The Best Free Natural Medicine

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BY BHIKKU U. DHAMMAJIVA

 

Edited by : Swedish novice Dhammasami (Samuel Nordius)

 

" Glad at heart , I pay homage to the supreme sage - the giver of

blissful peace , the grate ocean of virtue , the physician for the

samsaric ills of beings , the sun that dispel the pitch darkness of

false views ! " – Lo-wada Sangarava, 15th century Sinhalese poem

 

In Burmese meditation-centers , as in monasteries in most

Theravada-Buddhist countries , you often find a peculiar kind of

medicine :

 

Yellow Myrobalan nuts ( in Pali : Hritaki , in Latin : Terminalia

Chebula ) pickled in cow's urine. The Burmese people calls it Pheya- se

, ` The Buddha Medicine ', since it's based on a recipe found in the

oldest texts , the Pali Tipitaka. It's considered to be a panacea for

many diseases.

 

But does it really follow the original concept of the Buddha's

recommendation to use muttam ( urine ) as medicine ?

 

That is what I intend to clarify in this article by refering to four of

the oldest scriptures : 1.) The Vinaya-Pitaka , the ancient collection

of monastic rules. 2.) The Sutta Pitaka, the ancient collection of the

Buddha's discourses. 3.) The so-called `Commentary' and

`Sub-commentary', texts written by bhikkhus ( monks) in the centuries

following the Buddha's death to clarify the meaning of the texts found

in the two collections first mentioned.

 

In an English translation of the Mahakkhandhaka (a text in Mahavagga

found in the Vinaya-Pitaka) the Buddha says :

 

" The religious life has decomposing urine as medicine for its resource.

Thus you must endeavor to live all your life.Ghee, butter, oil , honey,

and molasses are extra allowances. "

 

An alternative translation says ;

 

" Going forth [ into the Holy Life ] has fermented urine as its support.

For the rest of your life you are to endeavor at that. The extra

allowances are ; Ghee, fresh butter, oil, honey, sugar. "

 

There are four such necessary supports/resources listed in the Vinaya

Pitaka. In Pali, the language of the oldest Buddhist texts , they are

called " the Four Requisites " , considered to be an absolute minimum for

the bhikkhus to be able to live the Holy Life in line with the Buddha's

teaching. The above mentioned item , fermented urine, is the fourth of

these resources. All the four must be taught to the newly ordained

bhikkhu in the ordination hall immediately after his higher ordination

ceremony. It's the responsibility of the preceptor to make sure that all

young bhikkhus knows them according to the following prescription of the

Buddha.

 

" I prescribe , O bhikkhus , that he who confers the higher ordination

(on a bhikkhu) , tells him the four resources. "

 

These are all the four resources listed in the Vinaya-Pitaka :

 

1. Robes : robes made of rags taken from a dust heap as a resource

2. Alms food : morsels of food given in alms as a resource

3. Dwellings : a dwelling at the foot of a tree as a resource

4. Medicines : decomposing urine as medicine as a resource

 

These four requisites / resources the Buddha described as being

indispensable or the bare minimum. Accordingly a monk must endeavor to

live all his bhikkhu life dependent only on them. He who is contented

and satisfied with whatever comes across along with these bare minimums

is always phrased in the community, as well as in the Commentary, as

having contentment with whatever four requisites he has. Whatever extra

things he comes across beyond these four items is just a result of his

past good deeds, but they are usually also allowed for the bhikkhus. As

the founder of the Order, and therefore its first bhikkhu, the Buddha

assured all the bhikkhus that the prescribed bare minimums are quite

abundant.

 

Besides , they were , at that time , free to find wherever a bhikkhu

would go.

 

In the Vinaya Pitaka , the books of monastic discipline, this medicine

(urine) is mentioned in several places. At one occasion, for example ,

the Buddha recommend the yellow Myrobalan fruits pickled in urine for a

monk who was sick with jaundice ( probably anaemia ) to be taken orally

:

 

" O, monks ! I allow that urine and yellow Myrobalan be drunk. "

 

At another occasion the Buddha included urine as an ingredient in a

mixture to be used as an antidote for poisonous snake bites. The other

ingredients are soil and hot ash. This quote is from the Vinaya Pitaka

:

 

Now, let's have a look at the second ancient collection of texts, the

Sutta Pitaka. According to the Ariyavaüsa Sutta in Anguttara Nikaya

the Buddha phrases four requisites of noble clans (or lineages of

traditions) in nine terms :

 

" Bhikkhus, these four [ requisites ] belong to the noble clan , were

recognized by those gone by, were honored from the past , recognized by

the clan , was not confusing in the past and will not confuse in the

future and are not blamed by recluses , brahmins and the wise.

 

What four ? "

 

The following four items are then listed :

 

1. Robes

2. Alms foods,

3. Dwellings and

4. (delight in development of) Meditation.

