I’ve been recently introduced to this book called “Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?” by Ajahn Brahm.
The book consists of 100+ short stories, teachings and with deep wisdom, makes me feel rather inspired.
Here’s a summarised version of the first story: Two Bad Bricks.
When we were building our monastery in Australia, we couldn’t afford to employ a builder so I had to learn how to build. When I had completed my first wall, after carefully laying it brick by brick, I noticed - oh no! - I’d missed two bricks. All the other bricks were nicely in line, but these two were inclined at an angle. They looked terrible. They spoiled the whole wall. They ruined it.
I was very embarrassed by it and hated anyone seeing it. Then one day, I was walking with a visitor and he saw the wall.
“That’s a nice wall,” he casually remarked.
“Sir,” I replied in surprise. “Have you left your glasses in the car? Can’t you see those two bad bricks which spoil the whole wall?”
What he said next changed my whole view of the wall, of myself, 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.”
How many people end a relationship or get divorced because all they can see in their partner are “two bad bricks”? How many of us become depressed or even contemplate suicide because all we can see in ourselves are “two bad bricks”? The mistakes are all we see, and they’re all we think are there, so we want to destroy them. And sometimes, sadly, 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.
The author, Ajahn Brahm, graduated from Cambridge University study Theoretical Physics in the late 1960s. After teaching in a high school for a year he travelled to Thailand to become a monk and train with the Venerable Ajahn Chah. Ajahn Brahm now resides in Perth, Australia, to assist Ajahn Jagaro in teaching duties.
So if you’re looking for a book to read, look for this in your local library or bookstore.
