Stories about superstition
10 Buddhist wisdom stories about superstition from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A Buddha to stop bulletsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A long-time supporter of Ajahn Chah, drafted into the Thai army, begs him for a blessed Buddha amulet to protect him from bullets — after all the food and donations he's given.…
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even ajahn Chah the great master is this great story when one of his disciples had been around a long time was drafted into the Thai Army and there's always a lot of problems being in the army sometimes the skirmishes on the border or down the south of Thailand people actually get killed when he joined the army so you've got drafted in the army and he waited to see the very teacher said look can you please give me something to protect me from harm especially from bullets he said I know that you've got these amazing powers I'm sure if you could give me some amulet to wear around my necks a little Buddha to wear around my neck I'm sure that that will protect me from bullets so though we don't get into that you know this is not what a monk is supposed to do we're supposed to teach you how to live a good life and how to look after yourself and take responsibility for yourself you know to keep out of harm's way sort of being mindful being learns when you're in the army because a lot of times people get injured because of stupidity he said no you know there's always things go on go on I might be unlucky I didn't I please give me a Buddha statue and I've been looking after you for such a long time I come to the temple I give all these dollars in a donation box I give you food come on I'm only asking for them for Buddha to wear around my neck you could do that so the great brass said Oh Hey I will give you a Buddha statue to wear around your neck and he said I guarantee they were protected from bullets 100% and they thought wow this great monk with all his powers can bless a little ambulance a bullet a bullet proof ambulance and there was a movie about that bulletproof monk or something but anyway this was a real story I much probably bulletproof mic was was based on I'm not sure I never seen that movie but anyway he said okay I'll give you a Buddha to wear around your neck which will protect you from bullets oh thank you thank you thank you where is it and now John shall see that Big Buddha like the one behind me over here in the main hall put that around your neck and I guess it will stop any bullets
- A Coke for the lottery numbersStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Resting alone on tudong in the mountains of north-east Thailand, Ajahn Brahm is spotted by a middle-aged woman who disappears and returns ten minutes later to set before him a…
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once when I was just on this what they call on tudong living by yourself walking through the mountains alone carrying everything you owned on your back and I just was sitting down resting know for um a few minutes and as I was just sitting down there this woman saw me and when she saw me. She disappeared and came back about 10 minutes later. Now, she was a middle-aged woman. And she came and she put in front of me a bottle of Coca-Cola, a piece of paper, and a pencil. What was it? That's what they wanted. She thought I didn't understand the Isan language was place I was staying the northeastern language so she thought I would figure it out CocaCola piece of paper pencil and when I told her in now I could speak that language I said no I don't I'm not going to give you any lottery number she took the Coca-Cola away
- Five Angels in the fifth raceJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Perth man dreams that five angels each give him five pots of gold. At breakfast his wife has made five pieces of toast and five boiled eggs; it's the 5th of May; Ascot has five…
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the fifth of May reminded me of one of those amazing stories about this gentleman here in Perth quite many years ago now. And this is the last question here. So I don't mind just going off with a Oh no, there's another one afterwards. Anyway, I've already started the story. that he had a dream in the middle of the night. Actually, not the middle of the night, it was early in the morning here in Perth. And his dream is he dreamt of these five angels, these five like davas angels. And they each had five big pots of gold. And they queued up and they gave him 25 pots of gold. That was his dream. And then as soon as he received his last pot of gold, he woke up. He looked around the bedroom. It was morning time. He couldn't see any angels in his bedroom. But worse, he didn't mind not seeing angels, but he really missed the pots of gold. And so, just a dream. When he went down to breakfast, he found that morning his wife had made him five pieces of toast and five boiled eggs, which was weird. What's with the number five? He looked at the newspaper. 5th of May and just you know wondering what was going on he decided to look at the horse racing pages here in Perth there is a horse racing course it's named after a big one in in England called Ascot A S C O T five letters. So he looked at the fifth race that afternoon and he looked down the fifth horse in the fifth race. He just couldn't believe his his eyes. The horse was called Five Angels. The horse five angels was running on the 5th of May in Ascot and he just dreamt of five angels giving him this huge fortune in gold. If you do have these experiences, you only have them once in your life. So he decided to to take the afternoon off work. He went to the bank to keep the lucky number five. $5,000 out of the bank. A lot of money. $5,000. He went to the racetrack. He chose the fifth book maker in line. He said $5,000 to win horse number five. Race number five, five angels. He knew the lucky number five couldn't go wrong. And the lucky number five didn't go wrong. His horse came in fifth.
