective
15 Buddhist wisdom stories about perspective from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- 20,000 to one: the husband who lied onceStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After a talk in Malaysia a mathematics lecturer asks whether to divorce her husband because she discovered he lied. Ajahn Brahm does the statistics: three years, about 20,000…
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The classic tale was when I was teaching in Malaysia, and somebody asked me this question at the end of the talk. I have found out this morning my husband has lied to me. My husband has lied. I can't trust him anymore. Should I get divorced? She asked me whether she should get divorced. Quick I asked her what are you doing at this university. She was a lecturer on mathematics. So I saw an opportunity to answer her question, I asked how long have you been married, she said three years. I said let's do some statistics. Three years is maybe one thousand days. Lets say for the sake of this argument, let's assume that on average throughout your three years of marriage, your husband has said maybe twenty things to you every day, on average, which could be right, which could be wrong. So he's said twenty thousand statements to you since you've been married and now he's lied for the first time. The quantum probability theory on his past record, the next time he opens his mouth there is a twenty thousand to one chance he's telling the truth. What do you mean you can't trust him? [LAUGHTER] Isn't that pretty good odds, twenty thousand to one? If every time a politician opened their mouth with twenty thousand to one chance they're telling the truth, I'd vote for them, wouldn't you? They'd be trust worthy. But you can see what we've pointed out, that why is it that one lie, a real lie, they'd lied, why is that given so much prominence that everything else is totally forgotten and ignored? This is the stupidity of our human being which is just so fault finding and negative it hasn't got a balanced perspective on life. That lady wanted to destroy her marriage. Once I told her that story they stayed together.
- 3,999,900 haven't died of SARSStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm lands in Singapore at the height of SARS — headline “100 people dead”, heat cameras at the airport ('think cool'). His disciples, who've hired a convention centre for…
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that's what happened to me once when I went to Singapore during the middle of the SARS crisis i' been here done that before and as I landed in Singapore airport I actually read the newspaper on the plane and on the front page the headlines and just to make the newspaper so very well it's in big black bold 100 people dead and I think gee and it's sort of when I arrived in Singapore they had all the you know the heat cameras on you so I was thinking come on think cool think cool think cool you never know if these things work or not but anyhow they going to be probably there again tomorrow morning when I arrive but we got this heat cameras and all my disciples they were just lined up outside what should we do what should we do what should we do they' hired the convention center just for my talk just me alone must have cost cost a fortune to hide this place and they said should we cancel the Singapore government had requested no public meetings the schools have been closed they put so much money into this event 4 days of talks and I said how many people in Singapore they said about 4 million that means 3, 990,00 people haven't died of s why is it that when we see how many people have got a sickness we forget that most people haven't the chances of you flying and getting swine flu on those days SS were so small compared to sort of just crossing a road or doing the other things we do in life why is it that people just are so afraid of these things that they overreact so when I said that everybody laughed relieved all their tension and we went ahead with our with our um uh program and no one got SARS
- A problem or an irritation?Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A backpacker working his way round Europe gets a job in a restaurant (in Germany or Austria) where staff eat for free. The owner over-orders sauerkraut and tells the staff their…
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There's another story about Awitz which I remember reading a good story. There was a a backpacker who was traveling through Europe said travel is now becoming allowable again. when this backpacker was traveling through Europe, he'd just get a job at restaurants and cafes and just any old uh easy work to get a few more dollars and then he would go on his next leg of his journey. And he got a job in this restaurant in somewhere in Germany. And then as he was um I think in Austria I think he said in that restaurant [snorts] it was always known if you get a job in a restaurant you get free food. That's you know part of the deal. You don't get paid very much. You get a few tips but the free food makes it just really quite worthwhile. But then one day the owner of the restaurant told all the workers he'd ordered too much sauerkraut. I don't know if you know Sauerkraut. We have a couple of German monks at Bodhinana Monastery and even though he's not a monk, we have like you know I'm talking about Amandis. Many of you been down there. You know Amandis and he loves sauerkraut. So anyway, they' ordered too much sauerkraut. And so the owner of the restaurant, this is quite a few years ago, told everybody, "If you want free food, it has to be sauerkraut. Sauerkraut for breakfast, sauerkraut for lunch, sauerkraut for dinner, whatever it is. Sauerkraut and only sauerkraut." And this young backpacker said, "You can't do that to us. That is unfair. That's not what we signed up for. I know some people like sauerkraut, but not everyone likes sauerkraut. This is not right. you can't do this to us. And he got very angry. And that apparently was when the owner, not the owner, the cook of the restaurant came up and took him aside. He said, "Look, I've been working at this restaurant for quite a few years now." Said this old man. And he said, "I want to tell you the difference between a problem and an irritation. And then this old cook, he bared his arm and you could see the tattooed numbers on his arm. He said I was in Awitz and he said every morning when I woke up I didn't know whether I would survive that day. I was very fortunate many of my relations and friends and loved ones did die. I survived living in Awitz. That is a problem. Eating sauerkraut is only an imitation.
