Anthony de Mello's Stories

Stories to free our mind, body, heart, and soul,
drawing from the various mystical traditions of East and West

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

The disciples were sitting on the bank of a river.

“If I fall off this bank, will I drown?” one of them asked.

“No,” said the Master. “It isn't falling in that causes you to drown, it's staying in.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

The Master clearly advocated “thought-free,” “knowledge-less” contemplation as a means to know Reality.

“How can one know Reality without knowledge?” a disciple asked.

“The way one knows music,” said the Master.

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“How would spirituality help a man of the world like me?” said the businessman.

“It will help you to have more,” said the Master.

“How?”

“By teaching you to desire less.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

A song inspired by Anthony de Mello's writing:
https://t.co/XiU7RKW6WL
(generated with Suno AI)

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, “You may live with me but don’t become my follower.”

“Whom then shall I follow?”

“No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

A woman in great distress over the death of her son came to the Master for comfort.

He listened to her patiently while she poured out her tale of woe.

Then he said softly, “I cannot wipe away your tears, my dear. I can only teach you how to make them holy.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“My parents told me to beware of you,” said a newcomer.

The Master smiled. “Beware, my dear. Be very, very careful, and you will meet the fate of your cautious parents — nothing very good or bad will ever happen to you.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“How long does the present last? A minute? A second?”

“Much less and much more,” said the Master. “Less, because the moment you focus on it, it's gone.

“More, because if you ever get into it, you will stumble upon the timeless and will know what eternity is.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“Does God exist?” said the Master.

“Yes!” said the disciples in chorus.

“Wrong.”

“No.”

“Wrong again.”

“What’s the answer?”

“There is no answer.“

“Why ever not?'

“Because there is no question.
If you can't say anything about Him, how can you ask anything about Him?”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

Priest praying at church: “I am the lowliest of men, Lord, unworthy of your grace! I am a void, a nothing. Have mercy on me.”

Nearby was a sexton: “Have mercy, Lord! I'm a sinner, a nothing.”

The priest turned round haughtily. “Ha! Look who's claiming to be nothing!”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“Why, why, why?” asked the disciple when the Master insisted on his leaving the monastery 24h after being welcomed.

“You do not need a master. I can show you the way, but only you can do the walking. Why waste your time here gazing starry-eyed at me? You know the way. Walk!”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“What you seek is to talk of God rather than see God; and you see God as you think God is, not as God actually is. For God is manifest, not hidden. Why talk? Open your eyes and see.”

“Seeing is the easiest thing. All you need to do is raise the shutters of your God-thoughts.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“What you need is awareness,” said the Master to the religious minded disciple. “Awareness, awareness, awareness.”

“I know. So I seek to be aware of God's presence.”

“God-awareness is a fantasy, for you have no notion of what God is like. Self-awareness is what you need.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

A parachutist felt on a tree and hung there for hours.

Someone passed by.

The parachutist asked “Where am I?”

“On a tree.”

“Hey! You must be a cleric!”

The stranger was stunned. “Yes I am. How did you know?”

“What you said is certainly true and just as certainly useless.”"

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

One day two musicians passed by the tree under which Buddha was sitting in meditation. One was say­ing to the other, “Do not tighten the strings of your sitar too much or they will snap. Do not keep them too loose either or they will produce no music. Keep to the middle path.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

A neighbour came to borrow Nasruddin’s donkey.

“It’s out on loan,” said Nasruddin.

At that moment the animal began to bray from within its stable.

“But I can hear it bray,” said the neighbour.

“So whom are you going to believe, the donkey or me?”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

Old miser praying: “If the Almighty, may His holy name be blessed forever, would give me $100,000, I'd give $10,000 to the poor. I promise I would. And if the Almighty, may He be glorified, were not to trust me, let Him deduct the $10,000 in ad­vance and just send me the balance”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

The human condition is perfectly depicted in the case of the poor drunk standing late at night outside the park, bearing on the fence and yelling, “Let me out!”

It is only your illusions that prevent you from seeing that you are—and have always been—free.

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

A black boy watched the balloon seller release a red balloon, then a blue one, a yellow one and a white one. All went up until they disappeared.

Boy: “Would the black one go as high as the others?”

Balloon man: “It isn’t the col­our, son. It’s what’s inside that makes it rise.”

[Anthony de Mello's Stories @DeMelloStories]

“Can you recommend a good doctor?”

“Dr. Chung! He saved my life.”

“How?”

“I had a serious illness and went to see Dr. Ching. I took his medicine and felt worse.
So I went to Dr. Chang. I took his medicine and felt I was dying.
I finally went to Dr. Chung — and he wasn’t in.”