Stories about precepts
17 Buddhist wisdom stories about precepts from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Cambridge medicine — then mowing lawnsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: One of Ajahn Brahm's best school friends won a place to study medicine at Cambridge, started on marijuana, progressed to heroin, was expelled for stealing from medical-school…
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One of my best friends at school, he also went to Cambridge with me, studying medicine. Imagine getting a place in Cambridge University to study medicine. What a great start in life. Started taking marijuana. You don't control yourself. You're lost. And eventually heroin. Became an addict, got kicked out of university from stealing from the medical supplies at the uh the med school. And the last time I saw him, he was mowing people's lawns, just trying to get by. A brilliant man. And he was one of my friends. Now, when I was a young monk so in Thailand, my other friends said that you know, that he got He even knows our friend, whenever you go to our house, he would steal, steal.
- “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.
- Her mother stopped shoutingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A young woman in Bangkok whose whole family came to his talks never did herself — until she noticed her mother had stopped shouting at her so much. She came to the Phuket retreat…
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Just even Bangkok recently, sort of one of the girl, she told me, yeah, she knew me for a long time, but she hardly ever came to the talks. All her family did. And she came to my retreat in Phuket and started coming to all my talks because she saw the result on her mother. Her mother sort of stopped shouting at her so much. And that much was enough to say, "Hey, there's something going on here." So she wanted to try out and see if she could find out why her mother was a much nicer mother after she'd been meditating for such a long time.
- “It's about time you took the pansil”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young man who has been visiting a temple for some time, he's taken aside by a monk: it's about time he 'took the pansil'. Not knowing what that was, he hears the five…
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one of the priests took me aside he'd been coming here long enough it's about time you took the pencil this was accurate this has happened it was an Atty temple but I use this when I can words I said then it will sir what is the pencil you know not kidding and everything I'm a vegetarian not sort of stealing even if the conductors have vouched for my fare I always give it to him so you need my fare here it is not committing adultery who won girlfriend was expensive enough not lying it never felt right to tell a lie to anybody and not take an alcohol I said I've been giving up alcohol a long time already and now you know I was may say I was conceited but it was a good anecdote I said venerable so I don't need to take the 5p sense I've been keeping them for the last couple of years without knowing that there were precepts
- No alcohol from sunrise to sunset — for vassaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Thai alcoholic vows during rains retreat: no drink sunrise to sunset; hangs at the temple all day; tops up before dawn and after sunset — the best he can do, and it is hard.
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alcoholic but he came up to us and he said during the wasser period for three months I'm not going to drink any alcohol from sunrise to sunset and this gentleman that was a very big sacrifice for him you could see it he would come to the temple and try and hang out in the temple all day because he knew there was no alcohol there and to try and make sure he kept his precept and he was waiting and waiting and waiting in the evening for sunset throughout he'd have some alcohol and he had a big top up before the Sun rose because that's the best he could do
- One-pound bet — sober for a yearStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a student he bets a cousin one pound he can stay sober a year; decades later the cousin still has not paid.
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gave up alcohol as a student even one of my cousins who knew me very well said new won't last you know and I I did a bet with him away to one pound that's all worth a lot of money in those days that I could last over one year of Being Sober not taking any alcohol that's that's over about 60 years ago now he still hasn't paid up
- Only keeping four precepts todayStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Back in Thailand after some years in Australia, Ajahn Brahm watches people take the five precepts with their hands raised. One man holds up four fingers. Asked why, he says he is…
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And the the other precepts story, this was when I I've been over in Australia for a while. I went to Thailand. And all these Thai people, they're taking the five precepts, you know, they put your hands up like this. And I saw this guy, and it That's what they usually do, put their hands up like this. I saw him do this. I've never seen that before. And so I asked him after, "What does What does that mean?" You know, you're putting your hand up like this. He said, "Oh, I'm I'm only keeping four precepts today." You know, 1 2 3 4. They still chant all of them. And then that made me start to look. And yeah, sure enough, I saw somebody with two fingers They didn't tell me which precepts they were breaking.
- Thank the burglar for the whiskeyJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Someone's house is burgled of expensive whiskey; Brahm says thank the burglar — he stopped you breaking precepts — and asks for the burglar's name to give other addresses.
