# Good, bad — who knows? The king's finger

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-king-hunting-finger-good-bad-who-knows
- Themes: forgiveness, impermanence, judgment, parable, guilt
- Life situations: regretting the past, feeling cursed, guilt over a decision

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A king scratches his finger hunting; the court doctor only says 'good, bad, who knows?' When the finger worsens and must be amputated, the king jails the doctor. Later, captured by a tribe that sacrifices ten-fingered men, the king is spared because he has only nine — and realises the lost finger saved his life. He frees the doctor. Classic 'good bad who knows' parable (also the theme of Brahm's book).

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

it was a story of the king you went hunting you know this is a good dad who knows story a golden oldie but is so powerful King when hunting and when he was hunting he scratched his finger and when he scratched his finger there was a doctor in his entourage and so he called a doctor over doctor my fingers been scratched can you please have a look at it and the doctor looked at it and just put a bandaid on it and the King said is it gonna be okay it's my finger and she would ask her doctor is it gonna be okay and the doctor said good bad who knows that's pretty wise isn't it you know it didn't impress the King that much so when he got back to the palace after enjoying himself on the hunt by that time the finger was red it was infected so the king called the doctor over again and said doctor look at my finger it's got worse and so the doctor took the band-aid off put some ointment on I put a proper bandage and I cleaned it out put a bandage on and of course the the King asked again is it gonna be okay is it okay and the doctor you said good bad who knows so the key was a bit perturbed but he's very busy so he just let the stupid doctor go away but a couple of days later I mean his finger was so bad you know that the doctor had to amputate it that's how infected it was and of course you know if that happened to you you'd sue the doctor you know you get a lawyer and take them to court or whatever and get some compensation in those days it wasn't suing you just put that doctor in prison in the bottom of the palace and he put the doctor in prison himself say you stupid doctor law what's happened to my finger all this good bad who knows business and so what do you think about that there may be in jail I know where the doctor who applied to their King being in jail good bad who knows that crazy doctor you can run there so that they've left the doctor in jail and of course in a couple of weeks later when his finger was healed he went back to his favorite pastime hunting in the forest and this time he was a bit heedless he was following some sort of animal and got separated from the rest of his entourage and got lost in the forest lost in the forest wandering around he actually got captured by this forest people these indigenous people and they were so totally startled beyond his control they didn't know he was a king they just captured him they happened to be one of their holy days so they took him to the priests to be sacrificed so their God a human sacrifice so they tied him up and the priest was doing all the mumbo-jumbo and the dancing up and down and stuff and then he got out the sacrificial knife it was about to snow slit the Kings well there's only the last moment the very last moment that the priests realized the king was missing a finger and he said stop everybody if we make a sacrifice to our God we have to sacrifice somebody perfect he's not perfect enough he's missing one finger set him free so because he lost one finger and he wasn't perfect enough to be sacrificed to a god they set him free and he realized that doctor what a wise man he was I lost a finger I thought it was bad but as he was good because if I had all my ten fingers I'd be dead by now so soon as he as soon as he found his way back to the prison he went in the bathroom as he went straight to the prison straight to the doctor's cell and opened the lock himself and said you're free I'm so sorry what I did know you were right and he told him the story and I said it was good I lost my finger otherwise I wouldn't be here today I'd be dead sacrificed but the doctor was remorseful he felt so guilty about what he did

## Teaching point

You cannot judge an event as purely good or bad while the story is still unfolding.

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

A king lost a finger and jailed the doctor who said only 'good, bad, who knows'. Later, captured for sacrifice, he was spared for being imperfect, and the doctor was spared by being in jail. We rarely know how events will turn out. Go easy on past regrets and old grudges. Good, bad, who knows.

## Source

- ["F" Is For Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 13-05-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWLk4NR3RI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 30:07 to 34:09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWLk4NR3RI&t=1807s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Good? Bad? Who Knows | Ajahn Brahm | 14 May 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtq3BQ8da9s) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:49 to 5:55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtq3BQ8da9s&t=289s
- [Buddhism and Love | Ajahn Brahm | 12 February 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNwbOd4m9I) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 27:41 to 37:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNwbOd4m9I&t=1661s
- [How to Make Difficult Decisions | Ajahn Brahm | 28 June 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMRRn0qzCLw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 17:46 to 18:16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMRRn0qzCLw&t=1066s
- [2012 | Ajahn Brahm | 16-12-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEpUxoCke4) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 30:38 to 31:01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEpUxoCke4&t=1838s