The Story of 998 Brick
source : http://www.lovingsilence.org/cms/content/The-Story-of-998-Bricks
After about eight years practicing in the forests of Thailand, his teacher Ajahn Chah sent him to start a monastery in Australia. Since hired workers were very expensive there, the monks themselves had to learn to lay bricks.
Ajahn Brahm's Cambridge education had taught him no such skills! Nevertheless he took to the task with great enthusiasm. He decided he would approach the task of laying bricks as though it was a meditation. So with great diligence and care, Ajahn Brahm set each and every brick.
Ask any brick layer, this is not as easy as it seems! The ability to evenly balance bricks in mortar takes slow and careful labor. After several days of careful work, Ajahn Brahm stood back to admire his work. He was horrified: there were two crooked bricks!
"How can I ever be enlightened if I can't even make a simple wall properly?" he thought. So he pleaded with the Abbot to be allowed to break the wall and start again. Could he at least grind the bricks so they looked even with the others? He was denied permission and told that the wall was good enough. There were other important projects to work on.
However ‘good enough’ wasn't what Ajahn Brahm wanted. For several months whenever he passed the wall he inwardly berated his poor workmanship. It reminded him of all his previous failures and all the imperfections in his life.
Then one day, a visitor came and Ajahn was asked to show him around the monastery. Usually, out of embarrassment Ajahn Brahm avoided taking people past the wall he had built. Somehow on this day they happened to walk past that wall. As they were walking the visitor spontaneously remarked "That’s a fine wall. Did you make it?"
Ajahn Brahm was stunned. “Sir, have you left your glasses at home? Can't you see those two crooked bricks?” he asked.
“Yes I can," smiled the visitor, "but I can also see the 998 good ones.”
This simple statement changed Ajahn Brahm's life. He realized that his whole life he had been focusing on what was WRONG, what was MISSING, what was IMPERFECT in his life. Nothing he did was ever good enough! In his anxiety about the two bad bricks, he had failed to notice the 998 good bricks that he had set perfectly despite having no prior experience in brick work!
His whole outlook changed from blaming and complaining to one of acceptance and gratitude.
Ajahn Brahm's Cambridge education had taught him no such skills! Nevertheless he took to the task with great enthusiasm. He decided he would approach the task of laying bricks as though it was a meditation. So with great diligence and care, Ajahn Brahm set each and every brick.
Ask any brick layer, this is not as easy as it seems! The ability to evenly balance bricks in mortar takes slow and careful labor. After several days of careful work, Ajahn Brahm stood back to admire his work. He was horrified: there were two crooked bricks!
"How can I ever be enlightened if I can't even make a simple wall properly?" he thought. So he pleaded with the Abbot to be allowed to break the wall and start again. Could he at least grind the bricks so they looked even with the others? He was denied permission and told that the wall was good enough. There were other important projects to work on.
However ‘good enough’ wasn't what Ajahn Brahm wanted. For several months whenever he passed the wall he inwardly berated his poor workmanship. It reminded him of all his previous failures and all the imperfections in his life.
Then one day, a visitor came and Ajahn was asked to show him around the monastery. Usually, out of embarrassment Ajahn Brahm avoided taking people past the wall he had built. Somehow on this day they happened to walk past that wall. As they were walking the visitor spontaneously remarked "That’s a fine wall. Did you make it?"
Ajahn Brahm was stunned. “Sir, have you left your glasses at home? Can't you see those two crooked bricks?” he asked.
“Yes I can," smiled the visitor, "but I can also see the 998 good ones.”
This simple statement changed Ajahn Brahm's life. He realized that his whole life he had been focusing on what was WRONG, what was MISSING, what was IMPERFECT in his life. Nothing he did was ever good enough! In his anxiety about the two bad bricks, he had failed to notice the 998 good bricks that he had set perfectly despite having no prior experience in brick work!
His whole outlook changed from blaming and complaining to one of acceptance and gratitude.
Question
1. Why Ajahn Brahm disappointed about the wall
a. the wall colored in wrong color
b. the wall height wasn't right
c. the place of the wall wasn't right
d. there were 2 bricks that crooked
e. the wall was destroyed by others
2. In Cambridge, Ajahn Brahm learned how to lay bricks
true false
3. What Ajahn Brahm do to correct the bricks?
He wanted to destroy the wall, at least grind the bricks
4. Why he always sad when he passed the wall?
It reminded him about all his previous failures and imperfection
5. What the visitor's comment about the wall?
He said that it is a fine wall
Moral Value
How many times we only see "2 bricks" in our lives? Doesn't everyone had something in their lives that maybe "crooked"? If we continuously see our failures, we will always suffer. We have always "2 bricks" in our lives,but the perfect bricks in each one of us are much, much more than the mistakes.
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