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burglar came into their house? I said, "What did they steal?" Oh, they stole all these expensive bottles of whiskey. I said, "Oh, thank the burglar." They stopped you breaking your precepts. Thank you, thank you. What a wonderful burglar that is. Can you please get the burglar's name? I can give them the addresses of many other people sitting here today. [laughter] ...so we can relieve them of their alcohol as well
- The actuary they called “Flash”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting England, Ajahn Brahm meets a Cambridge friend he hasn't seen for 40 years — now a highly respected actuary, among the top in Europe. He reminds him of his student…
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a couple of years ago I met one of my friends when I was visiting England. He's an old friend from Cambridge days. Now that was about 40 years now. Now he's this highly respected businessman. He's an actuary. An actuary is this mathematical geniuses who work out just the odds of you know falling off a building. It works out the the the probabilities for insurance companies. And he was one of the top if not the top actuary in the whole of Europe. And so when I met him we hadn't seen each other 40 years. A highly successful very sort of good man. And I reminded him of the nickname we had for him at Cambridge which was Flash. And the reason we called him Flash was because one night at one of the parties we had he did get drunk. He went into the toilets and he came out with nothing on. That's why we called him Flash. And he said, "Better not talk too much about that Ajahn Brahm.
- The bad snake learned to hiss but not biteStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Jātaka-based arc: bad snake gets religious, takes Five Precepts from a holy snake, kids torment the meek convert, holy snake returns — keep precepts but remember to hiss.…
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the snake got religious'. And of course when people want to asked those questions they'll go to the experts, the monks, the priests; we were supposed to know about these things. But you know all his life, that snake was always bad-mouthing at these monks, no good as bald-headed idiots, they should get a proper job instead of people feeding them, bowing down to them. Just what do they think they are? So he's always saying bad things about the monks and the priests and the nuns, everybody. He was a very bad-mouth snake, But then he thought 'well, a lot of people have a lot of faith in these guys and these girls; maybe, just maybe they may know something' So he decided, he decided to go and see one of these holy men but not a man, he couldn't understand men. There was even a holy snake not far away from where the snake lived On top of the mountain lived a holy snake. And all his mates, the other snakes said oh, you should go out and see the snake as he is a really wise snake. So, one day he decided to go. You know, what it's like when you first go to a temple most people when they first go to the temple usually sit by the doors, or even better outside. Because if they don't like it they could sneak out very quickly. And that's what he did. But before he came in, he decided to go in disguise because he was embarrassed his friends would recognize him. So, he put on a pair of dark glasses, put on one of his fedora hat and a rain coat and the snake slithered up to the mountain in disguise to see this holy snake. And they're just like the humans. The snake, the holy snake was sitting on a rock and giving a sermon with a microphone and on the Internet, you know, giving this sermon to all these little snakes who were sitting down there and listening to him. And the bad snakes sat at the entrance but what happened as the bad snake started to listen a bit more, that actually made sense and even the holy snake told a few jokes every now and again which he thought was very funny and you never realized, the bad snake never realized that holy snakes told jokes every now and again But there it was. And so it wasn't just entertainment, what that Holy snake said started to make sense. So much so that by the end of the sermon the bad snake was converted. He took off his glasses, he took off his hat and coat everyone recognized him. My goodness! look, look who's come to the temple, the bad snake has come to the temple. He came right up to the front after question time and said to the Holy snake: "I've lived a terrible life, I've done such bad things to so many people and I'm so so sorry I shouldn't have done that I don't want to go to the hell, I want to have a nice rebirth" and the holy snake taught him about forgiveness, to let go of the past. We all make mistakes One of the nicest things about spirituality we can forgive almost anything. Actually we do forgive everything. and the Holy snake was just so... sorry the bad snake was so taken by the holy snake's compassion he said "right, you're my teacher you're my master what should I do?" And that's when the Holy snake gave the bad snake the five Buddhist precepts. He made him a Buddhist. From now on, he said you must not intentionally kill any living being that includes biting your enemies not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to go along with the wives of other snakes not to lie and not to go to the the pub where the snakes go on a Saturday