Stories about teacher and student
2 Buddhist wisdom stories about teacher and student from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Steal where no one sees youStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A famous ancient Indian teacher must marry his daughter to his best disciple and also needs money for the couple. To 'cut two carrots with one knife', he tells his students to…
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in Ancient India many hundreds of years ago the education system was such that you went with a one teacher and the teacher had many many disciples and he taught you everything Le like what they call a polymath and once you graduated from your teacher then you could actually set yourself up as a teacher so in Ancient India many many centuries ago there was a very famous teacher who only receive a limited amount of disciples and he taught them many many things not just things like um medicine and calculation astronomy and all these other Arts which were there at the time but he also obviously taught them to be good people now what happened when they were just all about close to graduation he wanted to give them a test but it wasn't just a test to see how much they learned over those years he also had another problem and that problem was his daughter who was of marriageable age and it was a custom in those days to have arranged marriages and being a teacher he was supposed to marry off his daughter to his best disciple so he brought all of the guys together and said you know my daughter she's very pretty I know you all like her you know you all love to marry her and I got to choose which one should marry and it's also to give her find out which of you has learned the most over all the years you've been with me so I decided to give you a test to find out who's the smartest and the most obedient but also I have another problem you know when people get married they need to find themselves a house or at least a little Hut you know they got to get their sort of their basic necessities of life together he said I've got to find some money for the two of you and I'm so poor so in order to in the old days I would say kill two birds with one stone but being a Buddhist now I don't use that I say cut two carrots with one knife you know you got to use Buddhist terminology these days it's a terrible kill two birds with one stone that's a terrible so cut two carrots with the same knife there a much better one so in order to to cut two carrots with the same knife he said this is the test I'm going to give you I need some money I also got to find out who's a smartest so I want each one of you to go into the local villages at nighttime to steal take whatever you can find and bring it back and what we all steal will give to the winner of this competition and the one who steals the most will win my daughter you know everyone was really shocked the guy was asking him to steal this was terrible he said no this is what I want you to do but one important Point make sure no one sees you still and so all make sure no one sees you still so all the boys went in the middle of the night creeping through the villages waiting till the people went to sleep or they went out and they crept into the houses and they stole this and they stole that and they brought it back to their teacher and their teacher would keep a meticulous record of what they stol and from where and at the end of the the period of one week the teacher brought all the students together and said you've all stolen lots and lots of stuff there's enough here to keep the happy couple You Know Rich for a long time you're going to be very comfortable you've all stolen a lot and they always waiting to see which one has stol the most and the teacher said you've all stolen a lot except for one of you and this one little student was very ashamed and embarrassed he said why didn't you steal anything and he said because I followed your instructions teacher but my instructions were to steal he said yes I tried you also told us if anyone is watching don't steal he said I went into the houses at night I waited till no one was there and I went in there and I saw these valuable items I went to pick it up and I realized someone was looking me I was seeing me steal that's why I couldn't follow your instructions and of course the teacher said at last I've got one wise disciple after all I've taught you about self-responsibility it's true that other people won't see you but you see you and he said that's the only student that's followed my instructions after all these years only one of you is wise enough so you can marry my daughter and as for all this stuff you stolen I'm rich enough I don't need it take it back to where it came from and don't worry because I told all the villagers to expect you this was a setup a scab to find out how many of you knew what it meant not to steal if someone is watching
- “Why?” — Ajahn Chah's answer: nothingStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After an inspiring talk by Ajahn Chah, the young monk skips attending him at the sauna and sits two blissful hours in meditation behind the hall. Coming out, he walks to serve…
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He did have psychic powers sometimes. He could read people's minds. I remember he read my mind once on a retreat. You want to hear this story? Yeah. Come on. Because this is a deep part of this talk. Many of you heard it on retreats. But when people give really good talks, I mean very deep talks, they're inspiring. And on this occasion, Ajan came to the monastery where I was staying and he gave a talk and that day really hit the spot. everything being explained so beautifully and just oh your your mind is so inspired and peaceful and joyful and then know we had actually built a sauna for him you know sauners were not invented in uh Sweden or wherever they had sauners in Buddhist monasteries in India from the very beginning they talk about it in the ancient books you know sauners for the monks and nuns And [gasps] uh so we built him a sauna and he came over. So he gave a talk. I was so inspired. Achanta went off to the sauna and I was basically so inspired. There's so many other monks looking after acha. I decided just to go around the back of the hall and sit quietly meditating. I just I didn't want to waste that beautiful energy. cross my legs two hours. Oh, just blissing my head out. Beautiful meditation. So deep, so peaceful. And of course, when you go in deep meditation, you just don't know how long, but [snorts] you know, 2 hours it was. When I came out of that meditation afterwards, the first thought was you got lots of joy and peace and happiness is to do something good for your teacher. So I decided, well, I'm probably too late. Let's go and walk see if I can be of any service to him. So off I went walking towards the sauna and I was too late because he'd already finished the sauna. He was walking back with his driver and another Thai man. And we would cross the path and as we were about to cross you he looked at me and he l you know sometimes like only great teachers can really look at you just looking right into you. And for once, for once I didn't mind him looking into my mind. Other days, no. [laughter] I'd be embarrassed. But that day, my mind was, you know, just after a very deep, beautiful meditation, so pure and so peaceful, so bright. And it's very hard for me to uh to make you believe this, but many [snorts] of you know that I'm honest. I don't gain anything out of these stories, but you can actually feel him. This is my perception which I remember very clearly inside your mind just having a look just checking around like going in somebody's room or house and just having a walk around and I just yeah please come in for once I don't mind you having looking around today is is quite [snorts] clean and peaceful and beautiful inside and then when he emerged out this is just how I felt okay his body didn't disappear and just go up my nostrils or I think this was just you know his mind coming into my mind and reading everything and afterwards he looked at me very you can't say kindly you can't say fiercely was some other expression on his face just grabbing your attention eye to eye and of course my name is Ajan Brah but the full name is Brahma so he looked at me and said Brahma quite fiercely but kindly And then he said, "Why?" And he looked at me with so much kindness but strength. Why? And I was still only a young monk. And my answer was, "I don't know." And he laughed his head off. These stupid Western monks. [laughter] He was trying his best to try and enlighten me. He saw I was very peaceful and give it a shot anyway. But whenever you do something stupid like that, idiotic, you know, as far as wisdom is concerned, a child just burst out laughing. Our idiotic responses and behavior cause him so much pleasure, so much laughter. I think that's why he had so many western monks in his monastery to entertain him. No, there's a lot of kindness there too. But then he became serious again and he looked at me once more. He said, "Broma, I'll tell you the answer." And wow, I was really excited. This great monk was giving me a personal teaching just after come out of a deep meditation and he asked me the question why I got it wrong. But he wanted to tell me what the answer was. the answer to the question why from Achan he looked at me I'll tell you the answer I was so excited and he said my me I any Thai people here oh yes you know what that means he said there's nothing there's nothing. And then he looked at me and said, "Bamsa, do you understand with a lot of kindness?" I said, "Yes." And he looked at me again and said, "No, you don't." [laughter] And he went away. Oh, that really hurt. [laughter] But what a beautiful lesson that was. Just when he gave me that wonderful answer, what's the answer to the question? Why? Why? Answer is is nothing. Do you understand? No, you don't. [laughter] But one day you will. Seeds have been planted.