Stories about rest
13 Buddhist wisdom stories about rest from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A sack of wet mashed potatoesAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile: a rested mind isn't brittle but soft like a sack of wet mashed potatoes — hit it and it makes no sound, doesn't reverberate. Or like a padded cell: what hits it just goes…
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You become soft like a sack of wet mashed potatoes. You can hit it and it doesn't even just make any sound at all. It doesn't even reverberate because it's soft. Have a mind like what I call like a padded cell. So when something hits it, it just go squelch on the wall rather than bouncing back again. Have this mind so soft, people can call you anything and you just smile like an idiot.
- Club Med versus Club MeditationAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Someone shows him a Club Med holiday schedule packed with yoga, scuba, activities and a nightclub — exhausting. He contrasts it with 'Club Meditation' at Serpentine, where the…
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This is not a concentration camp, this is a stillness, it's the happy camp. It is much more like Club Med than a concentration camp It is Club Med. And what do I mean by that? Club Meditation Serpentine
- Half an hour in a locked fire exitStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Arriving in Singapore after an overnight flight and straight into teaching, then playing himself in a Buddhist play's matinee, Ajahn Brahm is exhausted with another performance…
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I remember going to Singapore once Friday night here; I think and overnight fight to Singapore as soon as you land, off to teaching and that particular time they had this concert on. matinee concert, one in the afternoon, what I was doing was just playing myself in this Buddhist type play. After play myself in the morning they went out for Supper, pre-dinner after lunch, I don't know what they called it, but they ate at any time in Singapore, like most of Asia, I don't know what they call it Lunch, Dinner they just eat, that's all it is. Any way they went off to eat and of course being a monk you couldn't have any dinner. I was so wasted, so tired, I know, there was another performance coming on in a half an hour, I had to fun everybody, entertain them and say something wise, or smart, that's why you come up here, so I can say something wise and smart and otherwise you think you come and wasted your Friday night. So, every Friday night, the pressure is on I'v got to say something smart, wise, so you could actually say ahh..it's worth coming anyway, there the pressure was on and I was totally exhausted. So, that's exactly what I did I found a quiet place, it was actually a locked exit, so no one can go through, and I just sat down there and meditated, let go of the past, let go of the future and you could feel the tiredness in your body and in your brain and just rest with them, don't do anything, make peace with them, be kind to it, and the energy starts coming back again. So, in the afternoon when I came out of the half an hour meditation, I could perform to a very high standard.
- “I'm doing nothing — and I'm not finished yet”Joke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Someone asks the monk to come and chant to bust a ghost in their house. “Sorry, I'm busy.” “Doing what?” “Nothing.” They call again the next day; he's still busy doing nothing.…
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about the monk who was called up in his monastery by someone, "Can you please come round to do a blessing at my house?" The monk said, "I'm sorry, I'm busy, I can't come." And the caller said, "What are you doing, monk?!" He said, "I'm doing nothing. That's what monks are supposed to do, nothing." And the caller understood and he appreciate, "Monks are supposed to be left the world and find peace and not just be in the monastery doing things all day. That's the purpose of being a monk or a nun, to sit out there and just to contemplate life and to be still and to be peaceful and to let go of things and just sit under a tree and just watch the trees grow, that's what we're supposed to be doing. So the man actually understood that. and said, "Ok, very good monk." So he rang the next day, he said, "Look, I really need you to do a blessing, can you come to my house?" He said, "No, I'm busy." "That's what you said yesterday, what are you doing?" "I'm doing nothing" said the monk. "But you said that's what you were doing yesterday!". And the monk replied, "Yes, but I'm not finished yet.
- Lying down for the benefit of all beingsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: The Buddha takes an afternoon nap, and Māra taunts him: you're no real monk — lazy, sleeping while others work to feed you. The Buddha replies: “I'm lying down for the happiness…
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where one day the Buddha took a nap in the afternoon and then this being called Mara called him out I've caught you out you're not a real monk you're lazy look all these other people have to work hard feeding you they're not sleeping during the middle of the day you lazy monk he said what are you doing that for why are you sleeping and the Buddha replied I'm laying down for the happiness and benefit of all sentient beings
- Meditate in the restroomAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the US toilets are called restrooms. When tired or stressed, find an empty cubicle and meditate. If the boss asks why you were twenty minutes, say you were constipated —…
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in United States they call it restroom. What a wonderful name it is. So, if you are tired, if you are stressed, where should you go? The restroom. And so when you enter the restroom, you find a nice empty cubicle, you sit there and meditate in the restroom. And if your boss comes and says afterwards, you've been in there for 20 minutes. Said, well, I was constipated. Oh, well, very okay. And you're not breaking your precept, you're telling the truth. It wasn't your bowels were constipated, it was your brain constipated.
