The Biggest Thing in the World

This is another very meaningful story of Ajahn Brahm that I would like to share. It’s a true story.

One day, a teacher asked her class of five year olds what they think is the biggest thing in the world. A little girl answered, “My daddy”. A boy said “An elephant.” Another one said “A mountain.” What would your have said? Think about it.

A little girl suddenly told the class, “My eye is the biggest thing in the world.” Everyone was stunned by her answer, the kids couldn’t understand, even the teacher was perplexed so she asked the girl why she gave that answer. The little girl went on to explain, “Well, my eye can see my daddy, the elephant and I can also see the mountain and a lot of other things as well. If they can all fit into my eye, it must be the biggest thing in the world.”

Amazing right? A young wise kid.

Ajahn Brahm says wisdom is not learning but seeing clearly. He also added that it is not our eye but our mind that is the biggest thing in the world. He said: “Your mind can see all that your eye can see, and it can see more that is supplied through your imagination. It can also know sounds, which your eye can never see, and know touch, both real and made of dream stuff. Your mind can also know what lies outside your five senses. Because everything that can be known can fit into your mind, your mind must be the largest thing in the world. The mind contains all.”

So friends, are you all seeing clearly now with your mind?

Adapted from ‘Opening The Door of Your Heart’ by Ajahn Brahm. Any friend who wants a copy of this book, just let me know, it’ll be my special gift to you.

Managing the Ups and Downs in Life

My idol Ajahn Brahm was in town again tonight. How can I miss his talk right? The crowd tonight was so huge…there were practically no space to walk at all. Many had to stand outside the hall to listen to him. He is getting extremely popular in Singapore. I won’t be able to attend the second session tomorrow night as I’ve got to teach. I’m sure he’ll understand and forgive me…hehe! He’s going to talk about enlightenment. Can someone go attend and share with me?

Tonight, he gave a wonderful talk on how to handle the ups and downs in life and began by saying this:

When it’s hot, keep a cool head.
When it’s cold, keep a warm heart.

Simple but perfect words of wisdom right? I just love the things he say. And he does it everytime without having any premeditated scripts. His words and examples just seem to flow ever so endlessly.

Ajahn says the ups and downs, successes and failures, are all part of life. We should not complain or blame anyone when things happen, they just happen. And when it does, we should stop and learn to do something about it. We don’t know how to love until we’ve been hurt. How true that is. The tragedies in life teach us a lesson and these painful and difficult things are the masters of our life as they provide a great opportunity for us to learn and grow.

He gave the example of a cup. There’s a crack on a porcelain cup but we can’t see it. If we were to ignore this slight crack, it will keep expanding until the cup breaks one day. But if we were to notice it, we will treat the cup with extra care and respect and ensure it does not break. However, if we were to use a plastic cup, we will never respect it because we take it for granted as we know it will never break.

We should regard the things we don’t like in life as our ajahn or teacher. Without difficulties, we won’t be able to grow to be the people we are. We should learn to make peace with the ups and downs we face in life. If there’s nothing we can do, then just do nothing but should an opportunity arise for us to do something, we should grab it.

Life is always changing, situations will always alter. So when we are surrounded by ‘enemies’ and there’s nothing we can do, we should just relax and do nothing about it. Treat all uncertainties in life as opportunities. You never know, by not doing anything, things may actually turn out better.

He told another story.

Story of two chicken farmers
Once there were two chicken farmers. One would go round every morning to collect the chicken shit from the ground and left the eggs to rot. The second chicken farmer will go round to collect all the eggs and leave the chicken shit on the ground. So which type of chicken farmer are we? Are we fault-finders or positive thinkers?

Do we choose to remember the wonderful times we had together with our loved ones or do we remember all the bad times and problems we had? When we choose to remember the bad times and faults, we get depressed but if we choose to remember the good points or successes, we become a happier person.

So learn to put happiness in whatever we do, learn to have fun when we are up. By appreciating the ups in life, it’ll last much longer. Laugh at life, it increases your life, your health.

Success does not make you happy
Happiness makes you successful

Find happiness first, then you’ll become successful in life.

Learn to appreciate yourself, your journey in life.

A Chicken or A Duck

Since someone has mentioned about the chicken and duck story, I might as well post it for the benefit of all. It’s also from Ajahn Brahm but now told in my style because I don’t have his book with me! XD

Once, there was an old loving couple who went on a nature walk together, they have been married for a long long time. Anyone who sees these two together will know what it means to be truly, deeply in love with each other. They make an effort to find time for each other, doing things together, fostering greater understanding and love with every moment they spent together. Even after all these years, they look each other in the eyes like newly weds. (My writing addiction seems to have started…haha!)

Anyway, one Sunday, while they were enjoying the nice sunny weather at a nature park, they heard a sound, “quack…quack…quack, quack.” The husband said to the wife, “Ah…the sound of a duck!” The wife turned around and stared at him, “What duck? That was a chicken!” The husband was so astonished, he replied “My dear, that obviously was the sound of a duck!” His wife could not believe her ears. “Honey, now don’t be silly! It was the sound of a chicken, anyone would have recognised that was a chicken!”

The husband stopped in his tracks, looked at his wife quizzically and asked, “Darling, is there something wrong with your ears today? We just heard the duck went ‘quack, quack‘. How can that be the sound of a chicken?” His wife was getting impatient with this nonsense and said, “Dear, there’s nothing wrong with my ears and I am absolutely certain the ‘quacking’ sound was from a chicken!”