- How big is my hand?Analogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile (shown with his hand): held in front of his face, his hand is so big he can see nothing else. Is it the hand's fault? No — it's just too close. Put it back where it…
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The old simile, again this is great for the camera, but it’s terrible on audio: I put my hand in front of my face. “How big is my hand?” is the question. My hand is so big, that I can’t see anything other than my hand right now. Is it my hand’s fault? Is that the problem? No, it’s just too close to me. When I put my hand where it belongs, at the end of my arm, it’s still the same size, but I can see all of you, and I can also see my hand. This is the difficulty when we have these decisions to make, when we hold it so close to us, we cannot see anything else. We got no perspective. We need to somehow to let it go, be peaceful, put things aside, rest, relax, whatever you call it. But stop thinking about the decision you have to make for a couple of days. And when it’s in the place where it really belongs, at the end of your arm, like my hand, then you can see much clearer, and you make a far better decision.
- I can't believe how much my father has grownJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Mark Twain (as Brahm tells it) runs away at ~18, returns years later and writes with satire that he can't believe how much his father has grown — meaning Twain had changed, not…
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I can't believe how much my father has grown over the last two years and how much he has learned. [laughter] Obviously the meaning was his father was the same but Mark Twain you know just going out into the big world had learned so much was nowhere near as critical to his father once he had more experience of the world
- I'm leaving — but there's only oceanStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Janice and her husband, finishing a mining contract in WA, sold their house, bought a yacht with another couple and sailed for Vancouver. Mid-Pacific the engine failed; the two…
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Janice was uh from Canada came with her husband he was working up in the mines somewhere some engineer here on a contract when it finished they had to go back home to Canada the young couple and they were very smart very wise instead of doing what most people would do get an air ticket they decid no no let's sell the little house we have and use the money to buy a boat so they got a yacht idea let's sail to Vancouver in Canada when we get there sell the the yacht we got our deposit for the next house a brilliant idea you have an adventure of a lifetime imagine that my sailing from Perth you know over to the north of Australia and then through the South Seas over to you know maybe up the Atlantic coast eventually up to Vancouver like a journey of a lifetime and on the cheap too because you know you buy the boat you sell it when you get to the other end brilliant idea and of course you know they wrote to us when they arrived safely back in Vancouver but what Janice said in the story you in a letter a brilliant thing happened in the middle of the ocean their engine stored that actually I should have said that Janice and a husband they teamed up with another couple two married couples you know to help on the journey so in the middle of the ocean so the engine store they will be calm they couldn't go anywhere now this was 26 years ago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean you can't call up the RAC you're stuck you have to fix it up for yourself no satellite phones so you're in big trouble but you know they had a good tool kit and they knew what they were doing and so the two guys went into the engine room to sort out the the problem with the engine the two girls apparently were on Deck reading magazines sexist but that was 26 years ago so two guys in the engine room now any of you guys who've ever tried to fix up an engine you know that sometimes as I said in the book it just does not want to be fixed up and they were getting more and more frustrated maybe you haven't tried to fix up an an engine of a boat but maybe you try to fix up your computer and you start swearing that's what these guys did they started swearing cuz they're getting frustrated and frustration led to blaming each other it's your fault stupid and blaming each other soon led to a full on argument and the argument got to such a high level of conflict that one of them threw down their wrench in anger and said right that's it I'm leaving and this actually occurred he was so mad with his rage he went to his cabin he actually changed cleaned up he's all dirty changed into his best clothes packed his bags and appeared on Deck carrying his two suitcases and the two women almost fell off the boat laughing cuz he looked around and there was ocean in all directions as far as you could see there's no place to go so he had only one choice red in the face with embarrassment he turned around went back to his cabin got back changed back into his work clothes back into the engine room to help out and they ended that Voyage as they began the best of friends I love that story CU that's like our world we like a boat in the ocean there's nowhere to go you may think right that's it I'm leaving where you going to go to instead go back into the anent room help your enemy fix up the problem