 

In the two different lists so far mentioned the first one (quoted from

the Vinaya Pitaka) says that the four requisites for a monk are 1. robes

, 2. alms foods , 3. dwellings and 3. medicines. In the second list (

which is quoted from the Sutta Pitaka ) the first three are identical to

the first list while the forth item in the first list, medicines, has

been replaced by ( delight in development of ) meditation.

 

The Commentary to the Ariyavaüsa Sutta says that even though the list

, as it appears in the Sutta Pitaka, drops the forth item given in the

Vinaya Pitaka (medicines) that item should be included in the second

item of the Sutta (alms food). Furthermore , confirming the same idea ,

the forth item, ( delight in development of ) meditation, is specified

as " contentment with whatever four requisites comes " in the same

Commentary. It says :

 

" Among these four belonging to the Noble clan the first three items ,

inclusive of thirteen austerities, are elaborated in the Vinaya pitaka

while the item of ( delight in development of ) meditation is elaborated

in the rest of the two baskets ( pitakas or collections of Buddhist

texts ). "

 

To summarize, in the Sutta Pitaka you find only the first three of these

four requisites , with no urine or medicines mentioned, but the

Commentary says that the forth should be included in the list, in the

alms food so that all should be in completion to make delight in

development of meditation possible.

 

Hence decomposing urine as medicine can claim for all the above

mentioned attributes, that is : urine was " recognized as a medicine by

those gone by, those honored from the past ; that it was recognized by

the clan ; it was not confusing in the past and it will not confuse in

the future ; and it's not blamed by recluses, Brahmins and the wise. "

 

I would like to quote another translation of the same Sutta which goes

as follows :

 

" O monks , these four noble lineages pristine [ including decomposing

urine as medicine ] , of long standing , traditional , ancient ,

unadulterated and never before adulterated , which are not being

adulterated and which will not be adulterated , not despised by wise

ascetics and Brahmins. "

 

The authors of this translation added a footnote saying that in ancient

Sri Lanka this was a very popular discourse among people of all walks

of life and that it became the inspiration for an annual festival. In

traditional Sinhalese translations , as in Burmese and Thai ones , the

medicine mentioned in the text has been taken to be cow's urine or, more

specifically, Myrobalan fruits pickled in cow's urine. Owing to this

translation some of the attributions of this medicine mentioned by the

Buddha doesn't appeared to be very convincing or practical since it

would sometimes be hard for a bhikkhu to find both the Myrobalan fruit

and cow's urine. However, in recent English translations we get some new

practical sense to this medicine.

 

Let me add here that it's not only in Buddhism that we find urine as a

medicine but also in other denominations such as Christianity (in The

Holy Bible) , Hinduism (in Damar Tantra) and , some claims , in Islam

too (in The Holy Koran). These traditions , however, have a somewhat

different interpretation than the Buddhist texts on how to use the

medicine.

 

I can think of two reasons for why the usage of urine as medicine

resurfaced again contemporaneously in many traditions in our time.

 

The first is the increasing number of complications in the prevailing

allopathic or chemotherapeutic treatments of diseases which has made an

increasing number of people interested in alternative medicines. The

second is the general trend of searching for more holistic health

systems, even ancient ones based on different religious lines. Whatever

the reasons may be the urine-method has its own intriguing nature and

might , I believe , still find a growing group of followers.

 

A closer look at this therapy, under the current trend, irrespective of

creed , one finds a vast number of convincing testimonies and subjective

evidences on the benefits of the medicine. Buddhism can contribute in

its own way with its canonical and historical references on this subject

– provided that its ideas are presented in correct translations ! So

far we've traced some quotations from the Vinaya Pitaka with relevant

information prescribed to bhikkhus.

 

However, I think that the commentarial text has interfered in a

questionable and imperfect manner. In the traditional Buddhist

countries, such as Sri Lanka , Burma or Thailand , no efforts have been

made in resent history to get a clear idea of how the medicine was

intended to be used , or how it was used at the time of the Buddha.

 

The increasing amount of literature on the subject , with testimonies

and evidences from the other sources, made me think twice and urged me

to renew the way I read the quoted passages in the Buddhist canonical

sources. I went back to the original scriptures , untouched by the

prevalent traditional translations. When investigating the Sutta Pitaka

with this inquisitive pragmatic approach I came across the following

quotation in the Majjima Nikaya ( the Middle Length Discourses of the

Buddha) , Sutta number 46 called Dhamma Samadana Sutta :

 

" Bhikkhu , a man would come along suffering from jaundice and he is told

: `Friend, there is a drink made out of putrid urine , with various

kinds of medicines put in it. If you desire – drink.' When drinking

it would not be agreeable to sight, smell or taste but drinking it you

will get over your illness. He reflects about it and drinks it. It would

not be agreeable to sight, smell or taste, yet he would get over that

illness. I say this observance of the Teaching is comparable to this ,

as it is now unpleasant and brings pleasant results in the future. "

