“Without compassion, doctors will become machines,” says Bhikkhu Sanghasena, who is on a mission to spread Mahakaruna — universal great compassion — across the world. The soldier-turned-monk from Ladakh was speaking to over a hundred bariatric surgeons in Mumbai on the topic he loves the most, and the audience, members of a profession often accused of lack of empathy, listened attentively as he expounded on the importance of love, care and compassion.
In a conversation with The Hindu later, Mr. Sanghasena says he was surprised when he first received an invitation to address this gathering. “I wondered what a monk from the Himalayas will tell these highly educated people. I thought these doctors would like to know something deep and complex, and my teachings focus on day-to-day life and applying compassion in it. But later I realised that these doctors want me to share exactly that: compassion.”
‘Smiling best medicine’
Dressed in a simple robe, he looks out of place in the plush five-star hotel ambience. When asked about what he would like to eat, he says, “Something very simple. Just some rice and vegetables.” He radiates calm and his face in repose wears a smile. “Smiling is the best medicine of the 21st century,” he says, a suggestion that he also offered to all the doctors.
At 17, Mr. Sanghasena joined the Indian Army, but later, his inner spiritual calling took him to the mountains of Ladakh, where he became a disciple of Acharya Buddharakkhita Mahathera, a renowned Buddhist scholar and celebrated monk. Since then, he has worked towards propagating the Buddha’s teachings and runs the Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre in Ladakh.
Known as a maverick monk by his followers, Mr. Sanghasena’s teachings are simple: he focusses on the present, not the past or future; he asks his followers to bring compassion into their daily life. Bariatric surgeon Dr. Ramen Goel, who organised Sanghasena’s visit and talk, says, “We decided to invite him, as it is very difficult for us doctors to explain the need for compassion to our peers as well as Sanghasenaji can. We believe that compassion is a necessary part of a doctor’s training. In fact, lack of compassion can be very damaging to society.”
The gentle monk knows the world of medicine: he comes from a family of traditional amchi doctors. (Amchi is an ancient system of medicine that uses medicinal plants as a part of treatment.) “My father and his elder brother would go on horses, travel for months from one village to another and return only when the medicines were over. They would come back, go to the mountains to get the herbs, crush them, make the medicines and again start their journey. They had no expectations, they charged no fees. They lived on the food given to them in the houses they visited.” That, he says, is a perfect example of compassionate doctors.
In the modern world, he says, everything is commercialised: “I cannot say that all doctors and hospitals are profit-driven, but most of them are. The situation of modern society is such that it cannot sustain without money. So, everyone simply thinks about money.”
Mr. Sanghasena says that in many developed countries, doctors have become machines, and that Indian doctors are also moving in the same direction. “They don’t even look at the patients. There is no communication or feeling. It is just ‘take two tablets in the afternoon, two in the evening and come back next week.’” Washing a car doesn’t need compassion, he says, since the car does not have a soul. “But human beings are not like that. They have a heart, soul, feelings. Therefore, one needs compassion to care about each other.”
‘First, save lives’
“Don’t treat the patients like machines,” he had told the surgeons in his speech. “Doctors and Buddha have a similar job. Buddha is the scientist of the mind. With medication, include meditation for your patients as well. Heal the wounds of the soul as you heal the wounds of the body. Don’t look only at the body. Look inside.” He congratulated the audience for including compassion in their practice. “Money will come,” he told them. “But first, save lives.”
The well-read monk is aware of the spate of violent attacks on doctors over the past few months. He blames the commercialisation of medical education for it. “It is not easy to become a doctor. They borrow money, take loans to pay ₹30 lakh, ₹50 lakh to study. After becoming a doctor, they have to pay back. So, they do everything that can earn them money and a life of comfort. This is the main reason young doctors are not performing their duty as they should. One should chase money but certain ethics must be maintained.”
The ‘terrible’ doctor
He narrates a story that the famous vipassana teacher S.N. Goenka once told him about a doctor who always smiled and met his patients pleasantly. “But one day when Mr. Goenka visited him, he was upset. The smile on his face was gone. After some coaxing, he told the reason. He said that every year during this time, there is an epidemic of illnesses and he got plenty of patients. But this year, there was no epidemic. That made him sad.” What kind of a doctor, Mr. Sanghasena wonders, enjoys suffering? “That is terrible.”
On the state of the world, he said that everyone “is talking about world peace. They are holding peace marches, conferences and seminars. While these things have their own value, the actual result can be only achieved by applying compassion in daily life. The universal, unparalleled, one-way traffic of compassion.”
