Stories about riddles
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about riddles from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- How many seconds in a year?Joke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After walking through 60/60/24/365, the answer is 12: the 2nd of January, February, March…
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How many seconds are there in one year? Oh, come on. It's easy. You know the answer, Bill? No. No, the answer is 12. January the 2nd
- Mahinda's mango-tree riddleStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: He says the first monk in Sri Lanka (Mahinda) tested the king with a riddle about a mango tree and other mangoes — answered correctly, so Buddhism stayed; Brahm jokes Australia…
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What's this tree called?" It was like a mango tree. Are there any other mango trees in Sri Lanka? Yes, said the king. Are there any trees other than those mangoes and the other trees? Yes, sir. The tree in front of me. Ah, smart person. Correct. So, that's why Buddhism started in Sri Lanka because of riddles
- Twenty-six sheep — ten die — how many survive?Joke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Math riddle: 26 sheep in a field, 10 die — how many survive? Not 16 — twenty sick sheep.
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26 sheep in a field. 10 10 die. How many survive? 16. No, you're no good at math. Sorry, everybody fails this one. 26 sheep in the field, 10 die. How many survive? I'll say it again. Listen carefully. That's an important part of meditation. You got to be really mindful. 20 sick. Just keep my fault. So you can tell that to your math teacher when you go to school. Sick. Yeah, that's what I said. That's why they die. They were sick