# Three-day village parties with petrol generators

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-thai-village-party-loudspeakers
- Themes: noise, Thailand, listening, monastic life
- Life situations: noisy neighbours, can't sleep

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

As a young monk in rural Thailand he learns old parties ran for three days: when people tired they slept where they fell, woke, and danced again — with petrol generators and huge loudspeakers blasting terrible music through the night.

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

when I was a monk in Thailand now the old Tha culture you know was very down to earth and when they had a party not like these days a party you maybe start at 8:00 you finish by 1 these went on for 3 days and it's absolutely true once you know they got tired they went to sleep when they woke up they started again so know three-day continuous party now that was great fun for them but you know our monit was only about a kilometer kilometer and a half from the village so when they had a party we heard it now there was no electricity in those days but they had these petrol gener petrol generators

## Teaching point

Sometimes you cannot stop the noise; you learn to listen differently.

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

Village parties in rural Thailand ran for three days, with petrol generators blasting terrible music until two in the morning. The young monks, up at three, begged the headman for quiet and were refused. So they went to Ajahn Chah for a remedy. He didn't fix the noise. He offered something deeper: a new way to listen.

## Source

- [The Art of Listening | Ajahn Brahm | 11-04-2014](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sylr4u_stxY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 6:10 to 7:02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sylr4u_stxY&t=370s

Other tellings of this story:

- [70% not 100% | Ajahn Brahm | 1 Apr 2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6k6DMp1TxQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 5:56 to 8:12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6k6DMp1TxQ&t=356s