Stories about respect
10 Buddhist wisdom stories about respect from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- I demand my right to bow to JesusStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Invited with Chaplain Canon Frank Sheehan to Christ Church Grammar School's morning assembly, the devout Christian principal tells Ajahn Brahm he need not bow to the statue of…
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being invited to give the uh the talk at the morning assembly at christ church grammar school remember it was with one of my mates that was uh the chaplain cannon frank sheehan yeah she thanks you and he became a nice mate of mine and so there we were in front of christ church grammar school a really top school uh anglican christian school here in perth and three of us were outside waiting for the kids to be settled down in this beautiful chapel with its amazing views over the swan river and as we were outside the principal you know was a very devout christian and he said when we go welcome to our school where we go inside no the chaplain frank and i we will bow to the statue of jesus christ because we're christians we said you're a buddhist you don't need to you know i always i'm a cheeky monk sometimes as these two monks next to me will know and sometimes i make an argument just to make a point and so i said to the principal i said no i demand my right to bow to your statue of jesus i remember his face are we talking about what mad monk have i let into my school
- In this jail — no BSStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On an early prison visit (Bunbury, then Fremantle while it was still open), a prisoner tells the monks they do not care who they are: in this jail there is no BS — be honest and…
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I remember the first time I went to prison I think was I no it was actually down in uh in bunby but I started going to freem manle prison when it was still open and I remember this guy came out to us and you know I was going to sit around a table and talk to him and he said look you know we don't care who you are but in this Jael no you know BS b u l s h i t I'm not I'm still not g enough to say that word but you want know what I mean that's what they said to me because this is a prison there's a sense of honesty in here straightforwardness you tell it how you feel you be honest and we'll listen to you you try and just make up or just be something you're not and just you might as well walk out of here because we won't listen and accept you and I really respected that thank you that's the sort of people I love talking with straightforward is not just going to listen and accept because I'm a monk
- Mortal enemies who go out to dinnerStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Jerry Hansen, who built the retreat centre, told Ajahn Brahm he would fight publicly with union representative Kevin Reynolds for the media, then go out to dinner in the evening…
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I remember know this I don't mind saying he told me this you know the fellow who built our Retreat Center Jerry Hansen you know he had his fights with Kevin Reynolds you know with the the union sort of Representative but he told me Percy said I yeah and we have these fights you know for the media but then we go out for dinner in the evening quite quite admired that you know the sort of you know what the what the newspaper say is mortal enemies but you know then they sort of they have dinner again they s establish a friendship
- Pub arguments, then buy each other a drinkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At university (and before), Ajahn Brahm and friends spent evenings in pubs arguing passionately about philosophy, religion, politics and sport — going at it excitedly, with…
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I remember many many evenings espe well you know before I even went to college but especially when I was at University many evenings going to a pub or a bar with your friends I we'd have great arguments arguments about everything you know philosophy you know religion politics sport we would argue and the arguments were passionate and they have to be passionate please put passion into your life especially compassion that's the best passion of all but don't just do things half-hearted so we' really go at it and we' be excited emotional that was important that gave it power
- Sariputta and the novice who corrected himStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Told as a monk that even kings must bow to him, Ajahn Brahm reads of Venerable Sariputta, wisest monk after the Buddha, on alms round: a little novice says, 'You're badly…
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But then I read in this story of the one of the wisest monks next to the Buddha Venerable Sariputta. He was walking on alms round, and a little novice, this little squeak of a novice, came out to him and said, "You're badly dressed." Now, usually, that would be a no-no. You can't sort of tell these very high monks and criticise that they're badly dressed. But the wisest monk next to the Buddha had a look and said, "My goodness, you're right." He went behind a bush. He adjusted his robe, and he came out afterwards. And he put his hands up, and he called this little novice "teacher".
