Stories about violence
8 Buddhist wisdom stories about violence from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Dixon of Dock Green vs the new cop showStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting his mother in London after seven years without TV, he watches a half-hour cop show with her and counts about a dozen people shot dead. He can't believe it: the police…
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I went to visit my mother in London about 15 years ago, the first time I'd seen TV in about 7 years. It was like a copper movie show. I forget what it was called - not Defenders, or something. Anyways, half an hour TV show, repeated every week. As I was watching it with my mother, for giving her company, I couldn't believe how many people died in about half an hour. I was actually counting them. I got to about a dozen or something got shot and killed. I couldn't believe this because before, when I was... before I became a monk, the TV was so tame. Because I had 7 years I hadn't seen the actual progress of violence on TV, the contrast was so strong inside of me because the police show I remembered as a kid was a police show - anyone old enough might remember this - Dixon of Dock Green. Dixon of Dock Green was this London bobby in the days when they didn't have guns. If he caught a burglar, the burglar would say, "Ah, Sergeant Dixon, it's an honor to be caught by you, sir." [Laughter]. And apparently they don't do that anymore. [Laughter]. Things have changed. And no one got shot, and if they did go ever get hurt, if there was a bullet, they'd go, "Ooh, ooh, ooh." You wouldn't see any blood at all. And they'd just fall on the floor without any gore or anything.
- He punched the art teacher for smiling — then called him a friendStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An Armadale-group artist who taught at Claremont smiled at a difficult colleague; the man punched him and flattened him. Years later the same man greeted him as an old friend and…
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one of these artists who used to come to our Armadale group so many years ago, he was an art teacher at Claremont, I think it was. And he said one of his colleagues was just a bad person, and this art teacher was quite a spiritual guy, he smiled at this colleague one day and the colleague just punched him in the nose and flattened him for smiling. And he met the guy years later— he had to leave the school after that— and met him years later and this friend came up and said, "We were such good friends in those days," and the teacher said, "What? You flattened me!" He said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." His perception of the relationship was totally different than the other person's relationship; the guy who hit the art teacher was going through some very, very difficult time, but recognized the art teacher was actually trying to be kind to him. And even though he couldn't express that he'd recognize this, and even just it looked like he was angry at this art teacher, it is still the kindness had got in there somewhere, and it stayed with him for all those years
- 'I'm only going to tell you this once'Joke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a suicide-bomber training camp, on the last lesson the instructor gathers the recruits: 'I'm now going to demonstrate the suicide vest, so please listen carefully, because I'm…
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Actually there's a joke about suicide bombers. In the suicide bomber training camp, somewhere in this sort of the Middle East, on the last lesson the instructor called all these potential suicide bombers together and said “I'm now going to demonstrate the suicide vest and please listen carefully because I'm only going to tell you this once
- If I were President Bush after 9/11Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A week or two after 9/11, asked in Singapore what he would have done as President Bush, Ajahn Brahm says he would have gone on TV and forgiven everyone involved so no more…
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I gave a talk in Singapore just after 9 11. maybe a week two weeks afterwards and after the talk the obvious question if you were President Bush what would you have done and I said straight away I did this I said this with with all the power of being a monk for such a long time after 9 11 If I Was President Bush I would have gone on TV straight away and said I forgive everybody involved in this terrorist Act there's been enough people died already I don't want any more mothers crying over their sons I don't want any brothers just so lost because their little brother is gone I forgive everybody let's end this violence and I was wondering what would have happened afterwards just imagining just people through the streets of Baghdad holding up photos of George W bush rather than Osama bin Laden George Bush George Bush instead of Osama bin Laden and I I got a standing ovation for that about 1500 people
- Jamaica drive-in needed a concrete screenStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visitor to a Jamaican drive-in wonders why the screen is thick concrete; locals shoot along with cops-and-robbers / Westerns — cloth screens kept getting shot up, so the owner…
