Stories about stress
14 Buddhist wisdom stories about stress from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A loose guitar stringAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Simile: the tighter a guitar string is stretched, the higher it pings when something hits it; less stretched, a lower sound; not stretched at all, no sound. That's resilience — a…
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I gave it another simile of being like a guitar string and when a guitar string is stretched the tighter it is stretched stretched when something hits it it really makes a high-pitched sound and when it's not stretched so much it makes a lower pitch sound when it's hardly stretched at all it makes a very low sound when it's not stretched at all it makes no sound at all that's like people's resilience the way they react to some of the unpleasant things which happens in life
- Anita Moorjani: “I'm cured”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In Hong Kong, Anita Moorjani, riddled with cancers and expected to die, dies on the operating table. She sees and hears everything said (the doctors confirm it), floats out of…
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her experience while she was in hong kong she was uh indian but working in hong kong and brian joseph um walker was the her gp but she had so many cancers inside of her and all of those cancers which she had were literally killing her she had many operations and this operation was you know they think last chance for her they thought she was going to go and she did die on the operating table and when she died on the operating table she obviously came back again and then she told the story what it was like being first of all being able to see and hear everything which was being said the doctors confirmed it how the heck do you know that you were unconscious at the time and not only being able to see and hear everything but then floating out of her body and to this big beautiful light and those of you who heard me teach the deep meditation on retreats we call those nimiters in meditation beautiful lights what it is is a manifestation of your mind that's one thing which i disagreed with her on not sort of god who might feel like that but it's actually your own mind and when it's freed from the five senses it's very powerful and extremely blissful like being in the middle of pure love or pure bliss those meditation experiences which i said earlier they're such powerful happiness and and joys literally is blissing now very deeply and then when she came out afterwards she came out afterwards she didn't know how long she was in there she came with what we called in buddhism insight understanding but her main concern at the time obviously was her health her sicknesses her cancers and when she came out and became conscious again to the surprise of the doctors and they thought she would have died and then the first thing she said to the doctors is i'm cured and the doctors thought she was just being hallucinating because you know she had big tumours inside of her what do you mean you're cured and that's when afterwards she mentioned because i've understood the cause of my cancers and the cause of the cancers was the emotional stress of trying to live up to other people's expectations all the time like you your partner in life your children's expectation of you as a mother as a father as a grandparent your parents expectations of you your boss's ex expectations of you and more powerful your own expectations of you what do you think you should be doing how do you really feel that inner stress inside trying to live up to some standard and you don't know where those standards are from and when she saw that she was success a very successful woman when she saw that that was what was causing the stress which manifested in the tumors in her body she understood that was the reason why she had the cancer now she saw that and could understand the main cause of the cancers then she said i'm not going to try and live up to other people's expectations anymore i'm going to relax and just be me and you know that as soon as you if any of you ever do that you find out the you you end up being is much much much better than the you that you try to be all of that force you're not working well enough you're not good enough you're not trying hard enough you're not successful enough you could do more you could do better that is a terrible burden on your body which means that you work too hard injury don't work much at all you're still just trying too hard you still have that stress inside of your body and mind and she said that was what's causing my cancer
- Churchill's bedside BuddhaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An Australian monk visiting England is taken to Churchill's stately home when a castle is closed. In the entrance hall hangs a painting by Churchill of a Buddha statue; the…
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you know that um Winston Churchill the prime minister of UK during the second world war had a Buddha statue next to his bed every night of that war not a a um a crucifix but a Buddha statue we found that out once when one of our monks was visiting um England and the host wanted to take him to a castle he was Australian you know people have to see castles but the castle was closed so what else can we oh the stately home of the wartime prime minister prime minister Churchill we take you there and that was open and just apparently as you went into the entrance to that stately home where Winston Churchill lived as soon as you went in there there was a big painting because Winston church was also an artist he painted this a Buddha statue a bur star and so the monk asked the Creator you know what's this he painted a Buddha statue why and the Creator said oh this was a a painting of The Statue which was by his bedside every day during the second world war you know he broke or he lost it somewhere but he still has a painting why because imagine this if you imagine like your stress imagine being the leader of a country during that terrible terrible War just how much stress and how much pain one decision thousands of people die that's huge and he had that statue next to him because it gave him peace it gave him encouragement kindness even look at that and it would help him with his famous depression so that a fact he had a Buddha statue there
- 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.