night, not to drink alcohol, keep the Five Precepts! And the snake because when you first come here when you get converted, you know, that's the time you're the most religious. He went up there and he took the five precepts in a loud voice and he said 'I am a changed snake, I'm a good snake I will live a good life, I'll go and help people, I'll join Amnesty International, I'll give donations to Greenpeace, I'll become a vegetarian, I'll do everything now. People make all these promises at first, usually last a few days and they go back to normal again afterwards. But and as he left, as he left the bad snake gave a donation in the box as well. He gave coins, you know why people put coins in the donation box? because everyone can hear it. See, I give donation, I give donation. He was just showing off. So anyway he went back to his place by the side of the road. Now he was a good snake. But of course the people didn't know that he couldn't put a sign up saying I don't bite anymore because he can't write in English. So if he did write a sign it should be "Shh, shh, shh, shhh", he would be able to do that. So people would still avoid him they'd still put in this big detour even though it was a long way out the way cuz they still thought he was a dangerous snake even though he did have one of these Amnesty International badges on his chest. And even though sometimes they did actually see him sitting cross-legged, no could not cross-legged, cross-coiled by his hole in meditation. Because he's a good snake now, but they didn't know that he was, he was a good snake But once a kid was just had this iPod on; They told me yesterday at the airport that there were, they were paging for this kid at the airport would Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones come we're waiting for you, the whole plane is waiting for you. And then this Mr. Jones, this kid or maybe about 18 he rocked up and he had his iPod on, he hadn't heard any announcements. He just walked in as if he was... he owned the aircraft So be careful if you go to the airport, please don't put your iPod on with the headphones in. You won't be able to hear anything and you keep everyone else waiting but anyway that's another story. This guy he was actually had the iPhone, the iPod on with his earphones and he walked right past the bad snake and as soon as he realized what he had done he was scared but he realized the snake hadn't actually bit him. it's actually the snake watched him and just smiled religiously. (Ajahn imitating a 'religious smile' (and the audience laughng) And at that, that was the first time they realized that snake wasn't dangerous anymore. and soon that people would just walk right over that snake, they just step over him and the snake didn't mind because you know, he's a Buddhist snake now. He was so compassionate and kind to people But; even amongst any community it's not just some bad snakes it's also bad humans as well. And there was a little gang of kids, really bad scallywag kids. These kids decided one afternoon to tease that bad snake. They came up to him and started verbally abusing him first of all. What type of snake do you think you really are? You're not a real snake, you just like an oversized worm, You probably haven't even got any fangs, come on show us your fangs if you've got any, you're a disgrace to your species. You're just a slimy creep. Which is actually quite true because all snakes are creeps, they've been slimy too. But you know even though that some of those words were true and even though you've done nothing wrong. When you're scolded, what does it feel like? When you're called names and you're accused of things you didn't do, that really hurts you. And that snake, he was a proud snake. So what are you doing this to me for, he was thinking but I can't defend myself because I can't bite anybody anymore so that snake, the Buddhists snake, just had to take it. And when they realized this snake was not reacting at all. You know, like what some people do, they take advantage of you. So the kids started picking up stones and like little clods of earth and throwing it at the snake. Some of those stones hit and they hurt, they bruised that snake and the snake was boiling inside thinking why can't I just bite one of these kids? Just one that's all. And I'll show them I've got fangs I will show them what I really am. But Ugh... these five bloody precepts I can't do anything. And that encouraged the kids even more. They came up to him with the sticks and started beating him over the back. And this poor snake because he had the 5 Precepts, because he was now a Buddhist he couldn't do anything at all. He just took the beating and he realized maybe in a monastery, maybe when you're staying in the temple you can keep five precepts. But out there in the world, in business in the family whatever. It's a tough world out there isn't it. Maybe in the monasteries you can keep these five precepts but they're impractical, impractical it can't be done. So after this beating he decided to crawl painfully up to that Holy snake to get released from his vows of non-violence and five precepts. When the holy snake saw him coming all bruised and bloody the Holy snake shouted out to him "what happened to you, you look terrible" and a bad snake said "it's your fault you fake of a snake give me those stupid five precepts." "You can't sort of keep the 5 precepts in this world you