- Meditating through Cambridge finalsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: During six days of Natural Sciences finals in 1972 — three hours each morning and afternoon — Ajahn Brahm skips lunch to meditate in his room. He lets go of the morning paper and…
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when I was doing the final examinations at Cambridge University that's where I did my studies, 1972, Natural Sciences Tripos final exams, final exams I really meant that FINAL, everything else in the whole time you did in the University counted for absolutely nothing. You got your Degree or you failed on one series of examinations. Those examinations on Natural Sciences, that year, 6 days -- Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, one after the other, morning examination 3 hours, afternoon 3 hours, 1 hour for lunch. I don't think Amnesty International was formed at that time, if they had found out that was torture, 3 hours, 1 hour lunch, 3 hours, 6 days in a row. The worst of that, everybody was telling me that my future depended upon those examinations. If you did well, you would have a wonderful life, if you failed you will be snuffed for the rest of your life. If only I had known I was going to become a monk, I wouldn't have worked so hard. I didn't know at that time so as other people I really worked hard But my trick was, this is how you deal with stress, this was a stressful situation for me, how I dealt with that was using basic tricks of meditation I've already had started meditation about 2-3 years when I first went up to that University. So, I never had any lunch for those 6 days. Had a big breakfast and a nice dinner in the evening. At lunch time I went back to my room only 5-10 minutes from the examination room, and I meditated for half an hour, Now this is what happens, as soon as I sat down, the first thing which came in to my mind was the morning exam, how did I do, did I do that question correct, we all know how stupid that is, the examination paper is in, right or wrong is too late to change it, it's obvious isn't it, you should let it go, let go of the past this is not the time you can do anything anymore, it's easy to say but I trained, I could do that, I could let go, of that very very important exam in the morning. This is what you can learn in a place like this. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past, you can't change it, examination paper of your past is in, it's a waste of time thinking about it. Good or bad you can't do anything about it. I could let that one go. So, the next thought I was not concerned about the morning paper, The next thought which came up in my mind was the afternoon exam. Should I get out of my meditation, get out a book and start studying, last minute just in case and of course if you remember your studies, every time I did that, whatever I looked at, half an hour before the examination never ever came up, never, total waste of time. It was a waste of time, because this was the time I am supposed to rest, not work, if you are worried about the future, you can't stay in this present moment, and do the preparation necessary for success in the future, that preparation was resting. If you don't know how to rest you will fail again and again and again, because you don't know how to prepare your mind for the challenges it faces in the future. I had to let go of the future because I trained in meditation, it was easy to do, even though important, what I thought was a life defining moment, those afternoon examinations, I could totally forget about them and stay in the moment. So, that was called present moment awareness, when I put in the context of an important part of my life you can understand how relevant it is. But what happens next shocked me because when I stopped thinking about the past which for me was the morning exam, the future-the afternoon exam, I found out I was physically shaking, Look ! I go up here every Friday and talk to people, watched on internet by 1000s of people, I go on live TV, I am not a nervous person, but at that time I found out I was physically shaking, the pressure of final examinations had got to me, I was nervous. What shocked me even more than being nervous, was that I hadn't noticed it before that point. I've been so fixated, with the future exam, what I'v done in the past I was totally unaware of the present reality of my body. That shocked me and from that moment on I learnt why many people get sick. They get sick because you are not aware of your body, so up in the future, so up in the past, so busy, you are not here, with your body, listening to the signs. When I got into that present moment and saw I was shaking, it was pretty easy to relax the body, exactly as I told you here at the beginning of the meditation. With mindfulness, kindness the body totally relax and all that shaking stopped. The next part of that meditation when I let go of the past, let go of the future, the shaking all stopped, the next thing I noticed was how tired my brain was. How totally worn out it was. I compared it to like a tea bag which had already been used, no juice left, an old used tea bag that's what my brain felt like. And again those experiences told me again why a lot of depressions and negativity, where they come from. Most of the people in this room, if you've only noticed the status of your brain, you'll probably know it's really tired. It just really needs a rest, because I noticed the need for my brain to rest, I could just keep it not working for 10 or 15 minutes, really relax it keep it still, so by the end of that meditation, all the energy had come back to my brain. I was awake, alive, clear, energised and I still remember, my friends after the examinations they commented, I was the only student who went in to that examination hall in the afternoon with a smile on my face. I could do that because I was relaxed and that's why I did really well.
