護士

　　The Nurse

　　那個小護士又板著她那張擠不出一絲笑容的臉進來了，“昨天大便幾次？”

　　The little nurse who seems incapable of putting even a faint smile on her stiff face just came in. “How many bowel movements did you have yesterday

　　”

　　住院一個多月以來，每天除了這句例行公事的話，再也沒有多余的一句問候。我覺得實在可笑：“你爲什麼不問問我的病情如何，只問這些無聊的問題？”她擡起那顆高貴的頭顱，白我一眼，便轉身拂袖而去，令我思緒紛纭：

　　Since I was hospitalized here more than a month ago, she has asked me the same routine question every day. There has been no other greeting from her, which I feel is quite ridiculous: “You have been asking me only this one boring question all along, why not ask me how I am feeling

　　” She tilted her dignified head, glared at me, and walked away, leaving me with a mind rushing with thoughts.

　　這的確是一個五濁興盛的時代，某些醫院不再以救死扶傷爲宗旨，市場上充斥著假醫生、假藥，人們對金錢的貪婪已經到了無以複加的程度。“白衣天使”的形象早已蕩然無存，醫療部門在一些人的心目中已成了醜惡聚集地的代名詞。我曾親眼目睹病入膏肓之人因不能湊足醫療費而被掃地出門的可憐遭遇。

　　Oh well, indeed it is a time of the five degenerations. Some hospitals no longer deem saving lives and healing the sick as their main purposes; quacks are found everywhere, so are fake medicines; people”s hunger for money is at its extreme. The image of the nurse as an “angel in white” is long gone; to some people, the health sector is a synonym for corruption. I have witnessed the sad situation where some dying patients are denied admission due to insufficient funds to pay for medical fees.

　　佛陀當年在因地時，曾親自擔當醫生護士的職責，悉心地照料飽受病痛折磨的患者，以解除衆生的疾苦，用自己做病人12年積累的藥品布施病人；《入菩薩行論》中寂天菩薩也發願：“乃至衆生疾，尚未療愈前，願爲醫與藥，並作看護士。”無數的高僧大德也爲利益有情而鞠躬盡瘁，絲毫不顧個人之安危。

　　In Buddha”s previous lives, he assumed the responsibilities of doctors and nurses; he took tender care of patients suffering from long illnesses and relieved them of misery. He offered his own medicine collected over 12 years when he himself was a patient. Shantideva, a Bodhisattva, makes these aspirations in A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life: “For all those ailing in the world, until their every sickness has been healed, may I myself become for them the doctor, the nurse, the medicine itself.” Many great Buddhist masters also have devoted themselves totally to benefit beings, without the slightest concern for their own safety or welfare.

　　不僅僅在佛教界，世間的仁人志士們也有“安得廣廈千萬間，大庇天下寒士俱歡顔……吾廬獨破受凍死也足”的良好祝福。

　　Such altruism is not limited to Buddhists only; people with high ideals in the world also have made their wishes such as:

　　How can I build thousands of big houses with plenty of rooms

　　I”ll use them to provide shelter to all the poor scholars and make them smile happily…

　　Even if my thatched hut is the only one destroyed by the elements and I am to die from freezing cold, I am willing.

　　多麼希望佛陀精神能深入人心，讓世界多一分美好，少一分醜惡啊！

　　How I wish Buddha”s teaching would penetrate the minds of people, such that the world will have one ounce more of goodness and one ounce less of ugliness!

　　壬午年正月初四　　

　　2002年2月16日

　　4th of January, Year of RenWu

　　February 16, 2002