# First TV after seven years

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-first-tv-after-seven-years-scotland
- Themes: media, monastic life, perception
- Life situations: returning from retreat, media overload

## Synopsis (editorial 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.

## 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

## Teaching point

Distance can reveal how overstimulating ordinary media is.

## 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.

## Source

- [Kindness Creates Peace | Ajahn Brahm | 18 February 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcYeueUnflY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:28:16 to 1:28:51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcYeueUnflY&t=5296s