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Chinese & East Asian Medicines, Religion & Medicine

Daoist Contemplation and Chinese Medicine, Part 1: History and definition of contemplation in Daoist texts

December 27, 2016 Mikael Ikivesi Leave a comment

Different forms of contemplative practices have been one of the key elements in Daoist tradition. This essay will appear in four parts dealing with:

1. History and definition of contemplation in Daoist texts

2. Contemplative practices and concept of body-mind

3. Contemplation and dietary practices

4. Contemplation and art of medicine

In these short essays I define contemplative practices, look historical relevance and how has it affected the development Chinese medicine and what does it has to do with ideals of art of medicine. Some concepts presented might no longer fit to current understanding of Chinese medicine, but they have played consequential role in formulation of ideas and have been influential cultural context for ancient doctors who wrote some of the foremost classics of Chinese medicine. While reading these essays please keep in mind, that heart and mind are same word (xīn 心) in Chinese.

Defining Daoist contemplation

To be able to track down history of contemplative practices we first need to be able to define what we mean by contemplation. Modern practitioners usually prefer to use trendy terms like mindfulness often defined as conscious awareness and non-judgmental acceptance. While this might work well for some forms of practices, for more historical study we have to to rely on Daoist and Chinese Buddhist terms, definitions and context.

Mindfulness research literature often takes terms sati (Pāli) and smṛti (Sanskrit), which directly translates to Chinese niàn 念, to mean contemplation and mindfulness. Niàn means memory or recollection; to think on or to reflect upon something; to read or study. In Daoist context this term can be used for studying scriptures and contemplating or holding an object or idea in mind. Sometimes this is done by concentrating on a deity.

However, most of the Daoist texts use term guān 觀 in Chinese literature. It translates to looking and observing. Very often it is used in connection with word nèi 內 which means inner or internal to denote the nature and direction of observation. Therefore nèiguān 內觀 could be translated as inner observation. Nèiguān also serves as literal translation of Buddhist concepts of vipassanā (Pāli or vipaśyanā in Sanskrit). Inner contemplation or nèiguān is set of practices where one directs his awareness within himself. In different types and stages of the practice object of awareness can be body as whole or some part like an organ. Object can be an emotion and how it is experienced within body-mind in level qì or energy. Many of these techniques concentrate on breathing. Some of the breathing meditations are similar to what is described in Buddhist Ānāpānasati Sutta (Pāli) or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra (Sanskrit). However Daoist practitioners often start their practice by concentrating on subtleties of breathing felt on lower abdomen instead the mindfulness of breathing itself.

The aim of contemplation has usually been, especially in Daoist practice, to be able to slowly shift ones attention to mind itself. This is usually seen as the key element of the practice in Daoist context as the “real” contemplation is apophatic in nature, striving to attain total emptiness and complete negation or detachment from desires, concepts and contents of the mind. This emptiness is obtained by silencing the mind with sustained non-interfering observation or Nèiguān. The famous Qīngjìngjīng 清靜經 explains:

能遣之者,内觀於心,心無其心;外觀於形,形無其形;遠觀於物,物無其物。三者既悟,唯見於空。觀空以空,空無所空。所空既無,無無亦無。無無既無,湛然常寂。寂無所寂,慾豈能生?慾既不生, 即是真靜。

“These [desires] can be removed by internally contemplating the heart (mind). The heart is not this heart. Externally contemplating form. The form is not this forms. From distance contemplating things. These things are not these things. After these three have been realized and [you are] just seeing these as emptiness, contemplate this emptiness with emptiness. Emptiness does not exists in emptiness. In [this] emptiness there is still [further] non-existence. Non-existence of non-existence is also non-existing. [When] non-existence of non-existence is non-existing, there is deepest and eternal stillness. In stillness [where even] stillness does not exists, how could desires arise? When desires cannot arise, it is true peace.”

Despite the epilogue by Gě Xuán 葛玄 (164–244) who attributed the text to goddess Xīwángmǔ 西王母, in reality the text is probably written during early Tang-dynasty (618 – 907)[1]. The wording is clearly influenced by Buddhism but it gives the essential idea about contemplative practice and its apophatic nature. Following this nature we can start tracing contemplative practices through history. This nature is crucial for understanding continuation of the practice, its ideals and importance to Chinese medical and philosophical culture.

Early views and history of contemplative practices in China

Nèiguān practices that flourished in China during Tang-dynasty (618 – 907) are usually thought to have their origin in Buddhism. Buddhism started spreading to China during the 2nd century CE and one of the most well known Buddhist missionaries during the time was Ān Shìgāo 安世高 (c. 148 – 180) who translated Buddhist texts to Chinese language[2]. Among these texts there was also Ānāpānasati Sutta containing outlines of same idea used in practice of nèiguān. But even before that the practice was already well known in China. One of the oldest and synonymous expression to nèiguān is kǎonèishēn 考內身 which can be found from scripture titled Báixīn 白心 or Purifying the mind. In Báixīn there is a passage which says:

欲愛吾身,先知吾情君親六合,以考內身。以此知象,乃知行情既知行情,乃知養生。

“Desires and affections [arise from] our own body. First we understand our emotions, ruling sentiments and six harmonies by looking inside the body. Then we’ll know images after which we understand movement of emotions. By knowing movement of emotions we then understand cultivation of life (yǎngshēng).”

I translate kǎonèishēn here as looking inside the body. It might have been more easily understood by Western readers of spiritual practices, if I had translated it to inspecting inner bodies but that might be a bit stretching for context of early Daoist texts. Therefore the word body (shēn 身) needs bit clarification. The view of body in many archaic Chinese texts was much more broad than our modern use of the word. It was not just torso with four limbs but more a vessel composed of and containing different energies, spiritual influences and essence (jīng 精). It was seen intimately connected to time and world around us. I’ll come back to nature of body-mind in next part but the important thing here is that Báixīn gives advice to turn our attention into our body-minds to become aware of emotions and mental images. Báixīn also belongs to the earliest texts using term yǎngshēng or cultivating life which later formed a central concept in many medical and religious practices.

Báixīn dates back to 285 – 235 B.C. being from last period of Jìxià Academy (Jìxià xuégōng 稷下學宮)[3]. It is included in collection of political and philosophical texts named Guǎnzǐ 管子. The collection contains three other meditative texts namely Xīnshù shàng 心術上, Xīnshù xià 心術下 and Nèiyè 內業. Both Xīnshù texts speak of emptiness of the heart or mind. “Empty it (mind) from desires and Shén (Spirit) enters its domain. Clean from impure and Shén will remain in its place.” (《心術上》：虛其欲,神將入舍。掃除不潔,神乃留處。)

Xīnshù texts expand the ideas presented in older text called Nèiyè and transform individual meditation practice to fit the fields of economics and politics. They advocate importance of contemplative mindfulness practice to rulers and bureaucrats. The ideal ruler must remain detached from confusion of emotions and doubts. Their mind must remain clear in order to rule efficiently. Xīnshù xià states that:

心安,是國安也。心治,是國治也。… 治心在於中,治言出於口,治事加於民;故功作而民從,則百姓治矣。

“When mind is peaceful nation is at peace. When mind is governed nation is [under] governance…When governed mind stays at its center and controlled words come out of mouth then governed actions are guiding the subjects. Thus good results are achieved and people will follow. In this way the common people are governed.”

Many texts from Huáng-Lǎo School promote contemplation to gain understanding of laws of governing people and contemplation was seen as a mean to understand universal way or law which also controlled the society. This discourse is highly interesting when we compare it to modern mindfulness movement and especially mindful leadership where we see similar claims and uses. Meditative texts of Guǎnzǐ do not demand worship, divination or other ritualistic techniques. They are plain and simple self cultivation practices written by the literati to other members of ruling class of their time. The fact that these texts were included in highly political text collection gives us an impression that these practices were wide spread and not known only in religious circles. This is especially evident as many of the texts in Guǎnzǐ belong to strict Legalist school that saw tradition and softer values as weakness to be cut down[4].

The Guǎnzǐ collection also includes scripture called Nèiyè 內業 or Internal practice, which is probably the oldest of surviving Chinese meditation manuals and dates back to circa 325 B.C. The poetic style of Nèiyè suggests oral tradition and therefore even older origin.[3] Nèiyè presents very clear and plain description of meditation. Its themes are similar to many Tang-dynasty meditation texts and Nèiyè defines connection of man to universe, reason for contemplation, different attitudes and key elements for practice. The text begins with idea how human being is connected to cosmos:

凡物之精,比則為生下生五穀,上為列星。流於天地之間,謂之鬼神,藏於胸中,謂之聖人。

“From the essence of every being comes their life. Below it gives birth to five grains, above forms the constellations. Its flow between heaven and earth we call as spirits and gods. When it is stored within center of chest we call him a sage.”

During writing of Nèiyè the idea of essence (jīng 精) was still developing. The essence was seen as something having nature of divinity or spirit. Later it became described more substantial and bit liquid like as in texts like Huángdì Nèijīng Sùwèn 黃帝內經素問. The concept of Jīng-Shén 精神, which is usually translated as life-force or vigor it still retained its early intangibility. Some of the early texts see essence as one of the “bodily spirits” or shén.

The text proceeds defining how all the sorrows arise from the heart and they are ended with the heart. The heart was seen to effect everyone around us, bringing with it our fortunes or misfortunes. Only cultivation of the heart was seen as means for real moral development and thus Nèiyè states that:

賞不足以勸善,刑不足以懲過。氣意得而天下服。心意定而天下聽。

“Rewards are not sufficient to encourage virtue, nor punishments enough for disciplining. [Only] when qi-mind is obtained, that what is under the heaven will be subjugated. Only when heart-mind is stopped that what is under the heaven will obey.”

Same idea of shedding false morals, ethical values and empty rituals and replacing them by true nature was recurring theme in even earlier Zhuāngzǐ 莊子.

Author(s) of Nèiyè also pondered how or what in the mind can observe itself:

何謂解之,在於心安。我心治,官乃治。我心安,官乃安。治之者心也,安之者心也;心以藏心,心之中又有心焉。彼心之心,音以先言,音然後形,形然後言。言然後使,使然後治。不治必亂,亂乃死。

“How to explain that which is in peaceful heart? [When] I (ego) and heart are regulated, officials (organs) are regulated. [When] I and heart are at peace, officials are in peace. One regulating them is heart. One pacifying them is heart. There is heart hidden within heart. In the center of the heart there is another heart! This heart within heart is the voice before the words. From the voice follow forms, from the form follow the words. From the words follow actions and from the actions follow governing. [From that which] is not governed follows chaos and from the chaos follows death.”

As non-controlled mind was seen as main reason for chaos and destruction the often emphasized benefit from cultivation was freedom from internal conflict and outer catastrophes. In Nèiyè this freedom is describes thus:

中無惑意,外無邪菑,心全於中,形全於外。不逢天菑,不遇人害,謂之聖人。

“Without confusing thoughts within, one is externally without evil and disasters. Heart maintained in the center and form is maintained externally. [Thus one does] not encounter heavenly calamities nor face human troubles [therefore] we call him a sage.”

Freedom from human suffering later became exaggerated more and more until it became immortality and total untouchability during Han-dynasty and was still aim of contemplative practitioners during Tang-dynasty. See for example text called Preserving Shén and refining Qì.
The themes of freedom, emptiness and cultivation of heart were also present in many other writings of the time, but were often less instructive and more ambiguous in their poetic or prosaic expression. Of these texts Dàodéjīng 道德經 and Zhuāngzǐ are famous examples. Zhuāngzǐ for example describes fasting of the heart in following quote:

回曰:「敢問心齋。」仲尼曰:「若一志,无聽之以耳而聽之以心,无聽之以心而聽之以氣。聽止於耳,心止於符。氣也者,虛而待物者也。唯道集虛。虛者,心齋也。」

“[Yán] Huí said: Could I ask about fasting of mind?
Zhòng Ní answered: When having singular will, you’ll not hear with ears but you hear them with heart. When not hearing with heart you’ll hear them with qì. Hearing stops to listening with ears. Heart stops to symbols. The Qì is emptiness that receives things. Only Dào gathers in emptiness. Emptiness is fasting of the heart.”

Dàodéjīng as the best known Daoist text has collected many different translations around it. The text describes contemplation in its 16th chapter:

致虛極,守靜篤。萬物並作,吾以觀復。夫物芸芸,各復歸其根。歸根曰靜,是謂復命。復命曰常,知常曰明。不知常,妄作凶。知常容,容乃公,公乃天,天乃道,道乃久,沒身不殆。

“Reaching the utmost emptiness and guarding stillness and honesty, 10 000 things are working in union. Contemplating this, I’ll return. Countless humans and beings all return to their root. Returning to the root is called stillness. It is also described as returning to life (fù mìng is literally returning the destiny). Returning to life is called eternity. Knowing eternity is called enlightenment. Not knowing eternity [you just] arrogantly cause disasters. By knowing eternal you’ll accept. From accepting follows fairness. From fairness follows completion. From completion follows heavenly and from heavenly follows Dào. From Dào follows continuation and [then even] disappearance of body is not fatal.”