- “My eye is the biggest thing in the world”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Asked what the biggest thing in the world is, classmates say daddy, an elephant, a mountain; five-year-old Pascal says her eye, because all of those fit into it. Ajahn Brahm…
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He's daughter, Pascal, she came, she's married now, and got a kid she came and saw me just in October as well, and, when she was at grade one primary school, that was when the teacher asked her a question this is a brilliant story. In philosophy, this is actually where you start with a story, a logical sequence which you end up in a place you never expected to end up, and it changes the way you look at life and this came from a five year old kid who later on went to do post graduate research in Oxford, in Biochemistry. So, she was obviously just a really gifted kid, but at five years of age, her teacher, grade one, at school asked a question: "What is the biggest thing in the world?" That was the question. And, one kid put her hand up this is... he wrote to me about this and this is actually what happened (Puts hand up) "My daddy", five year old kid, you know? For a five year old kid, daddy is huge. And some other kid said "No, no no miss: an Elephant" they'd just been to the zoo, Elephant is much bigger than anybody's daddy. "No, no miss: A mountain is much bigger than an elephant" and actually you're getting somewhere, this is the whole point of the exercise, getting the kids to actually think and imagine and to know more and then Pascal put her hand up and said: "no miss, my eye is the biggest thing in the world". And at that even the teacher didn't understand what the heck she meant. "What do you mean you're eye?" And then this five year old genius said: "Well, miss, my eye can see her daddy, my eye can see an elephant and a mountain and so much more if all of that can fit into my eye, my eye must be the biggest thing in the world" that is genius. It's genius because it sees things in a different perspective than other people think. And it's, you can't fault it. It's just seeing things from a different angle, and now you know what's the biggest thing: you're eye cause everything you see can fit into it. It's huge! But, I wrote back immediately and said: 9 out of 10, but not 10 out of 10 because, you're mind can see everything you're eye can see, and many other stuff you can't see with you're eye, imaginary things, flying pigs (Imperceptible) Elephants, you can imagine all of that sorta stuff you'll never see that. And you're mind can also hear stuff real and imaginary sounds it can smell, it can note tastes, it can feel feelings in the body even like phantom limbs, sometimes. Real and imaginary sensations It's also got it's own area, you know, the love, the kindness, the fear In fact, I argued, Everything you can ever experience and know in life can fit into you're mind. So, you're mind is the biggest thing Not in the world, because you can know the world and that can fit into you're mind. You're mind is even bigger than the world
- On top of the pyramid at TikalAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At 18, in 1969, before university, Ajahn Brahm got bored of the USA and travelled into the jungles of Central America — buses, fishing boats, a river between British Honduras and…
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one of the great ways I figured out how to overcome confusion was uh a time when I was 19 no 18 only 18 and I went to uh just before going up to University went over to United States you know just didn't have a gap year but a gap three or four months and I got really bored with being in the US it just like any other country and just to the south over the Border was Mexico and a little bit South in the jungles of Central America and that was really interesting because there was indigenous cultures over there which were totally different than anything which I had known and so I went into the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula in bordering Mexico and Guatemala and I always wanted to go and visit those great pyramids in the middle of the jungles and those were 1969 there was no other way to get to that central part of the Jungle except on Old buses and fishing boats and uh trucks on the back of heavily Laden trucks going through the jungle it was like an adventure and I always remember just going down this river which separated uh bise British Honduras and Guatemala and you know it was literally just jungle on either side any moment I expected Taren to