Medicines (a): Roots (Mūla)

Many but not all Chapters on Medicine contain a list of roots, and these substances are allowed as medicines for one’s whole life. The Dharmaguptaka, the Mahīśāsaka and the Mahāsāṃghika Vinayas have only mentioned that root-medicines are used but no items are named.

The data on root-medicine in various Chapters on Medicine are:^[1]

Theravāda:—“… the root medicines [are]: turmeric, ginger, sweet flag, other varieties of sweet flag, Indian atees, picrorhiza, vetiver, nut grass, or whatever other root medicines there are; neither they serve as hard food among the hard food, nor as soft food among the soft food. Having accepted them, [one has] to take care of [them] for the duration of one's life, [and] to use[them] when there is a reason.”^[2]

Dharmaguptaka:—“At that time there was a sick monk. [He] needed the five major kinds of root-medicine. The Buddha said: ‘[I] allow using [them].’ [He] needed the five minor kinds of root-medicine. The Buddha said: ‘[I] allow using [them]. A monk with a reason of illness [can] use [these] for the duration of one’s life.’”^[3]

Mahīśāsaka:—“The Buddha said: ‘All root-medicines are allowed for consumption’.”^[4]

Sarvāstivāda:—“Medicines for one’s whole life are: [There are] five kinds of rootmedicines. What are the five kinds? One, rice grass; two, ginger; three, aconite; four, Indian atees; five, root of sweet flag. These medicines are for the duration of one’s life, [and one can] stay with them in the same room overnight without committing offence.”^[5]

Mūlasarvāstivāda (Sanskrit):—“Therein, root-medicine is: nut grass, sweet flag, turmeric, fresh ginger, Indian atees; or, furthermore, another [root which] serves for the need of root-medicine [but] not for the need of food.”^[6]

Mūlasarvāstivāda (Chinese):—“What is the root-medicine? It means [root of] nut grass, sweet flag, turmeric, fresh ginger, [or] baifuzi 白附子. If, further, there is another thing [as root-medicine], these [above-mentioned ones] are examples.[If] it can act as medicine, it is to be used at will.”^[7]

Mahāsāṃghika^[8] :—“Roots for improper time are: root of sweet flag, root of long pepper, root of banyan tree,^[9] root of qutiluo 佉提羅 (spreading hogweed or bitter gourd?), ^[10] root of suqiandu 蘇揵闍 (Indian birthwort or greater galangal?).^[11] Like these [roots, those which] are not fit as food are called root for improper time.”^[12]

There are some exegetical explanations for the above Pāli passage. According to the Samantapāsādikā (V. 1090), vacattha is explained as sesavacaṃ, which literally means “the remaining or the rest of vacā.” This explanation seems to refer to other varieties of sweet flag. This is supported by Khare’s description (2004, 18) that there are three other varieties of sweet flag. Besides, in the Theravāda Bhesajjakkhandhaka, it also mentions that there was a need of crushed root-medicines. The Buddha then allowed the use of two tools: the under-grindstone (nisadā) and smallgrindstone (nisadapota). The Samantapāsādikā (V. 1090) explains these two items as “the grinding stone and the small grinder” (piṃsanasilā ca piṃsanapotako ca).

According to Āyurveda, various parts or derivatives of a plant can be used as drugs, such as the “root, bark, sāra (aqueous extract), secretions, fibre, juice, tender leaves, alkali preparations, latex, fruits, flowers, ashes, oils, thorns, matured leaves, adventitious roots, rhizomes, sprouts” (Caraka Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 1. 73-74). There are plenty of roots being used as drugs in this tradition. These roots are enumerated as groups of five (pañcamūla), in which there are a group of major five roots (mahat- or bṛhatpañcamūla) and another of minor five roots (laghu- or hrasva-pañcamūla),^[13] which are likely to be the ones mentioned in the Dharmaguptaka and the Mahāsāṃghika Vinayas. The major five roots are those of: bael tree (bilva), headache tree (agnimantha), Indian trumpet flower (śyonāka), trumpet flower tree (pāṭalā), and white teak (kāśmarī, syn. gambhārī). The minor five roots are those of: puncture vine (gokṣura(ka), syn. śvadaṃṣṭrā), sal leaved desmodium (śālaparṇī, syn. vidārigandhā), pṛśniparṇī,^[14] poison berry (bṛhatī), and yellow-berried nightshade (kaṇṭakārī, syn. nidigdhikā). These five major and five minor roots are collectively known as the group of ten roots (daśamūla) (Dash 2008, 23). Apart from these, there are also other groups of five, such as that of five roots of creeping plants (vallīpañcamūla), that of five roots of thorny plants (kaṇṭaka-pañcamūla), that of five roots of grasses (tṛṇa-pañcamūla), that of five middle roots (madhyama-pañcamūla, which is also known as the group of five roots starting with spreading hogweed (punarnavādi-gaṇa)), and that of five life-promoting roots (jīvana-pañcamūla).^[15] According to Suśruta Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 38. 66-71, the five major roots lessen wind and phlegm humours, and the five minor roots diminish wind and bile humours. These ten roots altogether relieve the three humours.^[16]

