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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Floating above the paddy fields

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Out of Body Experiences | Ajahn Brahm | 1 July 2022

2 min read

Content note: war injury (landmine); unverified paranormal interpretation; real person (unnamed; Ajahn Brahm cannot recall his name)

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

that was a story of one of the state mp no the government in peace a long time ago and now what was his name again but anyway he was in vietnam during the vietnam war australian soldier and he was helping one of his colleagues who was injured and as he went to help his colleague he stepped on a land mine and blew off his uh his legs and because he blew off his legs he described what happened next i remember reading the article which he wrote about this experience obviously immense pain but the next thing he noticed was so intense pain the next thing you notice in his words which i can always remember was floating above the paddy fields of vietnam without a care in the world one of the most happy peaceful blissful experiences of his life and of course this was written by a politician who was always trustworthy come on when they talk about worldly things maybe you can doubt what they're actually saying but this was actually real honestly describing what he felt one of the most blissful peaceful experiences of his life but then he recalled that his wife back here in perth had just given birth to his first child a son and the thought came up it is not a kind thing just to die for his wife who had just given birth he had to come back for her so he next thing he noticed was being pulled back into his body and when he was in his body it was enormous pain again so much that he uh fainted and when he came to again he was in the hospital getting treated starting the long journey to um being a recovery he had to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and apparently that because of him in the federal parliament in canberra they did make sure there was adequate wheelchair access for everybody but anyway the important part of that story was just what happened when he left his body the first initial shock of the explosion which blew his legs off so peaceful so blissful so joyful

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 2:15 (to 5:04)

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

A soldier who lost his legs to a landmine wrote of floating blissfully above the paddy fields, then choosing to come back for his wife and newborn son. Ajahn Brahm offers it, with other accounts, as comfort rather than proof. Dying can hurt, but death itself may be far gentler than we fear.

In brief (our summary)

An Australian soldier in Vietnam, going to help an injured mate, steps on a landmine that blows off his legs. After the intense pain, he wrote, he found himself floating above the paddy fields 'without a care in the world' — one of the most blissful experiences of his life. Then he remembered his wife in Perth had just given birth to their first son; it wouldn't be kind to die on her. He was pulled back into his body and the pain, fainted, and woke in hospital. He later became a WA MP in a wheelchair, and pushed for wheelchair access in Parliament.

Teaching point

Dying may hurt, but leaving the body is usually very peaceful; we need not fear death.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Out of Body Experiences | Ajahn Brahm | 1 July 2022 · 2022-07-01 · ▶ watch from 2:15 to 5:04 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'in peace' garbled (possibly 'an MP'); not changed.

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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