Stories about possessions
5 Buddhist wisdom stories about possessions from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A map to the toiletStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Blessing a riverside mansion in Perth, Ajahn Brahm asks the way to the toilet and the lady draws him a map. Ten or twelve bedrooms — and she lives there alone. Why not have…
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that house which I went to bless I won't say where in one of the suburbs in Perth was on the river and when I went there, this huge mansion and this is no joke when I went there I was travelling from serpentine I needed to go to the toilet. And when I asked the lady where is the toilet she got out a piece of paper and drew me a map. That's a big house. It's true... that's what ... . But the point was I asked how many people live in this house I don't know how many bedrooms-10 12 bedrooms ..she said just me. I live in this house alone. And you'll find in many of those big mansions may be one person, two at most. Isn't that telling you something? What it's telling you is that in those big places people are imprisoned by their wealth. You know why ... when I asked why don't you have some friends and relations? she said 'I am afraid of my relations'
- “If only my house were this small”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Showing a visiting local women's group his small monastery hut, Ajahn Brahm hears one woman say with envy: “Wow, if only my house were this small, I'd get all my housework done…
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And I still remember about ten years ago taking a group of women who were visiting the monastery, it was a local women's group who wanted to do weird things on an afternoon and had never been to the monastery and that qualified being weird, and when I took them to see my hut my room, I always remember one of the girls turning around to me and saying 'wow if only my house were this small I get all my house work done in half an hour'.
- 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.
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every two years as a monk in voting down a monastery we have to move we have to move huts so you're only allowed to stay in heart for two years and what when you move you cannot use the tractor you cannot use a car you can use a wheelbarrow but you have to push it yourself
- The stolen Harley on the wrong levelStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An early member owns almost nothing except his prized Harley-Davidson. In a Sydney shopping centre car park he returns to find it gone, contemplates the teachings — “I don't own…
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I can't pass by this story of one of the people who used to come here in the very early days. The only thing he was ever attached to, the only possession he had was his Harley Davidson, incredibly beautiful motorbike. And those things are worth 50 60 thousand dollars. even more than that. just a bike; it's just worth a huge amount of money. But that was his pride and joy. He just stayed with friends, He just rented houses with people, wore old cloths but he had his Harley. And he told me once, I think he was over in Sydney somewhere, he went shopping and he parked his Harley in the shopping center. Just may be half an hour that's all it took. He went to buy something when he came back to the car park his Harley was gone. someone has stolen it. And he being a Buddhist for a long time. and he thought 'Am I attached to this', can I let it go; someone has stolen it. He wrote to me about this afterwards; and he said he really thought about it ; it is proving what the Buddha kept on telling me what the monks and nuns always said I don't own these things. It's not really mine and he actually let it go. That's what he wrote to me.. he was so proud of himself All these teachings he had been hearing year after year they finally worked. He lost his only possession, the only thing which was really worth anything has been stolen and he could be at peace with it. Ok I let it go, I can live without a Harley And he was so pleased with himself, he could actually do a letting go. Showed him that he wasn't attached. Some karmic forces which is really weird because as soon as he realized he let it go; that he felt the joy that he wasn't attached it was only then he realized he was on the wrong level of the car park. (laughs) You know what it is you have done that sometimes. And of course when he went back to the correct level , there was his Harley Davidson sitting there (laughs) He says it was a beautiful experience for him. It just tested him and now he knew he could enjoy that Harvey Davidson knowing he wasn't attached. Enjoy the extra months and years which he had with his Harley and he knew that when someone eventually stole it or got it crashed or whatever happen he knew he could let it go. He realized yes he can enjoy without being attached.
- Walking off with everything he owned on his backStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After five years as a monk in Thailand (around 1979) Ajahn Brahm leaves his monastery to wander on foot. Nothing can be stored, so he must carry everything; in the tropical heat…
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One of my most memorable experiences in my training as a monk after 5 years being a monk in these monasteries in Thailand you are expected, encouraged to actually leave the monastery, just go wondering on foot. Its a great opportunity to visit other teachers' You have been in a one monastery and to see how the other teachers teach To get a wider experience or may be go and find some solitude in the jungles or the mountains That was after five years--what would that be 1979 or something; somewhere around then. I left the monastery; and the rule was you couldn't store anything there. You can give it away but once you gave it away nothing would be kept for you. So everything which was yours you had to carry with you. And of course if you are walking especially through the hot tropics carrying lots and lots of stuff is just really really unpleasant. It was reminding you how much a burden your possessions were. So after a couple of days, you gave this away and you gave that away and you are down to the absolute minimum you needed Once you got down to that minimum, my goodness it was so light. You can imagine the experience. Just put yourself in that experience that everything you own you are carrying on your back and it's light. And you can dance, there is hardly any burden there at all. Because as a monk we knew that, there are monasteries everywhere any place you go you can get a bed for the night. If you don't get a bed for the night you can sleep under a tree. Its the tropics, it is easy to do. You can go anywhere, you get something to eat, not delicious food but enough to keep you going through the day, there is waters in the well. There was this total sense of freedom freedom from possessions. And that was just like being in heaven. You didn't have any worries at all. You had cloths to wear, you had this little mosquito net umbrella which you could park anywhere to sleep at night. And the best thing about it; you had no appointments. Your future was blank. I could go anywhere I wanted. Every cross road, you can go left, go right, turn around, go forward, stay still No one was asking you to go anywhere, to do anything or be anything. That was one of my wonderful experiences of being free from attachments at all.