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Drivin movies now that they used to have I'm not sure if there's still any Drivin movies here in Perth but big screens and you go in the car and you just watch the movie however he was very um surprised to see the screen this huge screen it wasn't like a cloth screen like they have in you know Australia or United States it was a concrete scen scen really thick and it's a huge and he couldn't help asking why have they got a concrete screen you know to show a a movie for people in cars it must have cost a fortune and his host said yeah it did cost a fortune they explained why they had to build this concrete screen cuz Jamaica is a very violent ter a violent country an up country sometimes there's a lot of violence and everyone has guns and apparently this town was noted for its violence and most of the people in the town the sort of movies they like were cops and robers and and Western where there's lots of gunfights but what actually happened that when there was a gunfight on the screen that people in the cars would get their guns out and join in and if they didn't like the sheriff they shoot the sheriff if they didn't like the cop they shoot the cop a true story and the owner of this driving movie theater had gone through so many cloth screens and got all shot up by the audience that in the end he decides to bite the bullet and actually put a concrete screen up there
- Razor blades sewn into the flat capStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: His father, apprenticed as a bricklayer in late-1920s East End London, was taught first to sew razor blades into the peak of his flat cap so he could slash anyone who gave him…
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the first thing he was taught on the building site was how to sew razor blades in the peak of his flat cap. So, if any police or anyone gave him any trouble, he would slash them with like hidden sharp edges. And many places in the East end of London were no-go areas for police
- The Pinjarra girl who fed the tiger snakeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Elder in a Pinjarra home recalls: a little girl takes a saucer of milk under the stumped house each morning for a tiger snake. Mother finds out; father says leave it — next day…
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old people's home in Pinara and because they didn't get any visitors and seeing a monk in there was great you know this old old uh people and one of them told me this wonderful story I don't know how many years ago this would have been maybe 60 or 70 years ago when he saw this he was a young man at the time and this was about 30 years ago. He told me this story and he was you know in the old people's home now so maybe even older but he said that in that area in Pinter one of his friends you know living in one of these simple old houses and saw a um uh he had a daughter maybe four or five years of age and the daughter would ask the mother for a source of milk every morning and the mother you know they thought milk was going to be very healthy for the kid and asking for something We give the daughter a saucer of milk. Now why not a glass? She said no a saucer please. So after a while mom being very busy decided you know what's why does she want a saucer? Why does she drink it you know in the kitchen? Why does she take it outside? And so she followed her little five or six year old daughter and saw the five or sixyear-old daughter place the saucer of milk just on the foot of the house. you know, the the houses on stumps, raised on stumps, just and call out to whatever was living underneath the house. And a big tiger snake came out. And of course, the daughter was only a maybe a foot away from the tiger snake. And the mother freaked out because the tiger snakes were deadly, as many of you know, and her daughter was so close. And the daughter was feeding this tiger snake every day with a saucer of milk. And so she froze and waited for the snake to drink the milk and then slither away and told her her husband the next that evening. And the husband said, "I'll look after this. No need to do anything. Just give our daughter the source of milk tomorrow." Which she did. And so the little girl, five or six years of age, it went outside the house, put the source of milk down, and called out to its friend, the tiger snake. And the tiger snake slithered out. And just before it drank the milk, its head was blasted off by her father's gun, killed right in front of the girl. From that day on, the girl refused to eat. There's nothing they could do to make it to eat. And this old man said, you know, he called it she started ftting. Never heard that word in that context before. Was ftting and ftting. Eventually, she had to be admitted into the local hospital. But even the local hospital couldn't help her and she died in the hospital. Just so much sadness. so much trauma of seeing this snake killed right in front of her. And this old digger said the father might as well shot her daughter's head off at the time
- The wobbly VIP chairs and the fist under his noseStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: For the opening of the Nollamara centre the Governor of WA, Sir Gordon Reid, accepts the invitation. Ajahn Brahm orders the best marquee and chairs from a top Cottesloe hire…
