Stories about stillness
15 Buddhist wisdom stories about stillness from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A private concert with Rod StewartStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a teenager Ajahn Brahm and his brother go to a gig where only six people turn up — the lead singer was a then-unknown Rod Stewart; 'like a private concert'.
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i went to this show with my brother only six people so turned up to watch this band you know who the lead singer was who was it no i wasn't mick jagger beatles it was his name again sorry no not jonah not paul mccartney it was rod stewart thank you yeah watched you uh there's only six of us listening to him it was like a private concert in those days
- “A question for Mr. Monk”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Arriving late at a Perth radio studio after a Friday talk, Ajahn Brahm only learns once on air that he is co-hosting a two-hour adult-themes show beside Australia's best-known…
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that sort of show I went on, on radio, on 6PR I think it was, and it was a show on adult themes, 10 to 12 p.m. people actually ringing up with sexual dysfunctions, problems in marriage. Imagine asking a celibate monk about that. But I was confident. I didn't know what I was talking about, but I was confident.
- Angulimala: 'I have stopped. You stop.'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Angulimala, a serial killer in the Buddha's time (some say 999 victims, more likely 99), ran after the Buddha to kill him, but however fast he ran he couldn't catch up. He…
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One who stands out was Angulimala. He killed Some people say 999. That seems a little bit much, but probably 99 human beings. A serial killer. Eventually, the Buddha converted him. Interesting what happened there. I often tell this in retreats. The Uh Angulimala was actually running after the Buddha trying to kill him. And no matter how fast Angulimala ran, the Buddha used some psychic power so the Angulimala couldn't catch him. So this Angulimala, the serial killer, shouted out to the Buddha, "Stop! Stop!" And the Buddha turned around and said, "I've already stopped. You stop." It wasn't just stopping running. It was stopping the way the mind just tries to do things, judge things, change things, improve things. Stop. And that was such a powerful, unexpected command by the Buddha. Angulimala did that. He stopped. He became a monk. And stopped all those what we call defilements, became fully enlightened by stopping.
- How the donkey caught the carrotAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A stubborn donkey is driven by a carrot dangling on a string from a stick tied to its own back — always two feet ahead however fast it runs: that's your life. But a donkey that…
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It's a story, one of my favourite stories of the donkey and the carrot. Those of you who know the story because you've been on the retreats, it's also in the book of "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond." You know that donkeys are very stubborn animals, that's why they say in English - as stubborn as a donkey. You hit them with a stick, they won't move. So the only way you get donkeys to move, is you tie the stick to their back, so the front of the stick is about 2 feet, in front of the donkey's head, at the end of the stick you put a string, on the end of the string, a carrot. So there's this donkey, seeing this carrot 2 foot in front of it , craving is what drives the donkey, not fear of punishment. So there the donkey moves forward to try and get the carrot but because this carrot is on the end of the stick, and the stick is tied to the donkey, it doesn't matter how fast the donkey moves forward, the carrot goes at the same speed so it's always 2 foot in front of the donkey's head. But it's stupid enough to think, well, if I run a bit faster I might catch that carrot. You understand the simile - that's called your life [laughter] chasing a carrot. Do you ever get it? Now it's always 2 foot in front, you almost get it, sometimes, just perfection you know, happiness, even deep meditation, it's almost there, and you just go a bit further, and it goes further away from you. But many donkeys have actually heard my talks on YouTube. [laughter] And they now know how to catch the carrot! How to find meaning in life. You know how you do that? The donkey's already been running really fast, and the donkey hears the word, "stop", stop chasing that carrot, "stop" so the donkey stops. You know what happens when you stop? The carrot moves further away than its ever been before. If you've got patience and trust and faith, you've heard Ajahn Brahm, you actually believe he may be on to something, so you stop. And as soon as it's 4 foot away from you, twice as far as it's ever been you get a little bit of doubt, is this going to happen, is it true? But then something amazing happens, the carrot starts coming towards you. And soon it's in its normal position, 2 foot in front of your mouth, but now it's coming at great speed [laughter] towards you, you don't have to do anything, you just sit there, And just at the right moment, you remember the most important phrase, "The door of my mouth is now open to you, carrot" [laughter] And the carrot gets into your own mouth!
- How to hold a glass of water stillAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Demonstration simile: however hard you try to hold a glass of water still, it trembles, and more willpower makes it shake more. The easy way is to put it down. At first the water…
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How do you hold a glass of water still? Put it down, yeah. Once you put that glass of water down, actually it moves more at first. But after a few seconds you find that - those in the front row can see that - it's much more still than I could ever hold it.
