Bhesajjakkhandhaka (Chapter on Medicine)

by Hin-tak Sik | 2016 | 121,742 words

This study deals with the ancient Indian Medicine (Ayurveda) in Early Buddhist Literature and studies the Bhesajjakkhandhaka and the Parallels in other Vinaya Canons. The word Bhesajja means “medicine” and is the sixth chapter of the Khandhaka, which represents the second book of the Pali Vinaya Pitaka. Other works consulted include the Bhaisajya-s...

The Vinaya Piṭaka, Skandhaka, and Bhesajjakkhandhaka

The main source for the present study is the Chapter on Medicine. It is found in the Skandhaka section of the Vinaya Piṭaka. The Vinaya Piṭaka is one of the three divisions of the traditional Buddhist canon (the Tripiṭaka, which literally means the “Three Baskets”).[1] For those readers who are not familiar with this Buddhist literature, there may be a need to concisely introduce these texts. Thus, this section will provide an overview for each of the following three, respectively: the Vinaya Piṭaka (in Subsection 2. 2. 1), the Skandhaka (in Subsection 2. 2. 2), and the Chapter on Medicine (in Subsection 2. 2. 3).

[1. The Vinaya Piṭaka]

[2. The Skandhaka]

[3. The Chapter on Medicine]

In this section, a concise overview of the Vinaya Piṭaka, the Skandhaka, and the Chapter on Medicine have been provided. The Vinaya Piṭaka is one of the three parts of the Tripiṭaka. It is the scripture dealing with rules and regulations for the saṅgha members (monks and nuns). Such rules were laid down due to the appearance of misconduct among the monastic members. The function of the Vinaya is to control the bodily and verbal deeds, which in turn help discipline the mind. Moreover, the Buddha set the rules to bring ten benefits to the saṅgha which are conducive for the spiritual development of its members, the harmony and purity of the saṅgha, the respectability and worthiness of its members, a good relationship with the laity, and the continuance of the Buddha’s teachings.

The compilation of the Buddhist canon, including the Vinaya Piṭaka, is believed to have started at the First Council in the first rains retreat after the demise of the Buddha, which aimed at preserving the Buddha’s teachings. The initial form of the Vinaya Piṭaka compiled at this meeting is not certain, but could have been an embryonic one which may be either the Prātimokṣa or the Vibhaṅga, according to scholars. After the initial version was compiled, rules and items were further collected and added, and the Vinaya Piṭaka was gradually developed with the additional formation of the Skandhaka and the appendix texts. With the schisms within the Buddhist community, Buddhist canons were formed for individual schools (at least some of them), and hence different Vinaya Piṭakas were established.

There are six extant Vinaya Piṭakas belonging to six schools: the Theravāda, the Dharmaguptaka, the Mahīśāsaka, the Sarvāstivāda, the Mūlasarvāstivāda, and the Mahāsāṃghika. The Theravāda Vinaya Piṭaka exists wholly in Pāli;the Vinaya Piṭakas of the Dharmaguptaka, the Mahīśāsaka, the Sarvāstivāda, and the Mahāsāṃghika schools have been translated to Chinese;the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Piṭaka have come to us partially in Sanskrit and in Chinese, and presumably whole in Tibetan.

For each Vinaya Piṭaka, there are two major components: the Vibhaṅga and the Skandhaka. Some of the Vinaya Piṭakas have an appendix/appendices as well. Moreover, two other Vinaya texts may stand alone from the Vinaya Piṭaka–the Prātimokṣa listing the basic rules for monks (or nuns) to follow, and the Karmavācanā being the summary of monastic meeting/activity procedures mentioned in the Skandhaka.

As mentioned, the Skandhaka is a major component of the Vinaya Piṭaka, which contains a lot of rules about various aspects of monastic life, such as the procedures for meeting or activity, usage or possession of things (e.g. medicines, food, footwear, clothing, etc.), teacher-pupil relationship, circumstantial etiquette, and so on.

This text has different names in different Vinaya Piṭakas. In the Theravāda and Dharmaguptaka Vinaya Piṭakas, it is known as Khandhaka/Skandhaka;in the Mahīśāsaka and Sarvāstivāda versions, the term Dharmaka is used; the Mūlasarvāstivāda and the Mahāsāṃghika schools employ the term Vastu and Varga respectively to refer to this text.

So far there are three hypotheses in relation to the formation of the Skandhaka text. One is that all Skandhakas have been derived from an “old Skandhaka text”, and this is posited by Frauwallner (1956); another is that it comes, as part of the Vinaya Piṭaka, from an original Vinaya Piṭaka formed soon after the Buddha’s demise, and this is suggested by Hirakawa (1960); the last, proposed by Yinshun (2002), considers that the Skandhakas have their origin as a Mātṛkā text. There is no consensus to these hypotheses and hence the way the Skandhaka was actually formed is still not yet certain.

In the extant Skandhakas, the number of topic sections ranges from seventeen to twenty-two. Each of these sections has the related items of rules and events (leading to the laying down of rules) grouped around a certain topic, such as ordination, rains retreat, medicines and food, clothes, procedures for settling disputes, and so on. There are also partial biographies of the Buddha, and records of the first two Buddhist Councils. Different Skandhakas have their lists of topic sections which show no identity. The contents of them reveal close similarity, though there are also differences in the arrangement and elaboration of the contents.

The Chapter on Medicine is one of the topic sections in the Sthavira Skandhakas (and the Mahāsāṃghika version does not have a separate chapter). It is believed to be one of the earliest sections formed because of the consistency of the content materials in different versions and of the high position in the lists of topic sections in the Skandhakas. These Sthavira Chapters on Medicine could have come from a common original text. Differences in the arrangement of the content items and their explanations amongst the Chapters on Medicine show later modifications conducted by individual schools.

The Chapter on Medicine deals with two major areas: medicines and food/drink. It contains the rules for utilising and possessing drugs (as well as certain tools) for treating certain diseases. It also relates to the Buddha’s permission for consuming certain food and drink, for handling and storing food, for acceptance of the laity’s invitation for meals, and for relaxing some rules about cooking and storing food during droughts.

In the next section, a brief history of Āyurveda and its basic principles will be outlined, so that the readers can equip themselves with some fundamental Āyurvedic knowledge before reading the discussion and interpretation in Chapters Four and Five, which deal with medicinal drugs and diseases/treatments respectively.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The other two divisions are the Sūtra Piṭaka (“Basket of the Discourses”) and the Abhidharma Piṭaka (“Basket of the Higher Analytic Doctrines”), though the latter is believed to be later addition than the other two parts. That is, the Sūtra Piṭaka and the Vinaya Piṭaka are early components in Buddhist literature.

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