# Beeswax in the ears

- Teacher: Ajahn Chah
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/chah-beeswax-in-the-ears
- Themes: meditation, peace, mindfulness, perception
- Life situations: meditation, distraction by sound, noisy neighbours, sitting meditation

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

As a young monk disturbed by noise, Ajahn Chah stuffs his ears with beeswax, only to find that the confusion was never in his ears but in his mind.

## The story, retold in our own words (a paraphrase, not Ajahn Chah's words)

_Retold in our own words from Ajahn Chah's talk “Sense Contact – the Fount of Wisdom”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), p. 358._

When Ajahn Chah was a young monk just starting to practise, sounds disturbed him in sitting meditation. He wondered how to make the mind peaceful, so he took some beeswax and stuffed his ears with it until he could hear nothing but a hum. He expected peace, but the thinking and confusion did not arise at the ears after all — they arose at the mind. That, he realized, was the place to search for peace.

## Teaching point

Peace is not found by shutting out the world; the disturbance arises in the mind, so that is where to look.

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

Noise, people and interruptions can seem like the enemies of a quiet mind. Ajahn Chah tried blocking them out and found the restlessness came along anyway. That discovery is good news: you do not need perfect conditions. The place to look for peace is right here, in how the mind meets whatever is happening.

_Reflection written by Being Mindful Stories with AI help, in the spirit of the talk. These are not Ajahn Chah's own words._

## Source

- Talk "Sense Contact – the Fount of Wisdom", in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), p. 358 — https://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Sense_Contact_Fount.php

_The book is © The Sangha, Wat Nong Pah Pong, offered for free distribution; read the talk free at its source link. No book text is reproduced here._

Other tellings of this story:

- Talk "Sense Contact – the Fount of Wisdom", in Food for the Heart (2007 edition), p. 107 — https://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/food_for_the_heart.pdf (The same talk, reprinted in this book (not a separate telling).)