should 'get real' holy snake", get out there in the world and do what we have to do, get a job, go out there like we all have to do, instead of staying in your temple meditating then you'll find out you can't keep these precepts. And a holy snake listened and said "you stupid snake, you idiot snake, you hopeless snake" said the holy snake to the bad snake. And the bad snake was quite taken aback. "What do you mean I'm a bad snake, a stupid snake I did what you told me I kept the Five Precepts, non-violence and join Greenpeace." And the holy snake said yes, he said, I told you to keep the Five Precepts I told you not to kill people, I told you not to bite people but I never told you not to hiss and that's all you needed to do, snake. Hissssssss. So go back to where you live when those kids came back next time just hiss at them and they will run a mile. And that was a story of the bad snake. And how in life you can still keep the 5 Precepts, you can still be nonviolent but you must always remember to hiss
- The bottle ghostAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Told in Asia, where people fear ghosts: the most dangerous ghost in the world, one he has seen many times. It possesses people — they speak strangely, can't walk straight, act…
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I like telling the story of the bottle ghost. I get really serious because it's one of the most dangerous ghosts in the whole world. And I like many people say they don't believe in ghosts. But there's evidence for this ghost. I've actually I've Okay. I've seen it myself many times and I've seen what it what it does to people. You know, it it actually possesses people, the bottle ghost. And they they they don't act in the normal way. They're they're strange. You know, they they don't speak in the normal way. They don't even walk in the They don't act in the normal way at all. They're totally different characters. And I've even seen this ghost possess people. It's no exaggeration. I've seen them get killed. It's that dangerous a ghost. And so, I warn people and listen, my honesty is there. This bottle ghost exists and it does possess people and it does kill them as well. And people are actually very impressed cuz, you know, I don't exaggerate. I don't tell lies. And that bottle ghost, I explain what it really is. It lives in bottles of whiskey, rum, and other things cuz as soon as you take the bottle the top off, you get possessed. And you speak in very strange ways and you can't even walk in a straight line and you do really weird things and sometimes you kill yourself in an accident. It's called a bottle ghost. That's actually why we call these things spirits. Have you ever wondered why they call it spirits? It's the bottle ghost. But it is true. It does kill you.
- The jewelled goblet: his last drinkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At an Emmanuel College scholars' dinner in Cambridge, after much port and claret, the students must drain a jewel-encrusted silver heirloom goblet brim-full of claret and give a…
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on one occasion the scholars dinner having drunk so much alcohol already we had to do a toast with this goblet silver goblet encrusted with jewels a cottage heirloom that was Emmanuel College in Cambridge and we had to fill with claret if I can remember properly to the brim we had to drain it drink the whole lot and then say a toast in Latin this was supposed to be an intelligent university I decide this this didn't make any sense to me and the following morning I don't know how I got back to my room but I woke up in the morning with a part of vomit on my pillow right next to me I didn't realize that that could have killed me people choked on that and died and I felt terrible for the next 24 hours everyone was saying what wonderful evening that was that was the last time I took any alcohol in my life
- The monk drunk at the town gateStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the Buddha's time, generous but unwise lay people ask some scallywag monks what monks need; 'what's hard to come by — booze.' Next day a monk who has vowed to eat whatever is…
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And this is a story about what it was like in the time of the Buddha, 2,500 years ago in India, when the Buddhist monks started to get popular, they always had a few real scallywags, really there really were naughty monks in that time. And some of the laypeople, you know what you're like. You're very sort of um uh faithful, and you you're very kind and generous, and you say to the monks, "Oh, you've been so good. Is there anything you need?" But they asked the wrong monks. They asked a couple of these scallywag monks. You know, is anything the monks need? And so, they these monks said, "Give the monks what's hard for them to come by." What do you mean, what's hard for them to come by? They've got enough rice and curry. No, give some booze. Cuz that's very hard to come by. That's very true. And they said, "Is that allowed?" We said, "Yeah, that's fine." So, they went This was really scallywag monks, you know, saying the wrong thing. So, these people were had too much faith and too little wisdom. So, the next day when they saw one of these monks come on alms round, it was one of these monks who made the determination, "Whatever you give them, they will eat." I did that