# Bungee jumping looked like torture

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-bungee-looks-like-torture
- Themes: addiction, thrill, humour
- Life situations: adrenaline seeking

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

At Adventure World Bibra Lake he first sees bungee jumping and thinks it is how interrogators throw people from helicopters — yet people pay for the thrill.

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

I'd never seen anyone do a bungee jump before and I thought that's what they did to torture people to get information out of them, you know, throw them out of a of a of a helicopter

## Teaching point

Some pleasures look like torture until you see the addiction to intensity.

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

The first bungee jump Ajahn Brahm saw looked like torture, yet people paid for it. When there's no other delight, people chase intensity. He found a different thrill in giving things up, discovering he was in charge of his life rather than its victim. Try letting go of one thing and feel what's left.

## Source

- [Addictions and Attachments | Ajahn Brahm | 9 November 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFWi_PLP0yI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 21:41 to 22:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFWi_PLP0yI&t=1301s