Master Zhenlin's Talk with a Disciple -- On Taking Medicine for Others

Master: You have to cultivate it well yourself before you can possibly help others.



Disciple: Master, any more I can do to help her? What is wrong with her?



Master: You are like a 3-year-old child in cultivation. As a three year-old, how are you going to support a ten-year-old in walking?



Disciple: Noted. But, Master, will the girl die?



Master: Everyone has his or her own blessings.



Disciple: Master, she is here to ask you for help. Could you, please? Do I need to read the Sutra for her?



Master: Will you get recovered if I take the medicine for you?



Disciple: No! Sorry (for the stupid question), Master.



Master: ：）



Disciple: Master, another stupid question. Could you please tell me, clearly, whether her life is at risk? Please, Master!



Master: You should know I won’t answer such a question. Why ask?



Disciple: Because you are the Master. Isn’t it a Buddhist practice that we can pray for the blessings to be bestowed upon people we love?



Master: One should ask for bestowal of blessings oneself.



Disciple: But Master, how can you just leave her aside?



Master: Taking the medicine for a patient is not an act of compassion, but rather by doing so you are inflicting harm to the patient. You know well that taking the medicine for the patient won’t help him or her recover. Why do so?



Disciple: But what can I do? She has yet to realize it.



Master: Am I being compassionate if I tell you everything will be fine?



Disciple: No.



Master: That is why we need to know how to be compassionate.



转载自振霖法语2008年4月18日博文