- Seeing his monastery through a visitor's eyesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: When Ajahn Jagaro disrobes, Ajahn Brahm is left running Bodhinyana: building and abbot's work all week, teaching in Perth all weekend. He even grows jealous of relaxed visitors.…
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That was one of the reasons why another little anecdote, the former abbot of Bodhinyana monastery, Ajahn Jagaro, he was a great monk. When he disrobed, and I was left looking after the monastery, again, I would work very hard cause I had all my ideas I'd like to do for that monastery, I worked very hard. So from Monday to Friday, I'd work like a dog for that monastery, building and looking after the place and being abbot at the same time. Many of those buildings there, I did, built myself, made the bricks, Dennis knows that, he's seen me down there, he's our President, and then on the weekend, I'd come here, Friday, give the talk, Saturday, Sunday, just counsel people, talk with people, do ceremonies, so go back late Sunday evening, Monday morning, back to work again. It was 7 days a week and because of that sort-of I could never enjoy that monastery. So much so, I thought, when people came, you know you come sort-of to visit the monastery to bring danna, you're all relaxed. Because you relaxes it's your day off and you come to the monastery to feed the monks or to feed the nuns and have a peaceful time maybe go to the meditation hall, do a bit of meditation, have a walk around, to relax and I got jealous of you. And so you come to that monastery and you're relaxed and I've got all these jobs to do. I've got to talk to you, I've got to fix things up, And I realised that there's something wrong with my life. My life was always getting things done and doing things. So I remember just seeing that having enough space just to look back and seeing the mistakes that I was making in my life. I made this resolution, every Monday morning when I, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday just working here, Monday morning, I'd go back to that monastery and that'll be a doing nothing morning. And I'd walk around that monastery, not looking for the things which needed to be fixed up, not looking for the letters which needed to be written, not looking for the telephone calls which I had to make, no, this was not my work time. So I wanted to see that monastery with the same eyes that a visitor on holiday could see that monastery. That was a hard thing to do, but you learnt how to do that. Cause when you go there, you can't see all the things which need to be done. It's not your monastery. So I did that and found, wow, that's how I can be free. Not with the fault finding mind, but the opposite, a mind of compassion, which can accept things as they are and see the value in things as they are. To realise, not everything every moment needs to be fixed up. It does not need to be changed, you don't need to make it better you don't need, to sort of, push it forward, leave it as it is, for goodness sake! And at first it was a tough thing to do, to leave things as they are, because you think, that's being lazy. Our society, it creates depression and anxiety because we don't allow people to be lazy. I want to create a Lazy People Society. So lazy people's rights, so you have right to be lazy, at least one day of a week or one morning of a week. So you can actually sit and actually do nothing and have permission to do nothing. If you really want to I'll give you a certificate. Ajahn Brahm hereby gives you permission to do nothing one morning a week. You can show it to your partner, I've got permission, so [laughter]. Cause if we don't do that, you're not enjoying anything in life. I could not enjoy the place which I lived, cause it was also a work place for me. I couldn't even enjoy my body, because I always had to wash it, take it to toilet, do something with it. I could never enjoy my life, cause it was always something to improve. You're missing out on the meaning of life, when you're so active in doing things, making things better. So I left it alone, you know what I found on those Monday mornings? That monastery was beautiful, why did I keep wanting to change it?
