As a medical student, I was wondering how best I can help those I encounter who are suffering or approaching death. And also how I can deal with, within myself, with any distressing situations I may encounter. Thank you.

We have so many things to learn. To be a good doctor, a good physician, a good psychotherapist, or a good teacher. And I think we help people on the ground of our own experience. If we know how to recognize our afflictions, our suffering, and how to transform these difficult moments, these afflictions into joy and peace, then we have much more confidence while trying to help other people.

Suppose you want to share the practice of walking meditation. It is said that walking meditation can bring joy, stability, and freedom to the practitioner. And you share the practice of walking meditation on the basis of your practice. You have obtained solidity, freedom, and joy while walking. And that is why when you share, you have confidence. And you speak from your own experience. And you will be more convincing when you share and when you practice like that.

So later on you will be a physician, a doctor that will help many people. And what you have learned, what you are learning in school, must be confirmed, consolidated by your own experience of life. And if we are open, then we can continue to learn much more. What we have learned, it is very precious. But if we are open-minded, then we can modify, we can enrich our knowledge with thanks to the knowledge and understanding and experiences of other people.

In the Buddhist tradition, we speak about knowledge as an obstacle. When you think of something as the truth, you have the tendency to grasp it, to hold it too tight. And you are no longer open to other kinds of experiences. And you can be seen as narrow-minded. And that is why we should be ready to give up our truth in order to get a higher truth.

When you climb a ladder and arrive at the fifth step, if you think that the fifth step is very high, the highest, you have no chance to come up to the sixth step. In order to come to the sixth step, you have to abandon the fifth step. So that is true with learning. Even if everyone is saying the same thing, that truth can be improved. And that is the spirit of science.

And that is why while learning, we should adopt the attitude of non-attachment to views and to knowledge. Because views and knowledge may be an obstacle for higher understanding, higher truth. And this is very clear in the Buddhist teaching. There is a story the Buddha told about this. He used the example of a merchant who went away, who was absent, and during his absence, his house was burned, and his little boy was kidnapped by pirates.

And when he came home, he saw a charred body of a child. He thought that it is his son that is already dead. So he threw himself to the floor and he cried, and he organized a cremation ceremony and collected the ash and put it into a small bag and he carried it with him all the time. Walking or sleeping, he always had the bag of ash with him. Because he believed that his child is already dead. Meanwhile, the boy is still alive.

So one day, the boy was able to run away from the pirates and he came home at midnight. And then he found the new house his father just built, and he knocked on the door. And at that time, the father was still lying on the bed crying with the bag of ash. And he said, "Who's there? At this time of the night, knocking at the door. You wicked little boy, go away." And he refused to open the door, even if his child said, "It's me, daddy, your son." So he believed strongly that his son is already dead. And the other boy is just a wicked, naughty boy. So finally, his son had to go away, and the man lost his son forever.

So the Buddha said that if you consider something to be the absolute truth, well your way is blocked. You have to ask the question as whether what you have is the truth yet. So the practice of non-attachment to views, non-attachment to truth is very crucial in Buddhism. You are ready to give up in order to go higher. I think that method of non-attachment to views is very good for us to learn and to become a useful person in society. And I think that is what I would like to recommend. Thank you.

[one sound of the bell.]

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