Considering this particular chapter we have to take into account that Dàodéjīng, as we now read it, was edited by Wáng Bì during early third century. The chapter found from the Mǎwángduī excavation, dating to second century B.C.[5] is very similar but a century older Guōdiàn[6] version does not mention contemplation at all. The importance of observing with empty mind is prominent in many other chapters as well.

Taking into account textual evidence about these contemplative practices and the idea of using them for returning to original state or to finding true nature had clearly been already developed before end of Warring States period. The Chinese still remained isolated from India centuries after writing the meditative texts of Guǎnzǐ or Dàodéjīng and Zhuāngzì. It was only at the first and second centuries during which trading of goods and thoughts between China and India really begun. If we consider the possible dating of historical Buddha to be somewhere around the commonly agreed 566–486 B.C.[7], it is hardly likely that Buddhist influence at the time could have induced such a wide spread of contemplative ideology in China. Buddhist tradition speaks of teachers Ārāḍa Kālāmalta ja Uddaka Rāmaputta as well reputed teachers, so we can say that these practices were also more wide spread in India during that time. But with lack of active trade routes, cultural exchange and having textual sources showing more wide spread cultural use of the contemplative ideas in China, we may conclude that it is highly likely that contemplative practices were developed independently in China and the Buddhist influences merged to Chinese contemplative ideologies and practices only later.

Rise of Buddhism in China however sparked new interest in contemplative practices. Old texts were edited, new texts were written and older classics were interpreted from viewpoint more fitting to contemplative practices. Zuòwàng lùn 坐忘論, which quotes heavily on Dàodéjīng and Zhuāngzǐ, is good example of reinterpreting older scriptures. The spread of Buddhism also influenced other areas of practices like dietary taboos and ethical codes. What remained the same was apophatic nature of contemplative practice. To quote a Tang-dynasty text called Nèiguānjīng 內觀經 – Classic of inner contemplation:

道也者,不可言傳口授而得之。常虛心靜神,道自來居。

“Dào cannot be put to words. By mouth it cannot be given or obtained. [By having] constantly empty heart and tranquil spirit, Dào naturally returns to its residence.”

References

Verellen Franciscus and Schipper Kristofer. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. University Of Chicago Press, 2005.
Greene Eric M. Healing breaths and rotting bones: On the relationship between buddhist and chinese meditation practices during the eastern han and three kingdoms period. Journal of Chinese Religions, 4(2):145–184, 3 2014. (www)
Roth Harold D. Daoism in the guanzi. In book Liu Xiaogan (editor), Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy, pages 265–280. Springer, 2015.
Rickett Allyn W. Guanzi: Political, Economic, and Philosophical Essays from Early China. Princeton University Press, 1998.
Harper Donald. Early Chinese Medical Literature. Routledge, 1997.
Meyer Dirk. Meaning-Construction in Warring States Philosophical Discourse: A Discussion of the Palaeographic Materials from Tomb Guōdiàn One. Doctoral thesis, Leiden University, 2008. (www)
Heinz Bechert, editor. The Dating o fthe Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen Buddha. Symposien zur Buddhismusforschung, IV, 1, 1991. (www)

Chinese & East Asian Medicines, Research & Teaching

New Digital Tools for the History of Medicine and Religion in China

September 27, 2016 Michael Stanley-Baker Leave a comment

This is a syndicated post that first appeared at www.cpianalysis.org.

When we do textual research on China, we rely on canons that were made with paper. The gold standard for a digital corpus is that it is paired with images of a citeable physical text produced in known historical conditions: at a specific time and place, by a known author or community, or as close to that as possible. Even more, the basic organisation of our wonderful modern databases is structured according to the catalogue and chapter headings of the original collections, which are essentially finding tools for paper archives. While these categories organised the literature and made it easier to find, they also profoundly influence how we, in turn, organise our own research, and how we write history.

The problem is that the categories of researchers change with time. As we analyse our sources in new ways, we give priority to certain texts or features over others, effectively re-indexing them to suit our purposes. Usually, textual scholars will privilege a few texts as case-studies for close study, because we lack the tools for large-scale analysis of textual corpuses to make summative statements about a field of knowledge, or to track changing patterns of a field over time. We can perform thorough and extensive searches for single or a few terms across wide sets of literature, but the long lists of results that are returned are unreadable by humans.

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Figure 1: Search result for a single term, gancao 甘草 (liquorice) in a major text collection

We have a problem of too much information, and too few ways of making sense of it.

In my digital work in the combined histories of Chinese medicine and of Chinese religions, I wish to make a critical intersection into how we theoretically interpret, and digitally analyse our sources. The history of Chinese religions has recently taken on some new directions in the theory of practice. In order to better understand the ways in which historical actors creatively combine aspects of “different” religions, such as Buddhism and Daoism, some scholars have started modelling religions as “repertoires of practice.” This has a very productive overlap with actor-network theory in Science and Technology Studies (STS), which also sees knowledge as produced by “clots” or “assemblages” of people and things, practices, thoughts and institutions and many more. Furthermore, the concept of “situated knowing” that came out of STS argues that different actors organise knowledge differently; there is no single, authoritative perspective on a particular field of knowledge.

This theoretical conjunction raises an important methodological question: How can we identify, sort through and organise a history of “repertoires of practice,” as they are enacted by historical actors of different stripes? Especially when these practices are disparate and escape the cataloguer’s eye? How can we tell when and which practices are being combined and deployed, in concert or separately, and whether concentrations of practices remain constant across different sectarian affiliations, or whether they change in significant ways? Can we identify patterns of change or stability?

In the Drugs Across Asia project, Chen Shih-pei and I are developing a pilot platform to test how to do exactly this. With generous support from Department III of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), in collaboration with the Research Center for Digital Humanities at National Taiwan University (NTU), and with Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA), we are undertaking a pilot study to analyse all Daoist and Buddhist Canon and most medical sources up through the Six Dynasties (to 589 CE) for the presence of drug terms.

In stage one, I use a statistical tool developed by NTU to analyse the texts to identify where drug knowledge is located among the set of sources. NTU have uploaded all the texts for analysis as separate juan in the form of *.txt files. I have selected a combination of open source texts from various sources, primarily drawing from Kanripo. I then upload a large list of known drug terms (11,000!), which the tool uses to analyse which drugs appear in which juanaccording to frequency, and produces a list like this one.

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Figure 2: Chapters from Buddhist and Daoist Canons, according to Drug Term Frequency

From this list, I select the juan for further analysis. It is somewhat self-selecting, as I sort according to how many terms appear per juan. After this, I analyse whether or not the found terms are homonyms for other things, such as relics, deities, or other terms. In this method, more hits is a good thing, because a high concentration of terms per juan is an indicator that drugs are an important topic in that text.

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Figure 3: Drug terms in Buddhist monastic codes

From this data set, I can already begin to compare drug repertoires of different communities. For example, the graph above shows clusters of drug terms from five different Buddhist monastic codes. The terms that appear between the clusters are shared between two or more texts. When compared to an early Chinese materia medica, as in the graph below, it is visibly clear how different the drug lore from China and from India was. There are only a very few common terms between the Chinese text and the five Indian texts. These terms need to be more thoroughly analysed to explain these differences and correlations, but the foundations of a research paper are already here.

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Figure 4: Buddhist Codes compared to Chinese Materia Medica

In the second stage, we mark up individual juan. It is exciting how easy MARKUS makes it to do this work. Using Keyword Search, I can paste my entire list of drug terms into MARKUS, and with one click identify which of those 11,000 terms appears in the text and where. This lets me quickly and easily see where the “action” is, where the drug knowledge is concentrated, without having to read through the entire juan first. I can then go and review how drug knowledge is framed and organised in that text in particular.

This way of organising reveals the “ontology” of the drug knowledge in the juan. Does it mention other important data like disease terms, drug properties, anatomical terms, or material practices like decocting, chopping, or roasting? Geographic terms? Famous people or locations? These are all important for how drug knowledge is figured. I scan through the text to pick out a representative section, and use Manual markup to highlight these salient features. Having been captured by MARKUS, they can be produced as a data table. Through this process of reading and marking up terms, MARKUS enables the ontology of each text to emerge as a data structure directly from the organisation of the text itself.

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Figure 5: Ontology marked up in MARKUS

I then work closely with DILA to mark up the texts. DILA are responsible for producing CBETA, one of the foremost digital humanities projects in East Asia, and thus have extensive experience with marking Buddhist texts. I forward them the file, and they clean up the automatic marking, and use the sample ontology I’ve provided to continue to manually identify corresponding features throughout the rest of the text. I check over the results, and forward the marked file to NTU to upload into the analysis platform.

NTU are currently developing a platform called DocuSky , based on the engine behind the Taiwan History Digital Library. This platform will enable detailed analysis of the resulting markups. It will incorporate detailed meta-data for each text – telling when and by whom a text was compiled or written, in what literary genre, with what sectarian identity, and if available, in which geographic location. By analysing this detailed meta-data along with the markups, I will be able to analyse through which communities what drug knowledge travelled, and, given enough meta-data, at which times and places. The platform will also be capable of visualising the data on a GIS map and dynamic timeline, as in the existing MPIWG platform, PLATIN.

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Figure 6: PLATIN Place and Time Navigator

With this tool, I should be able to quickly identify identical and similar drug recipes at scale, as well as when, where and with whom they travelled, and how they were interpreted. This will provide a much broader and more complex picture of who knew what about which drugs than can currently be known from studying materia medica (bencao 本草) literature. I should be able to track changes in properties of drugs and recipes as they circulated through historical communities, and to do so at scale. It is a mainstay of medical history to compare different community interpretations of a single drug or recipe, but no one has compared large-scale patterns of change and transfer before. By identifying which communities possessed and transmitted which drug knowledge, this platform will facilitate a large-scale picture of one important feature of the relationship between medicine and religion in the Six Dynasties.

While this model is custom-tailored to do research on drugs, it is highly adaptable. In the future, researchers should be able to change their categories and term sets to search for any “repertoire” or “assemblage” of terms. This could include medical data such as anatomical locations or disease names. But it could also be used to capture divinatory arts, health cultivation exercises, pantheons of gods, philosophical terms – anything you can develop a good term list for. I hope this set of tools will enable the fields of religious studies and medical history to come to much more nuanced descriptions of the histories of material (and immaterial) practice.

Sowa Rigpa & Himalayan Medicines

Mongolian traditional medicine

August 3, 2016 Guest Post Leave a comment

Syndicated Post By Nomin Galsandorj. This post first appeared at http://theubpost.mn/2016/08/03/mongolian-traditional-medicine/

Traditional systems of medicine in countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tibet, and Mongolia appear to be derived from Ayurveda. In Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine, the mind, emotions, and body are not seen as separate but as a continuum. A person’s emotional and mental states are seen as having a significant impact on the body and vice versa. Mongolian, Tibetan, and Indian traditional medicine use a number of modalities or therapies for both prevention and treatment of disease. Many medicinal herbs are usually used in combination.

Mongolia has a severe climate with four seasons, throughout which nomadic Mongolians move from place to place tending to their domesticated animals. Their way of life and medical treatments are very peculiar. The methods of medical treatment are derived from their simple lives. Medicinal herbs, the limbs of animals, and minerals are used as natural forms of medical treatment. They are sometimes used individually and sometimes used together for
medicinal purposes. Mongolians combine medicine with psychological therapy and use sayings, such as mantras, shamanic charms, and prophecy. There are certain influences of Buddhism in Mongolian medical treatment, such as the use of spells and the stating of one’s requests and mantra expressions.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, monks of Tibet, Nepal, and China were studying Buddhism in India, and it provided the opportunity for Buddhism to spread in Tibet. Medical books from India were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan. When Mongolia tried to make Buddhism the official religion in the 13th century, Indian and Tibetan medical books came to Mongolia as well.

The book “Four Tantras” (Jud Shi) was written in the 11th century, a classic creation of Indian and Tibetan medicine. “Jud Shi” was the main textbook of Mongolian doctors when it arrived in the 14th century. In Mongolia, it was read in Tibetan and was also translated into Mongolian. The Mongolian version has been published many times. German scholar Walther Heissig wrote that Choiji Odser translated “Jud Shi” in the 14th century, and during Ligden Khan’s time (1604-1634), “Jud Shi” was revised and re-translated.

