当病榻遇见佛经：在绝境中寻找希望
从科学角度来看，父亲现在的处境可以说不是九死一生，而是99.99%死了。当然，即便是科学，也不是万能的，也有很多无法解释的现象。从科学角度来说，仍然存在那一丝希望，比如免疫系统突然觉醒，找到了癌细胞的弱点，将它们杀得一干二净之类的奇迹。但这种近乎神迹的事情，确实很难变成现实。
到了这个时候，即便再笃信科学的人，也会转向宗教和超自然力量寻求帮助吧？我也不能免俗。昨天我在AI上询问什么佛经可以为亲人祈福、祛除疾病。AI给出的答案是《地藏经》，于是我顺着这条线索，去网上搜索更多关于《地藏经》的信息，看到了许多有趣的材料。
地藏经全名《地藏王菩萨本愿经》。地藏王菩萨按照大乘佛教的说法，在我们这个时代，也就是释迦牟尼涅槃之后、弥勒佛降世之前是没有佛的。在这段期间，地藏王菩萨就是代理佛。按照大乘佛教的说法，菩萨是指已经达到了成佛的程度，但为了普渡众生，而暂时放弃成佛的果位。而地藏王菩萨更是许下"地狱不空，誓不成佛"的宏愿，所以遇到危难，可以祈求地藏王菩萨的解救。
我还收到了一段视频片段，是著名主持人窦文涛在他的节目上现身说法，讲述《地藏经》的神奇之处。他说，据他所知，在山西的一些寺庙里面经常会有一些得了癌症的病人聚集在一起，跟和尚学念《地藏经》，其中就经常有所谓的奇迹发生。关于疗效，他还提到了自己的亲身经历：一位朋友的父亲病重，医生告诉他的朋友说，你的父亲已经到了弥留之际，赶快回到他身边吧，可能今晚就要离开了。这时候窦文涛对他的朋友说，反正就死马当活马医，你就给他念《地藏经》。那位朋友不会念，就用手机播放念经的经文，没想到病情居然转危为安。
节目里的另一位嘉宾是大家比较熟悉的梁文道，就提出了异议，说我们每个人都会来到生命终结的那个时刻，如果到那个时刻念地藏经就能不死，那念《地藏经》就能够一直活下去吗？显然是不可能的。这是极端理性的观点。如果一个人极端理性的话，恐怕也会生活得非常痛苦，因为他会发现在理性的眼里，这个世界将会是极端冷酷的，犹如丛林。
而且这种说法非常类似于科学哲学家波普尔的证伪主义，其实就是中国人非常熟悉的一句口号："实践是检验真理的唯一标准"。事实上这句话是有问题的，因为这就是经验主义，通过这种经验的归纳总结是不可能发现真理的。宇宙之大，你不可能检验出所有的情况，所得到的都只是相对的真理而已。
不过梁文道的后面观点倒是颇有说服力。毕竟地藏王菩萨和《地藏经》都源于佛教，而佛教本来的教义或者说哲学，是让人们认识并接受"万法缘起"，万事万物只是虚相，本质都是"空"。所以，除了空以外，万事万物都具备的基本属性就是“无常”，没有什么事物是永远存在的，让人们接受世事无常，放弃执着心，就能从痛苦中解脱。因为几乎所有的痛苦，都是因为执着心而产生的。佛学并不是通过满足人们的愿望，也就是满足人们的执着心来救苦救难。
除了这段有趣的关于《地藏经》能为病人祈福去灾的争论，还看到一些颇有佛学造诣的网友之间的发帖交流。其中有一个观点非常有趣，就是说念《地藏经》反而会加重病情，因为佛教讲究因果报应、业力这种概念。这个业力可以理解为债务，而念地藏经的时候会将生灵聚拢过来，其中就包括当事人前世的债主。而这些债主看见当事人正处于虚弱的状态，就会趁机索债，而加速病情的进展。但是把这件事放在永恒地轮回中来说，其实也不是坏事，而是加速业力的消除，从而使人能够更快地提高自己的境界，减少未来转世修行的次数。这也可以看成是宗教理论的巧妙之处，无论如何，都能给出合乎宗教理论的解释。
到了这个阶段，我也不妨一试了。从与上面相同的逻辑的出发，既然可以招来债主，也可以招来报恩欠债之人，让他们在此时报恩。我也要找一本《地藏经》来念着试一试了。
From a scientific point of view, the father's current situation can be said to be not a near-death death, but 99.99% dead. Of course, even science is not a panacea, and there are many unexplained phenomena. From a scientific perspective, there is still a glimmer of hope, such as the miracle that the immune system suddenly wakes up, finds the weakness of cancer cells, and kills them all. But this kind of near-miracle thing is really hard to turn into reality.
