Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

He didn't have a leg to stand on

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with chronic pain | Ajahn Brahm | 04-07-2014

1 min read

Content note: amputation humour

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

About the one... I think I told a few people. It is from Indonesia or Hong Kong. It's about that guy who went to hospital because he had an accident on a motorbike And they had to amputate his leg. Unfortunately it does happens; it happens here as well sometimes they amputate the wrong leg! Have you been in a hospital... actually even in these days high-tech hospitals like we have in Australia they actually write on there "this one" (Ajahn pointing) So they know which one they're supposed to be operating on. As soon as they realised their mistake they had to go into the surgery and get the other one cut off as well. And of course once he recovered the first thing he did was hire a lawyer and sue the hospital. But he lost his case. He lost his case, he didn't have a leg to stand on

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 38:20 (to 39:14)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A hospital removed the wrong leg, then the other; the man sued and lost, because he didn't have a leg to stand on. Ajahn Brahm tells it to patients, who laugh until it hurts less. You can't change the world, but you can change how you see it. Add fun and kindness to pain instead of more negativity.

In brief (our summary)

A motorcyclist's wrong leg is amputated; they take the other too. He sues and loses — he didn't have a leg to stand on.

Teaching point

(Hospital joke.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with chronic pain | Ajahn Brahm | 04-07-2014 · 2014-07-06 · ▶ watch from 38:20 to 39:14 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

3 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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

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