# The noisy airport prayer room

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-airport-prayer-room-announcements
- Themes: silence, peace, modern life
- Life situations: travel, noise, seeking quiet

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Delighted to find a meditation and prayer room at Perth Airport, Ajahn Brahm sits down to meditate — and the room is filled with security warnings, passenger pages and boarding calls. (Told with his disappointment at a PA system installed in Westminster Abbey.)

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I once went into one of the chapels and meditation rooms in the airport to try and get a bit of peace and quietness to do some meditation. Of course after only about 30 seconds "please do not leave your bags unattended paging Mr. so and so, your flight is about to board' and all these other announcements which were going on in the quiet room as there's noises anywhere else.

## Teaching point

Places of silence are rare and precious in modern life.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Ajahn Brahm slipped into the airport prayer room for some peace and lasted about thirty seconds before the announcements about bags and boarding began. Real quiet is rare in shops, lifts and terminals. As a boy in London he found it on cathedral benches. Seek out your own refuge, a park, a church, a stretch of beach, and visit it often.

## Source

- [The Power of Silence | Ajahn Brahm | 12-12-2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtLQ_ho63M) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 2:00 to 2:29: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtLQ_ho63M&t=120s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Peace Is The Highest Happiness | Ajahn Brahm | 2 May 2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jYrr952vbg) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 31:51 to 32:28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jYrr952vbg&t=1911s
- [12 Insight Into the Path](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO3bq37SIGY) (BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media) — watch from 29:47 to 30:39: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO3bq37SIGY&t=1787s