..续本文上一页oks 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 excrement, soil and hot ash. This quote is from the Vinaya Pitaka:

　　"For snake bite a medicine may be made of the four great filthy things: excrement, urine, ash and clay. If there is someone present to make these things allowable, one should have him/her make them allowable. If not, one may take them for oneself and consume them."

　　The Commentary adds that this medicine is not only for snake bites but also for any other poisonous animal bite.

　　Now, let”s have a look at the second ancient collection of Buddhist 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Sutta Pitaka) the first three are identical to the first list while the forth item in the first list, medicines, has been replaced by (delight in development of) meditation.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 appeares 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 …

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