Ajahn Brahm Dhamma Talk on Solving Problems at Singapore Buddhist Fellowship Centre

24 Feb

Posted by Dipankar Subba as Personal

Coming from a mixed religious parental background, I do not belong to any religion but I’ve always been fascinated by Buddhist philosophy and teachings. This fascination grew more when I read Ajahn Brahm’s book Opening The Door Of Your Heart / Who Ordered This Truckload Of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life’s Difficulties and attended his talk early this year in Singapore.

Today I attended another Dhamma talk by Ajahn Brahm titled “Solving Problems” at the Buddhist Fellowship Centre in Singapore. The talk was eye-opening for many reasons as it gave new perspectives and wisdom to look at problems and find wise solutions.

Here’s my attempt at summarizing the wisdom.

Define Problems Anew: A problem is only a problem when there is a solution. Do not waste precious time, energy and emotions on problems that do not have a solution.

Drink a Cup of Tea: Relax and let all information about a problem sink into you without being fearful or apprehensive. When the mind is still and free of stress, innovative solutions come from within.

All Decisions are Correct and All Outcomes can be Directed: Do not mull over the fact whether your decisions are correct or not. Eventually, all decisions are correct as we must trust ourselves that we can direct the outcome of the decision to our favor.

Buddhist Way of Solving Problems: If these 4 principles are at the heart of decision making then problems will be resolved.
- If there’s no ill-will towards others then the decision is correct.
- If there’s no selfishness and feelings of what’s in it for me then the decision will work out.
- If there’s no doubt or delusion behind the decision making then the outcome will be as desired.
- If there’s no fear in the background of decision making then the outcome will be as desired.