The five elements theory of Indian philosophy started to hold an important position in the basic principles of Mongolian traditional medicine and this is related to the popularity of “Jud Shi” in the 16th century and its translation into Mongolian. “Jud Shi” is the amalgamation of Tibetan and Mongolian medicine and the Indian sutra.

“Jud Shi” has four volumes, identified by tantra:

1. Basic Tantra- The Basic Tantra has four parts and is the basis of the other three tantra volumes. It contains all the general meanings of the Four Tantras and is a basic overview of the theories of Indian and Tibetan medicine.

2. Explanatory Tantra – This tantra has 31 parts. The root of Indian and Tibetan medicinal
theory is defined briefly here.

3. Oral Instruction Tantra – This tantra has 92 parts and is the largest part of the book. It
describes how diseases and disorders of the body and organ systems are generally understood in Indian and Tibetan medicine.

4. Subsequent Tantra – This tantra has 27 parts and draws conclusions on the therapies in
the other 3 volumes.

In the 18th century, Mongolian scholar Gombojav was the primary translator of “Dankhaivjunai”, a large Tibetan-Mongolian dictionary, and participated in the Mongolian translation of “Danjuur”. The book “Medicinal Formulas”, which was written by Gombojav, was block printed in Mongolian. In the book, he included some formulas from Indian, Tibetan, and Khoton medicine.

Jambaldorj was one of the greatest doctors in Mongolia during the 19th century. He wrote a 174-page sutra called “Zetsermigjan”. During this time, there were errors and mistakes in identifying medicinal ingredients. He researched the work of the best ancient doctors of India, Tibet, and Mongolia, and defined the shape, form, features, and potency of the medicinal ingredients used. He also wrote a book about ingredients in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, Manj, and Mongolian, complete with 576 images. This book has attracted the attention of national and foreign scholars and has been published in foreign countries.

Luvsanchultem was a Mongolian doctor of the 19th century. He wrote about the Indian “five elements” theory used in Indian and Tibetan medicine. Mongolians enriched the ancient books on medicine that were passed on from India to Tibet. In Mongolian traditional medicine, anatomy, diseases, and the effects of medicine are explained on the basis of the five elements theory.

Five elements theory and three types of combinations

The five elements theory and the three types of combinations of these elements are the main parts of Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine. Everything in the universe, including human beings, is composed of five basic elements. The five elements are earth, water, fire, air, and space. These five elements form the metabolism of the body.

– Earth controls the physical structure of the body: bones and flesh. All life forces become
inert and inactive in this element and more energy is used to keep a body active.

– Water controls the kidneys, male and female reproductive organs, and produces antibodies. Water keeps the body and life flowing.

– Fire controls the spleen, liver, pancreas, and keeps all the organs active. It creates fire in the body. It heats water. It regulates sight, provides strength to the body by digesting food, induces hunger and thirst, maintains the suppleness of muscles, and a beautiful complexion.

– Air controls the chest, lungs, and heart and forms the purity of the mind and heart. Air is life itself. It is strength and guides every part of our body. It moves bile and phlegm, which cannot move in the body by itself.

– Space controls the entire body, thyroid, parathyroid, tonsils, saliva, cerebral and spinal fluid, the nervous system, and eliminates poison from the body. In order for air to circulate in the body and maintain a proper balance, there has to be space. If such circulation is blocked, it creates pain, even leading to heart attacks and loss of consciousness.

All these elements should be maintained in proper proportions. Any disturbance (and excess or deficiency) of one element leads to disturbances in other elements, and is considered the root cause of disease. If these five elements are maintained in proper proportions in the body, a proper metabolism is ensured and the body remains healthy. However, due to heredity, as well as eating and living habits, we can disturb one or two of these elements and upset the metabolism. When there is an illness present there is a predominance of one or more of three types of combinations of the five elements. In Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine, people are diagnosed as being one of these three types of elemental combinations.

1. Kapha (Bad-kan) – the combination of excessive earth and water These elements occupy the largest areas of our body. Kapha people have a regular appetite with relatively slow digestion, and prefer warm drinks and like pungent, astringent, and bitter foods.

2. Pitta (Tri-pa) – the combination of excessive fire and air Pitta people have a strong metabolism, and a good appetite and digestion. They like large quantities of food and water, and like bitter, sweet, and astringent foods and cooling drinks.

3. Vata (Lhung) – excessive air Vata people have a variable appetite and crave salty, sweet, and sour foods, and prefer warm or hot drinks. Their hands and feet are usually cold and dry with cracked skin.

In Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine, all foods are divided into six tastes: bitter, astringent, pungent, sweet, sour, and salty.

Mongolian diet therapy

Mongolians eat the following five kinds of food:

White – dairy products
Red – meat products
Green – plants and vegetables
Yellow – butter and oil
Black – water and distilled milk vodka

The five kinds of food of the Mongols include milk and milk products, such as curds, fermented mare’s milk, clotted cream, butter, sea buckthorn oil, cedar nut oil, apricot oil, and sheep tail fat.

The oil from sheep tail fat contains calcium, magnesium, iodine, and fluorine. It is also rich in vitamins D, C, A, K, E, B, and is good for fatigue, allergies, poisoning, and the eyes. Sheep tail fat has many medicinal qualities and is very nutritious, and has been considered beneficial “food” for infants and elders since ancient times. It enhances the metabolism and digestion, provides energy, prevents weakness and fatigue, and is thought to speed up the growth of infants. It moisturizes, softens, regenerates, and rejuvenates the skin. Sheep tail fat contains nutrients that cannot be found in any other food. The tip of the sheep tail, which is called uurag suul, is the best nourishment for the liver and supports the brain.

In Mongolian traditional medicine sutras, it’s written, “Fresh white butter is of cool quality and cures lung diseases and coughing, and treats fever. Old butter cures mental disorders, hangovers, and diseases of the eyes, brain, and womb.” In ancient sutras, it’s written “Yellow butter kept for years is good at treating diseases when applied to the skin. It has many diverse curative qualities if mixed with other ingredients. Yellow butter enhances intellectual capability, relaxes the mind, and refreshes one’s sight. It makes elders younger and makes voices melodious. It also improves fertility and cures diseases of the ears, lungs, and mind, and burns, frozen wounds, or cold weapon injuries.” The sutras also say, “Cow’s milk butter is very nutritious and good at healing any illness. The butter of goat’s milk is of cool quality and treats fevers. Yak or sheep milk is of hot quality and produces energy.”

In Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian medicine, it is said, “Unsuitable food is poison to one’s body. Perfect food nourishes and keeps the body fit, healthy, and energetic. If the food is too little, the body weakens, beauty fades, and illness appears. If the food is too much, the body gets tired from over-consumption and is invaded by sickness. Thus, two quarters of the stomach should be full of food, one quarter of drink, and one quarter left empty.”

Nomadic Mongolians had a healthy lifestyle. During the winter time, meat products were mainly eaten, and during the summer time, dairy products, vegetables, and fruits were mainly eaten. The four conditions of climate, evil spirits, diet, and lifestyle act together to affect disorders. The four remedial measures for disorders are diet, lifestyle, medicine, and external therapies.

The following disorders are treated in Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine: hot and cold disorders, pediatric disorders, gynecological disorders, wounds, geriatric disorders, infertility, indigestion, tumors, edema, fever, smallpox, and the common cold. They also treat disorders of the head, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the goiter, and genital disorders; disorders of vital vessels and organs, such as the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, stomach, intestines, and colon. Miscellaneous disorders, such as laryngitis, anorexia, hiccups, asthma, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, diabetes, gout, arthritis, skin diseases, nervous disorders, and minor injuries are also addressed.

For centuries, Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian medicinal practices were used not only to diagnose diseases but also to prescribe medicine based on individual conditions, using a unique system of evaluating the pulse, eyes, tongue, skin, and smell. The botanical formulas used thousands of years ago continue to be in use today. The Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine systems are fond of using formulas involving multiple herbs.
The treatments include decoctions, powders, pills, paste, medicinal butter, calcinated powder, gems, herbal compounds, oil therapy, purgation, emesis, nasal drops, enemas, channel cleansing, venesection, moxibustion, cauterization, compression, medicinal baths, natural spring baths, massage, and surgical therapy.

The diagnostic techniques are visual study, pulse taking, and interrogation. The visual study involves the examination of the tongue and urine. Touching with the fingers is like receiving information transmitted by the patient’s pulse. Interrogation involves the patient’s medical history, looking at the signs and symptoms of illness, as well as dietary factors.

For centuries, Mongolians have utilized traditional methods for surviving the harsh winter season. During the winter months, Mongolians eat “hot” foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals, and abstain from eating “cold” foods. Eating hot foods has the positive effect of increasing blood flow, energy level, improving the functions of the main organs of the body (including the digestive system), and has been scientifically proven to prolong life expectancy to an average of 70 years. However, in recent years, the life expectancy of the population has been decreasing, due to improper dress during the winter season and spending too much time in cold places, therefore not being able to maintain internal body heat. The long-term effect of this is a decrease in the immune system’s functions, cold sweats, and lower blood levels. Daily consumption of cold starters and salads, coffee, soft drinks, juices, beers, and other drinks that are below room temperature and straight from the refrigerator can lead to “cold” digestive ailments.

Cold water, drinks, and ice cream reduce body heat and increase the burden placed on the digestive system. In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, it is said that heat is life, while cold is death. Due to these practices in recent years, and particularly among young people, intestinal inflammation, stomachaches, stomach ulcers, the feeling of fullness or bloating, constipation,
and the removal of gall bladders have been much more common.

P5170431 — Yellow Pasqueflower, commonly used in traditional medicine

Mongolia is home to hundreds of rare medicinal plants, most of which are found in the Khangai Mountain Range and the steppes. Prior to making any traditional medicine, plants must be collected at the appropriate time or season. For instance, the yellow snowdrop (aneta) blooms in early spring. Therefore, the exact time of its full bloom must not be missed and the collected plants should be dried out.

There are cases where toxic vegetation is used to make medicines. Those toxic plants need special care, and there are specific methodologies for drying and removing the plant’s poison. A branch of a toxin-containing tree must be cut in half before drying. If the plant has a poisonous surface, the outer layer must be scraped away. To release the toxins in spar, it needs to be placed in a covered dish and set on fire.

Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian traditional medicine is based on a philosophy that guides the practitioner to serve his patient according to special needs at a special time, and under special circumstances. They are extremely individualized, personal, and flexible, dependent on a person-to-person and expert-to-client relationship. Treatments and prescriptions are tailor-made for the patient, and take into account the individual’s constitution, age, gender, syndrome, primary complaints, accompanying signs and symptoms, the season, and the geographic location.

Nomin Galsandorj is a freelance writer and translator, translating texts from English to Mongolian, including the Dalai Lama’s official website. She can be contacted at nomin1994@yahoo.co.uk.

Religion & Medicine, Thai & SE Asian Medicines

Translation of Chinese Jivaka Story

July 14, 2016 Guest Post Leave a comment

By Phillip Behrns

Translated from the French version in Chavannes, Edouard. 1962. Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues: Extraits du Tripitaka Chinois et Traduits en Français. Paris: Libraire d’Amerique et d’Orient, #499.

Sutra pronounced by the Buddha about the Avadana on Daughter of Mango Tree (Amrapali) and Kiyu (Jivaka).

Here is what I heard: one day, the Buddha was in the Kingdom of Loyueche (Rajagrha) and was explaining the law in the middle of the meeting of twelve hundred and fifty disciples, bodhisattvas, mahasattvas, devas, nagas and the eight categories of the great Assembly. Among the people of this time, many were donors, yet, one of them, who was a poor man, only had a handkerchief in rags. He wished to give it as a gift, but remained undecided because he was scared of causing disgust. Then, in the audience, a bhiksuni named Daughter of Mango Tree stood up, arranged her cloth, paid tribute, kneeled on both her knees, joined her hands, and said to the Buddha: “O honoured of the world, I can remember that in a previous life, I was born in the kingdom of Polonai (Varanasi) as a poor girl. At the time there was a Buddha named Kia Ye (Kacyapa), who was explaining the law in the middle of a large assembly. I sat down to hear about the holy books and I was happy; I gave the intention to make a donation, but considering I did not have anything and thinking about my poverty, I became sad; then I went to someone else’s garden and begged for fruit; I was given a mango, it was big and its fragrance excellent; I held a bowl of water in my hand at the same time as this unique mango and gave it as a gift to Buddha Kia Ye ( Kacyapa) and the assembly. The Buddha knew the excellence of my intention, he accepted my gift and made a wish, then he shared and gave out the water and the mango, making sure everybody received some. Thanks to this good fortune, when my life ended, I was born a devi and I became a devi queen; then, when I was born down here, in this world, I did not come from a foetus, but was born in a mango flower for ninety one kalpas; I was fresh and beautiful and always knew my previous lives. Now I met the Honoured of the world who opened for me the eye of wisdom. Daughter of Mango Tree recited those stanzas:

The loving beneficence of the Three Venerable is universal, – its intelligence saves men and women without distinction; – the great reward I received for giving a little bit of water and fruit was that I could be freed from all sorrow.
In this world, I was born in a flower; – above I was queen of the Devis; – since I found shelter in the Blessed Saint (Bhagavat); – my field of happiness is deep and fertile.