for a while. You know, whatever you put in my bowl, that's what I put in my mouth. And so, he made that resolution. And so, these people started putting putting alcohol in his bowl. So, that's what he had to put in his mouth. And they thought it was extra merit cuz it's something which they know is very rare for a monk to get. And so, so the problem was by the time he'd finished his alms round, he was actually so, you know, over the limit. He was struggling to get back to the monastery to sleep it off. But what usually happens is a very very worst of uh your nightmares. He managed to make it to the town gate. And actually there, he collapsed. That's where he lost consciousness. He was just too drunk. It's the wrong place for him to pass out because everyone had to come in and go out through that gate. And it was 5 minutes after he collapsed, who would come by? But the Buddha, coming back from his alms round. And that's where he saw the monk who was drunk, paralytic, unconscious on the ground. I don't know why that always Whenever you make a small mistake, isn't it always happens that, you know, you get caught out, the boss finds you. You only done it once, and it's the first time. Why does this always happen? But the poor monk got caught by the Buddha. And that's when he sort of said, "Monks, you should not take alcohol cuz look what it does to you
- The monk nominated president of the progress associationStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: The monk at the Albany temple, who makes an effort to connect with locals, joined the Elleker Progress Association and attended its meetings (never touching the beer). At the AGM…
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the Albany temple Ajanmud's place and when I went down there he told me a wonderful story that was um he's really tried very hard and takes a lot of effort to connect with the local community. He's in the suburb of Elica. Uh that's uh to the uh the west of Albany. And so I told him just you know check in with the locals. So whenever there is a community meeting he usually goes there. Of course they have beers and stuff but you know he's very good Mike. He never has that. But anyway, he was at one of these meetings and they announced it's the AGM of the Elica Progress Association. So they said, "Well, you have to leave." He said, "No, no, I'm a member." He was actually a registered member there. The Anagara joined him up. So he said, "Oh, no. I'm I'm here." And so they said on the AGM that they have to elect the committee for next year and the president said he's been the president of the ELCA progress association for as many years as he is allowed. He has to get a new president this year. So the the ex-president said I hereby nominate venerable Mudu. He was nominated to be the president of the Elica Progress Association. That's how you know he was he was very friendly with everybody and they really respected him. And then he said, "Okay, I'll accept the nomination on one condition and that is that as soon as I'm president, you'll allow me to ban beer in the Elica Progress Association Hall." And everyone went quiet. There was silence, he said. And then almost like unanimously they all shouted boom and so they took away his nomination. So he got away with not having to do any work.
- The nun and the last pokie coinStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After a UK retreat a famous Buddhist nun must eat before midday; the only place is next to a pub with pokies; the driver feeds coins as she arrives — last-coin / one-armed-bandit…
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this nun, a very famous Buddhist nun, who was teaching a retreat over in UK. That's what I'm going to do after on Monday or Tuesday. Two retreats, two small retreats. So she was teaching a retreat in UK, and when the retreat was finished, had to drive to Heathrow Airport to fly back to I think she had a monastery in Germany. I shouldn't give too much [clears throat] I will give all the details, why not? She's dead now. So anyway, after teaching the retreat, they had to go to have something to eat cuz monks and nuns, we have to eat finish eating before midday. So the only place they could find, it was a restaurant, but next to a pub. You're not supposed to go in a pub, but it's only just going in the front door and then a side door into the restaurant. Nothing wrong with that. So they went there, they had their their lunch, and when they paid for it, had to pay for it in English money. It was in the days before credit cards. And so they had their change, had a few English coins which they couldn't it's not really worth um exchanging, there's not enough of them. So the driver had about £6 of English coins to get rid of. There's a good solution. There's one of these what we call in Australia pokie machines. I know in in UK we used to call them one-armed bandits
- The only lie in 40 years of marriageStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Don, a retired Royal Navy man and Buddhist Society member, was in Royal Perth Hospital awaiting heart bypass surgery. The night before, his wife phoned Ajahn Brahm, distressed:…