- Rubbing the monk's bellyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Around Chinese New Year, standing by the reception door of the Perth centre, Ajahn Brahm is approached by an elderly Chinese woman who takes one look at the fat-tummied monk and…
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I was here one day just sitting just now standing just by the the door of the reception area and it must have been I think Chinese New Year some around then and there's this woman came in you know quite elderly Chinese took one look at me a monk with a fat tummy rubbing it for luck and say what's the point of that we're not into Superstition in this place you know you don't get good luck by rubbing amongst my belly and it's offensive I could sue you for that it's assault but that's not how you learn to be and to train in Buddhism enjoy the moment so I laughed and she laughed and had a really good rub
- The broken pot of gheeAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: The Buddha's simile, asked whether chanting for the dead helps them: break a clay pot of ghee over a lake — the clay sinks and the oil floats. If a monk stood on the bank…
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imagine this you take a pot of oil was actually ghee but ghee is a type of oil you take a clay pot of oil you take it to some sort of lake or Pond and you break it over that Lake then what would happen the clay heavy part would go to the bottom and the oil will float to the surface then said the Buddha suppose that some Monk went to the side of that Lake and started praying or doing some chanting do you think because of that chanting that the the Shar s of clay will float to the surface and the oil will go down to the bottom of course not it's in just the same way that beings will go according to their karma when they die
- The general's holy waterStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a time when generals were the power behind the Thai government, a major general comes to Ajahn Chah's hut in Ubon asking for holy water. Ajahn Chah says he hasn't any; the…
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aent think I told that story when this General asked for holy water aent child would very rarely give holy water and one day agent child was a joker but sometimes I thought you really go too far cuz this day this General came up to him and I was there at his H so you know you hang around cuz it's great entertainment sometimes to see what aent child was going to do next and it's major general you know that now again like the generals were in power in Thailand this was a time when they were always in power they had I think a uh lay government but the generals were the power behind the scenes and so this big Major General came up to see aan sha in uban to ask for some holy water I said I Haven got any holy water said no please that child poor they called please some holy water so bow okay bow down and that he spout all this saliva in his General's head and rubbed it in and I thought my goodness you've gone too far this time magenta you really have and this General bought it he said oh s s s I've got real holy water know from the how stupid could you be that's what he did
- The gypsy's curseStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting his mother in London, Ajahn Brahm answers the door at mealtime to a woman selling 'lucky' heather. He politely declines; she threatens to put a curse on him if he…
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I can never forget the silly thing I did once when I was visiting my mother in London years ago when she was still alive. I went to visit her and staying in her house. She was making my 'one meal a day' in the morning for me. Now that's very important. If you only eat one meal a day you got only one chance every day you got to make sure it hits the spot. So when somebody rang her door bell I volunteered to answer it so my lunch would not be spoiled. Totally selfish. I went to the door and it was a type of person, anyone from may be the UK might know this, they call them gypsies. They are itinerant people who had been in that country for 100s of years. But they decided, they do not wish to live in permanent houses. They usually live in caravans going from place to place. Good on them, if they want to live like that. But they have a reputation for trying to solicit funds, doing silly things. So it was one of these women, she knocked on the door. She said "would you like to buy some gypsy heather?" Just weed basically. And I was very polite I said "no, thank you" And she said to me "If you don't buy some of this heather I would put a gypsy curse on you" it was a marketing technique. Now imagine somebody threatening to curse me. They didn't know who they were messing with. (laughter) I had my robe on but I stood up really tall in my robe. And I looked her in the eye and said "I am a very senior Buddhist Monk, my curse is a much stronger than yours." That's what I said I overdid it. Honestly, I really overdid it. Because that women, her eyes went wide, her jaw dropped she turned around and she actually ran! She ran away. (laughter) We never curse anybody but I do use that in case people mess with me, then I can always mess back. Because people have all these superstition Buddhist monks... what can they do they don't know, but they tried to mess with me so I messed up with them. I know I shouldn't have done that but actually I am quite happy I did. (laughter) Makes it a good story.