According to modern herbal medicine, the whole of a plant may be useful but often only a particular part is used. Furthermore, different parts of a plant can contain different active ingredients,^[17] and a part of the plant may be poisonous while another not. Nowadays, the parts of a plant are more specifically defined to avoid confusion. Several underground parts used to be known as “root”, but are now precisely delineated. Root is explained thus: “The fleshy or woody roots (or outer root bark) of many species are used medicinally. Roots may be fibrous..., solid..., or fleshy...” Rhizome is “a woody or fleshy elongated stem that usually grows horizontally below the ground, forming leaves above the ground and roots into the ground.”^[18] Bulb is “a fleshy structure made up of numerous layers of bulb scales, which are actually leaf bases.^[19] Tuber is “a swollen, fleshy structure below the ground, usually of stem origin but often partly stem and partly root”^[20] (van Wyk and Wink 2004, 16). Hence, the root-medicines recorded in the Chapters on Medicine belong to different specific parts as per modern herbal medicine.

In order to facilitate readers to appreciate the root-medicines in the Chapters on Medicine, the original names, the English names, and the botanical names of those involved substances are organised in the following table.^[21]

	Original name	English name	Botanical name
Theravāda	halliddā	turmeric	Curcuma longa
	siṅgivera	ginger	Zingiber officinale
	vacā	sweet flag	Acorus calamus
	vacattha	varieties of sweet flag	—-
	ativisā	Indian atees	Aconitum heterophyllum
	kaṭukarohiṇī	picrorhiza	Picrorhiza kurroa
	usīra	vetiver	Vetiveria zizanioides
	bhaddamuttaka	nut grass	Cyperus rotundus
Dharmaguptaka[22]	bilva	bael tree	Aegle marmelos
	agnimantha	headache tree	Premna integrifolia
	śyonāka	Indian trumpet flower	Oroxylum indicum
	pāṭalā	trumpet flower tree	Stereospermum suaveolens
	kāśmarī/gambhārī	white teak	Gmelina arborea
	gokṣura/śvadaṃṣṭrā	puncture vine	Tribulus terrestris
	śālaparṇī/ vidārigandhā	sal leaved desmodium	Desmodium gangeticum
	pṛśniparṇī	(not available)	Uraria picta
	bṛhatī	poison berry	Solanum indicum
	kaṇṭakārī/ nidigdhikā	yellow-berried nightshade	Solanum xanthocarpum
Mahīśāsaka	一切根藥	all root-medicines	—-
Sarvāstivāda	舍利	rice grass	Oryza sativa
	薑	ginger	Zingiber officinale
	附子	aconite	the Aconitum genus
	波提毘沙	Indian atees	Aconitum heterophyllum
	菖蒲根	root of sweet flag	Acorus calamus
Mūlasarvāstivāda (Sanskrit & Chinese)	musta 香附子	nut grass	Cyperus rotundus
	vacā 菖蒲	sweet flag	Acorus calamus
	haridrā 黃薑	turmeric	Curcuma longa
	ārdraka 生薑	fresh ginger	Zingiber officinale
	ativiṣā	Indian atees	Aconitum heterophyllum
	白附子	(not available)	Aconitum coreanum
Mahāsāṃghika	婆吒根	root of sweet flag	Acorus calamus
	蓽茇羅根	root of long pepper	Piper longum
	尼俱律根	root of banyan tree	Ficus benghalensis
	佉提羅根	root of spreading hogweed or bitter gourd (?)	Boerhavia diffusa or Momordica charantia (?)
	蘇揵闍根	root of Indian birthwort or greater galangal (?)	Aristolochia indica or Alpinia galangal (?)

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The identification of the medicinal substances and their English and scientific/botanical names in this and the following sections are based on the following references: Pali-English Dictionary, Buddhadatta’s Concise Pāli-English Dictionary (1968), Dutt 2012, Appendix I in volume III of Sharma’s translation of the Suśruta Saṃhitā, and Khare’s books (2004, 2007, 2012), unless specified otherwise.

[2]:

Theravāda Vinaya Piṭaka I. 201: “… mūlāni bhesajjāni haliddaṃ siṅgiveraṃ vacaṃ vacatthaṃ ativisaṃ kaṭukarohiṇiṃ usīraṃ bhaddamuttakaṃ yāni vā pan’ aññāni pi atthi mūlāni bhesajjāni, n’ eva khādaniye khādaniyattaṃ pharanti, na bhojaniye bhojaniyattaṃ pharanti, tāni paṭiggahetvā yāvajīvaṃ pariharituṃ, sati paccaye paribhuñjituaṃ.”

