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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Laughing when you hit your head

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How to Lessen the Stress | Ajahn Brahm | 29 March 2019

3 min read

Content note: mild health claim (laughter reduces pain), told as personal experience

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

And I learned this when I was reminded of this story by one of uh our Thai followers that when I was a young monk that we used to go over the for invitations here all over the place uh in Thailand uh in the back of a of a ute, a pickup truck. And uh I did actually go once on a back of a motorbike as a monk. Never again on a motorbike. Cuz you know what happens? You can imagine these robes and a motorbike. Once they pick up any speed, the wind gets inside of them and it balloons up. And I was I always thought I was going to fly off because like a big balloon. And but fortunately I managed to hold on just so I never go on a on a motorbike with loose robes like this. But anyway, on the back of a truck, the old utes, they would have like a cover on it, a metal frame over which was draped a tarpool in. And that was a place where you'd sit in the back with all the other monks going to this or that um ceremony. And number one, it was really dusty. At least the top water would keep off any rain. And these were those days where the roads were all uh just dirt roads with lots of potholes. In fact, because there was lots of potholes that every time every time that truck, that ute hit a pothole, what would happen was the ute went down and I would go up and hit my head on the metal frame. And that really hurt, especially because I've got no padding. So you hit your head really hard on this metal again and again and again. And I just this was getting too too much. It's really hurting. And I noticed that when any of the Thai monks or lashed monks whenever they crack their head on one of these uh the metal um frame on which the tarpon was was was covered, when they hit their head, they never sort of grimaced. They never swore. They laughed. And they must have been hurting as much as I was, but they were laughing at the pain. And I thought, what's going on here? And because scientists before, so I used my science, my western sort of logic to actually think of explanations and theories why when Thai monks hit their head, they laughed. And my first theory was they must have hit their head so many times that they were brain damaged. But of course that wasn't the case cuz they were really nice monks. They're very smart. And so then I thought I couldn't understand. So what do you do? You do experiment. Know western culture do an experiment. Find out. So I resolved. So the next time I hit my head, I was going to laugh instead of swear. I'd always always swear in English because the time I couldn't understand me, I thought, but they did. But anyway, when the next time I hit my head, I laughed and I discovered an amazing theory. You should get the Nobel Prize for things like this because it's actually practical that when you laugh when you hit your head, it hurts much less. And if you don't believe me, get the person sitting next to you to hit you on the head. Better not do it here. I get in trouble with insurance. But you can see that just one's attitude towards sickness and pain changes many many things. It does actually hurt much less when you laugh.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 5:53 (to 10:27)

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

Bouncing along Thai dirt roads, Ajahn Brahm noticed the local monks laughed whenever they cracked their heads on the ute's frame. He tried it instead of swearing, and it hurt much less. Complaining tightens us like an overstrung guitar string. Laughing loosens it. Try meeting your next bump with a chuckle.

In brief (our summary)

As a young monk in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm travelled to ceremonies in the back of a ute under a tarpaulin stretched over a metal frame. On the pot-holed dirt roads, every bump threw his bald head against the frame, and it hurt. He noticed that whenever the Thai and Lao monks cracked their heads, they never grimaced or swore — they laughed. Using his scientific training, he first theorised they were brain-damaged, but they were smart, nice monks; so he experimented. The next time he hit his head he laughed instead of swearing in English — and discovered that it hurts much less. (He also mentions riding once on a motorbike, robes ballooning, never again.)

Teaching point

Your attitude to pain changes it; complaining tightens you and hurts more, laughter relaxes.

When this story may help

  • physical pain
  • everyday frustrations
  • stress

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to Lessen the Stress | Ajahn Brahm | 29 March 2019 · 2019-03-29 · ▶ watch from 5:53 to 10:27 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'tarpool in' / 'tarpon' = tarpaulin; 'lashed monks' probably = Lao monks.

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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