come swinging through on the trees and there was a Dugout boat with a couple of Indians indigenous uh jungle dwellers totally naked and I remember we stopped at the cafe and the Cafe was this is old thatch and bamboo Hut which serve this incredibly thick and sweet coffee and black beans with tortilla absolutely delicious probably terrible for your health but absolutely delicious and just going from there to the end of the river and then on the back of a truck and for about 3 days traveling through the jungle until you got to the the pyramids in teal and as soon as I arrived there there was I think one person supposed to be maybe an archaeologist was fossing around but no one else was there it was no sort of place where you had to pay entrance fees no shop selling artifacts or selling uh Cups of Tea it was actually totally sort of free and no signs telling what you could do what you couldn't do so I was an 18-year-old boy so you know what 18-year-old men do when they see a pyramid climb it don't worry do those things but so I climbed it not knowing what I'd find at the top but when I got to the top of this PID it's a long way up there I found a story about confusion and about insight and about wisdom and about truth because I was told that these pyramids have some religious or spiritual significance but I hadn't any idea what I never I couldn't afford any guide book and I hadn't done any research at all about those ancient um Mayan civilization they disappeared and no one actually knows why they disappeared and so it was totally unknown it's beautiful if you can have what we call like this open empty mind whenever you face any experiences because if you expect to find something if you know what you're supposed to see it spoils the whole experience you're not open to truth and seeing things in incredible beautiful ways and so as soon as I climbed on the top of that pyramid it was obvious to me what they were there for because I'd spent three days at least traveling in the jungle and if you ever been in real rainforest real jungle which hasn't been developed you'll find that any road or path they cut through the jungle within a few days gets covered over with this this Jungle which is full of Life trees branches they all cover over the path so you are literally traveling through tunnels and I'd never seen the Horizon for 3 days I never seen any far distances and now for the first time in 3 days I climbed up to the top of that pyramid and it was just above thee tree line and now I could see the Horizon these great distances and first of all I thought wow what it would be like to have been born in that jungle spent all your life never see seeing far distances and for the first time some priest takes you up to the top of that pyramid and now you can see Infinity in all directions with nothing between you and the infinite in every direction wow the metaphor was so striking you understand why sometimes when we put things between you and whatever you take to be the infinite in other words religions that that blocks you experiencing the vast emptiness and space there's no barriers there as you stand on top of that pyramid and see forever in every direction and of course afterwards then I looked down at the jungle and you could see where you'd come from it took days to get there but you know because it was Jungle you can't travel fast it's not like the freeway it takes forever and on the top there you can see these great distances I could see the village which I slept in the night before wasn't that far away away and you got the What I Call These Days a Google map view of the Jungle now I was not confused and I use that simil about how to overcome confusion in life wherever it happens to be cuz confusion is like you're right inside the jungle and you can't see great distances all you can see is the next tree the next Vine the next Bush and you know you don't know where you are where you should go even where you've come from to arrive here and the obvious solution when it's confusion is to try and find metaphorically a way to get out of that jungle a tree a tower or in this case a pyramid so you're actually out of your confused little lifestyle that your um entangled web of relationships emotions where you're climbed out beyond the the thicket of thoughts and when you climb out above that you can see from above all the confusion is resolved not only can you can see where you come from you can see where you need to go the path to go on you can also understand why you had to come that way and the greatest thing is to being above all of that thinking emotions difficulty entanglements you're so high above all of that for little while that you can see this great emptiness Infinity foreverness which Embraces and covers everything and gives it some meaning wow so I always thought that that was the meaning of those great pyramids only works in the jungle because it gives you that few moments where you're totally free of confusion
