一瓶藥 Bottle of Medicine

〖一瓶藥〗

我們可以將修行比喻為一瓶醫生留給病人的藥。瓶上寫了詳細的說明，指示病人如何服藥，但是，如果這位病人只是閱讀瓶上的說明，無論讀上數百回，都將困死在這兒，永遠得不到藥物的治療。在他死亡之前，還會懷恨地埋怨醫生無能，以及那些藥物並沒有治好他。他會認為醫生是個江湖郎中，或說那些藥物毫無作用，殊不知他只是花時間在檢查瓶子以及閱讀瓶上的說明書，卻沒有聽從醫生的叮嚀而服藥。不管怎麼樣，如果這位病人聽從了醫生的勸囑，照著藥方按時服藥，他便能夠痊愈。

醫生開藥方是為了除去生理上的疾病；佛陀的教法則是治療心理疾病的藥方，使心回復到自然健康的狀態。因此，佛陀可稱是一位治療心理疾病的醫生，而我們每一個人毫無例外的都有心理的疾病。當你看到這些疾病時，難道不會合理地去尋求佛法做為依靠，就如同拿藥治療你看書的病一般嗎？

Bottle of Medicine

We can compare practice to a patient who does not take the medicine that his doctor has left for him. Although detailed instructions have been written on the bottle, all the patient does is read them and doesn’t actually take the medicine. And before he dies, he may complain bitterly that the doctor wasn’t any good; that the medicine didn’t cure him. He may think that the doctor was a fake or that the medicine was worthless, yet he had only spent his time examining the bottle and reading its instructions instead of actually taking the medicine. If he had followed the doctor’s advice, however, and taken the medicine regularly as prescribed, he would have recovered.

Doctors prescribe medicine to eliminate diseases from the body. The teachings of the Buddha are prescribed to cure diseases of the mind and to bring it back to its natural healthy state. So the Buddha can be considered to be a doctor who prescribes cures for the illnesses of the mind, which are found in each one of us without exception. When you see these illnesses of the mind, does it not make sense to look to the Dhamma as support, as medicine to cure your illnesses?