- “I wish I could do that”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Brahm hates braving the noisy shopping centre to buy flight tickets. Once the monk accompanying him simply sits down, closes his eyes and meditates — and the travel agent…
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And sometimes I remember going into that shop once with another monk and the other monk who was accompanying me just sat down on a chair, closed his eyes and started meditating. And the person behind the counter stopped serving me. Hello to him. And she said, "I wish I could do that." And she really meant it.
- The duck that tried to nest in his afroStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Young Brahm with a big curly Hendrix-style afro lies down in a London park; something tugs his hair — a duck harvesting nesting material.
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Somebody pulling my hair." It was a big f like, you know, my icon at that time was Jimmyi Hendris. I I have changed a lot since that time. Like a big afro hair hairstyle. That's what I had. 60s or 70s. And someone was putting my hair and I turned around. You know what it was? A duck. True. This duck saw my hair. That's really good nesting material
- The frozen forest and the sacred silenceStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On his first visit home after seven years in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm stays at a new, unheated monastery in Sussex in a winter so cold the papers report 'even the beer froze'.…
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I still remember one of the amazing times of my life one of the mornings which I will never forget when I was staying in England The ..Veriliam.. Monastery, one of the first monasteries which our tradition built in England, in Sussex That was a winter time about now I have gone to visit my family I think it was the first time after seven years that I went after living in Thailand that I went to visit my family for Christmas and this monastery has just been established and it was one of the coldest winters in England at that time in a typical British news-sheet it showed me the headlines -26 degrees centigrade even the beer froze But that following morning even though it was just so cold I went out for a walk in the forest early not many people were up let alone outside of the houses in such cold weather I remember that walk in that forest even now because as I walked in the fresh snow fall you look down in the freshly fallen snow and there were no prints of any animals, let alone human beings the snow has fell the night before and I was like the first person on earth to walk in that forest and as I walked nothing moved there was no wind or even breeze not even the leaves fluttered when I stopped, the whole world stopped moving all the animals were hibernating nothing stirred It was so silent and of course my own mind went silent when you are faced with such profound and deep and powerful peace your mind can't resist resonating with that peace as if the peace gets right inside of you just like the cold can do But this was not unpleasant you became one with that peace. It became one of those magic experiences of my life just walking and then stopping and enjoying the power of silence.
- The leaf moves only because of the windAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile (from Ajahn Chah, as he tells it): Ajahn Chah would hold up his hand and wave it — not at flies — saying this is a leaf on a tree. It moves only because of the wind; when…
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This is a meditation teaching from Ajahn Chah, he would hold up his hand, [waves hand] this is for Liza in the United States, I'm not saying goodbye to you. He said: ‘This hand represents a leaf on a tree. And it only moves like this because it's the wind blowing. If the wind stops, the leaf still moves, but less and less and less, until it comes to a stop. Because the default position of a leaf is to be still. It's only the wind makes it move.' And Ajahn Chah said: ‘The default position of the human mind is to be still. It's the wind of wanting something makes you move.
- The moon in a still lakeAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile (on a full-moon retreat night): if there are waves or ripples on a lake you can't see a perfect image of the moon and stars; when not one ripple crosses it, you get a…
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the simile I usually give is a simile of a lake if there's waves on the surface of the lake you can never get a a clear reflection of the stars and the full moon and if you look up the sky this evening and tomorrow the the moon is full it's a very beautiful time to start meditating and if you go to one of the the Lakes the lake down the bottom and you look at the image of that Moon if there are waves or ripples in that Lake you can't see a perfect image but you can imagine when that lake is perfectly still when there's not even one Ripple moving across the surface of the lake you get a perfect reflection of the moon and the stars and that's just like the mind to be able to reflect reality to see things as they truly are without Distortion we got to use a mind which is perfectly still so there's not even a ripple on the surface of that mind
- The novice who stoppedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A novice of 12 or 13 at Ajahn Chah's monastery, tired during a very long sermon, kept thinking: 'When is Ajahn Chah going to stop?' Then he turned it around: 'When am I going to…
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It reminds me of that novice in Ajahn Chah's monastery, just a novice, who was listening to one of Ajahn Chah's sermons, which was going on and on and on and on. And he said, "I'm just a little novice. You know, I didn't sort of elect to come and stay here. Just I had no place else to go, so this is what But this senior monks, they could listen, but I need to go to bed. I'm tired." He's only like 12 or 13 or something. And so this little novice started thinking, "When is Ajahn Chah going to stop? When is he going to stop? When is he going to stop?" And that became repeated in his brain again and again and again until then the novice thought had an insight, changed things around. Instead of when is Ajahn Chah going to stop, he thought, "When am I going to stop?" That's when this little novice stopped. He got into one of the really deep meditations, one of the jhanas. Just that simply, but just saying, "I will stop." Not doing anything. And went so deep that when he came out of meditation, Ajahn Chah had finished the the talk a long time earlier. All the monks had done the chanting to end the meditate to end the talk. And they all packed up their things and went back to their cottages or their huts to rest. He'd been sitting really still all that time. Couldn't hear a thing. It was the morning time. He'd missed the morning arms route. He didn't mind. He wasn't hungry. He just got into the most beautiful meditation for the first time in his life by stopping.
