relationship with the environment in the diagnosis and treatment of
health problems.- Concepts of health and disease that incorporate interrelated dimen-
sions of human physiology, psychology, and spirituality. - Sustaining health as a positive state.
- Prevention of health problems.
The Åyurvedic texts have a strongly S ̄amkhyan account of the natureÓ
of person and body (evident in passages such as Caraka-samhitÓ a ̄ iv:1, Su-
sruta-sa ́ mhitÓ a ̄ III). Life arises from the co-presence of consciousness and
primordial materiality. Materiality operates through the interaction of the
three energy-forces called guÓnas (‘strands’ or ‘ropes’). Larson charac-
terizes the guÓnasas follows: sattva,the subtle matter of pure thought,
rajas,the kinetic matter of pure energy, and tamas,the reified matter of in-
ertia.^83 All forms of matter, including the human body and senses, are
composed at a fundamental level of the five mahabh ̄ ̄utas or subtle ele-
ments (space, air, fire, water, and earth), each produced by a particular
combination of the guÓnas. The five mahabh ̄ ̄utasin turn combine to form
the three dhatus ̄ or doÓsasthat constitute the psychophysical person (see
Figure 1.1). Along with drawing on S ̄amkhya as a dominant philosophicalÓ
basis, Åyurveda also uses terms and concepts from other Veda-accepting
systems—Ny ̄aya, VaiÓse ́sika, Ved ̄anta, and Yoga—as well as from the non-
Vedic systems Buddhism and Jainism. Mainly Ny ̄aya, VaiÓse ́sika, and Bud-
dhist theories explain physical and chemical processes in Åyurveda, while
S ̄amkhya is considered to provide a very adequate metaphysics and ac-Ó
count of the process of creation.^84 Larson suggests that the affinity
between Åyurveda and the naturalistic philosophical systems generated a
mutually influential pattern of interaction. The meaning of dar ́sana,
‘viewpoint,’ as the designation of the major Indian philosophical systems—
considered as complementary and non-contradictory despite the differ-
ences of their principles and methods—is wonderfully exemplified by
Åyurveda’s employment of these several systems.
S ̄amkhya metaphysics grounds the central doctrine of ÅyurvedicÓ
metaphysiology, that of the dhatus ̄ (doÓsas) or constitutive principles of
human psychophysiology and pathology. The three guÓnas produce the
five subtle proto-elements or mah ̄abhutas, ̄ and the proto-elements com-
bine in three pairs to form the body’s three dhatus, ̄ fundamental elements
or ‘supports’ (√dh ̄a,‘to give,’ e.g., ‘to give support’).
Åyurveda uses the term dh ̄atuin two ways. First, the body is held to
have seven dhatus ̄ or basic tissue elements, each derived from the one pre-
ceding it in the following sequence: rasa (chyle or extract of nutriment),
one line long42 religious therapeutics