Skip to main content

Good ? Bad ? Who Knows ? King Finger


Ajahn Brahm went on to give us a "King and His Doctor" story to explain that sometimes, bad things that happened in our lives can be a blessing in disguise.

In old India, there lived a King who loves hunting. One day, he went hunting with his great Doctor. While hunting, the King was pricked by a strange plant on his middle finger. The finger became swollen and painful. The doctor applied a special ointment to the wound and bandage the King's finger.

The King then asked, "Will my finger be alright?"

The Doctor answered, "Good ? Bad ? Who knows ?"

A few days passed and the King's finger became worse. He summoned the doctor and asked, "Will my finger be alright?"

The Doctor answered, "Good ? Bad ? Who knows ?"

A few days later, the King's finger was badly infected and has to be amputated from his hand. The King was furious and ordered the doctor to be jailed and hang in a month's time.


Meanwhile, after a week's of recovery, the King went hunting again. This time he was more unfortunate. He was capture by a cannibal tribe. Before the tribe can burn him as a human sacrifice, the priest noticed he had only nine fingers. It was the tribe's believe that only a person with full and perfect body can be use as sacrifice. So they released the King.

Back to the Kingdom, the King immediately ordered the release of the doctor. The doctor was summoned to the King. The King said: "Great doctor, because of you, I lost my finger but in turn, it saves my life."

The Doctor said, "Good ? Bad ? I know. Great King, if not because of you putting me in jail and thus I cannot go hunting with you. If not, I would have been captured by the tribe and used as the sacrifice. Thank you, you save my life !"

So...Good ? Bad ? Who Knows ?. According to Ajahn Brahm, tragedy itself is an opportunity that teaches us to become kinder and wiser. Unpleasant things happen in life and they happen to everyone. The only difference between a happy person and one who gets depressed is how they respond to disasters.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Corporate Joke

A woman in hot air balloon realized she is lost... She reduced altitude & shouted to a man below :- "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend to meet him an hour ago but I don't know where I am." Man below replied :- "You are in hot air balloon 30 feet above the ground. You are at 41 degree North latitude & 59 degree West longitude." Lady :- "You must be an engineer." Man :- "How do you know?" Lady :- "Everything you told me is technically correct but useless & the fact is I'm still lost." Engineer :- "You must be in Top Management." Lady :- "Ya. How do you know?" Engineer :- "You don't know where you are or where you're going, you have no technical knowledge. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep & you expect people beneath you to solve your problems..!!"
1 comment
Read more

The Sinking Ship

There were three ships which were nearby when the Titanic sunk. One of them was known as the Sampson. It was 7 miles away from the Titanic and they saw the white flares signaling danger, but because the crew had been hunting seals illegally and didn't want to be caught, they turned and went the opposite direction away from the Titanic. This ship represents us and people like us if we are so busy looking inward at our own sin and lives that we can't recognize when someone else is in need. The next ship was the Californian. This ship was only 14 miles away from the Titanic, but they were surrounded by ice fields and the captain looked out and saw the white flares, but because the conditions weren't favorable and it was dark, he decided to go back to bed and wait until morning. The crew tried to convince themselves that nothing was happening. This ship represents those of us who say I can't do anything now. The conditions aren't right for it and so we wait until cond
Post a Comment
Read more

Building Bridges

Once upon a time two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch. Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence. One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?" "Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to
1 comment
Read more