# The monk who stopped the bus by thinking

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-monk-thought-stopped-bus-engine
- Themes: power of mind, humour, Thai forest tradition
- Life situations: curiosity about the mind

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A forest monk visiting Ubon rides a bus for the first time and wonders how an engine works; as soon as he thinks about the motor it stops, and when he stops thinking it runs again — repeatedly. The story became so well known that when Ajahn Chah flew to London people begged him not to think about how the aircraft worked.

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

There's one of the the forest monks a good meditator. It's a first time when he was visiting the town of Ubon. That's you know where I grew up as a monk. He was visiting Ubon and he went into a bus for the first time in his life. This was many years ago. And then he started thinking I wonder how a bus works. internal combustion engine. He never gone to school and seen diagrams of internal combustion engines. I wonder how it works. And so he started thinking about the motor. As soon as he started thinking about it, the motor stopped. It wouldn't work. And so he stopped thinking about it and it worked again. He said, "It's really weird." And then he thought about it again and it stopped. He was actually interfering with the firing of the car. But that became such a well-known story in that part of the world that when Ajent char got on an aircraft to go to London, people said to him, "Please don't think about how this aircraft works. You must stop the engine. They were all dead.

## Teaching point

The power of the mind is strange (told as true).

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

A forest monk riding his first bus found the engine stalled whenever he wondered how it worked, so when Ajahn Chah later flew to London, people begged him not to think about the plane. Ajahn Brahm enjoys the story. He's more interested in what a kind mind does for ordinary frustrations and for your own happiness.

## Source

- [Our Mind and Our Health | Ajahn Brahm | 7 July 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCk-DJXisM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 40:40 to 41:49: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCk-DJXisM&t=2440s