- The company that banned overtimeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An English engineering firm Ajahn Brahm remembers as 'Farrell and Sons' wins a best-business-practice prize after trebling turnover and doubling profits in a year — by banning…
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someone sent me this years ago about a company in UK who won a prize for best business practice in that year and I still remember the name called Farrell and Sons. It was an engineering company and in one year they treble turnover, doubled profits. I told this to a few business people. They said, "Well, that's a concern. If you treble turnover and only double the profits, you know, maybe you're just underelling things, but that's still pretty good." And they did this on the simplest of new strategies. They banned all overtime. No one was allowed to work beyond their allotted time. Nor were they allowed to take work home with them. They finish work, go home to your families. Relax. Because that little strategy meant when they went back to their families, their kids saw them, wives, husbands saw them. They had really rich family life and they could relax. So when they had a good sleep at night instead of just working all hours and finishing off some project or some contract or something had a good evening with their family, they went to work the next morning. They were fresh. So they work really well. Yes, they did not spend as much time in the office, but the time they spent there was far more productive because imagine what happens. You know, you may unfortunately have experienced this had a argument with your your wife or your husband, the kids are in trouble at school and you go to work the next day and that's praying on your mind. You can't focus on your job which you're being paid for. You're worried about the family life and that's not going to be very good for the company. Imagine great family life could spend time with them. You go to work mindfocused, fresh, energized, you do really well. So productivity went up even though they weren't spending so many hours at the office. And number two, staff turnover went down to zero.
- The executive who slept for three daysStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a retreat in Sydney many years ago, an executive arrived at 11:30 at night after tying up loose ends at work. Told in her first interview that most people are tired and that…
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the classic story many many years ago teaching a retreat in Sydney and an executive you know from some big company in Sydney she arrived really late about 11:30 at night because you had to try and tie up all the Loose Ends before she could arrive at The Retreat so she arrived in the middle of the night so she missed the evening talk and when I sort of uh she asked for quick interview in the morning when I told her this that most people are tired so to practice your kindness and take as much sleep as you want she really took that advice on board she went straight back to bed got up for lunch after lunch went to sleep again she got up in the morning just before breakfast after breakfast went to bed got up for lunch went to bed again afterwards she said for the first two or three days she slept and slept and slept she was just catching up after 3 days she had hardly done any meditation at all but you felt so good as you do do when you really caught up on your sleep I really feel got energy now I feel healthy and then the next three days you know she started to get into her meditation and she caught up with everybody else so by the sixth day she was on a par with all the other people and of course the last few days she just took off she was one of the star meditators really got some really deep meditation and I used her courage and wisdom as an example for all others
- The letter that wouldn't comeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Tired one morning, Ajahn Brahm struggles at the computer over a very difficult letter about a published book — every draft seems wrong. So he stops, goes to meditate, takes a…
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that I had to write a very difficult letter (this is about a book which was published). And this morning I was a little bit tired, and so, when I was trying to write that letter - have you ever had that experience, you're on the computer, you’re trying to write a letter, it just doesn't come out. You're writing, ‘that doesn't seem good, that doesn't seem good, that doesn't seem good’. You're wasting so much time. And again, just as I taught many of you, if you're in the office, at work, you've got some report to write, some letter to write, some really sensitive letter to write, and it doesn't come out, then stop. And go meditate. That's exactly what I did. Went off to meditate, took a shower, went back to the computer and a beautiful letter came out
- The young people's biggest problem: tirednessStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At an afternoon youth seminar in Malaysia for about 200 people aged 15 to 25, the participants wrote their biggest emotional problem on slips of paper. Ajahn Brahm expected…
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I was invited to spend the day at a youth seminar in Kuala Lumpur, it's a very interesting occassion, about 400-500 young people 15-25, doing all sorts of interesting stuff, one of the things they were doing is that they asked all the people there, what is your most difficult emotion as 15-25 year old, mostly Chinese Buddhists over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. What do you find most difficult of all in life? And the answer which came up was tiredness. I never expected that before
- “What's done is finished”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Thai abbot sends the builders home for the three-month rains retreat, leaving his new hall without a roof or windows and with timber and cement bags strewn about. A visitor…
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that is a wonderful story of this monk who was building his main hall in his Monastery and of course it takes a lot of time and effort to make a big building like that but it come to the time of the the rainy season the monsoon season in in Thailand as in most Buddhist countries when it comes to the wet season all the monkss go on Retreat we have a 3 month Retreat period and so the Abbot of this Monastery told the builders look we're all going to be meditating for the next three months and anyway it's going to be raining it's not the best time to build anyway all the builders you can go home and come back in 3 months so he sent all the builders away so a few days later a visitor came to the temple and they saw this whole incomplete and so just in general conversation with the Abba they asked when is your hall going to be finished and the Abba replied it is finished to which the visitor was quite stunned and said what do you mean it's finished the there's not a roof on it are you going to leave it like that there's no glass in the windows there's pieces of wood and old cement bangs all over the floor what do you mean it's finished to which the Abbot replied his Immortal words sir what's done is finished and after that the abber got up and went to meditate