After she finished paying tribute, the Bhiksuni, Daughter of Mango Tree went back to her seat.

When the Buddha was in this world, in a royal garden of King Weiyeli (Vaicali), a mango tree grew spontaneously; it had numerous branches and leaves, its fruit were a lot bigger than those of other trees, they were shiny , and smelled and tasted wonderful. The king liked this tree a lot and no one was allowed to eat the fruits, except the most honoured women of the harem. Yet in this kingdom, there was a Brahman grhapati whose riches were uncountable and no one in the kingdom could be is equal; moreover, he was intelligent, discerning and more talented and wise than the crowd of the men; the King liked him very much and had made him one of his ministers. One day, the King invited this Brahman for diner, when the meal was finished he gave him a fruit from the mango tree; realising that this mango had a particular fragrance and taste, the Brahman asked the king, if there was, under this mango tree, any small offshoot he could ask to be given as a gift. The king answered: “there was a large number of those offshoots, however, because I was afraid they could be detrimental to the big tree, I removed them one after the other; I will give you one if it is your wish.”

So was done, and the Brahman brought this offshoot home and planted it; he was watering it morning and night. The tree was growing day after day, its branches were plentiful and strong; after three years, it grew fruits that were worth the king’s mango tree’s for their beauty and their size. The Brahman thought happily : “ My riches are uncountable and do not compare unfavourably to the King’s; I was only his inferior because I did not have this mango tree, but now that I have it, I am just as good as the King. “ He took one of the fruits and tasted it, but it was very acrid and he could not eat it. The Brahman became very sad; having withdrawn himself, he thought that the reason for that should be that the soil had not been fertilized well enough. So he took the milk of a hundred cows and gave it to drink to one cow, then he collected the milk of that cow and cooked it to make a kind of butter, which he sprinkled on the roots of the mango tree. He did that daily, and the next year the fruits were sweet and delicious, just like the King’s mangos.

However, on the side of the tree, grew an excrescence, which was growing more and more. The Brahman thought the sudden apparition of this excrescence could be detrimental to the fruits, but when he wanted to cut it off, I got afraid to hurt the tree. He meditated for several days perplexed and undecided, until suddenly, from the middle of the excrescence, a branch grew, straight to the sky, strong, straight, flexible and beautiful, it outgrew the top of the tree. When it was seventy feet high, the top divided into several branches, which spread on the sides in a circle to form something like and upside down canopy. The flowers and leaves it was covered with won out over the main tree’s ones. The Brahman was amazed and, because he could not figure out what was at the top, he built a wooden scaffolding and climbed to have a look; he saw that at the top of the branch and at the centre of the upside down canopy, there was a pond of fresh and fragrant water, also there were many flowers with fresh and bright colours, he looked under one of the flowers and found a little girl who was in one of them, the Brahman took her in his arms and brought her home, he fed and raised her. Her name was Daughter of Mango Tree.
When this child reached her fifteenth year, she was so beautiful that nobody in the world could compare, her reputation spread to far away kingdoms. Seven kings arrived at the same time and went to the Brahman to ask to become engaged to Daughter of Mango Tree and make her their wife. The Brahman was very scared, and did not know to which one he should give her; he built a high tower in the middle of a garden and put Daughter of Mango Tree at the top, then he went out and told the kings: “This girl was not conceived by me, she was created spontaneously at the top of a mango tree, I really don’t know if she is the daughter of a deva, a naga, a demon or a djinn. Now, here you are, seven kings coming to ask for this strange person, if I give her to one of you, the six other kings will be annoyed. However I am not going to refuse her to you. .Now, this young lady is in a tower in the garden. Discuss and when you have decided which one of you should have her, this one may just take her. I am not going to decide”.

Then the seven kings started to discuss the matter between them and the night came before the debate was finished; then, one of them, who was king Ping-cha (Bimbisara) entered the tower, found the girl and slept with her. The next day, when he was about to leave, Daughter of Mango Tree told him: “ Dear King, you bothered to lower your highness to come to me, but now, you want to leave, if I have a child, they will have royal blood, who should I entrust with them?” The King answered: “If it is a son, you will give him to me, if it is a girl, I give her to you. “ Then the King took a golden ring with a seal of his finger and gave it to Daughter of Mango Tree to use as an attestation. Then the King went out and told his ministers: “I managed to take Daughter of Mango Tree and I spent the night with her, she has nothing extraordinary and she is just like any woman, thus I am not going to marry her.” All the soldiers of King Ping Cha (Bimbisara) cheered and said:” our King was able to take Daughter of Mango Tree.” Hearing this, the six other kings left.

After King Ping Cha (Bimbisara) left, Daughter of Mango tree became pregnant; then she ordered the doorman to say she was sick if someone asked to see her. When the term came, she gave birth to a boy with a fine face, who was holding a bag of acupuncture needles in his hand. The Brahman declared:” This child is the son of a king, and he is holding a medical instrument; he will certainly be a king doctor.” Then Daughter of Mango Tree wrapped the child in a white cloth and ordered a maid to go and leave him in the street. As per this order, the maid took the baby and abandoned him. At this time Prince Wou Wei was in his chariot, planning to visit the great King and had sent people to clear the road. But the prince noticed from afar a white item on the path , he made the chariot stop and asked his escort:” What is this white object?” He was answered that it was a little boy. “Is he dead or alive? “ He asked. “Alive”, he was replied. The prince ordered his people to take him, and then looked for a wet nurse to feed him; because he was alive, a Brahman took the little boy and gave him back to Daughter of Mango Tree. He was named Ki Yu (Jivaka).

When he reached the age of eight, because of his intelligence, his strong talents and his knowledge of all sorts of books, he was very different from the average children. When he was playing with the neighbourhood boys, he was despising them because he thought they were not his equal. One day, those little boys insulted him together and told him: “Fatherless son, born to a depraved girl, how dare you despise us?” Taken aback, Ki Yu (Jivaka) remained silent and did not answer. He went to his mother and asked her:” I can see that the other little boys are not my equal , however they are insulting me by calling me fatherless son. Where is my father now?”His mother answered:” your father is none other than King Ping Cha (Bimbisara)
– King Ping Cha (Bimbisara), said Ki Yu (Jivaka), can be found in the kingdom of Loyueche (Rajagrha), which is five hundred lis away. How did he conceive me? And if you are telling the truth, O mother, how will I prove it?” His mother showed him the ring with a seal and told him:” This is your father’s ring. Ki Yu (Jivaka) examined the ring and saw that it had the following inscription “Seal of King Ping Cha”. He took the ring and went to the kingdom of Loyueche (Rajagrha) and went straight through the palace door, there was no one at the door to tell him off. I reached to the king, paid tribute, kneeled and said:” O King, I am your son; I was born to Daughter of Mango Tree. Now that I have reached my eighth year, I learned that I am your offspring and this is why I am bringing you proof in the form of the seal ring, and I am coming from far away to become part of your family.” The King saw the inscription on the seal, he remembered the promise he made in the past and admitted he was really his son. Filled with compassion for him, he named him crown prince.

Two years later, he who was to become King A Cho Che (Ajatacatru) was born; Ki yu (Jivaka) said to the King: “When I was born, I was holding a bag of acupuncture needles, it was a sign that I had to become a doctor, even though you named me crown prince, I am not happy. Because you had a son with your first wife, he should succeed to you in your function. As for me, I wish to practice the art of medicine.” The King consented, and told him:” Because you are not the crown prince anymore, you cannot enjoy free emoluments from the King anymore. You need to study the medical science.” The King ordered all the best doctors of his kingdom to teach him all the recipes of their art, but Ki Yu (jivaka) was only playing and did not receive their teachings, all his masters told him:”The art of medicine is not very high: to tell the truth it is not a subject for the honourable prince heir. However, we cannot go against the great king’s injunction, we received orders several months ago, and, O Prince, you didn’t even memorise half a sentence of our formulas. If the King asks, what would we answer?” Ki Yu (Jivaka) told them:”When I was born, I was holding a sign that I would be a doctor, this is why I told the great King: “I renounce the glorious titles and I am asking to study the art of medicine” How can I be so neglectful as to make you reprimand me? My behaviour can be explained by the fact that your science is inadequate to instruct me”. Then he took all the books about plants, medical recipes, acupuncture and pulse, and asked embarrassing questions to his masters, who did not know how to answer. All of them bended in front of Ki Yu (Jivaka ) and paid tribute to him. Kneeling and with joined hands, they told him:”This day we have to admit, O prince, that we cannot reach your divine holiness. All the questions you asked have been subject to controversy for our masters for generations, and we cannot understand them. We are wishing, O Prince, that you explained them to use completely, and that you solved the mysteries that have been tormenting us since we were born.” Then Ki Yu (Jivaka) explained the solution to those problems to them, all the doctors got up full of joy and paid tribute to him by bowing down, saying that they were receiving his teaching with gratitude.

Ki Yu (Jivaka) had the following thought:” Among all the doctors the King gave orders to; none was able to teach me. Who will teach me medicine?” Meanwhile, he found out that, in the kingdom of Tochachelo (Taksacila), there was a doctor named Atili (Atri) nicknamed Pinkialo (Pingala), who had great knowledge about medicine, he could certainly teach him. And so, young Ki Yu (Jivaka) went to this kingdom and upon arriving to Pinkialo (Pingala) he told him:” Great Master, I am asking you to agree to teach me.” After studying under his direction for seven years, he thought: “Now I am trained in the art of medicine, when will I finish?” Therefore he went to his master and told him:” Now I am trained in the art of medicine, when will I finish?”His master gave him a basket and tools needed to collect plants, and told him:”On the length of one yojana, in the kingdom of Tochachelo (Taksacila), look for all the plants and bring me those that do not have a medicinal use. ” Following his master’s orders, Ki Yu (Jivaka) looked for all the plants without a medicinal use in the kingdom of Tochachelo (Taksacila), but in the end he could not find any. As a matter of fact, he could identify all the plants and all the trees he could see, and he knew when they could be used, and all of them could be used in medicine. He came back empty handed and told his master those words:”o Master, now you need to know this: In the kingdom of Tochachelo (Taksacila), I searched for plants that did not have any medicinal use on a surface of one yojana, but I could not find any such plant. For all the plants and tress I saw I could perfectly identify their use”. The master answered to Ki Yu (Jivaka):” You can go now; you know the science of medicine to perfection. I am the first for this art in the Jambudvipa, but after I die, you can succeed to me. “

Then Ki Yu (Jivaka) left and started healing illnesses; all of those he was treating healed at once. His reputation was known all across the kingdom.

Later, Ki Yu (Jivaka) wanted to enter the royal palace. In front of the door, he met a little boy who was carrying a bunch of fire wood. As soon as he saw him from afar, Ki Yu could see this child’s five viscera, including his gut and stomach, and was able to distinguish them neatly. Ki Yu (Jivaka) had the following thought:” In the book of plants, it is told about the king doctor tree (bhaisajyarajà) which illuminates the inside from the outside and allows seeing the viscera inside a person’s stomach. Could it be that there is a piece of king doctor tree in the wood this child is carrying?” He went to the child and asked him what price he wanted for his wood. The child having answered that he wanted ten coins, he paid this price to acquire the wood. The child put the wood down and we could not see the inside of his stomach anymore. Ki Yu (Jivaka) realised that he did not know where in the faggots was the king doctor wood. He untied two faggots and took the sticks one by one and brought them close to the child’s stomach. As he could not see anything appear, he kept trying with all the sticks. The last twig was slightly longer than a foot, he tried to use it to make some light and he saw everything in the stomach. Ki Yu (Jivaka) was very happy, because he knew that this twig was certainly the king doctor wood. Then he gave the child his wood fire back, which as he had received money and had kept his wood left very happy.