- How heavy is the glass?Analogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Brahm's own analogy (he laughs hearing someone else quote it): how heavy is the glass? The longer you hold it the heavier it feels — minutes to pain, agony, hospital. When it…
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how heavy is the glass and i was laughing my head off when she was saying this because i i made that this story up how heavy is the glass the longer you hold it the heavier it feels if you hold it for two or three minutes you'll be in pain four minutes should be in agony five minutes you'll be in a hospital case and really stupid what do you do when it starts getting too heavy to hold comfortably you put it down
- “I always wanted to become a monk — but not now!”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a 2,000-strong talk in Singapore, a man challenges what a monk could know about real-world stress. Ajahn Brahm gives an hour-by-hour account of his day from 4 a.m. — hospital…
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I remember giving a simile like this earlier on when I was in Singapore giving a big talk to about 2000 people and at the end of the talk somebody asked a question, it wasn't much of a question, more like a comment, It was very much what I just said, they said to me how do you, you are a Buddhist monk how do you know what stress is. What you said may make sense in theory but in the real world where we do have to work so hard, it is much different, what do you know about stress, and then I told him what I had done that day in Singapore. Getting up at 4'o clock, how many of you get up at 4'o clock in the morning and you start working from the very beginning and that day I listed all the things which I had done that day, visiting people in hospital, doing work as the Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore and Director of the Brahm Centre, Singapore, that is overseas, this is not my core business, which is right here, all this stuff which I am doing, I gave hour by hour account of what I had done that day, and after I told what I've done that day, to say, "look I qualify, all the work which I do and get done, I qualify as someone who knows what I am talking about--working hard and dealing with stress". Then they came to the microphone afterwards and said Wow...I never realised how hard monks have to work in our modern world, he said you know, I always wanted to become a monk one day but not now...no..no..no !!
- 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.
- “Pushing the wheelbarrow is easy; thinking about it is the hard part”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Ajahn Chah asks the young monks to move a mountain of leftover earth; three days of gruelling work on one meal a day. While Ajahn Chah is away the deputy says it's in the wrong…
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My teacher Ajahn Chah had just built his hall. And there was lots of earth left over. And instead of paying people or getting earth movers to move the earth, why pay money when you've got so many slaves. Like me, young monks. In those days I was fit, I was healthy, I was handsome. Not fat and old like today. But I didn't mind helping a teacher. It was like gratitude when someone had helped you so much, you just please give me something to do, I just want to help you. And so he asked us to please move this earth, all the leftover earth to put in the place around the back. Now that was not easy. It was three days of hard slog. We'd only eat one meal a day. And you really couldn't even call it a meal. It was just subsistence rations. Just sticky rice with a frog on the top. That was one of the meals. It was rotten fish curry, it stank. It was… that's what we had to eat. Because this is what the villagers ate. There was snail soup. I remember the snail soup that was just so disgusting. Because the snails are so chewy. You know, just it's really hard to break them up. You know like those rubbers you use to erase pencils that's what it was like it reminded me of. That was one of the common ones. Or the fried crickets, the bugs, the ant soup and egg soup was very common. Or buffalo afterbirth. That was vegetarian food. Think about it. It doesn't harm the animal at all. It's just extra. But anyway, really gross food. And then from nine o'clock on till about ten o'clock in the evening shoveling earth into the wheelbarrows, pushing it you know to where it's needed to go. A huge amount of three days work. And it was so hot. It was in the jungle. And there was so many mosquitoes. And it was so tiring. You didn't have time to have dinner. There wasn't any lunch or any afternoon snacks or dinner. We only had one meal a day. Wow! Even prisoners of war never had to work that hard. And I had faith. After three days it was all finished. But you can imagine how dirty you felt, how sweaty. All your robes stank and just, you know you didn't have time for a shower. As soon as you got back to your hut you just collapsed. And you woke up in the morning, alms around, have a quick meal and bound moving the earth again. Three days of really really hard work. But it was finished and when I went to bed after the third day I thought “great! Tomorrow I can have a really good wash and wash my robes and do some meditation, just relax a bit.” but that night my master Ajahn Chah, he went to visit another monastery. Just like I'm doing tomorrow. We do those things. We visit each other, help each other out. And that morning after our breakfast, the deputy monk, he made in the announcement. He said “I've been thinking of where we put that earth. It's the wrong place,” he said. We need to move it. And you know he, that deputy monk, he never pushed a wheelbarrow. Never touched it. He was one of the bosses. You