The Buddha The Noble Physician

　　- by S. N. Goenka

　　(The following has been adapted from the opening talk by Goenkaji at the Vipassana and Ayurveda Conference at Dhamma Giri on 15 October 2005 and discourses given during the 30-day course.)

　　The Buddha was called a great physician, a great doctor. He was also called a surgeon (sallakatto). It is essential for every physician to develop compassion towards his patients:

　　A sick person has come to me; I have to cure him. The nationality, religion, race, gender, caste or philosophical belief of the patient is of no importance to the physician; the only thing that matters is that the patient is a human being and is suffering.

　　Similarly, the patient also does not ask the doctor his religion, caste or philosophical belief-these are irrelevant to the treatment of his illness. Anything that is not related to the illness, the cause of the illness, the eradication of the cause of the illness and the treatment of the illness is irrelevant to the doctor.

　　Prince Siddhattha Gotama left the household life in search of liberation from all suffering. First, he went to two renowned meditation teachers and learned deep absorption meditation (jhanas) from them. In those days, they were called the seventh and eighth jhanas and were the highest meditation states in those days.

　　After mastering them, Siddhattha realized that he had not attained the ultimate stage of full liberation. So he continued his search. It was a common belief of those days that liberation can be gained only through torturing the body.He tried the practice of extreme torture of the body but did not achieve anything.

　　Finally, because of the pāramīs of innumerable past lives, he found the middle path, discovered Vipassana meditation and became fully enlightened.

　　Then the Buddha taught the Dhamma for the first time to his five companions. This discourse is called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. He rotated the wheel of Dhamma, not the wheel of a particular religion or philosophical belief. He called it Dhamma. Religions, philosophical beliefs, festivals, rites and rituals may be different but Dhamma is always universal.

　　The Buddha explained the Four Noble Truths:

　　The First Noble Truth

　　There is suffering, dukkhā. Suffering starts from birth itself. Birth is suffering; old age is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. Throughout life, undesirable things happen, desirable things do not happen-this is suffering.

　　The Buddha not only understands that there is suffering but also gains full knowledge of it. Anyone can understand the superficial aspects of suffering but this is not true enlightenment. One has to understand the entire field of suffering at the experiential level.

　　The knowledge of the first Noble Truth is complete only when its three aspects are accomplished. The first aspect: dukkhā - this is suffering. But this alone did not make him a Buddha.

　　Then, the second aspect: pariññeyyā - one understands that this truth of misery must be fully understood at the experiential level. The entire field of suffering, the totality of suffering, must be experienced. One can say that the entire field of dukkhā has been experienced only after attaining the first experience of nibbāna. Even

　　those few moments before nibbāna are moments of dukkhā. The entire field before nibbāna is dukkhā, so the entire field must be explored. Even this did not make him a Buddha.

　　Then the third aspect of the first truth, pariññātaṃ - one has explored the entire field of dukkhā. Nothing remains unknown to him about dukkhā-pariññāna. The totality of dukkhā is realized - pariññātaṃ.

　　The Second Noble Truth

　　What is the cause of suffering

　　 There are many superficial causes: u…

《The Buddha The Noble Physician》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…