Medicines for the Duration of one’s Life (Introduction)

Now we discuss those medicines which were allowed by the Buddha for possession and consumption by a sick monk/nun for the duration of one’s life. They are not served as foods, but are used for healing purpose. These substances belong to various vegetal parts and derivatives, as well as minerals. In the Chapters on Medicine, these drugs are categorised by means of parts of a plant or of certain forms of minerals (such as salts). This mode of categorisation of drugs, however, does not find its full parallel in Āyurveda. As mentioned in Chapter Two, śrāmaṇic medicine is believed to be the precursor of classical Āyurveda, and the medical knowledge of this phase–at least part of it being preserved in the early Buddhist literature–probably would have formed the foundation for the well-systematised Āyurveda.

Thus the categorisation of drugs in the Chapters on Medicine may well have been adopted by Āyurveda. However, not all these categories are identified in Āyurvedic texts; certain categories of drugs such as stems, leaves, flowers, gum-resins, and alkaline ashes are not apparent in Āyurveda, though these substances are used in this medical system. They are not put in particular categories like those in the Chapters on Medicine. This indicates that the Āyurvedic system may have modified the early categorisation from śrāmaṇic knowledge and have developed its own form.