- Seven blind Australians and the kangarooAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Brahm adapts the blind-men-and-elephant into seven blind Australians feeling a kangaroo — tail like a snake, legs like a boomerang, pouch like a handbag, joey like a teddy bear —…
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once there were seven blind Australians and they've never ever seen a kangaroo before even living in this country but they always they've heard about a kangaroo and they wonder what a kangaroo actually is so they decided you know the seven blind Australians so go and find a kangaroo and feeling find out what a kangaroo really is so one of them managed to find a kangaroo and felt the tail and fair oh the tail that's like a snake and the one who felt the legs said oh no no elephant is a boomerang is this way the bent the one who felt the pouch said oh an elephant is a handbag a lady's handbag one who felt the Joey inside said an elephant is a teddy bear I'm making this up as I go along by the way the one who felt the if you ever seen the kangaroo's pores it's a back scratcher you know if you're using a bathroom it's scratch the one who fell how where am I going now one of felt the the ears what's the ears like the ears like a radar because they go back and those are the ears actually move different directions and the one who felt their head wasn't going to be the head it's like it's like a deer isn't it so they all argued one elephant was an elephant because elephant is a boomerang no it's not it's a snake that's a back scratcher it's a Hermes bag handbag for women now it's got two heads one of the top one at the bottom oh the middle rather and they all argued about what an kangaroo was now the point of that similarly you know it's usually just a simile of the no blind man and the the elephant the purpose of that simile is to point out that each one of these were people were right you know the one who felt the tail actually felt the tail they weren't imagining this it wasn't some sort of Illusion on drugs or something it actually felt it it was real and to them it did appear like a snake and the one who felt sort of the the pout it does feel like a lady's handbag if you've never actually seen it before and it's nice and soft it's beautiful every one of those thought they were right because they had person experience and now you can understand why we argue with one another because we always really believe that we are right and we've got reasons for that our experience our knowledge our research on the internet I've researched it it's right you research something else other people on the Internet is find something totally different now this is a problem because we always think we're right just like we think just because it goes quack quack it has to be a duck we found that later on we are wrong how many times have you been wrong in life how many times you really really really really really really thought you were right and you turned out to be wrong each one of us has I have many times
- The blind elephants who felt a manJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a leadership conference on Hayman Island with Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and others, Ajahn Brahm retells the seven blind men and the elephant — then inverts it: seven blind…
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one gig I went to some years ago was to go to this resort island on Hayman Island now that is really a Top Resort and I was invited there all expenses paid flown over to the Gold Coast oh no the Great Barrier Reef you know it's a it's almost like a six-star hotel and that was quite a few years ago because it was a leadership conference and that that leadership conference there was Kevin Rudd was there and Julia Gillard and Swan and and the uh Anna Blythe from Queensland she was a premier there and the premier of Victoria was there and all these big shots were there not his big business people were there and it was really interesting and I was teaching them how to meditate and how to actually to uh to give them a bit of wisdom about how to live in harmony together that didn't really work anyway I tried actually I remember the story I did tell them which they thought was funny was you know the old I'm just going off in a tangent no Odell story The the elephant and the seven wives the elephant and the Seven Blind Men many of you know that story every blind man felt different part of the elephants and you know because of that that sort of they argued elephant is like a tree trunk elephant's like a fly whisk who felt the tail elephants like a plow felt the who felt the task and they all argued what an elephant was they were all right but they should have actually combined their knowledge and I decided to do a a an alternative of that one and that is of the the story The Great Buddhist story with the seven blind elephants and they always heard about a man what's a man we've heard about a man but what is a man and I heard about the you know seven Blind Men the only way you can find out is find