Introduction

In the last two chapters, we have provided background information on the history of ancient Indian medicine, as well as on the primary source of the Vinaya Piṭaka and its Chapter on Medicine. We have also looked at the brief histories and basic principles of Āyurveda and modern biomedicine, as well as the general concepts of health/disease and principles of ancient medicine set out in the early Buddhist literature of the dharmavinaya. Now we come to the main focus of this thesis–the medical data in the Chapters on Medicine. This and the next chapter will deal with such medical facts concerning the medicinal substances and the diseases with their remedies. The present chapter examines the drugs and aims to answer the first and third research questions–which we have raised in Chapter One–in relation to them: what were those drugs in the Chapters on Medicine and what are their interpretations in light of modern language or knowledge.^[1]

Medicinal substances play an important role in most healing systems. These systems often possess vast bodies of materia medica. Ancient Indian medicine also employed many therapeutic substances, which were of animal, vegetal, and mineral origin. This has been shown in the classical Āyurvedic treatises. Many scriptures of Indian Buddhism also contain information on Indian medicine, recording various medicinal substances used in ancient India. The Chapter on Medicine of the Vinaya Piṭaka, in particular, is thought to comprise very old medical data of the śrāmaṇ-ic phase of ancient Indian medicine (which, as discussed in Chapter Two, is shown to precede the classical Āyurvedic phase that originated around the start of the Common Era). There is large number of medicinal substances belonging to the three categories–animal, vegetal, and mineral–found in this text. Animal substances are, for example, ghee, butter, fats, and so on. Vegetal drugs are derived from different parts of plants, such as roots, stems, leaves, and so forth. Minerals as the chief constituent are present in many types of salt and ash. These drugs listed in the Chapters on Medicine will be discussed in this chapter.

The present chapter is going to examine the data of drugs set out in the Chapters on Medicine, while the next chapter will cover cases of diseases and their corresponding remedies. The reason for such arrangement–drugs to be explored first and treatments for diseases later–is that it conforms to the teaching mode in Āyurveda and modern medicine. In these two medical systems, knowledge of drugs is to be acquired before learning about diseases and treatments. In Āyurveda, materia medica is taught in the section of Sūtrasthāna (the first part in classical treatises dealing with general principles). Likewise, the discipline of pharmacology is usually taught early in medical training as a preclinical subject. This is why the medicinal substances are first discussed in this chapter, before the medical cases of illness and treatment in the next.

How will we study these drugs in the Chapters on Medicine? As shown in the Methodology section in Chapter One, a three-fold interpretation consisting of narration, explanation, and translation, will be employed for studying the medical data in the Chapters on Medicine. The medicinal substances in the Chapters on Medicine will be organised in categories as shown in the Chapters on Medicine. The three-fold interpretation will then be applied to each group. With regard to these substances, narration refers to collecting and enumerating the relevant drugs from different versions of the Chapter on Medicine. Passages relating to the same category of drugs are translated from the primary sources and are listed together in a table providing a detailed picture of that group of drugs and allowing comparison. Explanation means expounding the different categories of drugs by means of information taken from comparable passages in the Vinayas, Buddhist commentaries and/or Āyurvedic texts, which help illuminate these substances. ^[2] Translation is the rendering of the medicinal substances into modern English names and scientific/botanical terms, as well as the comprehension of such substances in terms of contemporary knowledge. Scientific/botanical names are necessary especially for plants where a common name often can refer to different species. Those substances where their English names are already clear enough–such as honey, butter, etc.–will have no necessity to show any scientific names. All original names, English common names, and scientific/botanical names of the substances in a category will be summarised and presented in a table at the end of each section.

By conducting these three steps, this chapter aims at introducing to readers what those medicinal substances are, so that two purposes can be achieved: readers can understand these terms when they read them in the Chapters on Medicine (or in other Buddhist texts), and they can better appreciate the discussions and interpretations of treatments for diseases in the next chapter. Hence, “preclinical” knowledge on drugs will be provided first to readers for better comprehending the “clinical” treatments of diseases. This chapter, however, is not meant to be a detailed medical or pharmaceutical essay. Information of the drugs can be complex in terms of Āyurvedic or modern pharmacological descriptions, and details will not be provided here.^[3] Only a general introduction of groups of drugs will be provided. Particular actions or effects of certain drugs will be elaborated when their uses for treating certain diseases are deemed necessary in Chapter Five. Thorough details of the drugs, rather, are available in many classical and modern Āyurvedic texts or books on Indian materia medica. These references can be explored if readers, after having general ideas what the drugs in the Chapters on Medicine are, find these substances intriguing and are interested to learn more. Moreover, not all medicinal substances in the Chapters on Medicine will be covered in this chapter; some will be studied in the next chapter. Those which are named in particular categories of medicines and those which are mentioned for use in non-specific sicknesses will be covered here. Substances involved in remedies for particular illnesses, such as collyria for eye diseases, sour gruel for wind problems, and so on will be handled in the following chapter.

“Medicines” in Buddhist literature are divided into four main types according to the time for use: those for proper time (before noon), improper time (afternoon and at night), seven days at most, and the duration of one’s life. As said in the Methodology of this thesis, we will only study the latter two types. It is because the former two are virtually various kinds of food and drink for relieving hunger and thirst and maintaining life. Seven-day medicines and medicines for use throughout one’s whole life are consumed with the purpose of their healing effect and they are the main foci of this chapter.

In this chapter, the medicinal substances being studied will be presented in two major groups: one covers those prescribed for use within seven days and another deals with those allowed for use throughout one’s whole lifespan. In each of these two groups, categories of drugs as found in the Chapters on Medicine, such as lipids and sweets, fats, vegetal parts and derivatives, and minerals, will be described. A miscellaneous category in the group of drugs for use throughout one’s whole life will cover those substances which are not clearly classified in the original sources. These categories of medicinal substances will be examined one by one in the following sections.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The three research questions of this thesis, as stated in Section 1. 2. 1 in Chapter One, are: (i) what were the medicinal substances as well as the illnesses and their remedies as recorded in the Chapters on Medicine; (ii) how could these medical data be understood, and why was such a method employed for this study;and (iii) what would be the interpretations of these drugs and diseases in terms of modern knowledge. The first and third questions relate to the discussion and interpretation of the medical data in the Chapter on Medicine; the second question pertains to the methodology of this research, which has been discussed in Section 1. 3 in Chapter One.

[2]:

However, while studying the drugs, it has been noted that the categorisation of medicinal substances in the Chapters on Medicine and that in Āyurveda are quite different. Certain groups of drugs in the Chapters on Medicine may not find much analogous Āyurvedic detail to help the explanations.

[3]:

For example, in Āyurveda, a medicinal substance can be described comprehensively in terms of certain attributes: taste (rasa), property (guṇa), potency (vīrya), taste after digestion (vipāka), and action (karma). For knowledge of these attributes, see Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 9;also Caraka Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 26 and Suśruta Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 40.