Fó shuō Fóyī jīng 佛說佛醫經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra on the Buddha as Physician translated by 竺律炎 (Zhú Lǜyán, 譯) and 支謙 (Zhī Qiān, here under the name 支越 Zhī Yuè, 譯)
About the work
T793 in one fascicle is an early Chinese Buddhist text on the medical classification of bodily and karmic illness, jointly translated by the early Wú translators 竺律炎 (Zhú Lǜyán, fl. 230s) and 支謙 (Zhī Qiān; here recorded under his alternate name 支越 Zhī Yuè) at the Wú court in the 220s–250s. The title — 佛醫 (Fóyī) — names the Buddha as physician: a foundational metaphor in mainstream Buddhism in which the Buddha is the great healer (bhaiṣajya-rāja), the Dharma is the medicine, and the saṅgha is the company of nurses, with the practitioner as the patient.
Abstract
The text expounds an Indian-Buddhist medical-doctrinal schema in which the causes of illness are systematically classified. The standard fourfold classification (well-attested in the [[KR6i0698|Yogācāra-bhūmi]] bahir-dhā-vastu and in the medical materials of the Vinaya-piṭaka) is: (1) causes external to the body — climatic factors (cold, heat, wet, dry), seasonal changes, accidents, attacks by humans or animals; (2) causes internal to the body — imbalance of the bodily humours (vāta, pitta, śleṣman — wind, bile, phlegm), digestive disturbance, poor regimen of diet and sleep; (3) causes from past karma — diseases that arise as karmic ripening from past actions; (4) causes from supernatural agents — possession or affliction by spirits, yakṣas, demons, etc. The text rehearses each category with brief illustrative material and prescribes both medical (correction of regimen and humours) and Buddhist (cultivation of merit, protective ritual, mantra-recitation) responses.
The doctrine is among the earliest substantial Indian Buddhist medical materials in Chinese translation. The text reflects the early Wú-court interest in Indian āyurvedic-and-Buddhist medical knowledge and provides a foundational framework that would shape Chinese Buddhist medical literature down to the Sòng. The joint attribution to Zhú Lǜyán and Zhī Qiān reflects the standard early-translation practice of partnership between the Indian or Indo-Iranian language-bearer (here 竺律炎 Zhú Lǜyán, a Sogdian or Indian-descent monk) and the Chinese-language stylist (here Zhī Qiān).
The frontmatter and certain catalogue records use the form 支越 (Zhī Yuè) — an alternate name for 支謙 — for the second translator; both forms refer to the same person.
Translations and research
- Demiéville, Paul. Buddhism and Healing: Demiéville’s Article ‘Byō’ from Hōbōgirin, trans. Mark Tatz. Lanham: University Press of America, 1985. (Foundational study, translation of the Hōbōgirin article on Buddhist medicine.)
- Salguero, C. Pierce. Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. (Comprehensive study including discussion of T793.)
- Salguero, C. Pierce, ed. Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017. (Includes English translation of the Fóyī jīng.)
- Zysk, Kenneth G. Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India: Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. (For the Indian Buddhist medical tradition.)
Links
- CBETA T17n0793
- Dazangthings date evidence (250): T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.
- Kanseki DB
- 竺律炎 DILA
- 支謙 DILA