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one of the members here his name was Don he was English he used to be in the the Royal Navy and he came to Perth in the boat and liked it so much that once he retired he came to uh to live here and he had a heart attack he was put in roal Perth Hospital put in the the F stream for having bypass surgery and I went to see him in the hospital give him a bit of a boo and just the night before his surgery his wife called me she was very very disturbed and she said I've been married to him for about 40 years now and this afternoon I lied to him for the first time and I feel terrible and so asked what happened why did you lie she said in that W there were three other beds and in his next bed all people about to have heart bypasses was Jack and you know being in the war together him two or 3 days nothing else to do you know he became quite friendly to Jack and Jack was had that heart bypass that morning and I went to see my husband in the evening and he was to have his bypass the next day and so my husband asked how's Jack how did his H how did his bypass go and I lied to him I said fine he's over in the ICU recovering it was a success when what really happened I saw Jack's wife crying her eyes out he died the bypassing didn't work and I didn't want to tell my husband that that his friend had died from the same operation my husband's going to have tomorrow I think that might have killed him and actually that because he was quite elderly he was on the edge of life and death for about two or three days he only just pulled through and to this day I I say to his wife you probably did the right thing if you'd have told the truth it might have just pushed him over the edge it might have killed him so I said in that particular case it was the right thing to do to lie so I say once every 40 years you can lie
- The rabbit who jumped into the potStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Traditional Buddhist children's tale of the rabbit in the moon: otter, jackal/hyena and rabbit keep precepts and give dāna when Sakka disguised as a monk tests them. The rabbit,…
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There were these three friends. Was it the rabbit, the otter, and the the jackal? And they were the best of friends. And when it came to the moon days, they would always keep special rules at the moon days. In Buddhism, we usually do eight precepts instead of five precepts. So, they decided on that day they would keep the five precepts. I don't know why they're talking about five precepts because they'd never drink alcohol anyway. But anyway, they do five precepts and they would try and do charity. Anytime they can do some charity or give some donna, they would. And so what happened that this this god came down. No, one of these many gods in Buddhism. This was supposed to be Saka came down to test them out. And he took the form of a Buddhist monk, Asadu, with an arms ball. And as soon as they saw him, they said, "We got to keep our promise. We got to give him something." So the otter, well, what can I give him? He said, "Well, look, I can't get any fish cuz I'm keeping precepts today." But this otter had actually buried some fish for later on. So he took out that fish he'd buried and he offered it to the monk and the monk gave him a little blessing. And then it was the job of the the hyena. what can I get? What can I get for this for this monk? And he couldn't steal anything that was breaking the precepts. So what he did, he knew where there's many people and many people were not very careful and they left things out and so nice food. And so he went there and he said, "Does this belong to anybody? Does this belong to anybody?" When nobody responded, he took that and gave that to the monk. And the monk gave him a blessing. And then there was a job of the rabbit and the rabbit started getting some grass for the monk. But they said, "Hey, but monks don't eat grass. What can I get for this monk? He has to keep his precepts." [snorts] So the rabbit got some wood and made a little fire. And cuz a rabbit knew, oh no, he got also a pot and put some water in it and started boiling the water. And the rabbit said, I know that monks don't eat grass, but sometimes they eat rabbit stew. So the rabbit to keep his precepts and his and his vow, he was about to sacrifice himself to keep his precepts and his promise. But before before he jumped in the pot, he shook his body the first time. If there any fleas or any other parasites in my body, get out now, cuz I cannot kill you. When I jump in the pot, you will die as well. That's not fair. And he shook his body a second time. And he shook his body the third time and said, "Any bugs, any lice or anything in my fur? Get out now. This is your last chance." And he was sincere. So many of those bugs, they just jumped out and just went away. And then to keep his promise, he jumped in the pot of boiling water. But but it looked like it was boiling. It should have been boiling. But that monk was really is like one of the heavenly beings, the davas in disguise. Made it so that the water never even scolded that little rabbit. It was like cool, beautiful water. And so the rabbit climbed out and the monk revealed himself. I'm not a monk. I was one of these davas just testing you three and you all did so well. But the rabbit the rabbit was prepared to give his life to keep his promises. [snorts] So I'm going to make a sign so that everybody will remember you. And so this God, this heavenly being made an image of the rabbit in the moon. So that every full moon people can see the rabbit who would always keep his promises