However, Ki Yu (Jivaka) was having the following thoughts:” Who am I going to heal now? This kingdom is small and it is on the border. The best would be that I went back to my country of origin to start practicing medicine.” And so he went back to the kingdom of Pokiato (Saketa). In the city of Pokiato, there was an important public figure, whose wife had been constantly suffering from migraines for twelve years; all the doctors had been treating her without being able to heal her. Ki Yu (Jivaka) heard about her and went to her home, he said to the door man:” Tell your master that a doctor is at the door”. The doorman went in and passed the message. When the public figure’s wife asked what did the doctor looked like, he answered that he was a young man. She thought that if old, experienced doctors couldn’t heal her, a young one would be even more incapable. She ordered the doorman to tell that she did not need a doctor now. He went out and told Ki Yu (Jivaka):”I gave your message to my master, but his wife answered that she did not need a doctor.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) insisted:”Go tell your Master’s wife that she only allowed me to treat her, if she is healed, she can give me what she wants.” When the doorman had reported those words, the lady thought that she did not risk anything and ordered the doorman to let him in. When Ki Yu (Jivaka) was with the public figure’s wife, he asked her about her sufferings, she answered that she was suffering in such and such way. “How did your illness start?
– It started in such and such circumstances
– Is your illness old or new?
– It started in such time.”
After all these questions, Ki Yu (Jivaka) declared:”I can heal you.” Then he took a good remedy and fried it in butter, then, he poured it in the woman’s nose. The butter came out from the patient’s mouth mixed with saliva. She collected it all in a vase and kept the butter after separating it from the saliva, which she discarded. When he saw her behaving like this, Ki Yu (Jivaka) felt sad because he was thinking:”If she is this thrifty for a little bit of soiled butter, what will she do when time comes to reward me?” The patient noticed his preoccupations and asked him:” Are you afflicted? “After his positive answer, she asked him about the reason of his affliction. “I was thinking, he told, that if you are this thrifty when it comes to a little bit of soiled butter, it would be even worse when time comes to reward me, this is why I am becoming sad.” The woman answered:” Keeping a household is not easy. What was the point of throwing this butter that could still be used to light a lamp? That is why I collected it. As for you, focus on healing my illness, no need to be afflicted.” He treated her and she was healed. Then the wife of a public figure gave him four hundred thousand ounces of gold as well as slaves and maids, and chariots with horses.

After Ki Yu (Jivaka) received all these riches, he went back to the royal city (Rajagrha) and went to Prince Wou Wei’s (Abhaya) residence. He told the doorman:”Tell the Prince that Ki Yu (Jivaka) is outside.” The doorman passed the message and the prince ordered to invite Ki Yu (Jivaka ) in at once. When he was inside, he bowed with his head on the floor, and after paying tribute he sat on the side. He gave the prince a detail tale of what had happened to him and declared that he wanted to give all the riches he had acquired to the prince.The prince convinced him not to by telling him he should not give him such a gift and by encouraging him to use this fortune on himself.

This is how Ki Yu’s (Jivaka) first recovery happened.

At the time, in the kingdom of Kiuchanmi (Kaucambi) there was the son of a notable whose intestine got tied together in his tummy when he was playing on a wheel, what he was eating and drinking could not be digested of eliminated anymore. No one in this kingdom could cure him. Locals heard that there was a great doctor who was excellent at healing patients in the kingdom of Mokie (Magadha), and sent a message to the King:” The son of a notable of the Kingdom of Kiuchanmi (Kaucambi) is ill, Ki Yu (Jivaka) can cure him, we are asking, O King, that you sent him to us.”Then King Ping Cha (Bimbisara) called Ki Yu (Jivaka) and asked him: “The son of a notable of the kingdom of Kiuchanmi (Kaucambi) is ill, can you cure him?” Because he answered that he could, the king continued:” Because you are able to cure him, I authorise you to go and treat him.” Then Ki Yu (Jivaka) got on a chariot and went to Kiu Chan Mi (Kaucambi). The son of the notable was already dead when he arrived, some musician were escorting his body. When he heard the noise, Ki Yu (Jivaka) asked:” What are this music and those drum sounds for?” Someone next to him answered:” The son of the notable you came for is dead. What you can hear is the music of the musicians escorting him.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) could differentiate all the sounds and said:” Go tell to bring this body back, it is not a corpse.” They came back as soon as the order was given. Ki Yu (Jivaka) came off his chariot, took a very sharp knife and cut open the child’s stomach. He opened where the intestine was tied up and showed the mother, father and all relatives, and told them:” His intestine got tied together like this because of playing on a wheel, therefore food and drinks were not digested anymore, but it does not mean he is dead.” He untied the intestine and put it back to its place, then he stitched the stomach and the flesh went back together, he rubbed it with a balm. The wound healed instantly and hair grew back, so much so that the scare looked like there had never been a wound. After that, the son of the notable rewarded Ki Yu (jivaka) by giving him four hundred thousand ounces of gold. His wife also gave him four hundred thousand ounces of gold, and so did the notable and his wife.

Ki Yu (Jivaka) was thinking:” I must acknowledge the role of my master. I am going to take those sixty hundred thousand ounces of gold and give them to the great master in the kingdom of To Cha Che Lo (Taksacila), Pinkialo (Pingala).” After reflecting, he took his gold and went to see his master. He honoured him by putting his face on his feet and offered the gold with the following words:” I wish, master, that you would accept this.” His master told him:”You better make an offering, I do not need this money.” As Ki Yu (Jivaka) insisted, Pinkialo( Pingala) accepted the gold. Ki Yu ( Jivaka) said good bye and left after honouring his feet.

At the time, in the kingdom, lived the fifteen year old daughter of a kialoyue grhapati), on her wedding day, she suddenly had a very acute headache and died. Ki Yu (Jivaka) was informed and went to her home, he asked her father:”What common illness caused this young girl to die early?” The father answered:” Ever since she was a child, my daughter was experiencing headaches which grew stronger by the day, this morning the pain was so intense that she died.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) entered the room and with the help of the king doctor (wood), he lit the inside of the girl’s head and saw worms, which were multiplying. There were several hundreds of them. The worms were devouring her brain, and because they had eaten all of it, she had died. Then Ki Yu (Jivaka) cut her head open with a golden knife, took all the worms out and locked them in a jar. Then he rubbed the wound with three kinds of supernatural oils. The first one fixed the damage caused in her bones by the worm bites, the second one regenerated the brain, and the third one healed the wound caused by the knife. Then Ki Yu (Jivaka) told the girl’s father:” Let her rest peacefully and make sure that she does not get scared. She should be completely healed and back to normal within ten days. I will come again when this time has passed.” After Ki Yu (Jivaka) left, the girl’s mother started crying and screaming:” My child died a second time, did anyone ever survive after having their skull cut open? How could the father let this man take our child?” The father stopped her and said:” When Ki Yu (Jivaka) was born, he was holding in his hand a bag of acupuncture needles; later he gave up some high function to practice medicine, and he did this for the greater good of all living things. He is a king doctor appointed by the sky, how could he do something unreasonable? He recommended that you did not scare the patient, but now, on the contrary, you are crying and screaming and risk to upset and scare her, because of you, our child will not be able to live.” Upon these words, the mother stopped complaining and both parents took care of their daughter. She remained still for seven days. On the seventh day, at dawn, she sighed and woke up as if she had been sleeping. She said:” I cannot feel any headache anymore, and all my body is at ease. Who healed me?” Her father told her:” You were already dead when the king doctor Ki Yu (Jivaka) came to give you a cure, he opened your head and took all the worms out, this is how you could revive.” He opened the jar and showed her the worms. When she saw them, the girl was horrified and grateful for her good fortune. She said:” Great is Ki Yu’s (Jivaka) divine power! I cannot wait to acknowledge his good deed.” Her father said:” Ki Yu (Jivaka) promised he would come today.” Moments later, Ki Yu (Jivaka) arrived. She honoured him by putting her face on his feet, she kneeled and joined hands and said: “ O Ki Yu (Jivaka) I wish to become your maid, and serve you until death to acknowledge the good deed you performed by bringing me back to life.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” I am a master doctor, and I go everywhere to cure people. I do not have a home. How would I use a maid? If you really want to reward me for the service I paid you, give me five hundred ounces of gold, not that I would use this gold, but this is the reason I am asking you this: anybody who has studied has to thank their master, even if my master did not teach me what I know, I am still his pupil, and after I have received your gold, I will give it to him.” The girl took five hundred ounces of gold and gave them to Ki Yu (Jivaka) who accepted them and gave them to his master.

After that, Ki Yu (Jivaka) informed the king of his intention to go visit his mother for some time. So he arrived into the kingdom of Weiyeli (Vaicali). There was in this kingdom the son of a kialoyue (Vaicali) who liked to practice martial arts. He had made an over seven feet tall wooden horse and was training to jump on its back, he could jump on it from the beginning and with time he was becoming more and more skilled. But all of a sudden, one day, I went over his target, lost his balance, fell on the ground and died. Ki Yu (Jivaka) was informed, he went to him straight away and used the king doctor wood to light the inside of his stomach, he observed that his liver had turned upside down. The chi was blocked and could not go through; this was what had caused his death. Ki Yu (Jivaka) cut his stomach open with a golden knife, and dipping his hand inside to explore and put things in order, he turned the liver around. Then he rub the patient with three kinds of divine balms, the first one repaired the spots his hand had felt, the second one let the chi and breath flow again, the third healed the wound caused by the knife. After he finished, he told the father:” Make sure to not scare him. He should be healed in three days.” His father followed the instructions, let the patient rest, took care of him and looked after him. When the third day came, the boy sighed and woke up, he looked like he had just woken up from a sleep, and he could get up straight away. Not long after that, Ki Yu (Jivaka) came back, the boy met him happily, he paid tribute to him, putting his face on his feet, went on his knees and said:” O Ki Yu (Jivaka) I wish to become your slave and serve until death to thank you for the good deed you made by bringing me back to life.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) replied:” I am a master doctor, the families of my patients are fighting to serve me. How would I use a slave? My mother worked very hard to raise me, and I did not have a chance to thank her for her kindness she showed taking care of me. Therefore, if you want to thank me for my services, give me five hundred ounces of gold that I would use to reward my mother for her kindness. So he took this gold and gave to his mother, Daughter of Mango Tree, and went back to the kingdom of Loyueche (Rajagrha).

After Ki Yu (Jivaka) had healed these four people, he became famous all across the Empire, and no one ignored him. In the south, there was a big kingdom, which was 8,000 lis away from Loyueche (Rajagrha), King Pin Cha and all the other little kings were his vassals. The king of this kingdom had been sick for several years . He was suffering from rage attacks. He looked at men with disdain and made them perish. When someone raised their eyes to see him, he was killing them, when someone was bowing their head and did not raise it again; he was killing them as well. Men who walked too slowly, he was killing them, those who walked to fast, he was killing them too, people who were serving by his side did not know what to do with their hands and feet. When a master doctor was preparing a remedy for him, the king was scared that he would put poison in it and kill him. He had killed countless people for various reasons, ministers, women from the harem and doctors. However, his illness was getting worse day after day, the poison was attacking his heart, he was suffocating and had a short breath, and he was feeling like his body was burning. He heard about Ki Yu (Jivaka) and wrote a letter to king Pingcha (Bimbisara) to notify that he was requesting for Ki Yu (Jivaka) to come to him. Ki Yu (Jivaka), who had heard that this king had killed numerous doctors, was very scared, as for king Pingcha (Bimbisara) he was feeling for Ki Yu (Jivaka) and was scared that he would be killed, so he did not want to let him go, but at the same time he was scared of being punished. Father and son were hugging each other in despair and did not know what to do. Eventually, king Pingcha (Bimbisara) took Ki Yu (Jivaka) with him and took him to the Buddha, he honoured him by putting his face on his feet, and said to the Buddha:” O Honoured of the World, this king has got a bad temper and I am afraid he might have the king doctor die, should he go to him?” The Buddha answered to Ki Yu (Jivaka):” In a previous life, you and I made a pact to work together to save the all universe: I would heal the illnesses of the soul, and you would heal the diseases of the body. I became Buddha, this is why, as per our wish, you should gather all beings before me (so I can heal them). The king is critically ill and he asked you from afar, why wouldn’t you go? Go rescue him quickly, make up a good remedy to cure his disease. This king is not going to kill you.”

After receiving the Buddha’s blessing, Ki Yu (Jivaka), went to the king, he took his pulse and lit his body thanks to the king doctor (wood), and noticed that the blood and the chi in his five viscera and his one hundred blood vessels were mixed-up, it was caused by the venom of a snake in his body. Ki Yu (Jivaka) said to the king:” I can cure your illness, and when I am finished, I can guaranty that you will be healed. However, I need to go in and see the queen-mother in order to discuss the composition of the remedy with her. If I cannot see the queen-mother, the remedy cannot be prepared properly.” Hearing these words, the king could not understand the reason and wanted to lose his temper, however, because he was ill and knew Ki Yu’s (Jivaka) reputation and he had mandated him to come in hope to get some help; he also considered that Ki Yu (Jivaka) was a young child and should not have ill intentions, he accepted his conditions. He mandated an eunuch to introduce him to the queen-mother.

