French translation by Luca Guddione appears after the English
The other day in an exchange of email correspondences with the current Bishop of Nichiren Order of North Carolina (NONA) about traveling to Las Vegas in December we were deciding what I would speak about when I was there. In one of those emails he had suggested that I give a short lecture on either the Parable of the Magic City or on the parable of the Physician and his Sick Children. Since I recently wrote on the Magic City I already have material for a lecture on that.
While this was going on I had been mulling over which of the parables I would like to tackle next in my writing. I had begun gathering information on the two parables that mention gems, those being Gem in the Robe and Gem in the Topknot. I even was planning a trip to some of the areas around Charlotte where people actively mine and search for gems in our area. I was going to do this to perhaps get some photos as well as get an idea of how gems are found and cut. I wanted to get a good idea of the process of gem work and perhaps understand why some things found in the ground are valuable and others are not.
As it turns out the area around Charlotte has quite a reputation in the gemstone industry as producing some record setting gems. In this area and surrounding counties can be found many precious and semi-precious gems. But with the Bishop’s suggestion and also requests from readers to share more about my work in the hospitals and being a Chaplain as well as some wanting to know more about me personally I have decided that perhaps at this time the better choice would be to delve into the Physician and His Sick Children.
This parable is interesting in that there is no gatha or verse equivalent of the telling of this parable. It is only found in the prose section of Chapter XVI towards the end of that section before we get to the Buddha revealing the Eternal aspect of Buddha. Perhaps the individual who was responsible for writing down Chapter XVI became so excited about the revelations of the Buddha that he didn’t get around to revisiting the Parable of the Physician. If you know me you already know that I am open to speculating any possibility lacking firm evidence.
There is also something else interesting in the suggestion by the Bishop, and that is timing. Besides being open to speculating wildly and widely I also believe in listening to intuition and part of that is tuning into timing. As it so happens at this particular time in my life I am preparing to have surgery done to make some repairs to some internal organs. I can say it isn’t anything major, yet every surgery is major especially if they are working on internal organs. It goes without saying that death is always a possibility. Yet, I do ask myself it there is any greater risk of death during surgery than in not having the surgery and the answer to that is it is the most risky not having the surgery. And too, there is always a risk of death in living, in fact it isn’t a risk at all it is a certainty.
And so with that I changed course and set aside the gem work and am looking into the medicine of the Lotus Sutra. Everywhere I go when I am in the hospital I carry an amulet with the phrase ““this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people of the Jambudvīpa” Lotus Sutra, Chapter XXIII and “Take it! Do not be afraid that you will not be cured!’ ” Lotus Sutra, Chapter XVI. I do this as my constant prayer both for the curing of the illness that afflict the patients in the hospital and also as my prayer for their eventual faith in the Lotus Sutra.
As I have in previous writings I will draw upon my personal history, though perhaps more so than in previous writings. I also will be looking at some mystic writers from other traditions such as Islam and Christianity and Earth based practices. I hope you will find this writing helpful as you deal with the various illness of your own life however they manifest. Illness is not simply the kind of sickness that tradtionally lead us to medical practitioners but also the many illnesses that rob us of the joy that is innately possible in each of our lives.
———French Translation—-by Luca Guccione———–
Le médecin expert – Introduction
Il y a quelques jours de cela, j’échangeais des courriels avec le Supérieur de l’École de Nichiren de Caroline du Nord (NONA) à propos du sujet que j’aurais dû aborder en décembre lors de ma visite à Las Vegas. Il me suggérait de parler soit de la parabole de la Ville fantôme soit de celle du Médecin expert et de ses fils malades. Le sujet semblait vite trouvé car j’avais déjà bossé sur la première des deux.
Ceci dit, j’hésitais encore: ne serait-ce pas plutôt la parabole sur le Joyau caché dans le revers de la robe ou celle de la Perle royale? Les deux m’intéressant beaucoup, j’aurais pu même prévoir un voyage dans la région minière de Charlotte pour me documenter (région qui est toujours active), où j’aurais pu prendre des photos, me renseigner sur les techniques d’extraction et apprendre à distinguer les gemmes des pierrailles.
Or, le Supérieur, m’incitant à parler surtout de mon expérience de chapelain dans les hôpitaux qui suscite toujours beaucoup d’intérêt, j’optai finalement pour la parabole du Médecin expert. Cette parabole a la particularité de n’être pas résumée en vers; elle n’est contée qu’en prose à la fin du chapitre XVI, avant que le Bouddha ne révèle son aspect Éternel (je suspecte le scribe de ce chapitre d’avoir voulu goulument arriver à cette révélation tellement importante et d’avoir ainsi sauté la versification mnémonique de la parabole. Pure spéculation, mais sait-on jamais…).
Croyant fermement à l’intuition, un fait synchronique me poussa encore plus à explorer ce thème . Il se trouve en effet qu’à cette période de ma vie je dois affronter des opérations chirurgicales et, même si elles ne sont pas lourdes au sens propre, un risque létal (voire un risque certain!) existe toujours.
Ces coïncidences s’imbriquant petit à petit, je pris la décision finalement de tout laisser tomber pour ne me concentrer que sur la médecine du Sûtra du lotus. Partout où j’aille dans les hôpitaux, je trimballe toujours avec moi une amulette où est inscrit: “Ce sûtra est un bon médicament pour les maladies des peuples de Jambudvīpa” (Sûtra du lotus, XXIII) et “Prends-le! N’aie de crainte quant à la guérison!” (Sûtra du lotus, XVI). C’est un geste conjuratoire, une sorte de prière constante qui me suit adressée à la fois au corps du patient (afin qu’il guérisse) et à son esprit (afin qu’il puisse entrevoir la beauté du Sûtra du lotus).
Cette fois encore, comme dans mes écrits précédents (voire même plus), je consacrerai une partie de mon enseignement à mes expériences personnelles car elles sont une vérification probantes de mes propos. Je parlerai aussi de mystiques d’autres religions pour que vous puissiez vous en inspirer et en bénéficier lors de votre maladie. Entendons-nous bien: la maladie n’est pas que physique; c’est celle aussi qui pourrit notre joie innée à laquelle nous avons tous droit.