- The half-million-dollar bulletproof amuletStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: From a Thai newspaper: an army general in Bangkok paid half a million US dollars for an amulet guaranteed to stop bullets. After dinner and a couple of whiskies in the officers'…
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this was one case this was in the local paper a few years ago there's one general in the Thai Army in Bangkok I don't know way gotta fart half a million US dollars from but let's not go into that so I'm going to Thailand tomorrow they may be listening on the internet and I can in trouble so he had this emoji what won't get into trouble because he's not around anymore look what happened to you it's but half a billion US dollars on an amulet and apparently he was in his officers mess it had his meal he had a couple of glasses of whiskey and he was boasting sip this Amla over here I bought it for half a million u.s. that's how much it's worth and the reason I spent so much money this amulet will protect me from bullets it's magical and it's been guaranteed sort of protect me from bullets they said here you are and he gave his gun so his junior officer and it ordered him shoot me this is how stupid people get especially where they've had two glasses of whiskey and they have faith in his ambulance shoot me he said and of course the junior officers the army have to follow orders bang-bang it was amazing is a credible the general died
- The monk in the front seat of the busStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Thais believe a monk's good karma protects those behind him, so monks are seated at the front of buses. Travelling from Chonburi to Bangkok, the young Ajahn Brahm is waved on…
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this happened once accurate story I was traveling from chury to Bangkok not a long distance only 2 hours thank goodness cuz as soon as I got in this big bus the bus driver smiled he didn't want to take any money he just put me right in the front seat about that far from the wind screen because there was a movie on that bus which he really wanted to to watch but he was scared of crashes so he always had to pay attention to the road now I was there taking care of crashes he could watch the movie as much as he wanted and I was watching all these big trucks and cars just hurtling towards our buz as was going over the road to the other side fortunately we survived so it's obviously it was true but I tried that once when I was flying in tight Airways I was in economy class and I told the flight attendant you know sometimes uh aircraft crash into mountains so why don't you put me up front and then I can protect everyone behind because you know up front is first class on his business I thought it was a very strong argument but they wouldn't accept it so so I had to stay in economy
- Twelve blessed strings for Sri LankaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: During a one-day match at the WACA, with Australia hammering Sri Lanka, young helpers come to Ajahn Brahm: the Sri Lankan captain wants holy string from a good monk. He blesses…
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This was the um the time I got into trouble. I had to I had hid this for many years. I should have just admitted it straight away. And that was with the with the um cricket. Many of the Sri Lankans know this story. I haven't told this to the the last uh uh there's a Sri Lankan New Year over in 70th anniversary was it Was it? Or independence or whatever. Anyway, in front of the the former um governor of Western Australia, Quentin Bryce. And she reminded me of this. But fortunately she's she's retired now, so I can't get into any more trouble about this because it was the um sometime people ask, "What are you doing going to the Sri Lankan Independence Day when you're a Brit? You know, that's like you know, that they kicked your ancestors out of the country. So what are you coming to celebrate?" I said, "Because I support Sri Lanka and their cricket team." Because what happened? There was a cricket match between Sri Lanka and Australia at the old West Australian cricket ground, the WACA. And only one day match. And at lunch interval the Australians, they were just hammering the Sri Lankans. They were winning by such a big amount. So some of the boys who actually come here, they were helping out at the stadium. They came here and said, "Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Brahm, we've been asked by the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team to get some holy string from a good monk and we think you're a good monk. Can you do this blessing string?" And so now I shouldn't have done this. I mean, it's a ridiculous thing to do, but I I blessed 12 pieces of string. Cuz you know, one for the 12th man in the cricket. I knew cricket. So 12 pieces of string I blessed and I sent them to the ground. You know what happened? Sri Lanka lost. But because they asked for it too late. [laughter] But that was not the really important match because that that was a warm-up game for the World Cup cricket. And as every Sri Lankan knows the Sri Lankans had never won much before. But this they had the final Sri Lanka this World Cup cricket final, Sri Lanka versus Australia. And you know how much Australians love their cricket. And Sri Lanka won. Against all predictions, Sri Lanka beat Australia and won the World Cup cricket. And that was Any Sri Lankan remembers that. Remember the occasion. It was uh the captain. I remember his name, Arjuna Ranatunga. Cuz I saw people show me in the the Western Australian newspaper, the big picture of the captain holding up the World Cup and the whole Sri Lanka, they just celebrated. I don't know for how long. And of course Australia was just so upset. They just missed out. But as he was holding up the cup, you know what I saw? On his hand my string. It was my string which was on all of the cricketers' hands there except the Australians. That was why they won the World Cup. Cuz an Australian monk and it took years before I admitted that. Otherwise I got kicked out of the country.