Ki Yu (Jivaka) told the queen-mother:” The King’s disease can be cured, but now the remedy must be prepared, and because the recipe must remain a secret, it is important to exclude assistants. The queen-mother sent the eunuchs away. Then Ki Yu told to the queen-mother:” When I examined the king, I realised that the chi in his body has been poisoned by a snake, it seems like there is something not human. Whose son is the king? Queen-mother, please tell me the truth, and I will be able to heal him, if you don’t tell me, the king will never recover.” The queen-mother told him:”A long time ago, I was in the room with the golden columns. I went to sleep during the day. Suddenly some being came on me. I was kind of confused, in a state between dream and reality, it seemed like I have had a nightmare. I had sex with this being, and suddenly I saw a big snake, it was over thirty feet long and was going away from me. Then I realised that I was pregnant, the king is probably the son of this snake. I was ashamed of this adventure; this is why I did not say a word. But now, young man, you understood what happened. Your science is wonderful! [If the king can be healed, I wish to entrust you with the king’s life], what remedy should be used?” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” I need melted butter.
– Alas young man; cried the queen-mother; refrain from speaking about melted butter, because the king hates the smell of it, and also hates hearing the word pronounced. You can count by the hundreds, even the thousands the men who died for speaking about melted butter. If you talk about it now, you will probably be killed. If you gave it to the king to drink, you will never get it to go down his throat. I wish that you used some other remedy.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” Melted butter fights the poison, therefore, people who are ill because of poison will hate smelling melted butter. If the king’s illness was not serious and caused by some other poison, I would have been able to cure him with some other remedies, but because the venom of the snake is violent and has affected all of his body, we can only destroy it with melted butter. Now we need to transform the melted butter and purify it to make it a taste less liquid. The king will drink it naturally, without suspecting anything, the remedy will go down his throat, and he will be healed, don’t worry.”

Ki Yu (Jivaka), went out to see the king, he told him:” I just had an interview with the queen-mother, I gave her the recipe of the remedy, she is going to prepare it, it will be ready in two weeks, but I have five requests. If you agree on what I am about to ask you, your illness will be cured, but if you refuse, it will be incurable.” After the king had asked him about his requests, Ki yu (Jivaka) said:” First, I want you to get from your army stock, some cloth that you have not worn yet, secondly, I wish to be allowed to come and go as I wish without being controlled. Third, I request to be allowed to see the queen-mother and the queen alone every day, fourth, I want that, when you drink the remedy, you drank all of it without stopping half way, fifth, I would like the royal white elephant that can go eight thousand li.”

Hearing those words, the king lost his temper and said:” Child, how dare you make those requests? I demand that you gave a good reason for each of them, if you fail, you will be beaten to death. How dare you ask for my new cloth? You probably want to kill me, wear my cloth and pretend to be me!” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” It is necessary to be clean and pure to make the remedy, however, my cloth is soiled, this is why I would like to wear a king’s outfit when I prepare the remedy.” The king understood and said:” Very well, but why would you want to come and go as you please without control? Won’t you take advantage and bring some soldiers who will attack and kill me? Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered: “ Many time before, you have employed master-doctors, but you were suspicious of all of them and did not trust them, then you killed them and you did not take their remedies, so much so that, when I arrived, all the ministers were saying that you would make me die as well. However, because your illness is very serious, I am afraid that some people outside would make trouble, but if I can come and go as I please without control, people outside will know that your highness is trusting me, and thus will take my remedy and heal. They will not dare thinking about revolution.” The King said:” Very well. But why do you want to see my mother and my wife alone every day? Is it that you want to corrupt them?” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” O King, you have killed so many people on many occasions, thus, your subject, big or small, are all scared and they do not wish for the recovery of the king. Therefore, there is no one I could trust. If I teamed with one of them to prepare the remedy, they would take advantage of a second of inattention to throw in some poison without me noticing. It would be serious. This is why, when I was thinking about who I could trust, I could only think of your mother and your wife. I need to be introduced to the queen-mother and the queen to prepare the remedy with them, it will be ready after cooking for fifteen days, I want to get in to check that the fire is well balanced every day.”Very well, but why do you want me to drink all the remedy in one go? Isn’t it that you want to put some poison and you fear that I would notice?” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” The dosage of each ingredient in the remedy follows strict proportions, the vapours and taste must work simultaneously, if you stop half way, there will be no more links between the elements of the remedy.” The king said:”Very well, but why do you want my elephant? This elephant is the gem of my kingdom, it can walk eight thousand lis per day, I won power over the other kingdoms thanks to him. Don’t you want to steal it to bring it home and then attack my kingdom with your father?” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” On the southern border of your country, in the mountains, there is a wonderful medicinal herb growing four thousand lis from here, it is necessary that you ate this herb after drinking the remedy. I want the elephant to gather this herb leaving. I want to leave in the morning and come back in the evening to make sure you can still feel the taste of the remedy.” After receiving answers, the king gave him everything he had asked for.

Ki Yu (Jivaka) started to purify the butter by cooking it, after fifteen days, he has made it look like fresh water, he obtained five tenth bushels. Then he went out with the queen-mother and the queen, he was holding the medicine. He announced to the king that he could drink and expressed the desire that the white elephant was prepared and kept in front of the palace, the king agreed. When the king saw that the medicine looked like fresh water and was odourless and tasteless, he did not know that it was melted butter, moreover, because the queen-mother and the queen had witnessed the preparation, he was convinced that it wasn’t poison, and so he drank everything in one go as previously agreed. Ki Yu (Jivaka) and went straight back to the kingdom of Loyueche (Rajagrha), however, after travelling for three thousand lis, because he was young and not very resistant, he could not bear the speed of the race, he got dizzy and was very tired, then he stopped and went to sleep.

After midday, the king did a burp and smelt the melted butter; he lost his temper and screamed:” This little boy dared to make me have melted butter, I was wondering why was asking for my white, but it was because he wanted to run away from me.” The king had a minister named Crow (Kaka) who was a brave man, his supernatural power allowed him to catch up with the elephant by foot. The king called Crow and told him:” Chase this boy and bring him to me alive, I want him beaten to death in my presence. However, you are always lacking frugality and you are eating and drinking eagerly, that’s why you were named Crow. People like this master doctor often like to serve poison, so, if this boy offers you food, do not eat it.”

Crow received the instructions and went. He reached Ki Yu (Jivaka) in the mountain and told him:” Why did you make the king eat melted butter and pretended it to be a remedy? This is the reason why the king ordered me to chase you and ask you to come back, come back with me quickly, if you apologize and admit your fault, you might have a chance to remain alive, but if you try to escape, I will kill you straight away, and you cannot escape.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) thought:” Despite finding a way to get this elephant, I cannot escape with it anymore; I need to come up with a new stratagem. How can I follow this man?” He said to Crow:” I have not eaten anything since this morning, if I take the road to go back, I will certainly die, it would be good if you gave me some time to find some fruit to eat and water to drink in the mountain. When I will be full, I’ll go to death!” Because he could see that Ki Yu (Jivaka) was a young boy, scared by the idea of death and who was expressing himself with difficulty, Crow felt sorry for him and gave him what he was asking for, saying:” Eat quickly and we are going to go, we cannot stay here for a long time.” Then, Ki Yu (Jivake) took a pear and ate half of it, but he poured some of the poison he had under his nail on the other half and put the pear down on the ground. He also took a cup of water, and after drinking half of it, he put the rest of the poison in what was left, and put the cup back on the ground. Then he said with a sigh:” This pear and this water are divine remedies, their fragrance is pure and they are delicious, eating and drinking them is making your body healthy, all the diseases heal, and at the same time, your breath and strength are doubled. It is a pity that we can’t find them at the kingdom’s capital so that all the inhabitants can enjoy them, it is unfortunate that they remain unknown from the mountain men.” After he had finished talking, he left to the mountain to look for more fruit. Crow was a glutton, and he had heard Ki Yu (Jivaka) praise those divine remedies, and finally, he had seen Ki Yu (Jivaka) himself drink and eat, so much so that he was thinking that these foods were certainly not poisoned, he took what was left of the pear and ate it, he also finished the water. He immediately started to suffer from diarrhoea, which made his stool look like water. He fell on the ground and laid down. Every time he was getting up, he was feeling dizzy and falling down, he was unable to move.

Ki Yu (Jivaka) told him:” The king took my medicine, and therefore he is likely to be cured, but for now, the remedy has not worked yet, and the venom has not been completely destroyed yet. If I went to him now, he would kill me. You did not know this and wished to seize me to fulfil your mission, this is why I made you ill. But this illness is not serious, refrain from moving, and in three days, you will feel better, but if you get up to go after me, your death will be assured.” He got on the elephant and left. In the first village he crossed, he said to the leader of five men:” There is over there, a messenger of the king who fell suddenly ill, go and get him quickly and bring him to your home, take good care of him, give him a soft bed, give him porridge and make sure he doesn’t die. If he died, the king would destroy your kingdom.” After these words he left and went back to his country. The leader of the five men followed the orders that had been given to him, he brought Crow back and looked after him. After three days, the poison had been completely eliminated, Crow went to see the king, he bowed to the ground in front of him and said:” Truth is I am a fool, I didn’t follow your highness’s recommendations, and I trusted Ki Yu’s (Jivaka) words, I drank and ate what he had left of fruit and water, I have been affected and got diarrhoea for three days. Only now I am feeling better. I know that I deserve death.”

During the three days before Crow returned, the King had healed from his disease, he had pondered his actions and had regretted sending Crow away. When he saw him come back, he was feeling torn between compassion and joy. He told him:” Thanks to you, the young boy wasn’t brought back here when I was irate, and when I would have him most certainly beaten to death. I benefited from his actions and I am back to life. My perversity would have been terrible if I had made him died instead of rewarding him.” Then the king started to feel remorse about all the people he had unfairly killed on many occasions. He gave them honorary funerals, exempted their families from taxes, and gave them money. I wanted to see Ki Yu (Jivaka) again and say thank you for his good deed, and so he sent some messengers to fetch ki Yu (Jivaka), despite knowing that the king was healed, he remained fearful and didn’t want to go back. Ki Yu (Jivaka) went to the Buddha again, he put his head on his feet to show respect, and told him:” O honoured of the world, the king sent some messengers who came to call me, should I go? “ The Buddha answered:” Ki Yu (Jivaka), in a previous life, you promised to perform a praiseworthy action, how could you stop half way? You need to go now, and when you have cured this king’s external disease, I will cure his inside illness.” And then, Ki Yu (Jivaka) followed the messengers.

When the King saw Ki Yu (Jivaka) he was very happy, he made him seat with him, and told him, holding his arm:” Thanks to what you did for me, I was granted a new life, how can I reward you? I want to split my kingdom and give you half. I will give you half of the beautiful women in my harem, half of the precious items in my warehouse and half of my treasures, I want you to accept.” Ki Yu (Jivaka) said:” I used to be a crown prince, even if it was in a small kingdom, the population and riches I would have had were more than enough, but I didn’t enjoy governing a kingdom, and this is why I asked if I could become a doctor. I need to travel to heal my patients, what would I do with land, women and treasures? They wouldn’t be of any use to me. O King, earlier, when you granted me my five wishes, I was able to cure your outside disease, now, if you granted me one more wish, your inside illness could be removed.” The king answered:” I am ready to receive your instructions, please express your wish.”

Ki Yu (Jivaka) said:” I am asking you, O King, to invite the Buddha to come and to receive the wise law from him.” He took the opportunity to sing the praises of the Buddha to the king, and to explain the peculiar elevation of his function. Hearing his words, the king said happily:” I want to send my minister Crow on the white elephant to get the Buddha. Can I make him come this way?” Ki Yu (Jivaka) answered:” No need for the white elephant. The Buddha understands everything, he can read the thought of men from afar. Content yourself with practising abstinence and purification for a while, then prepare some offerings, burn perfumes, and praise looking in the direction of the Buddha, then stand on your knees and express your invitation: the Buddha will come by himself”.

The king followed this advice, and the following day, the Buddha arrived with a procession of one thousand two hundred and fifty bhiksus. After he finished eating, he explained the sacred scriptures to the king: then the mind of the king opened up and he felt the true and real wisdom without equal (anuttara samyak sambodhi). All the inhabitants of the kingdom came to receive the five defences and left after paying tribute.