- The texture of a bean after a month's retreatStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Just after a month self-retreat at Bodhinyana he eats a bean slowly and notices texture he had never attended to — soft yet structured — stillness opening ordinary senses.
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just crunching it with my teeth very slowly and the texture of it. You ever notice a texture of a bean
- The whitewashed wall that vanishedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Young seeker ~21–22 at a north-England Zen monastery: sit in a line, open eyes on a whitewashed wall, Zen stick for sleepers. Watching without change, the wall vanishes from…
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I went to this Zen monastery. And I never knew what we were supposed to do. So, all they told us to do was to sit in a line, and just to watch the wall with open eyes. And it was sort of serious because they had the Zen master. And they would walk behind you with a Zen stick. And they would hit you if you were sleepy. People told me, "Oh, yeah, you know, if they hit you, it doesn't hurt." But when the guy next to me got hit, I didn't believe that at all. But it worked. Cuz the guy next to me woke up. So did I. For the rest of the retreat, I wasn't sleeping at all. But that was out of fear, not really the right way of doing things. But going back to the the story, that watching the wall with your eyes open, just a simple whitewash wall, and then the wall vanished. It disappeared. And it just it left existence
- Two hours on Bunbury beachStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: With a free afternoon before teaching at Bunbury prison, Ajahn Brahm meditates for two hours, eyes closed, on a deserted stretch of beach. He opens his eyes to find a 17-year-old…
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there was one time when I did go to sit quietly on a beach and that was a time when I sat on Bumbbury Beach. I had a free afternoon before going to the prison to teach. And when I was sitting on that beach, it was an abandoned part of the beach. There's no one there at all. Just me and the waves. And I sat there. It's peaceful. So I sat there for two hours, eyes closed, going nice and deeply inside. And when I opened my eyes, what I saw shocked me. It was only two hours. I opened my eyes and I saw on my left was a 17-year-old young woman in a bikini, a blonde, young, pretty. She was just sitting right next to me on one side. On the other side, there was a brunette also in a bikini. 17year-old sitting on this side. Honestly, you can't make these situations up. And I thought, what happened? And how did I know it was 17year-old? Because they told me that they had just finished the last exam at school, the year 12s. And that's usually 17 year olds take those. The last exams, the school was just opposite side of the road. But when I went and sat there, they was just still doing their exams. So, it was nice and quiet. And then afterwards, they came out in their bthers. The guys were there as well. And they were just enjoying last exam is over. Let's go to the beach and just enjoy ourselves. And they saw this monk sitting there perfectly, perfectly still. I wasn't doing anything. Just sitting quietly by myself. But that inspired them. That's why this young lady on one side and young lady on the other side and they just waiting. They said they'd be waiting for about half an hour or so for me to come out of meditation so they could ask their questions. And they were really impressed that I could actually sit there quietly with these two young uh I better not say was it No. Okay, I won't say that. What does that word spell? Yeah, bimbo. Oh my goodness, I'm going to get in trouble. See the next. But anyway, that's that's all they wanted. Just ask a few questions. So, I answered them and went away as soon as I could. I knew that because if anyone had a camera, honestly, how can you explain that? There's a there's a monk with these two beautiful young ladies in bikini on either side by the beach. I've never done that again. If I want to meditate for two hours, go somewhere else quieter.
- Zen and the Art of ShippingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a transport forum (about clay trucks passing the monastery) a journalist interviews Ajahn Brahm about shipping; game for anything, he makes up 'the Buddhist idea of shipping'.…
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Number one was going to a a transport forum. It was in the Duxton Hotel run by Alana Mat when you know she was minister of transport at that time. and going there because we had some trouble with clay trucks past our monastery and actually going to a forum there. And while I was there, somehow or other, I stood out and so a journalist approached me, asked me what I was doing there, and then interviewed me about shipping. Now, one thing my character is un game to do anything. So, I gave her the Buddhist idea of [Applause] shipping. And of course, as usual, I was making it up as I went along. But they published that article. And the actually it wasn't a her, it was a him. I'm sorry. It was a him who published this article. And I saw him about a year later. And he came up to me and he said, "You wouldn't believe how popular the article was." It was syndicated to every shipping magazine almost in the world under the art under the title Zen and the Art of Shipping. And all his fellow journalists came up to him, not all, but many emailed him and said, "I don't know who the Ajam Brah is, but he certainly knows what he's talking about.