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Story · Ajahn Brahm

First TV after seven years

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Kindness Creates Peace | Ajahn Brahm | 18 February 2022

1 min read

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

for years I hadn't seen a TV when I was a monk in Thailand. I remember just going to after about seven years visiting uh UK, visiting Scotland. I remember seeing through two doorways a TV for the first time in seven years and oh that was just so hard for my brain. The images was just so changing so fast and also just the colors were so intense. And I actually recalled recoiled from it

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:28:16 (to 1:28:51)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

After seven years in Thai forest monasteries, Ajahn Brahm glimpsed a television in Scotland and recoiled; the flicker and colour were too much. We're so used to it that we no longer notice. Step back and see how much it stirs the mind. Try a quiet week offline sometime, and enjoy being unreachable.

In brief (our summary)

After about seven years as a monk in Thailand, visiting Scotland, he sees a TV through two doorways for the first time. The fast-changing images and intense colours make his brain recoil.

Teaching point

Distance can reveal how overstimulating ordinary media is.

When this story may help

  • returning from retreat
  • media overload

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Kindness Creates Peace | Ajahn Brahm | 18 February 2022 · 2022-02-18 · ▶ watch from 1:28:16 to 1:28:51 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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