know what bosses are like. They always tell you what to do but they never do anything themselves. All full of ideas but no experience. So three more days of hard work in the jungle pushing those wheelbarrows, shoveling the earth. But I still had faith. After six days it was finished. Because the deputy monk had a point, you know. Well it was almost in the wrong place. And that night, guess what happened? Ajahn Chah came back. And the following morning after breakfast he said “I told you to put it over here. Why'd you put it over there? Move it! And it was at that point I lost my faith. I never became a monk to move wheelbarrows of earth. I came to meditate, become enlightened, you know, learn the Dhamma and… that's what I was a monk for. Not as a laborer. Not as a slave. I got very angry. And you know I did say I think in the book, it's absolutely true. You did start to swear. In English thinking that you know, the Thai monks couldn't understand you. But of course they understood. The body language showed you're really really unhappy. And that I was stressed out. I was angry. For a good reason you're being exploited. You've been taken advantage of. I was so angry and upset. And that's when one of the Thai monks came up to me and he said something which I will never forget which I've shared with thousands of people. One of the great ways of overcoming stress in life. He said to me: “pushing the wheelbarrow is easy. Thinking about it is a hard part.” you know, that was worth all of that torture. Just to learn that. Pushing the wheelbarrow is a hard part. Going to work with a terrible boss that's easy. Thinking about it is a problem. Having to do all of that job being the president of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia it's easy. Thinking about it is a hard part. And of course once I got it straight away you know that the rest of the three days went really quick. And it was fun. You know we'd have races with the other monks, you got there first. And if they beat me you know, just for a bit of revenge you know, shoveling the next bit of earth and it was oh just sorry, sorry that's of I… I didn't get it in the wheelbarrow. Got it all over your face. Shoveling over each other. Just a bit of fun and games playing around. And that was really good fun. After nine days it was finished.
- She waved the gold medal at the monkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Sydney 2000 a Thai monk in the Olympic village taught meditation to an Eastern European finalist who could not sleep from stress. Later mother, father and daughter walked…
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this happened in 2000. Sydney Olympics. You know, in the Sydney Olympic Games in New South Wales, the New South Wales government made sure there was like leaders from all the major religions there to serve the athletes. This was a high stress situation. And they even had a monk in there. He was actually a Thai monk [clears throat] who I knew. So he was in the village, the Olympic village, Home Bush Bay, I think that's what it was called, and just if anyone needed him and he said this was actually printed in I think the uh Sydney Morning Herald or something as one of the things which happened during the Olympic Games. He said that one day these three people came to see him, mother, father and daughter from Eastern Europe somewhere. Their daughter had unexpectedly got into the finals of one of the track events. [laughter] Whoever is laughing like that, I like you very much because it's not even funny, but you laugh [laughter] going into the finals. Now, imagine that was you. You know, you exceeded your expectations. You're in the final of the Olympic Games and you'll be on the TV the next day or next couple of days in front of know all your family and friends and people from your home country cheering you on. That is really high stress and so because of that she wasn't able to sleep and she even her training was all over the place. She was overly excited. So the parents uh took this girl to see the monk. You know you know meditation it's one of the things which monks are well known for. You know we can teach meditation. can you please teach our daughter how to relax enough to sleep at night. So he gave her some instructions on meditation. He didn't know what happened next. He didn't watch TV. And in those days we don't have internet. We can't find out what the latest news is. So what happened was that he had didn't know what had happened, what had occurred except he wrote or in an interview that he saw in the Olympic village three people coming towards him again. Now the mother, the father and the athlete in between. They were smiling, big grins on their face. So they knew something good must have happened. And as they came closer, as he described it, the girl in the middle was waving something on a string. [laughter] What do you think that was? A medal. When they came closer, he could see the color gold. And they come to say, "Thank you. Thank you for teaching our athlete daughter how to relax so much that when it came to the finals of these Olympic games, she managed to win the gold medal for her country
- “Thank you for the car park”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After lunch at Bodhinyana a stranger turns out to be the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Shire building surveyor who signed off all the monastery's plans. On his last day before retiring…
