Family of Four

Two Bad Bricks

Ajahn Brahm, the current abbot of the Bodhinyana Monastery in Australia is a profound thinker. A pragmatist, he is humorous in the way he describes life, using simple analogies to drive home his points.

From his book, Opening the Door of Your Heart and Other Buddhist Tales of Happiness, I find the story of the two bad bricks most illuminating and instructive.

As the story goes, Brahm was building the first wall of his monastery in Australia. After completing it, Brahm noticed that his wall was imperfect in spite of his attention to details. All the bricks were nicely lined up except for two which inclined at an angle. He was very embarrassed by it and hated anyone seeing it.

One day, he was walking with a visitor who saw the wall.

"That's a nice wall," the visitor remarked casually.

Brahm was taken aback and pointed out the defect caused by the two bricks.

"Can't you see those two bad bricks had spoilt the whole wall?"

What the visitor said next was to change Brahm’s whole view of the wall, of himself, and of many other aspects of life.

He said, "Yes, I can see those two bad bricks. But I can also see the 998 good bricks as well!"

On hindsight, Brahm then reflected upon the two bad bricks in life.

Far too often, we have seen people ending relationships or get divorced simply because all they can see in their partners are "two bad bricks". Similarly, many people became depressed and even contemplate suicide because all they can see in themselves are "two bad bricks".

All we see are these mistakes; we are fixated by them and we want to destroy them. And sometimes, sadly, unthinkingly, we do destroy a "very nice wall".

We've all got our two bad bricks, but the perfect bricks in each one of us are much, much more than the mistakes. We should treasure them. We should appreciate them as they are God’s gifts to us.

So therefore, be an optimist. You are a 'nice wall' unto yourself, give or take two bad bricks.

Quote of the Day:

“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked.” -Mark Twain

Heartsong-Heartstrong