another find an elephant set of seven Blind Men feel it and instead of archery and who's right combine your knowledge don't argue combine so the seven blind man figured out an elephant so big rock on four tree trunks with a fry Whisk on the back a water pot on the top on the middle of the water pot is a big snake two plows on either side of the snake and two big fans on either side of the water part of the years and that's not a bad description so when the elephants blind elephants heard about this they thought that's how we can find what a man is let's all find a man each feel the man come back and we combine our experience but unlike the first part of the story when the blind elephants all they all found a man each and when they came back to compare experiences they all agreed a man was flat that's the only way an elephant could feel anybody squashing it and I remember telling that to Kevin right and I think that's probably why uh Julia Gillard squashed him it's my fault sorry
- The husband's photo in her handbagJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Married 30 or 40 years, a woman always carries her husband's photo in her handbag. Whenever life gets really difficult she takes it out, looks at him and says: “If I can endure…
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that um story of that woman who who um always kept a photograph of her husband in her in her purse you know in her s of handbag and they were been married for about 30 40 years and she always carried a photo PHH of her husband around with her to use in times of difficulty and trouble because whenever life was real problem whenever it was just so difficult she would open up her handbag and take out the picture of the man she'd been married to for 30 years and she looked at him and said if I can enure that I can enure anything
- Twenty minutes to cry in a Bangkok templeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Western visitor interested in Buddhism sees a young woman crying her eyes out on a bench in a busy Bangkok temple. Unsure of the culture, he leaves her be; twenty minutes…
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I remember a man came and told to me once he was visiting Bangkok he was very interested in Buddhism It's very hard to find someone who could teach him what Buddhism really meant. But he found some of his answers in an experience when he went to visit a Buddhist temple in the city and those of you who have been to Bangkok, you know how busy and noisy it can be. He was visiting a temple he noticed a girl siting on one of the benches in the temple crying her eyes out. she was distraught about something but not really knowing the culture of Thailand, he thought I don't think I should intervene, but he felt like he was concerned about this woman who was obviously suffering quite intensely. So went off to visit the temple inside and when he came out, may be 20 minutes afterwards he noticed this woman has stopped crying was about to get up and leave. He couldn't help himself but just go and ask her Is there anything wrong? Is there anything I can do? and she could speak English And she replied 'no I am fine now' What happened was 'I had lost the keys to my car' and I came into the temple. All I needed was a quiet place just to cry for 20 minutes and now I am fine. Thank you very much
- Two bad bricks in the wallStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Building the broke new monastery at Serpentine, the ex-physicist monk lays his first brick wall with painstaking perfectionism — then sees two crooked bricks. He wants to…
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The story of the two bad bricks in the wall, twenty six years ago, twenty seven years ago when we moved to Serpentine to build that monastery down there we had no money, we were broke, and because... we owed money for the land, there were no buildings on that property. So I had to learn how to build. And I was theoretical physicist before, ok, in my head doing sums all day. Now I had to get out there and get my hands dirty and mix concrete and lay bricks and put on a roof and do plumbing. Everything we did. And even to this day, if any of you going into that main hall in our monastery, I am the builder. My name is on the building license for that. And it's still standing so that's pretty good. [LAUGHTER] So in particular, this story I had to learn how to lay bricks. Laying bricks was not a simple thing to do, it may look easy but it's so hard to get everything level. But, as most people would be I was a perfectionist. I had to make sure that brick was perfectly level before I went onto the next one. Sometimes one corner was high, you'd knock it down and another corner would go up. You knock that corner down then it would go out of line. You knock it back into line thinking it was finished, you notice one of the corners was high again. It was just one of those jobs which, where you couldn't get everything in the right place but you kept on trying until you got it. It took