 

The Commentary to this Sutta says :

 

" [The Pali word] Putimuttan means just `urine'. So it's said, that even

if a person is golden in color his body is described as repulsive in the

scriptures. Even ? born the very same day the vine called Galocilata is

also called Patilata ( literary : repulsive creeper) . Even so ,

extracted in that very moment, the young (or fresh) urine is called just

puti ( usually translated as `putrid' or `fermented' ). "

 

The Sub-commentary continues to explain :

 

" [ The Pali word ] Putimuttan means urine which is repulsive in nature.

Tarunan means fresh or young ; as it flows out it is warm ?.

 

From that urine the early part of the flow is meant here. The urine

flowing out from the genital ? remains warm due to the body

temperature. "

 

These details indicate that the prevailing translations of the Vinaya

Pitaka might be incorrect. The Commentary and Sub-commentary leads us to

a more practical and pragmatic end , supported by the direct translation

of the Dhamma Samadana Sutta. Yet they're often interpreted as meaning

only putrid urine from a cow.

 

Just by consulting the relevant Commentary and its Sub-commentary all

doubts regarding the real meaning can be cleared out. They state that

urine – to be specific : one's own urine – would not be

agreeable to sight, smell or taste and accordingly has puti as an

adjectival prefix. It is puti not because it is rotten or fermented but

because its intrinsic nature is repulsive to the senses. If the common

translations are changed in line with this interpretation the basic idea

of using urine as a medicine becomes more palatable and , not to

diminish , quite agreeable with the current research and literature on

the subject.

 

It's also interesting to note that the medicine mentioned in the Dhamma

Samadana Sutta ( one's own urine mixed up with other herbal medicine )

is recommended to any individual who's suffering from jaundice rather

than to a just to the bhikkhus as is otherwise the case in the Vinaya

Pitaka. This tells that the medicine was not seen as just a ` last

choice ' but as a truly effective remedy.

 

Conclusive remarks

 

In the light of this information we should look again at the very first

quotation in this essay. The main theme so far is that repulsive urine

as medicine, which is the last of the four requisites for bhikkhus , is

considered to be the absolute minimum of medicine that a bhikkhu will

need through out his life.

 

The Pali term Putimuttabhesajja is a compounded term made out of at

least three pali roots ; puti , muttaand bhesajja. As we've already seen

this word has been translated as :

 

1.) Decomposing urine as medicine. Or as : 2.) Fermented urine as

support.

 

The word puti literally means either decomposing or fermented ,

sometimes translated as rancid or putrefied. Muttam means urine ,

sometimes translated as cows' urine, and occasionally as ammonia.

Bhesajjam means medicine.

 

In the Vinaya Pitaka , whether with the consultation of its Commentary

or not , there is little chance to find out what kind of urine is meant

because neither the Vinaya nor its Commentary adds any further light on

the subject. In the Sutta Pitaka, on the other hand, especially in MN.

Sutta No 46 and its relevant Commentary and Sub-commentary, there's

enough evidence to suggest a more pragmatic meaning than that commonly

accepted today. " It would not be agreeable to sight, smell or taste "

suggests that the adjective puti does not mean any decomposition,

fermentation or putrefaction but that urine is naturally disagreeable to

sight , smell or taste – a statement most people would agree with.

The original recommendation may not have meant any decomposition,

fermentation or putrefaction at all, as the translators' has interpreted

it so far. Nor do the scriptures in any way indicate that it was cow's

urine that the Buddha originally referred to.

 

The Sub-commentary says : " As urine pass out from the genital it is warm

due to the body heat " . There is not a word or clue justifying the

assumption that cows' urine is meant.

 

The interpretation I prefer, on the other hand , is quite in line with

the Commentary and the Sub-commentary to the above mentioned Sutta and

with the contemporary idea of using one's own urine. Hence the

translation to the first quotations could be rectified as follows :

 

" The religious life has your own (repulsive) urine as medicine for its

resource. Thus you must endeavor to live all your life. Ghee , butter,

oil , honey, and molasses are extra allowances. "

 

Or : " Going forth [ into the Holy Life ] has your own (repulsive) urine

as its support. For the rest of your life you are to endeavor at that.

The extra allowances are ; Ghee, fresh butter, oil, honey, sugar. "

 

Likewise , all other quotations could be corrected accordingly. This

should give a radical new approach to the prescription given by the

Buddha. It certainly does give a new hope for a healthier lifestyle

– not only for the bhikkhus but for all who seek to live a more

independent kind of life.

 

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Resource : http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/urine.htm

<http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/urine.htm>