BUDDHA RECOMMENDS URINE AS MEDICINE IN THERAVADA TIPITAKA
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: TerminaliaChebula) pickled in cow's urine. The Burmese people calls it Pheya-
se, 'The Buddha Medicine', since it's based on a recipe found in theoldest Buddhist texts, the Pali Tipitaka. It's considered to be apanacea for many diseases. But does it really follow the original
concept of the Buddha's recommendation to use muttam (urine) asmedicine? That is what I intend to clarify in this article byrefering to four of the oldest Buddhist scriptures: 1.) The Vinaya-Pitaka, the ancient collection of Buddhist monastic rules. 2.) The
Sutta Pitaka, the ancient collection of the Buddha's discourses. 3.)The so-called 'Commentary' and 'Sub-commentary', texts written bybhikkhus (Buddhist monks) in the centuries following the Buddha's
death to clarify the meaning of the texts found in the twocollections first mentioned.In an English translation of the Mahakkhandhaka (a text in Mahavaggafound in the Vinaya-Pitaka) the Buddha says:
" The religious life has decomposing urine (PutiMutta or Putrid Urine, which isnow interpreted only as " undesirable " urine - not aged urine) as medicine forits resource. Thus you must endeavor to live all your life. Ghee, butter, oil,
honey, and molasses are extra allowances. " (These are the dietary supplementsfor people on Urine Fasts or practicing Rasa Tantra. These supplements can befound in many scriptures.)An alternative translation says;
" Going forth [into the Holy Life] has fermented ( " puti " in Pali, putrid, meaningloathesome, not aged. In other words the instructions take into account one'sreluctance to drink urine.) urine (mutta) as its support. For the rest of your
life you are to endeavor at that. The extra allowances are; Ghee, fresh butter,oil, honey, (raw) sugar. " There are four such necessary supports/resources listed in theVinaya Pitaka. In Pali, the language of the oldest Buddhist texts,
https://www.indiadivine.org/content...urine-as-only-medicine-in-theravada-tipitaka/