Stories about wonder
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about wonder from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Minus 36 — airports closedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting somewhere so cold (about −36°) that airports and roads shut; wandering in a frozen world becomes the talk's 'infinite wonder' image.
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minus 36°. Really incredibly cold. So they closed down the airports. There was nothing on the roads. So when I went out they say only mad monks and English men go out in the so to say midday sun but this is in the the wintry cold. I had boots on and scarves and woolly hats and everything. So I was quite insulated from the freezing cold. But it was one of the most magnificent experiences of my life
- Saturn's rings after 2001: A Space OdysseyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After watching 2001: A Space Odyssey as a student, he cycles with friends to an old Astronomical Society observatory; the dome opens and through the huge telescope they see…
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2001 A Space Odyssey is a really freaky film. And after seeing 2001 A Space Odyssey, then I was a member of the Astronomical Society. And they had all these old observatories, just like you see in the movies, these big domes with incredible powerful telescopes. And because I was a member, I told my friends, "Hey, we can just go and have a look." That was no part of being a member. So we cycled and cycled. I was very healthy in those days. Cycled out outside to the observatory. And that was the thing they found Pluto, Uranus on that observatory, but it was just out of date now. But anyway, we got in there, we uh somebody said, "Oh, yes, a really good time." This is 11:00, 12:00 at night after the movie. And they said that you can see Saturn was up there. And so you could go in this this chair and this huge long telescope and just the the hemisphere dome of the observatory would open. And it just had atmosphere. I know there's some people have these tiny telescopes, you can see much more, but that's got no atmosphere. This was like something out of a science fiction movie. You could actually see Saturn with its rings in huge magnification
- The Cavendish warrenStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young Cambridge student he enters the Cavendish Laboratory warren — alleys, rooms, history including J.J. Thomson discovering the electron.
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Caendish laboratory, and it was just an amazing experience going in this this old laboratory where so much stuff had happened. It was a warren of alleys and little rooms where someone in one of those rooms was inventing the time machine and no one knew what they were doing. These old professors no one had seen someone was inventing a laser or and had all this incredible history behind it. JJ Thompson had discovered the electron
- The king eagle in the mountainsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Young spiritual searcher in cold mountains sees a vast eagle (king eagle) after spotting a freezing lake of melting ice — wonder interrupting the climb.
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spying one of the biggest birds I've ever seen, a king eagle. I checked afterwards, and those birds exist. It's big as me. Huge. It was actually just sitting there looking at me. And I realized that, you know, that could do you a lot of damage. They could kill you or injure you very easily. So, very careful when you saw that, you turned around, and you walk back