Here is another story about Daughter of Mango Tree: ever since birth, she has been extraordinary. When she grew up, she proved herself to be intelligent, she had studied with her father and knew the theory of the holy books. She even knew more about the movement of stars than her father, moreover, she was practicing the musical arts and was singing like a deva of Brahma. Five hundred daughters of kialoyue (grhapati) and brahmanes joined her to study and to make her their great master. Daughter of Mango Tree, was always followed by her pupils and was celebrating and spreading the word of the holy books. Sometimes she was going for walks in parks or along lakes to play music. People in the country, who did not understand her behaviour, started gossiping about her; they were saying that she was depraved and her five hundred pupils had been nicknamed “the bunch of depraved”.

When Daughter of Mango tree was born, were born in the same kingdom and at the same time Daughter of Siu Man (sumana) and Daughter of Potan (udambara). Daughter of Siu Man (sumana) was born in a flower of siuman. In this kingdom, there was a kialoyue (grhapati) who was pressing siuman (sumana) flowers to make some perfumed oil, but on the side of the stone used to express the oil, an excrescence appeared suddenly, at first it was as big as a crossbow bullet and it was growing day after day until it reached the size of a fist. Then the stone exploded and in the hole, a conglomerate, which looked like a glow-worm, exited quickly and fell on the ground, after three day, a siuman plant grew, three days later, this plant grew a flower, and when the flower bloomed, there was a little girl in the centre of it. The kialoyue (grhapati) took her in and fed her, she was named Daughter of Siuman, when she grew up she became extremely beautiful, she was also talented and intelligent, only Daughter of Mango Tree could compare.

At the time, there was another Brahman. A blue lotus grew spontaneously in his pool. The flower was especially big and was growing by the day until it was the size of a five bushels jar. When the flower bloomed, a little girl could be seen in the centre. The Brahman took her in and fed her. She was named Daughter of Potan (udambara) when she grew up she became very beautiful, she was talented and intelligent, just like Daughter of Siuman.

Having heard about the beauty of the two young girls, the kings of various kingdoms kept coming and asked them to get married, but the two young girls were answering:” We weren’t born from a foetus, we came out of flowers, we are not like ordinary women, what is the point of following a man of this world to get married?” Then, when they heard about the intelligence of Daughter of Mango Tree and found out that her birth had been similar to their, they both left their father and mother to serve Daughter of Mango Tree and ask her to become her pupils. Because of their understanding of the holy books and their wisdom, they were better than the other five hundred pupils.

At the time, the Buddha came to the kingdom of Weiyeli (Vaicali), Daughter of Mango Tree, followed by her five hundred students, when she met him, she praised him with her face and kneeled. Then she said:” I wish, O Buddha, that you came to my garden to eat tomorrow.” The Buddha agreed in silence. Daughter of Mango Tree went home and prepared the offerings. When the Buddha came into town, the king met him as well and after praising him, he kneeled and said:” I wish that you came to my palace to eat tomorrow.” The Buddha answered:” Daughter of Mango Tree has already invited me, you’re coming after her.” The king said:” I am the king of this country, I came to invite you with all my heart, I was hoping that you’d accept. Daughter of Mango Tree is a depraved girl, every day, with five hundred other depraved girls, her students, she is committing illegal actions. How can you reject me to accept her invitation?”

The Buddha answered:” Daughter of Mango Tree is not depraved. In a previous life, she acquired great honours for making offerings to three hundred thousands bhuddas, back then, she, Daughter of Suiman and Daughter of Potan were sisters. Daughter of Mango Tree was the eldest, Daughter of Suiman was the second, and Daughter of Potan was the youngest. They were born in a powerful and very wealthy family, showing each other good example, the sisters were making offerings to five hundred bhiksunis, everyday they were preparing food and drinks for them, and made cloths for them to wear. They made sure they didn’t lack anything. It lasted until the end of their lives. Those three sisters had made the following vow:” In our future life, we wish to meet the Buddha and be granted to be reborn by spontaneous transformation, without going through the foetus stage and be kept from any impurity.” Now, according to their previous wish, they were born at the time I am on earth. Also, despite making donations to the bhiksuni, because they were from a powerful and wealthy family, their words were sometimes too light, sometimes they were making fun of the bhiksuni, saying:” Dear nuns, you have been looking sad for a long time, you may want to get married, but held back by our donations and our care, you cannot express your passion.” This is why these young ladies are going through this pain, even though they dedicate everyday to the promotion of the holy books, they are subject to the unfair accusation of being depraved. As for the five hundred students, they had teamed up with the girls and helped them to make the offerings, and they had enjoyed it as much, this is why they were born with them, the result of their actions has followed them.

At the time, Ki Yu (Jivaka) was the son of a poor family, when he saw Daughter of Mango Tree make offerings, it brought a lot of admiration and joy in his heart, but because he did not possess anything, he started sweeping for the bhiksunis. Every time he was making the place clean and tidy he was making this vow:”If only I could sweep this easily all the diseases and impurity that are in people’s bodies in this world.” Daughter of Mango Tree, who was compassionate poverty and approved of his efforts, always called him her son. When a bhiksuni was sick, she would always make Ki Yu (Jivaka) get the doctor and prepare the potion or remedy. She was saying:” If only you could get the reward of this good deed with me in a future life.” When Ki Yu (Jivaka) was getting the doctor, the patient always healed. Then Ki Yu (Jivaka) made a wish:” I wish to be in a future life, a great king doctor, and always cure the illnesses of the four elements of the body of every human being and heal all of those I will go to.” Thanks to his past actions, he has now become the son of Daughter of Mango Tree and everything is according to his previous vow.”

Hearing the words of the Buddha, the king kneeled and apologised for his mistakes, he also postponed the invitation to the day after. The next day, the Buddha arrived in Daughter of Mango Tree’s garden with all the bhiksus, he informed her about the honours she had gained thanks to her previous vow, when they heard the holly books, the three girls could feel their intelligence bloom and rejoiced with the five hundred students. They took orders to practice good conduct and dedicated all their energy and time to it, all of them were granted the wisdom of arhat.

The Buddha said to Ananda:”You need to keep those teachings to read them to the pupils of the four classes, and to avoid losing them. May all living beings think about their actions, their words and their thoughts, may they not become arrogant or behave too freely. Because she teased the bhiksunis in the past, Daughter of Mango Tree was wrongly accused of being depraved. Therefore, you need to keep watch over what your body, your mouth and your thoughts do. Always make excellent wishes, those who will hear you will enjoy your company and will accept your example faithfully and joyfully. Do not make false accusations, because you would fall in such hells were you would be subjected to such punishment as being reborn as an animal, then after going through hundreds and thousands of cycles, you will be born poor and despised, won’t be able to hear the real law, be born in an heretic family, always meeting a mean king and having a disabled body. Therefore you need to practice those teachings, memorise and recite them, and do not allow them to be lost in the future.”

Then Ananda stood up, he paid tribute to the Buddha’s feet by pressing his head against them, he kneeled, joined his hands and said to the Buddha:” O Honoured of the World, what is the name which should be given to the sutra in which this point of the doctrine is explained?” The Buddha answered:” The name of this Sutra is: Sutra about the Avadana on Daughter of Mango Tree and Kiyu (Jivaka). Practice the doctrine that has just been showed to you; make offerings to bhiksus and bhiksunis, give medicine, get doctors, rejoiced with others that because they made a wish in the past they are now receiving their reward. Observe all of that.”

After the Buddha had pronounced this sacred text, the big assembly, composed of the eight categories that are, men, devas, nagas, and so on, started to practice the principles joyfully.

Notes:

1 This Sutra was translated under the second Han dynasty by Ngan CheKao (the Arsacid) who came to China in the year 148 AD and worked on translations until the year 170 AD.

2 In the Kattaharijataka (Jataka #7), king Brahmadatta even gives his golden ring to a woman with whom he had an accidental encounter and told her :”if you have a girl, use the price of this ring to feed her, but if you have a boy, bring me the ring and the child.”

3 In order to make sure it would not be assumed that she had had a relashionship with an other man and to make sure the child would be recognised to be King Bimbisara’s.

4 To say thank you for taking him in

5 The Tibetan text, translated by Schiefner, informs us that this king was Shanda Pradyota

Global Asian Medicines, Religion & Medicine

“Health” in the Buddhism and Science Dialogue

July 5, 2016 Kin Cheung Leave a comment

This is a syndicated post that first appeared on Patheos.com.

In the current dialogue between Buddhist traditions and the sciences—an engagement dominated by Tibetan and Zen Buddhists on one side and psychologists and neuroscientists on the other—the subject of health is featured prominently. However, despite the shared term, participants aren’t actually talking about the same thing.

Early proponents of the Buddhism-science dialogue, like Paul Ekman, Richard Davidson, Matthieu Ricard, and Alan Wallace, have focused on the theme of psychological health. One prominent outcome of this dialogue has been the mindfulness movement, which has grown out of the clinical study of Buddhist-based meditation practices. Recently, Buddhist scholars such as Robert Sharf and Jared Lindhahl have pointed out the ways in which Buddhism and mindfulness diverge on meanings of health and well-being.

Definitions of health, as they enter into a field of knowledge, also participate within fields of power, with social and economic consequences. The gay and lesbian social movements, for example, had to fight to remove homosexuality as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, in order to gain the right to be recognized as healthy. It took another 16 years for the World Health Organization (WHO) to remove homosexuality from its International Classification of Diseases in 1990. Conversely, individuals may wish to receive the unhealthy label because of the rights gained from such recognition, especially in the case of gray area or borderline conditions such as migraines, fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

The current focus is on an individualized health, where the burden is placed primarily on individual autonomy to strive for improvement and maintenance. The power structure of contemporary society shifts responsibility away from corporations that are responsible for pollution and government policy that allow them to get away with it (or pay for carbon offsets) towards individuals who bear the consequences. In other words, social ills are pathologized or medicalized as individual disease. Reflecting on these assumptions of health is a first step in changing these conditions.

The concept of health is by no means easy to pin down. But just as with the definition of religion, so notoriously elusive, tackling and constantly revisiting definitions of health may uncover the unexamined assumptions that mask its social power. Definitions delineate and set bounds, but that is not the end goal. The intent is not to arrive at a perfect, unchanging definition of health, but rather illuminate what it means to be healthy and why.

Scientific studies of Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practices examine how they can promote mental and somatic health. Clinical research on these practices have done the most studies on stress, anxiety, depression, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and substance abuse disorders. Looking for the philosophical foundation of health on which this body of research rests allows us to examine how the Buddhism and science dialogue does not have a consistent idea of health.

The first definition to consider is by the WHO, drafted in 1946 and still unchanged: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” WHO, it should be noted, bases its approach in the Western scientific model of medicine, as evidenced by their exclusion of all else as complementary/alternative medicine. And like its conception of medicine, WHO’s definition of health assumes a paradigm situated in Western modernity. This definition of health, however, has been criticized as being vague, idealistic, conflating health with happiness, and difficult to operationalize or measure. Since scientific research need physically measurable and operationalized definitions, this is not the likely foundational model. For example, Erika Rosenberg et al.’s 2015 study that shows how meditation impacts compassion could not simply claim subjects showed more sadness when viewing upsetting images. Rather, they had to record physical data from all 44 muscle groups on the face to make the case that the subjects were indeed sad. This emphasis on concrete data suggests that the WHO’s difficult-to-operationalized definition does not support these studies.

A more likely candidate for the philosophical foundation of such research is a negative formulation of health, which defines health as the absence of disease, in contradistinction to WHO’s positive formulation. Bjørn Hofmann argues there is no positive definition of health in the philosophy of Western medicine because the field can function without it. Christopher Boorse articulated a definition that accommodates scientific research: a biostatistical definition of health.

In his widely cited 1977 essay Health as a Theoretical Concept, Boorse gives the following definition: “health is normal functioning, where the normality is statistical and the functions biological.” For example, since the biological function of the heart is to pump blood, an individual is healthy if her heart is able to perform within a statistical range compared to her peers. Boorse champions the biostatistical definition of health as “value-free”, which he considers a benefit, based on his desire to provide an objective scientific definition. However, his view has been criticized as not truly value-free, and also has been opposed by those who argue for “value-laden” accounts of health and illness. Problems with taking this definition for granted include reifying a statistical norm, which excludes the differently abled, neuroatypical, and other underrepresented minority groups (statistical, and otherwise) as healthy.

