5
DHAMMA AS MEDICINE
There is no better medicine than truth for both
mental and physical ills which are the cause of all sufferings
and misfortunes
Ye keci osadhā loke - Vijjanti vividhā bahū,
Dhammosadhasama na-tthi; - Etam pivatha bhikkhavo.Dhammosadham pivitvāna - Ajarāmaranā siyum,
Bhāvayitvā ca passitvā - Nibbutā upadhikkhaye ti
{The Healing Medicine of Dhamma (Milinda - pañho 335)}Of all the medicines in the world, manifold and various,
there is none like the medicine of Dhamma:
therefore, O monks, drink of this.Having drunk this Dhamma medicine,
you will be ageless and beyond death;
having developed and seen the truth,
you will be quenched, free from craving.Having drunk , the medicine of Dhamma, you will be
untouched by age and death. Having meditated and seen the
reality you will be healed by ceasing to cling.
These two verses point to the healing symbolism of the
of the Buddha’s teaching. He is often pictured as
the great physician who, seeing the suffering of all beings
in the world, applies the medical formula of the four noble
truths to......