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that over in Bodhinyana monastery, over in Serpentine, I was just sitting there after lunch receiving guests, and this gentleman came up I’ve never seen before (but I remembered his voice for a strange reason), and I find out after he told me that he was the local building surveyor at the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. So every building which we applied for permission for, he'll be the one who looks at it and checks that it fulfils all of the regulations and ticks it off. And I asked him: 'What are you doing here' and he said that he's not come to check up on anything, because this was his last day at work in that job, he was retiring that afternoon - but he said he came here to thank me for the car park. I felt really weird, ‘thanking me for the car park, what are you talking about?’ And he said to me that he wasn't a Buddhist, he didn't know how to meditate - but - every time he got stressed out at work, he simply got into his car, drove to the monastery in Serpentine and parked his car in the car park, and just sat there maybe 15 minutes or half an hour. And then, afterwards, he felt so much better, he went back to work
- The perfect Zen gardenStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A young Japanese gardening monk makes the most admired garden in Japan. An old meditation monk climbs in early one morning and hides to learn his secret. The gardener meditates,…
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Because one of the stories which I read many years ago and I think I retold it in one of my first books about the Japanese garden and the Zen master. Zen masters are usually really cool because they're totally um just uh almost off the planet in the way they do things. Totally un you can't understand them at first but they tell a very good message. And this Japanese master uh actually the young Japanese uh monk was a gardener and he made these amazing gardens and his garden was one of the most famous in the whole of Japan. People would come from all over to admire just the balance of his garden. You just took one look at it and it was wow really sort of was an amazing work of art. So this old old monk, an old meditation monk came early one morning, but the garden was closed. It was only supposed to be opened in the afternoon. [clears throat] But anyway, the old monk, he climbed over the the railings and hid behind the bushes. He wanted to find out the secret of the most perfect garden in the whole of Japan. And he waited. And then the gardening monk came out and he sat and meditated to prepare his mind just to get the clarity and the peace and the artistic balance in his own mind before he worked on the garden. And then he took these two big wicker baskets. In the middle of the garden was this very beautiful plum tree. And he went with those two baskets and picked up one by one every leaf or twig which had fallen the night before from the wind. And before putting them in the baskets, he would look at the little twig to see whether it had artistic merit. If it was the right shape or the right curvature, then he would put it in the good basket. If it was rubbish, he would put it in the rubbish basket. And the same with the leaves. Every leaf he picked up and examined it. And if he could make use of it, the right color, the right shape, he put it in the the good basket and the others in the rotten basket. It took him hours to clean up the garden of all the the leaves and twigs which had fallen the night before. A couple of hours. And then he stopped. He put the rubbish leaves on the compost and then he took tea. And after he took tea, he meditated for the most important part of the ceremony of the making the beautiful garden. He took the basket of beautiful leaves and flowers and not little twigs and he placed them one one by one in the garden in exactly the right place in exactly the correct orientation so that they balanced and the interconnectivity of the leaves and the twigs and the colors. Sometimes you'd have to pause and correct. He looked at it and he'd move a twig slightly. Yes, that's it. I don't know if you ever seen great artists at work, but sometimes great artists at work, we think they're just being being just [snorts] uh too too picky, but really great artists, they can see the big canvas of the garden and know exactly where things need to be just slightly changed. And after another couple of hours, he was finished and he admired his work. Most beautiful garden in the whole of Japan, he thought. And he was about to open the gate to let the visitors in. But then the old monk came out from behind the bush. And he said to the young gardening monk said, "I've been watching you all morning." and he said, "Your attention to detail is just so impressive. I've seen you just picking up all the bad leaves and the good leaves, separating them out and putting the good leaves." Look at that. That's amazing, George. Your artistic um taste and talent is incredible. He said, "Your garden," said the old monk, "is perfect." And at that word, almost. You could see the color drain from that gardening monk's face. So his lips start to quiver and he fell to his knees and he said to the old meditation monk, "Oh master, master, you've been sent by the Buddha himself to come and teach me how to make my garden even more perfect. Please instruct me. Please let your compassion flow. Please tell me your great wisdom. How can my garden be even more perfect?" And the old monks, by the way, never trust an old monk. He asked, he asked the old monk. And the old monk said, "Do you really want me to show you?" "Yes, please don't hold back your your great skill and wisdom." So the old monk stroed right into the middle of the garden, put his hands, he was old but still very strong around the plum tree and shook the hell out of it. Twigs, leaves fell all over the place, making a big mess of the garden. A whole morning's work destroyed. And that monk was so upset and angry. But imagine how he felt when the monk looked at his work with the the garden a big mess and then said, "Now that is perfect."