Our old couple kept arguing and arguing about the sound they heard, both insisting that they’ve got perfect hearing so they can’t possibly be wrong! As they both argued until 面紅耳赤 (flushed or red in the face), the husband suddenly stopped. He saw anger and frustration on the face of his wife which he had never seen before. His heart went soft…his face muscles relaxed…his frown was gone. He looked deeply into his wife’s eyes and said to her, “My darling, I am so sorry. That was indeed a chicken we heard. My mistake and I’m sorry it has made you so upset! Will you forgive me?”

His wife’s face immediately broke into a smile and she replied sweetly to him, “Honey, of course I forgive you. You know I love you, why would I be upset with a little mistake like that?” The husband smiled.

And then they heard the sound again, “quack, quack, quack…quack!” Yes, that was the sound of a chicken, a chicken indeed.

So you guys know the moral of the story? Why argue over the most mundane things in life. Whether the ‘quack’ or ‘chick’ sound, is it really that important to you? The chicken never asked to be called a chicken but we human decided to call it a chicken. A duck also did not asked to be called a duck but we didn’t care and just labelled it duck! It’s a sound after all!

So when we get into an argument with anyone, just look at them in their eyes and think of the love and care you have for them. Is it really so important for you to be right? The answer is no. Well, I just did something like that today. And I’m so proud of myself. I’m much much happier now.

Poo is Good

For the first time in several years, I can’t sleep. Rather than toss and turn on my bed I decided to post something on my blog.

I’ve been thinking about my recent ‘bad’ situation. Then I kept hearing Ajahn Brahm’s voice reminding me about how useful dog poo can be. He said when we accidentally step on dog poo, most people will get upset about it and keep complaining how dirty it is, how bad the smell is. Everywhere we go, the dirt, the bad smell goes with us and we’ll leave traces of it with every step we make.

On the other hand, we can look at dog poo from a more positive perspective. Dog poo is after all a useful natural fertiliser. If we treat it with respect, bring it back and put it under our mango tree, we can actually use it to help our mango tree grow and produce sweet, lovely mangoes.

So instead of complaining and lamenting about our bad situation, we should make use of it to help us, the mango tree, mature and bear beautiful, succulent fruits in the future. So I’m going to put down my dog poo where it’s useful and not carry it with me everywhere I go. Otherwise the smell and the dirt will take a long time to go away.

I allowed my mind to move in my bad situation. But it is now my good situation. I got distracted but I’m not going to let my mango tree get neglected and become weak. I’ll take good care of it and make sure it bear fruits for me!

Am I making any sense here? I’m all blurry eyed now…Shall try and get some sleep again…

Three Important Questions in Life

When is the most important time?
Who is the most important person?
What is the most important thing?

I heard this during one of Ajahn Brahm's public talks so I’m sharing it now.

Our day-to-day living is so hectic, so full of stress that we often get so muddle-headed, we lose track of what we’re thinking and lose sight of what we’re doing. These three great questions will jolt us out of our daydreaming, blindness and bring us back to reality.

When is the most important time?

Now. That’s the most important time of our lives. What has happened in the past is all gone. Nothing can be done to change that, no matter how hard you try. Whether it was a happy past you liked so much and want to keep with you forever, it’s all gone the moment it happened. If it was a sad and unhappy past that you hated and never want to keep with you, that is also all gone the moment it happened. So put it down, it’s all gone.

And what is going to happen in the future, we are never sure. In fact, we may never even know because no one knows if we will live beyond today, this moment. So dreaming of the future is also not wise. We must constantly remind ourselves to live in the present moment, now. Enjoy the now, treasure the now.

Who is the most important person?

You and the person you are with now. As we never know what is going to happen in the future, we must treasure and appreciate the person we are with right now, ourselves included. I always believe everyone of us is cosmically connected to be existing on this earth together so we must learn to accept every single person we come into contact with, even those strangers on the streets we don’t know. By making the person next to you the most important person at that moment, you will learn to be more tolerant, accepting.

What is the most important thing in life?

To love and care for the person you are with that moment. That’s the most important thing in life. We must learn to focus on the person we are with right now. Very often, we may be talking and listening to each other but our minds are actually dreaming away in some faraway lands. That’s rude! I’m also guilty of doing that all the time. We must learn to focus and give our entire attention to the person we are with that very moment. Only then we are sincere.

So people, don’t be with your partner and yet let your eyes and mind stray to the gorgeous girl or ‘帥’chap that just walked past. Remind yourself to give your 100% attention to the person you are with. This is a good way to help people maintain healthy, loving relationships.

Now I’m more conscious of my thoughts, I constantly tell myself not to have negative thoughts of the people around me. The person sitting next to me on the train is digging his nose and it irks me but I watch my thought and I let it pass. The person in front of me in a queue is smoking and irritating me. I also watch that thought and let it pass. Yes, the irritation, the opinion, still pops up but I try not to cling to it. I am learning to let it pass because he is the most important person at that moment and there’s a reason why I met him .

Love and care for the person you are with now, you yourself included!

ps: People, please note that Ajahn Brahm didn’t say all the above! I did. He explained the 3 questions differently. I just contemplate on them and applied it to my own situation.

When People Laugh at Us

Every now and then in our lives, we may say the wrong things or make silly mistakes that result in people laughing or mocking at us. Now when that happens, do you get embarrased, upset, even furious?

Nah, don't resort to any witchcraft or wizardry to get back at them. Here's what you should do:

When people laugh, you laugh along with them, so that they end up not laughing at you but with you.

A simple teaching from my idol ~ Ajahn Brahm