Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?

I'm not crazy but Ajahn Brahm sure made me giggled a lot these few days during my train rides! He sure lived up to his name being the Sienfield of Dhamma. =)

Just a little intro on Ajahn Brahm, he was born in 1951 in London and obtained his degree Theoretical Physics from the Cambridge University. After teaching for a year, he traveled to Thailand and was ordained as a forest monk. Now, he's residing as the abbot of a forest monastery in Perth, Western Australia.

In this book, Ajahn Brahm relates to the readers profound wisdom of daily lives through story-telling, which he believe is the most effective way of communicating. Some of his stories are hilarious while some are touching, all of them serve one common purpose, to inspire the readers in their daily dealings. Instead of trying to relate to you how good he is, here are two stories for you to read: ~

Commitment

My view of relationships and marriage is this: when the couple are going out, they are merely involved; when they are engaged, they are still only involved, maybe more deeply; when they publicly exchange marriage vow, that is commitment.

The meaning of the marriage ceremony is the commitment, During a ceremony, to drive home the meaning in a way people usually remember for the rest of their lives, I explain that the difference between involvement and commitment is the same as the difference between bacon and eggs.

At this point, the in-laws and friends start to pay attention. They begin to wonder, "What has bacon and eggs got to do with marriage?" I continue.

"With bacon and eggs, the chicken is only involved, but the pig is committed. Let this be a pig marriage."

Laughing At Yourself

One of the best peices of advice i received as a young school teacher was that when you make a mistake and your class starts laughing, then you laugh too. That way, your students are never laughing at you, but with you.

Many years later, as a teaching monk in Perth, i would be invited to high schools to give lessons on Buddhism. The teenage Western school kids would often test me out by trying to embarrass me. Once i asked for questions from the class, at the end of my description of Buddhist culture, a fourteen year old school girl raised her hand and asked, "Do girls turn you on, then?"

Fortunately, the other girls in the class came to my rescue and scolded the young girl for embarrassing them all. As for me, i laughed and noted the incident down as material for my next talk.
On another occasion, i was walking along a main city street when some school girls approached me, "Hi!" they said in the most friendly of manners, "Do you remember us? You came to give a talk at our school a short time ago."

"I am flattered that you remembered me," i replied.

"We'll never forget you," said one of the girls, "How can we ever forget a monk named 'Bra'!"

If that wasn't funny, what is? (^-^)