悲能拔苦 Compassion Can Relieve Suffering

​有一个弟子的父亲去世了，之后的日子里，每当他一想到父亲含辛茹苦地养育他的那些点点滴滴，心里就会很痛苦。

A disciple’s father died, and since then, whenever he thinks of all the effort his father spent to raise him, he feels the pain of losing his father. 

有一天，他是在忍受不住了，就去找禅师求助：“我爸爸去世了，我受不了......”
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当时，禅师只说了一句话：“人都要死的。”

弟子的心情一下子就转了。

当然，禅师这样开解是有一个前提的，因为出家人师徒之间，对生死有另外一种苦味更加超越的认知和理解， 什么是拔苦？就是通过自己的语言去宽慰对方，让对方从苦难中解脱出来。
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所谓悲心，就是在与人相处、沟通的时候，不仅要怀着一颗体谅别人的热心肠与人同悲，而且还要帮助别人把这种苦拔出来。

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One day, he felt that he really could not stand for the suffering anymore, so he went to the Chan master for help. He told the Chan master: "My father died, and I can not stand for the pain…"
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Then, the master said simply: "everyone dies."

All of a sudden, a light bulb turned on in the disciple’s mind.

Of course, there is a precondition that the master can console his disciple this way, because both the disciple and the master have a higher-level recognition and understanding about life and death. What does it mean to relieve someone from suffering? It is to use your own words to comfort, to help him come out from the suffering.
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What compassion means is that when you interact and communicate with people, you should not only share their suffering with an understanding and warming heart, but you should also try to help them relieve their suffering.