[3]:

Taishō Tripiṭaka 1428. 867a20-23: “爾時有病比丘，須大五種根藥，佛言：「聽服。」須小五種根藥，佛言：「聽服。比丘有病因緣盡形壽服。」” These five major and five minor root-medicines are not enumerated in this Vinaya. In another part of the Dharmaguptaka Bhaiṣajyaskandhaka, there mentions certain “root-medicines,” which are in effect various types of yam (874a26-27). Since these mainly serve as food rather than medicine, they are not included here for discussion.

[4]:

Taishō Tripiṭaka 1421. 147b29: “佛言：「一切根藥聽服」”.

[5]:

Taishō Tripiṭaka 1435. 194a7-9: “盡形藥者，五種根藥。何等五種？一舍利、二薑、三附子、四波提毘沙、五菖蒲根，是藥盡形壽共房宿無罪。” 舍利 seems to be śāli, which is rice grass. It is one of the five roots of grass (tṛṇa-pañcamūla) which are used in Āyurveda (Caraka Saṃhitā Cikitsāsthāna 1(1). 44; Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 6. 171). Prativiṣā (波提毘沙) is a synonym of ativiṣā (Dash 2008, 86).

[6]:

Gilgit Manuscripts III. 1.iii: “tatra mūlabhaiṣajyaṃ mustaṃ vaco haridrārdrakamativiṣā iti| yadvā punaranyadapi mūlabhaiṣajyārthāya spharati nāmiṣārthāya|”

[7]:

Taishō Tripiṭaka 1448. 1b10-12: “云何根藥？謂香附子、菖蒲、黃薑、生薑、白附子。若更有餘物，是此體 例、堪為藥者，隨意當用。” The Sanskrit and the Chinese versions are almost the same, with a minor difference in the last item of the list. The Chinese version designates this last item as baifuzi 白附子 (Aconitum coreanum), which is a close but not identical species to Indian atees (Aconitum heterophyllum).

[8]:

The Chapter on Medicine parallel in the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya speaks of certain roots for proper time (before noon) and improper time (afternoon and at night). The roots for proper time are foods rather than medicines, and hence they are not enumerated here. The roots for improper time are given here because some of them are termed as root-medicines in other Chapters on Medicine and hence they are likely to be for medicinal usage. Elsewhere in this Vinaya (Taishō Tripiṭaka 1425. 244c29), there mentions five major and five minor roots which can be used as medicines throughout one’s whole life, but the items are not listed.

[9]:

尼俱律 should be the same as 尼拘律, which is nyagrodha. See Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

(Digital Dictionary of Buddhism), s.v. “尼拘律” [accessed January 28, 2015, http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xprddb.pl?q=%E5%B0%BC%E6%8B%98%E5%BE%8B%E6%A8%B9].

[10]:

佉提羅 may be katthilla (also known as punarnavā), which is spreading hogweed. Another possibility is kāṭhilla, bitter gourd.

[11]:

蘇揵闍 may be sugandhā. It is synonymous with gandhanākukī, which is Indian birthwort. But Khare (2004, 45; 2012, 627) says it is greater galangal.

[12]:

Taishō Tripiṭaka 1425. 457b14-16: “非時根者，婆吒根、蓽茇羅根、尼俱律根、佉提羅根、蘇揵闍根，如是

比不與食合者，是名非時根。” Right after this passage, it is stated that the same rule/teaching also applies to stems, barks, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

[13]:

In the Caraka Saṃhitā, the minor five roots are called vidārigandhādya-gaṇa.

[14]:

No available English name.

[15]:

The above information is extracted from Caraka Saṃhitā Cikitsāsthāna 1(1). 41-45; Suśruta Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 38. 66-77;Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 6. 167-171. In addition, Caraka Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 1. 77-80 also mentions another sixteen “therapeutically useful roots” which are not included in the above groups of five.

[16]:

The actions of the other groups of root are: the five roots of creeping plants and those of thorny plants allay the phlegm humour, the five roots of grasses calm the bile humour, the five middle roots mitigate wind and phlegm humours and the five life-promoting roots alleviate wind and bile humours (Suśruta Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 38. 77; Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 6. 169-170).

[17]:

Active ingredients are “chemicals that are biologically active, not just in themselves, but also in other organisms. Some of these chemicals enhance their own survival.... act as herbicides to inhibit the growth of competing plants... Other plants produce substances that deter browsing by insects and herbivores” (U.S. Forest Service 2015a).

[18]:

An example of rhizomes is ginger.

[19]:

Onion and garlic are examples of bulb.

[20]:

Examples of tuber include potatoes, yams, etc.

[21]:

This format of the table will be employed in this section as well as in the following sections when dealing with other medicines. Moreover, there can be several English and botanical synonyms for one substance. The popular English and botanical names for each substance will be given. Readers can search for others based on these provided ones.

[22]:

Although the names of the five major and five minor roots are not given in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (nor in the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya), their names based on the Āyurvedic information are listed here.