Overall Teaching

In the past, after a Buddha entered nirvāṇa and there was little Dharma left in the realm of king Sureśvaraprabha, the merchant’s son Jalavāhana enquires about and gains the knowledge of medicine from his father Jaṭiṃdhara, and relives all beings of illness in that realm.

Summary

1.     The Buddha addresses the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā:

a.     In the past when the Buddha Ratnaśikhin entered final nirvāṇa and after the Dharma disappeared and there was only one copy of [a book of] the Dharma, the king Sureśvaraprabha ruled according to the Dharma.

b.     At that time, there was a merchant and doctor called Jaṭiṃdhara, well versed in medical literature, with a son called Jalavāhana.

c.     Moreover, many beings were oppressed by various illnesses in that land. Jalavāhana reflected on them and realised that his father was elderly and cannot help them, so he resolved that he should learn medicine from him.

d.     Jalavāhana asked his father about skill in the elements:

                                               i.     How do the elements change, when do diseases arise, when and what should one eat, how does medicine cure diseases caused by wind, bile, phlegm or a combination, and when are wind, bile, and phlegm disturbed?

e.     Jaṭiṃdhara explained:

                                               i.     The months are sets of three months: rainy, autumn, winter, hot. The year is twelve months, and each month has two halves. Food and drink should be consumed in accordance with the season, and the senses and elements also change with the changes during the year.

1.     Illnesses of excess wind occur in the rainy season.

2.     Disturbance of bile occurs in autumn.

3.     Illness due to a combination occurs in winter.

4.     Illness of excess of phlegm occurs in the hot season.

                                             ii.     As regards food, there are characteristic tastes for each season:

1.     In the rainy season: fatty, warm, salty, and sour.

2.     In autumn: fatty, sweet, and cold.

3.     In winter: sweet, sour, and fatty.

4.     In summer: rough, warm, and bitter.

                                            iii.     As regards time of the eruption of a disturbance:

1.     Excess of phlegm erupts as soon as eaten.

2.     Excess of bile during digestion.

3.     Excess of wind as soon as digested.

                                            iv.     As regards remedies:

1.     Give strengthening to one with wind.

2.     Give a purgative to one with bile.

3.     Give a combination for those with a combination.

4.     Give an emetic with excess phlegm.

f.      Thereupon Jalavāhana understood the whole of medical knowledge and went everywhere in the realm in order to free people from various diseases.

g.     All beings in that land became joyful and free from disease, and endowed with strength as before when given a prescription by Jalavāhana.