Story · Ajahn Brahm
The frozen forest and the sacred silence
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
I still remember one of the amazing times of my life one of the mornings which I will never forget when I was staying in England The ..Veriliam.. Monastery, one of the first monasteries which our tradition built in England, in Sussex That was a winter time about now I have gone to visit my family I think it was the first time after seven years that I went after living in Thailand that I went to visit my family for Christmas and this monastery has just been established and it was one of the coldest winters in England at that time in a typical British news-sheet it showed me the headlines -26 degrees centigrade even the beer froze But that following morning even though it was just so cold I went out for a walk in the forest early not many people were up let alone outside of the houses in such cold weather I remember that walk in that forest even now because as I walked in the fresh snow fall you look down in the freshly fallen snow and there were no prints of any animals, let alone human beings the snow has fell the night before and I was like the first person on earth to walk in that forest and as I walked nothing moved there was no wind or even breeze not even the leaves fluttered when I stopped, the whole world stopped moving all the animals were hibernating nothing stirred It was so silent and of course my own mind went silent when you are faced with such profound and deep and powerful peace your mind can't resist resonating with that peace as if the peace gets right inside of you just like the cold can do But this was not unpleasant you became one with that peace. It became one of those magic experiences of my life just walking and then stopping and enjoying the power of silence.
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 17:00 (to 19:37)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
On a morning so cold even the beer froze, young Ajahn Brahm walked into an untracked, windless forest in Sussex. When he stopped, nothing moved at all, and his mind fell silent with it. He calls it the sacred silence. Peace isn't something we manufacture like happiness; it's already there when we stop moving long enough to meet it.
In brief (our summary)
On his first visit home after seven years in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm stays at a new, unheated monastery in Sussex in a winter so cold the papers report 'even the beer froze'. Walking out alone at dawn into fresh, untracked snow, with no wind and every animal hibernating, he stops — and the whole world stops with him. It is where he coined the phrase 'the sacred silence': like a homecoming.
Teaching point
Peace is always there when we stop moving; it is different from happiness, which we make happen.
When this story may help
- seeking peace
- nature retreats
- winter
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Power of Silence | Ajahn Brahm | 12-12-2008 · 2008-12-20 · ▶ watch from 17:00 to 19:37 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
8 other tellings of this story
- Peace Is The Highest Happiness | Ajahn Brahm | 2 May 2008 · 2008-06-19 · ▶ watch from 33:33 to 36:27 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
- Finding Stillness | Ajahn Brahm | 5 July 2019 · 2019-07-05 · ▶ watch from 24:22 to 26:04 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJul 2019 telling: UK monastery visit; minus-26° forest walk; when he stops, nothing moves — sacred stillness.
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 4 Feb 2017 · 2017-02-04 · ▶ watch from 14:28 to 15:23 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaFeb 2017: visitor walk at −26; Mad dogs and Englishmen; universe stops — absolute silence.
- The Essence of Vesak | Ajahn Brahm | 24 May 2013 · 2013-06-02 · ▶ watch from 36:12 to 37:56 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaVesak 2013: visitor at Sussex monastery; −26° forest silence after breakfast.
- Hard Questions To A Soft Teacher (2/2) | Ajahn Brahm & Venerable Canda | 7 November 2020 · 2020-11-18 · ▶ watch from 1:44:52 to 1:45:28 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaQ&A: Sussex −26°C dawn walk — no birds, no planes; only him in the frozen forest silence.
- 1 Introduction to Meditation - 9 Day Jhana Grove Retreat Oct/Nov 2012 · 2012-10-30 · ▶ watch from 44:43 to 46:59 · BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media2012: first visit home, stupidly at Christmas; new monastery, papers say even the beer froze at −26°C; a dawn walk in the snow — when he stops, not a sound. Attached to the higher-occurrence sacred-silence key (not the 1-occ no-heating twin; the punchline here is the silent forest).
- Sức mạnh của sự im lặng | Ajahn Brahm | 12-12-2008 · 2021-08-27 · ▶ watch from 17:36 to 18:37 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaDec 2008: first visit home after seven years, new Sussex monastery, minus 26, beer froze, dawn walk in fresh untracked snow. Higher-occ key, not the 1-occ minus-26-no-heating twin.
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 31 March 2012 · 2018-07-23 · ▶ watch from 10:14 to 11:39 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaMar 2012: South of England, January, about minus 30; only mad dogs and monks go out; no animals, no wind; when he stops walking, even the crunch of boots disappears. Higher-occ sacred-silence key (beer-froze detail is not in this telling).
Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is. '..Veriliam..' = garbled monastery name (Chithurst?) (not changed).
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