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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The miner who thanked the man who cost him his legs

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with mistakes | Ajahn Brahm | 10-10-2014

2 min read

Content note: graphic injury; health/spiritual claim

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

There was one guy working in the mines a long time ago and his job was to be the explosive guy. So in those days it was dangerous. So dangerous that he'd just work at nights when everyone else stopped working in this mine. I forget where they were mining. He would go there to the end of the shaft, you know, drill the holes, blur the explosives and detonate them when no one else was there for maximum safety. So he was so good at his job, he didn't mind doing that. It's just by himself, nice and quiet, take his time, do it well. And then that would fracture the rock and in the morning they'd come and sort of dig out the rock for the next day. That was his job. And so he's very very good at his job. But this one day he got a premonition that something was going wrong. And actually what actually happened was you know he checked everything that you know everything was fine. Nothing wrong with the explosives. He made these holes in the the rock and was about to put the explosives in when he heard something rumbling towards him. Someone on the previous shift had forgot to put the brakes on these big iron trolleys on the rails. And one trolley, you know, solid iron, really big and heavy, was rolling towards him to the end of the shaft. And as it was rolling towards him, he'd done such a good job with these explosives. There was no place to hide, no place to get out. He knew he's going to be crushed by this trolley. And he said what he did was just jump. So the trolley hit him at the legs and when he you know came to both legs were cut off and you know because someone had made a stupid mistake and he was there for quite a few hours before the next shift came. He actually survived and he said it was an amazing experience. He said he can't explain this but laying there with legs severed blood pouring out of he survived somehow I don't know how he had this wonderful spiritual experience you know come into peace with himself and the whole life so much so that he's when this guy who was responsible came to see him and say sorry he said no need to say sorry thank you so much you know what you've given me was birth, losing those legs, finding peace inside my own heart. Thank you so much

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 39:23 (to 41:53)

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

A miner lost both legs when a careless colleague let a trolley run away, and he survived. Later he thanked that man: the accident led him to deep peace. Ajahn Brahm isn't saying tragedy is good. Mistakes, even terrible ones, can open unexpected doors. Instead of guilt and blame, forgive and learn from them.

In brief (our summary)

In early WA mining, a worker about to set explosives has nowhere to hide when a brakeless iron trolley rolls at him. It severs both legs; hours later he is found alive. He later thanks the careless colleague: the accident gave him a profound inner peace.

Teaching point

Sometimes catastrophic mistakes open unexpected spiritual doors; guilt and blame are not the only response.

When this story may help

  • workplace accident
  • forgiving harm

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with mistakes | Ajahn Brahm | 10-10-2014 · 2014-10-13 · ▶ watch from 39:23 to 41:53 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned.

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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