It is important to note the lack of attention towards this term in the Buddhism and science dialogue, despite its common usage. The surface compatibilities between the two conceptions of health dissolve upon further investigation, which reveals deep incongruities. For example, the studies on how Buddhism-based meditation can alleviate anxiety and prevent depression relapse presume the latter are unhealthy mental conditions. The contemporary understanding of these states associate them with loss of value, hopelessness, despair, distress, shame, and anger. Sharf develops Gananath Obeyesekere’s observation that these states reflect a good Buddhist who has overcome ignorance and are signs of Buddhist mental health, defined as wisdom and insight into the predicament of samsaric reality: that to live is to suffer. Lindhahl questions if the way suffering is addressed in mindfulness-based interventions is the same as how Buddhism addresses suffering. He notes that there is no agreed upon operationalized definition of suffering in psychology. Rather, there are components such as stress, anxiety, and depression. And the resulting reduction of suffering for the purposes of mental health rests in large part on reduction of symptoms. In contrast, he argues Buddhist models of health explains the origin of suffering, and thus the way to reduce, alleviate, or overcome it towards health and well-being, is in relation to ignorance, craving, and karma.

The Buddha said that health (arogya, literally the absence of illness), is “the highest gain (labha).” He is portrayed in the canon as the “king of physicians” (vaidyaraja), concerned with healing sentient beings from physical illness and soteriological dis-ease. The Four Noble Truths have been compared to four stages of medical treatment: diagnosis (the truth of dukkha), etiology (cause of dukkha), prognosis (cessation of dukkha), and cure (path to cessation). Pierce Salguero (2014) provides the following summary:

From its very inception in northeastern India in the last centuries BCE, the Buddhist tradition has advocated a range of ideas and a repertoire of practices that are said to ensure health and well-being. Early Buddhism also provided devotees with certain types of rituals to comfort the sick and dying, ascetic meditations on the structure and function of the body, and monastic regulations on the administration and storage of medicines. Buddhist texts also frequently used metaphors and narrative tropes concerning disease, healing, and physicians in discourses explaining the most basic doctrinal positions of the Dharma. As Buddhism developed in subsequent centuries, a number of healing deities were added to the pantheon, monastic institutions became centers of medical learning, and healer monks became famed for their mastery of ritual and medicinal therapeutics.

The above examples reveal that although Buddhism is concerned with health, its models of health are difficult to reconcile with the paradigm of health assumed by most researchers in this dialogue, who are conducting studies on how meditation affects health and well-being. To elaborate, the Pali canon mentions demons, imbalance of the four elements, and tridosa (the “three defects” or “three disturbances”)—Wind, Bile, and Phlegm—as causes of physical disease and suffering. Mental illnesses are caused by illusions or wrong views (greed, ill will, pride). In addition, Buddhist conceptions of health are intricately tied to ethics and karma. Unethical conduct may lead to karma that causes physical illness.

Though Buddhist meditation has been researched as a means to lower blood pressure and stress, in early Chinese Buddhism, meditation was prescribed as an activity to get rid of negative karma. According to Zhiyi’s classification of the causes of illness, one etiological category was improper meditative practice. Some Chinese and Japanese Buddhists warned of meditation sickness (禪病 Ch. chánbìng, Jp. zenbyō). Willoughby Britton’s work on “The Varieties of Contemplative Experiences” highlights potential adverse effects of meditation in Buddhist and other contexts. Thus, while meditation is currently promoted for health, it can have the opposite effect.

Even if one is not interested in Buddhist soteriology, or Buddhist conceptions of karma (which entails rebirth and is not a psychologized karma of “secular” or “atheist” Buddhist interpretations), looking to Buddhist models of health is a step away from accepting the contemporary biostatistical model. It is an open question if and how much Buddhist models can influence the current model. Nevertheless, raising this topic is a first step if the dialogue between Buddhism and science wishes to learn from each other.

What does a society look like if it treats the Buddhist poisons of greed and hatred quite literally as causing mental illnesses? What happens if people are deemed unhealthy when such greed and hatred leads to a lack of meaningful relationships to other sentient beings and the environment? Should there be more attention towards social defects and imbalances as causes of disease? While Buddhist societies in the past will never live up to a romanticized ideal, the supposed goal of the dialogue is toward mutual understanding and improvement.

Rather than leaving the term health unexamined, investigating science and Buddhism’s convergences and divergences on health sheds light on the relationship between the two fields, which are not monolithic unchanging entities. There may be few psychologists today who, taking after Freud, consider religion in general as a neurosis, or like his student Franz Alexander, understand the Buddhist obsession with self-absorption as mental illness. Yet, some scientists—like biologist Richard Dawkins and neuroscientist Sam Harris, or other “militant/new atheists”—consider religion as a social ill. On the other side, there are Buddhists like Tsültrim Lodrö, a contemporary Tibetan Buddhist scholar and head of a monastic college who criticizes the sciences as less rational than Buddhism. To invert Alexander, it is not difficult to imagine Buddhists who see modern psychology’s obsession with ego-self-development as deluded mental illness.

Looking at health also clarifies the relationship between Buddhism and mindfulness. Touted as a panacea, mindfulness has been advocated as mental hygiene, one of the newest health fads. Critics of the Mindfulness movement question what sort of mental health the practice of nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness cultivates. To obviate the problems with an unreflective definition of health, elucidating this term will lead to new directions in healthcare and clinical research, and provide fodder for the dialogue. It will challenge what it means for individuals, communities, and societies to be healthy.

Boorse, Christopher. 1977. “Health as a Theoretical Concept” Philosophy of Science 44 (4): 542-573.

Rosenberg, Erika L., et al. 2015. “Intensive Meditation Training Influences Emotional Responses to Suffering.” Emotion 15 (6): 775–90.

Salguero, C. Pierce. 2014. “Buddhism & Medicine in East Asian History.” Religion Compass 8 (8): 239–50.

Chinese & East Asian Medicines, Religion & Medicine

The Doctor, the Scholar (and the Meditator?)  in Middle Period China

June 2, 2016 Stephen Boyanton Leave a comment

A doctor, a scholar, and a meditator walk into a bar… and they’re the same person!

This (admittedly rather bad) joke flitted into my head while we sat together on a grey October day at Johns Hopkins’ Institute for the History of Medicine discussing the frequent but frequently fraught intersections of meditation, healing, and the scholarship that claims to understand these two. Continue reading The Doctor, the Scholar (and the Meditator?)  in Middle Period China →

Religion & Medicine, Sowa Rigpa & Himalayan Medicines

New Major Wellcome Exhibition: Tibet’s Secret Temple: Body, Mind and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism

November 26, 2015 Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim Leave a comment

Heinrich Jäschke, a nineteenth-century Moravian missionary to Ladakh, is mostly known amongst scholars of Tibet for his pioneering 1881 Tibetan–English Dictionary. In his entry on ‘rlung’—a fundamental concept of Tibetan medicine and Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, commonly translated into English as ‘wind’ or ‘vital energy’—following his definition of the term, he added: ‘These notions concerning rlung are one of the weakest points of Tibetan physiology and pathology’. Strong words for a dictionary.

It is hard to think of what might better demonstrate the extent to which western perception of the term has evolved since Jäschke wrote those words than the new Wellcome exhibition “Tibet’s Secret Temple: Body, Mind and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism” which opened in London this week. The focus of this major exhibition is a series of intricate murals adorning the walls of the Lukhang (klu khang) Temple in Lhasa. Situated on a small island on a lake behind the Potala in Lhasa, the Lukhang was built in the late 17^th century during the reigns of the Fifth and Sixth Dalai Lamas as a private sanctuary for meditation and spiritual practice.

One key focus of these murals is a fascinating depiction of a tradition of exercises known as trulkhor (‘khrul ‘khor or ‘phrul ‘khor), combining both physical movements and breathing, to stabilise and regulate one’s rlung. Rlung links between what in western terms is termed ‘body’ and ‘mind’. With its inherent crossing over between ‘body’ and ‘mind’, it is a concept that calls into our attention an awareness that the mere standard western interpretations of what constitutes ‘body’ and what constitutes ‘mind’ are largely irrelevant when trying to understand the Tibetan medical and Buddhist modes of understanding human beings.

Trulkhor practices, once only taught to advanced practitioners, are now increasingly practised and even used within conventional biomedical settings. Approaches to body-mind, well-being and meditation—all deriving from the Tibetan understanding of rlung—are more generally making their mark on western methods of treatments.

Even by Tibetan standards the Lukhang is pretty hard to get to. Of the eminent Tibetologists and Tibetophiles who assembled at the opening night, there were only less than a handful who ever managed to enter it. The intricate, thoughtful and sophisticated reconstruction of the murals in the exhibition has made them, not just more accessible, but also in many respects better than the originals. Every single posture is visible, every single caption is readable. But perhaps more importantly: the space in which they are reconstructed—and the process one goes through leading to that space—is profoundly inspirational. This is curating at its best.

Tibet’s Secret Temple: Body, Mind and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism runs at the Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, from 19 November 2015 to 28 February 2016.

http://wellcomecollection.org/secrettemple

Religion & Medicine

Mahayana Buddhist Healing Rituals

November 21, 2015 Ji Hyang Padma Leave a comment

Continue reading Mahayana Buddhist Healing Rituals →

Sowa Rigpa & Himalayan Medicines

[NBN Episode] Janet Gyatso, Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet

April 24, 2015 Carla Nappi Leave a comment

Syndicated from: http://newbooksineastasianstudies.com/2015/04/24/janet-gyatso-being-human-in-a-buddhist-world-an-intellectual-history-of-medicine-in-early-modern-tibet-columbia-up-2015/ Continue reading [NBN Episode] Janet Gyatso, Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet →

Chinese & East Asian Medicines, Religion & Medicine, Research & Teaching

A Beginner’s Guide to the Academic Study of Chinese Buddhist Texts

December 8, 2013 Pierce Salguero Leave a comment

Here are some resources for getting started in the study of Chinese Buddhist texts. This page will be updated on a periodic basis, so feel free to suggest any additions via email or Facebook. The date above reflects the last time this page was modified.

Preliminary Readings

The Encyclopedia of Buddhism has an entry-level essay on the Buddhist canon by (see Vol. 1, pp. 111–5).

The Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd Edition) has two articles that serve as useful starting points. Under “Buddhist Books and Texts” in Vol. 2, see entries on Canon & Canonization (pp. 1251–61) and Translation (pp. 1265–8).

For more historical information on the development of the Chinese canon, see Mizuno, Kogen. Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co., 1995.

Navigating the Canon

CBETA’s digitized, corrected Buddhist canon is available online at http://www.cbeta.org/index.htm, and in jCBReader (an off-line Java app available for multiple platforms) at http://www.cbeta.org/reader/jcbreader.php. I prefer the reader, as is has many powerful search functions. A tutorial on the current version of the software is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAPhm3kiJOA

Many people prefer to use SAT’s online canon: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/index_en.html. One advantage is that it is linked directly to individual entries in the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism. However, in some recent tests, I have found that the interface is buggy with certain features only working intermittently. When working on a text, you should always check the SAT version against the CBETA version, as there may be differences in punctuation and sometimes corrections that have been made in the latter that can be quite helpful.

If you want to check the original text, both the Korean Tripitaka http://kb.sutra.re.kr/ritk_eng/search/searchBranch.do and the Dunhuang corpus http://idp.bl.uk are available online.

For cross-references to the Pāli, Sanskrit, and Tibetan canons, use the online version of Lancaster & Park http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/index.html or CBETA’s tool http://jinglu.cbeta.org which also includes Manchurian and some Western translations.

Chuck Muller’s index page http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/indexes/taisho-ddb.html links to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism entries on each text and to Marcus Bingenheimer’s comprehensive running list of sutras available in translation.

For quick look-ups of titles, attributed authors, and attributed dates for texts that aren’t in the DDB, use the Fascicule Annexe du Hōbōgirin (1978 ed.) and Christian Wittern’s online index: http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~wittern/can/can2/ind/canwww.htm

Dictionaries

The best online dictionary, which incorporates numerous print dictionaries, is Chuck Muller (ed.), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/

For problem characters, type one of its radicals (or better yet, more than one) into this search field: http://chise.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ids-find If you still can’t find a Unicode character, use the DIY tool here: http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2013/02/26/creating-characters-by-svg

Sanskrit, Pāli, and Tibetan terms are included in the DDB, and the home page links to standard online dictionaries for these languages and a number of other language tools: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/

Other online dictionaries you might want to try include (in no particular order): http://www.buddhism-dict.net/dealt,http://dictionary.buddhistdoor.com/en/, http://taotao-project.org/translator,http://www.hanyudazidian.com/bolshaya_kitayskaya_entsiklopediya, http://www.zdic.net.

Other Useful Websites

William Bodiford’s reference guide for Buddhist Studies has useful background information and bibliographic information: http://www.alc.ucla.edu/refguide/refguide.htm

For secondary scholarship, see Chuck Muller (ed.) H-Buddhism Bibliography Project on Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/groups/h-buddhism_bibliography_project

When you can’t figure it out yourself, you can always throw out a question on the Scholars of Buddhist Studies Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/221346307889011/