A Troubled Doctor

There was once a military doctor. He went on crusades along with the army, and treated wounded soldiers. As soon as a solider had recovered, he would ride off with his horse straight back into the battlefield. Before long, however, the same soldier would be often returned to Doctor with new wounds. Many soldiers that Doctor had saved would eventually die on the battlefield.

One day, a soldier whom Doctor had saved multiple times died during a battle. Upon seeing his body, Doctor broke down.

“If he was destined to die, why should I have saved him in the first place?” thought Doctor. “If there was any purpose for me to save him, why did he have to go out there again and get himself killed? If people all have to die anyways, what are doctors for?”

Doctor’s mind was troubled with questions, and he could no longer focus on his work. Soon, he said farewell to the soldiers, gathered his tools and medicine, and left the army. He climbed up a high mountain, where he meditated and studied with a Chan master. After a few months, his head cleared up and his heart opened. He thanked his teacher, picked up his kit, and went back to be a doctor.

To those puzzled by his decision, he replied simply, “Because I am a doctor.”

B: It is a doctor’s job to save people, to sustain life or to improve a patient’s living condition. What a patient would do with their life or their newly gained health is their own choice, and is beyond the doctor’s control.