Stories about practice
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about practice from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Books, books, books — dustbin, dustbin, dustbinStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: ~1972 London: Zen monk with almost no English answers 'What of Buddhism in UK?' — books books books, too many, dustbin dustbin dustbin. Also: each book written = seven births as…
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this Zen monk came, and in his talk, he gave a warning. His warning was Well, first of all, you know, he couldn't speak English very well. But nevertheless, we asked him a question. And the question was, "What do you think of Buddhism in UK?" And I think this was asked about 1972. And he said, he couldn't speak English fluently, but he could say a few words. What he said was, "Buddhism in UK, books, books, books. Too many, too many, too many. Dustbin, dustbin, dustbin." And that was so articulate. You couldn't have said it more eloquently than that. Just Just knowing three words. But he also said that uh through the translator, that anyone who writes a book, for each book, you have to spend the next seven births after you die, as a donkey
- First five-minute meditation, 1969Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In 1969 — about fifty-five years before this talk — Ajahn Brahm sits for his first meditation, only five minutes. Even that tiny taste of peace and relaxation catches him; he…
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I sat down to do some meditation, which was in 1969. How many years ago is that? 55? 55 years ago. It was only for 5 minutes. And I remember that and it was just like, "That feels good. It's peaceful. It's relaxing." And it was a lot of only a tiny bit of happiness, but it really felt good. And it caught me the very first time I I did some meditation. And hopefully that every one of you can feel the same
- Hay Street Mall — two hours outside Time ZoneStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Years ago Ajahn Brahm sat two hours on the cold pavement of Hay Street Mall right in front of a noisy Time Zone arcade, no cushion, testing whether he could do what he taught:…
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Hay Street mouth many years ago and hey Street mile we met it sat down on the cold pavement no cushions about for two hours as right in front of a shop called time zone and that was really noisy but I wanted to test out what I told others can you do yourself and of course that was wonderful you could I'm not honest so you could do that it's not that hard we imagine a bubble around you and you're in that bubble and the sounds are kind of outside they're not in your space you can hear the sounds but you don't listen to them listen to them what's that song what they saying what they're doing if you don't give them attention and importance then they are just a different type of sound they're just noise at a distance but they don't really affect you and they don't disturb you