# Why did I get shot?

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-chah-shot-because-joined-the-army
- Themes: karma, death, acceptance, Ajahn Chah
- Life situations: illness, injury, asking why me

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A man drafted into the Thai army, wounded in a border skirmish, comes to Ajahn Chah asking what bad karma caused it — did he kill someone in a past life, mistreat his parents? Ajahn Chah, without blinking: 'The reason you got shot was because you joined the army.' Ajahn Brahm: when you join the human race, sickness and death are part of the contract — the heart surgeon who died at 56 died because he was born.

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

To understand that part I'm going to digress now onto the story of the soldier. This is a powerful story which happened when I was a young monk in Thailand where I got a lot of my stories and understanding from. A young man was drafted into the Thai Army and he was wounded in a battle on the border. Even though there was not supposed to be any battles going on, there were still struggles in the border, both the Burmese border, the Laotian border, the Cambodian border which wasn't being reported for diplomatic reasons, but there was still firefights went on. He was wounded and so he had to leave the army and he came to see his teacher Ajahn Chah, with his arm bandaged and he said “oh I just had really really bad kamma because I got wounded in the battle, why did it happen to me?”, and Ajahn Chah looked at him and said, “what do you mean, why did it happen to you? You're a soldier! That's what happens to soldiers - you shoot bullets at other people, you can expect other people to shoot bullets at you, and some of those bullets would hit

## Teaching point

Suffering often has an obvious cause; being born means old age, sickness and death are part of the deal.

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

A wounded soldier asked Ajahn Chah what past wrong had caused it. You were shot, Ajahn Chah said, because you joined the army. Ajahn Brahm adds that being born comes with sickness and death in the small print. Not every hardship is punishment. Stop blaming, accept it, and do something about it.

## Source

- [Meditation Kamma | Ajahn Brahm | 06-06-2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M5Fxmq5c9s) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 12:20 to 13:33: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M5Fxmq5c9s&t=740s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Trauma and Tragedy | Ajahn Brahm | 12-02-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVE3nGIC6kI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 6:14 to 7:53: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVE3nGIC6kI&t=374s
- [Get Real | Ajahn Brahm | 12-06-2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1o51NPCk-U) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 24:17 to 25:09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1o51NPCk-U&t=1457s
- [Transcending Disasters | Ajahn Brahm | 25-02-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk49Udlvlbk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 9:39 to 10:20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk49Udlvlbk&t=579s