Well actually what inspired us in the beginning wasn't a particular anecdote, but it was actually the story of the enlightenment of the Buddha. It was a large poem called the "Light of Asia", where we read about the Buddha's enlightenment and his teachings. That's when we first heard the Four Noble Truths. And since, we had already come to see the first two Noble Truths but we didn't know the third and the fourth Noble Truths at that time, this was quite an inspiring discovery; that there was a way out! When we read that poem, we were on our way to Sydney, and we were actually in search of a spiritual practice that was more full than what we had been doing. As soon as I got to Sydney, I looked in the newspaper to look for a Buddhist monastery. Fortunately for us, a Thai monastery had opened about two months before that in Sydney, one of the first. And that's when we went to the monastery and we met a person who gave us a teaching on Kamma. We thought, "that's the truth!"
I've already talked about some of the stories, the Kisagotami is a very inspiring story. Another one is the story about the woman who lost her two kids, her husband, and all of her family in a matter of two days, but then became enlightened. A lot of the stories in the scriptures, of ordinary people who had suffering and were able to overcome it, are inspiring. But certainly the Buddha's enlightenment story was very inspiring to us, and being able to understand that there's a third and a fourth Noble Truth. Because sure, you can see suffering and you can see that it comes from yourself and your desires, but if you don't know how to train yourself to end that, it becomes very confusing. I'm very thankful that book came to us. I'm very thankful that the monastery happened to open two months before we needed it. There's also the story of Angulamali, someone who was supposedly very full of defilements, murdering people, but came in contact with the Buddha's teaching and was able to become enlightened. To see the potential of ordinary people, and even people who are usually considered evil, to take on the teachings and have the potential to become enlightened. There are so many stories that can be inspiring to keep on practicing despite what negative qualities you think you have.