- The birds queued — and punished the queue-jumperStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Near the Burmese border in hot season he put out a water bowl by a knothole. Birds of different sizes lined up in a queue; when one jumped the queue the others piled on, pecked…
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to see all these birds of different sizes and species line up in a queue. Have you ever seen birds queuing? I have. And it was true. That's what they did. There are maybe eight or nine birds, maybe a dozen at the best, you know, and they were big ones, small ones, and they were sitting there just waiting until the one in front finished and then the next one would actually come in. And of course, it is fascinating. And then there was always every afternoon one bird would come in and would actually jump the queue and try and get in there first. Couldn't wait to have a bath or have a drink. Weird. But you know what the other birds would do? They would all get out of queue, jump on that Q jumper, [laughter] pick him and beat him and whatever. And that Q jumper would fly away. And then all those birds would queue up in exactly the order they were before. [laughter] It's unbelievable. Absolutely true. And so what that really did was, you know, increase your respect
- The secret security pen — “We like you, that's your best security device”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a dangerous men's prison (Canning Vale, as he corrects himself) Ajahn Brahm is given a 'secret' alarm pen to point at the ceiling sensors if attacked — but monks' robes have…
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I remember the time once I I went into the prison at casarina used to be no not casarina sorry the one in Canning it used to be called canning Val a long time ago I think it's now called hakei or something they changed the name still the same place and because it was a prison and had some very tough and mean people in there many other visitors had been attacked it was a Men's prison but it didn't mean because you were also a m you won't get attacked and raped and it happened many times so at the gate when I checked in they warned me it's a dangerous place and some people have been in that prison for so long didn't matter what they did it's not really going to make much difference they were going to die in that prison so what's a you know they got no no reason not to offend again they can't add to the sentence so it's a very dangerous place and so as I checked in at the gate they gave me what looked to all intents and purposes like a pen like an ordinary bro pen but they told me this is not an ordinary pen it's a secret security device and they said if you look at the ceilings you will notice what looks like smoke detectors they're not smoke detectors they're are security devices if someone if anybody tries to attack you point the pen at one of those devices and press the top and then the alarm will go off and we'll know exactly in the prison where you are and we will come and save you and he said put it in your pocket and I looked at the person I wear robes I don't have pockets you know really really we cause a lot of problems for many people you know sometime sometimes the reason I got a a microphone in front of me is because sometimes people like clip these things on your um use it on your jacket or on your shirt you know but I this keeps on falling off it's a terrible thing to do that's why sometimes you go into these radio shows or TV shows and they'll try and clip things on and say forget it it's going to fall off we cause a lot of problem for a lot of people we monks but nevertheless I enjoy that and so there's no place to so just hold it they said Hold the pen but they said be careful this is really secret if the prisoners found out we wouldn't be able to use this anymore so don't tell anybody and as soon as I went into my class one of the people I knew there he said oh you've got one of those security devices too of course they know that's why I tell all the monks down at Serpentine and the nuns at Gigan don't think that the people here in D Loa don't know everything which is going on in those monasteries there is a very strong grape vine goes on and if there's any problems in any of these monasteries you know about it so the monks we know no secrets and it's wonderful not to have any secrets but anyway so when I went in there this prisoner and you he was actually a really good friend cuz I known him a long time and you know he's a violent man but you know you get to know these guys and he said to me he said brah do you really think you could press that button before I jumped you and held you down and I said no you get me first he said yeah I would but I wasn't scared CU what he said next I knew he was going to say he said but brah if any of these guys behind tried that i' would get them first we like you and that's your best security device
- “This robe, or naked”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Norwegian manager ordains in Perth to his family's dismay. When his father falls ill his mother writes: come home, but wear a suit, not that stupid robe. Ajahn Brahm has him…
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there a lot of people I tell about one of my monks I don't mind mentioning his name cuz he won't mind it's Venable Nito he was from Norway when he first came over to here to Perth to ordain as a monk his family were really upset they didn't want him to become a monk why are you being coming monk he had a good um career I think he was a manager of something or other and a very good education why you me become a monk for for goodness sake so that when he went home because his father was very sick he showed me the letter from his mom he says you can come home but please wear a suit no robes I'll be embarrassed to see my son in a brown stupid rope and so I told told him to write back to his mother it's this robe or naked take your choice so he went there with a robe on but they weren't happy but then his father died and so he went back I think to look after the family he did the funeral service organized everything and then his elder brother one of the most negative wrote to me saying I don't know what you've done to our brother that carry on now we really appreciate you know what you're doing over here in Australia we don't know what Buddhism is but whatever it is it works our brother has changed he's such a wise strong compassionate person and he's helped the whole family so much he said thank you please the whole family give his monkhood our blessing it's wonderful actually to see that change over in a couple of years just when they saw saw that what these teachings actually do they respected it enormously
- Two hours on Ajahn Chah instead of a car factoryStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Thaksin, then Prime Minister of Thailand, told Ajahn Brahm that a head of the Ford Motor Company came to see him about building a big factory in Thailand as a hub for Southeast…
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Interesting story about Tuxin by the way. You know this, he told me this. He's a prime minister of Thailand years ago that there was this big American industrialist called John Ford. You know, he was ahead of Ford Motor Company for a while. And so he went to see um the Thai prime minister who was a prime minister at the time because they were going to get a contract to build this big uh factory or whatever it was to actually to manufacture Ford vehicles in Thailand and to spread them around. that made that like the hub to spread those to Southeast Asia. And so that was a really big development. So they don't go through the uh small purple and the government went straight to the prime minister. So the two of them met John Ford and the prime minister of Thailand. Do you know what they talked about? John Ford said to the prime minister, "Do you do you know anything about this monk Ajancha? and and the B said, "Yeah, I've got quite a few of his books in my library." And so apparently they spent two hours talking about Dhamma [laughter] and Ajan and nothing about factories being built in Thailand.
- 'You never talked to us about your Buddhism'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm kept his non-Buddhist friends from Cambridge, and saw some at a reunion after 40 years. At the end of college he had asked them what they thought of his being a…
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I remember just with those friends I was at college and I kept them and they're still there and so we had a reunion last October seeing some friends I hadn't seen for 40 years and I remember just at the end of those College years when we were going our different ways and I've be a Buddhist for all those three years at Cambridge and I asked all my friends none of them was a Buddhist and I asked him afterward what did you think about me being a Buddhist and they said we respected you said why said because you never talked to us about your Buddhism that you just respected us for who we were and that's why we respected you for who you were