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When we first came to this suburb, when we first opened this centre here, it was about twenty years ago now, forget exactly when, maybe twenty three years ago, this hall wasn’t built yet, we had the community hall next door. And we just moved into this new centre, so we had an opening ceremony. And we thought – never know your luck – we invited the then Governor of Western Australia, Sir Gordon Reid. The Reid Highway is named after him. And just to our delight, he accepted. We never thought the Governor would accept to come to a small place like this. But he accepted and he came. We were so thrilled. And even though we were struggling for support, nevertheless, it was going to be a big day. So our treasurer at that time told me: “Look, we wanna make a really good show of it.” My job, my little piece of the action there was to order the marquee and the chairs, the marquee outside and the chairs for our people and our guests. And so, because I was told by the treasurer, it didn’t matter how much it cost, we wanted the very best. I range around for the top hire companies in Perth, I got one in Cottesloe, which hired out the marquees. for Peppermint Grove and Dalkeith And I said: “Look, we going to get the Governor, we really wanted to put a show. Buddhist have come to town, we wanna show we’re here. We don’t want to have a small thing, we want to impress people. So can I have a really nice marquee, and some really good chairs? We’ve got the Governor of the state coming.” And so the lady who took the call said: “Yes,yes, yes, it would cost you..” I said: “It doesn’t matter, the treasurer said, we wanna put on a good show.” Okay, the deal was made. And a Friday afternoon, coz we were going to have the ceremony on a Sunday, so we had to set up on a Friday, before people stop working. The Friday afternoon when the truck came with the marquee and the chairs I was a kind monk, I was helping someone else with their jobs. So I never actually saw them unload. But when I checked, the marquee which they had was absolutely filthy. And all this red dust, they must have had it on some agriculture show. And I was very upset coz I asked for something good. But, you know, instead of complaining, “Rather light a candle than complain about darkness”, we got a hose out, we hosed it down. We had a couple of days for it to dry. And then I saw the chairs, and they were also really dusty. So I had lots of helpers, we got wet clothes, we started cleaning the dust off the chairs. That could be done. But then I saw the ten VIP chairs. And this is no exaggeration: of those ten chairs, not one of those chairs had legs the same length… They all wobbled, a lot. And that was just too much. You can wipe down the chairs, you can hose down the tent, but you can’t fix those wobbly chairs. So I ran to the phone, in the room over here, and I managed to catch the Manager the lady I talked to, as she was closing the office late on Friday afternoon. And I said: “Look, this is what you’ve delivered. Don’t you remember I asked for the best? We’ve got the Governor of Western Australia and his wife coming. We can’t have them falling over, because the chairs have got legs with not equal sizes.” The lady was very apologetic. She said: “Look, there must be some sort of mistake. I’ll get them changed immediately.” Thank you. But what happened was this. The men had already knocked off for the weekend. They were down at the pub, starting their evening drinking when the manager came in and said: “The Buddhists need some new chairs. Get back to work!” So you can imagine how they felt. But this time I was waiting for them just in front of the building here. And as that truck turned the corner, it came half way down Nanson Way, you know what I’m talking about just from Constance Street to this, what is about – about 200 metres, halfway, a man jumped out of the truck. it must have been going about 20-30 km/h. He jumped up and came running towards us, with his fist clenched “Where is the bloke in charge?? I want the bloke in charge!!” So I went up to him and said: “I’m the bloke in charge.” And his eyes were red, just like the monster’s in the Jakata Tales of Buddhist. And you could smell just on his breath how much beer was he been drinking. And I sniffed it in. That’s the most beer I’ve ever imbibed in 34 years as a monk, (laughter) coming from his breath. And his fist was right in front of my nose, like this. And everybody stopped what they were doing, they stopped all the work and they just looked. Not one of them came to help me. (laughter) Thanks a lot! But they didn’t need to. It’s amazing, when you are a meditator, when you know what to do, it’s so easy not to be violent. All I did was just make my mind really peaceful, not at all afraid or scared, and I just looked him in the eye peacefully, kindly. That was one of the most amazing experiences in my life as a monk. He had his first this far from my nose, breathing all this alcohol into me, red eyes. But he could go no further. Because I wasn’t reacting in the normal way, his brain basically fused. It did, he did not know what to do next. And it’s one of those moments when you had him, you had him completely in your control and power. He couldn’t go backwards, he couldn’t go forwards. It’s a wonderful experience, holding a person like that -just because you were peaceful and you were kind. And he was completely confused. Now, in that three or four minutes when I held him there - it wasn’t just a couple of seconds, it was quite a long time – the truck had parked, and one of the other, probably the boss of the gang, came out, walked towards us and put his hand on this guy’s shoulder and said: “Come on, let’s unload the chairs.” And I said: “Yes, I’ll help you.” And we unloaded those chairs together.