- The Pope, the Archbishop and the puttJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury settle church unity with 18 holes of golf. On the last green the Pope misses putt after putt, swearing “Damn it! Missed!” while his nun…
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But the Anglican church and the Catholic church were trying to sort of get some reconciliation. Trying to move together. They're both Christian groups and in the end they couldn't really reconcile. So they decided to let God choose which was the right form of Christianity. And the way they were going to do this with the Archbishop and the Pope they both like golf. So they decided to play 18 rounds of, 18 holes of golf. Whoever won, if the Archbishop of Canterbury won the Pope will become a Protestant. It will be God's will. And if, if the Pope won the Archbishop would convert to being a Catholic together with all the Protestants. And that way they could unite and it'll be God's choice. Fair enough. If you believe in divine intervention, so let God decide who's the best, who's the most authentic. The Catholics or the Anglicans. So they started their round of golf. They got to the last hole, the 18th hole. The Archbishop had already put his ball into the hole, the Pope was two shots ahead. If he sagged this 18-foot putt he would win. And the Anglican Archbishop together with every Anglican in the world would have to convert to being Catholics. So you can imagine the stress of that shot. He was so nervous, he hit it way too hard and it went way past the hole maybe six foot past. He missed his first opportunity. He's still one shot ahead. And so he lost it. He swore “damn it! Missed!” he said. And his caddy, because all this golfers have to have caddies. Guess who his caddy was? It was one of the Catholic nuns. I won't explain why but I think you mostly know. So the Catholic nun saw the Pope swear “damn it! Missed!” and said: “Your grace or your holiness, you shouldn't swear like that. That's a sin. You shouldn't do that. She's looking up in the sky. He said “oh I'm stressed out. Too excited. I'm terribly sorry. And I won't do it again.” and he had another shot. If he hold this shot he'd still win by one one hole. So he's still… the Archbishop would have to become a Catholic. So he really relaxed. Tried to get rid of his anxiety and stress. He hit the ball again. Not hard enough. It only went halfway to the hole. “Damn it! Missed!” he said. And the poor nun looked up in the sky, crossed herself and said “don't do that. You're tempting fate. In your position you should know better.” “I'm terribly sorry sister. This stress, the anxiety, the stakes are so high.” He had one more shot. If he missed this one he'd have to become a Protestant. He had to hold this one to draw. The stakes were really high. And so he hit the ball, it went straight to the hole, but then just went on the outside and missed. And this time he really swore loudly: “damn it! Missed!” he said and before the nun could cross herself there was a huge clap of thunder from the sky and a lightning bolt came down from the clouds and hit the nun. Why are you laughing at that? And the nun dropped down dead. And a great voice from the sky boomed out: “damn it! Missed!”
- “You're a much better mum when you come home”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A tired mother tells her children she will skip the meditation group; her daughter insists she go, because she is a much better mum afterwards.
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Many times when I've been teaching meditation, especially down at Armadale, I don't know why this happens always in Armadale group. In Armadale group, sometimes after the meditation, talking to people afterwards, and very often people say, "You know, this evening, I never wanted to come." "It's Tuesday evening, I've been at work, and I'm tired, and I told my kids I'm not going this evening, and my daughter said, 'Mommy, you must go to meditation.' I said, 'I don't feel like it darling, I'm tired.' 'Mommy, you must go to meditation!' 'No, not this evening.' 'Mommy, go to meditation!!' 'Why darling?' 'Because you're a much nicer mommy when you come back.'
- “You're making an ugly face — smile!”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Rowing in an eight at Cambridge, struggling and grimacing, Ajahn Brahm hears the coach on a bicycle shout through a megaphone: “You're making an ugly face — smile!” When he…
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So no what happened there was a little coach the coach was on his bicycle had a megaphone. He shouted out at me He said you're making an ugly face smile and when you're really struggling physically of course you do make ugly faces And I learned something great from that coach worthwhile all of that. You know doing the the training for rowing in an eight And what I learned that when you smile the? Or is so easy to pull I've got a boost of energy Paint has dissipated. I smiled and the oil had more energy