At this point, will even the most scientific people turn to religion and the supernatural for help? I'm not exempt. Yesterday I asked on AI what Buddhist sutras can pray for loved ones and get rid of diseases. The answer given by AI was the Earth Hide Sutra, so I followed this clue and went to the Internet to search for more information about the Earth Hide Sutra, and saw a lot of interesting materials.
The full name of the Earth Zang Sutra is the Earth Zang King Bodhisattva Sutra. According to Mahayana Buddhism, in our time, that is, after Sakyamuni nirvana and before Maitreya Buddha came into the world, there was no Buddha. During this period, the King Bodhisattva was the surrogate Buddha. According to Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva is someone who has reached the level of becoming a Buddha, but has temporarily given up the position of becoming a Buddha in order to bring all sentient beings into the world. And the King of Tizang Bodhisattva made the grand wish of "hell is not empty, vows not to become a Buddha", so when in trouble, you can pray for the salvation of the king of Tizang Bodhisattva.
I also received a video clip of famous host Dou Wentao appearing on his show to talk about the magic of the Earth Hidden Sutra. He said that as far as he knew, in some temples in Shanxi, cancer patients would often gather together to learn the Earth Collection Sutra from monks, and so-called miracles would often occur. On the curative effect, he also mentioned his own personal experience: a friend's father is seriously ill, the doctor told his friend said, your father has reached the point of death, hurry back to him, may leave tonight. At this time Dou Wentao said to his friend, anyway, when a dead horse is a living horse doctor, you will read the Earth Hide Sutra to him. The friend could not read, so he used his mobile phone to play the scriptures of chanting, and did not expect his illness to turn critical.
Another guest in the program is Liang Wendao, who is more familiar with us, and raised an objection, saying that each of us will come to the moment of the end of life, if we can not die by reading the Earth Hide Sutra at that moment, then reading the Earth Hide Sutra will be able to live forever? Obviously not possible. This is an extremely rational view. If a person is extremely rational, I am afraid he will live a very painful life, because he will find that in the eyes of reason, the world will be extremely cold, like a jungle.
And this statement is very similar to the falsificationism of the philosopher of science Popper, which is actually a slogan very familiar to the Chinese people: "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth." In fact, this statement is problematic, because this is empiricism, and it is impossible to discover the truth through the generalization of such experience. The universe is so big that you can't test everything, and all you get is relative truth.
But Liang's latter point is quite convincing. After all, both King Tizang Bodhisattva and the Tizang Sutra originated from Buddhism, and the original doctrine or philosophy of Buddhism is to let people understand and accept that "all Dharma origins", and everything is just a virtual appearance, and the essence is "empty". Therefore, in addition to emptiness, the basic attribute of everything is "impermanence", nothing is forever, let people accept the impermanence of the world, give up the attachment, you can be free from pain. Because almost all pain is caused by clinging. Buddhism does not save the suffering by satisfying people's wishes, that is, by satisfying people's persistence.
In addition to this interesting argument about the Earth Hide Sutra can pray for the sick and avoid disasters, I also saw some posts exchanged between netizens who are quite knowledgeable in Buddhist studies. One of the interesting ideas is that reading the Earth Hide Sutra actually makes the disease worse, because Buddhism focuses on the concept of karma, karma. This karma can be understood as debt, and when chanting the sutra, it brings together living beings, including creditors from the person's previous life. These creditors see that the parties are in a weak state, they will take the opportunity to claim debt, and accelerate the progress of the disease. But putting it in the context of eternal reincarnation is actually not a bad thing, but rather accelerates the elimination of karma, so that one can improve one's realm more quickly and reduce the number of future reincarnation practices. This can also be seen as the genius of religious theory, in any case, can give a religious theory of explanation.
At this stage, I might as well give it a shot. Proceeding from the same logic as above, if we can attract creditors, we can also attract those who repay debts, and let them repay at this time. I will also find a copy of the Earth Hide Sutra to read and try.