Stories about tudong
3 Buddhist wisdom stories about tudong from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- 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
- I've been waiting for you for hours — get outStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Five years a monk, walking without lifts, Ajahn Brahm asks Ajahn Suwat for a cave toward Sakon Nakhon and is warned of a ghost that drove monks mad. A villager leaves him at a…
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So, I had my great chance when I was only just 5 years as a monk, and had the opportunity to go walking through Thailand with everything I owned on my back, sleeping out, going to any sort of village for alms round in the morning, getting enough to eat, maybe just some rice, but nothing. But, I was well fed. And I stayed in a monastery. It was a Wat Tham Seua Khao. And so, at that time, Ajahn Suwat was the abbot of that monastery. It was quite a well-known monastery. I went there for the the full moon day. And afterwards, I was time to go. I had a resolution I would walk. I wouldn't take any lifts to go anywhere. And I asked the head monk, "Is there any nice caves on my journey halfway between where I was and going to the town of Sakon Nakhon?" He said, "Yes, there is a cave, but be careful. Because he said there was a ghost in that cave. And some monks have gone mad staying in that cave too long." And now this was a senior monk told me this. And so I had no doubt he was telling the truth. So I said, "Yes. I'm going to meet a ghost the next night told to me by a very senior Thai monk, Ajahn Suwat Thamsatika." So I managed to find that cave. And it was a spooky cave. The one of the villagers took me to the cave. There was a beautiful spring outside, lovely water. And inside the cave, there was an old bench which you could lay down on. There was a very, very, very old Buddha statue there. And the villager told me that deeper in the cave, there was a skeleton, a human skeleton. And then it was getting dark, so the villager didn't explain much more. He went back to his his house and left me there in the spooky cave with a skeleton and a reputation of a ghost who drove monks mad in the dark all night. And I was very excited. Okay, come on, ghosts. So I meditated there and meditated and meditate and meditate. No ghost came. That's really disappointing. I was expecting the ghost. It never came. So maybe about 10:00 or something at night, I'd been walking all day. I lay down. It's in the dark, pitch black. And as soon as I lay down, something ran towards me. It was a ghost. Came to see me. You know what I replied? I said, "I've been waiting for you for hours, and now you decide to come. Get out." And I said to the ghost, I chased it away. I think ghosts should be more respectful to monks. And be more polite. Been waiting for you, and now you come and I just want to go to sleep. Get out of here. That's true story. So that was the end of that ghost.
- Nine Pepsi-Colas — lucky number nineStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Thirsty on NE Thai tudong, Brahm resolves: if there are devas, get me a Pepsi. Walks past the store without asking; villager after villager runs up with open Pepsi and straw —…
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If there really are devas, if there are, can they get me a Pepsi-Cola?" And I really needed it. And so, with that resolution in my mind, I walked into the village. And as I walked into the village, I saw in the corner I kept my eyes down, but I saw in the corner of my eye that there was the hardware store, the general store. And there were some people in it, but I never stopped. I was a good monk. I never spoke anything. I walked right past. And as soon as you walk past like this, you think, "Well, I'll survive. There's no devas in this world anyway, so who cares?" But then, I heard, after I was about 5 m, 10 minutes past the shop, I heard someone say, "Nimon krap." [snorts] And I turned around. I never said a word. There was a person running after me with an open bottle of Pepsi-Cola with a straw in it. Cold, refreshing. And I thought, "This is weird." And I sat down on the bench. And I thought, "Well, it may be just coincidence. People are kind." But then, another person came running after me. "Nimon krap." With another bottle of Pepsi-Cola. And another person came running up with a third bottle of Pepsi-Cola. And for those of you who've ever been to Thailand, you know the magic number in Thailand, the one which they always think is the best number. And any one of you who any counts any donations, sometimes they you may have like um a thousand eight $1,800 for some big donation. They'd always try and bump it up to $1,999. I've seen that many, many times. And somebody else says, "Oh, just bump it up to 2,000." No. $1,999 is my lucky number. So, nine is a lucky number in Thailand. It means actually the number in the Thai language means prosperity. Gao. Anyway, so I had nine I Of course, another person came up, and a fifth person, a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, a ninth person came up. And I sat down on this bench. I look I was getting excited cuz I can remember this. I can almost visualize it now. I've had so many years ago, almost almost 42 years ago now. And I remember just lining up the nine bottles of Pepsi-Cola, looking at them. No way I could drink nine bottles, no matter how thirsty you were, but it reminded me that somebody was trying to make a point that things like heavenly beings do exist