a long time but it didn't matter cause I wasn't being paid. So I could take however long I wanted. And when I finished that wall, that first brick wall, like anybody else you were proud, finished, you stood back to look at it and admire it, and it was only then when it was finished I noticed that two bricks were crooked. All the other bricks were straight, two bricks were crooked. So what would you do? What I did was try and scrape the mortar out so I could reset the bricks so they could be perfect. But the mortar was hard, you couldn't scrape it out. And the other monk who was with me at the time, Ajahn Jagaro, I asked him look can we afford, can we please afford some dynamite so I blow it up and start again? Bulldozer would do, push it over. Because...that spoiled the whole wall. Those two bad bricks, they ruined the whole thing. But we couldn't, I was stuck with it, we were too poor to do anything with it. So for three months, every time I went passed that wall I saw my mistakes and I felt so sad. I'd stuffed up. And the worst thing about stuffing up when you're building everybody could see it, you can't hide it. It's a big wall, out there in the open. So, every time there was a visitor, I would actually volunteer to take them around so I could, you know, take them somewhere else so they wouldn't see my mistakes. At night time I'd have nightmares about that wall. I would, I'd dream of it, because I'd really made a big mistake and everybody could see it. And it was three months, roughly, I'm not quite sure it's a long time ago now, about three months somebody else was with me and they saw that wall and they said that's a beautiful wall. And I just couldn't believe what I'd heard because for three months I'd been suffering so much with that wall and they said it's a beautiful wall. My first reaction was to ask them are you visually impaired, are you blind, did you leave your glasses in the car? Can't you see those two bad bricks, the crooked ones. And what they said next just changed much of the way I look at life and stopped a lot of inherent depression in myself. What they said was yes I can see the two bad bricks, but I can also see the nine hundred and ninety eight good bricks as well. And that really hit me, because I realised for three months I was blind. All I ever saw was my two mistakes and I just could not see all the beautiful perfect bricks which I had laid. And when that guy told me what about the nine hundred and ninety eight good bricks that was the first time in three months that I could actually see the bricks above, below, to the left and the right of my two mistakes. And I had to agree with the fellow, it was a beautiful wall, once I could see the whole picture.
- Two crooked bricks at the Chinese universityStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Invited to the Chinese University in Sha Tin (captioned Chartin), Hong Kong, because of student suicides, he told the two-bad-bricks story — wanting to blow up a wall over two…
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they invited me to the Chinese university in Chartin and the reason was because they had lots of uh students committing suicide and that's the story I told apparently it worked many of those students the suicide rate went down said why I wanted to blow up a wall destroy it because I saw two faults how many Kids see a couple of faults and they focus on that's all they see. You can understand why you want to blow it up. You can't stand it any longer
- Two monks argue about the fish tankStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Waiting for lunch: one monk says fish tanks are prisons; the other says tanks protect fish from hooks and alien-abduction fishing — same tank, opposite morals.
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two monks who were in somebody's house waiting for lunch and they were sitting in the room and they had a fish tank I know you may have a fish tank in your house and one of them Mark said that is crol what did the fish do to have to be put inside his prison in somebody's house you know it's bad to keep fish in a tank in your house just for your own amusement the fish should be free to swim in the lakes and the rivers to go where they wanted to it is bad to imprison fish in a tank in your house so be honest how many of you have got fish tanks in your house very good because the other monks said you don't understand he said it's good to put fish in a tank in your house why he said because imagine that you were a fish if you were swimming in the lakes and the rivers you know that people would be fishing for you trying to kill you and eat you and I often thought what it must be like being a fish in the rivers you swimming around riding your own business you see this nice juicy little worm and you wonder has it got a hook in it or is it a real worm because you've seen many of your friends know they see a worm they take it and suddenly they''re yanked out of your existence never to be seen again it's like being abducted by aliens