THE PEERLESS HEALER
| True to the art of healing, the Four Noble Truths are presented in a way that inspires the confidence of those who wish to be healthy. The Noble Truths of suffering, its arising, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation, follow the pattern of a doctor’s presentation of the nature of a disease, its cause, the cure and the treatment. The Buddha himself claimed to be the incomparable physician - cum - surgeon (anuttaro bhisakko sallakatto) - True to his claims as a physician he recommended a course of medicine that is prophylactic, therapeutic as well as cathartic. “Sila”, or virtue has the prophylactic quality of prevention of disease by its ‘keep-fit’ program of living up to the precepts. The thought of abstinence from evil, evil acts as an energizing factor. It creates the necessary antibodies against the mental viruses rampant in the society at large. “Samadhi” or concentration expels the drainers of mental energy- the five mental hindrances of sensuality, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry and doubting. From ‘dis-ease’ it leads to ‘ease’ both of body and mind. “Panna”, or wisdom has the curative effect of a purgative. It purges the mind of the cankers or influxes of sensuality, becoming and ingnorance. Like a herbal decoction of eight ingredients administered in four doses, it brings health to those who aspire to that supreme health of Nibbana in four stages of saint-hood - the Stream-winner, the Once - Returner, the Non-returner and the Arahant. As the peerless surgeon, the Buddha wielded his forceps of mindfulness and his scalpel of wisdom to locate and extract the thorn of craving embedded deep in the hearts of beings. In his discourse to Sunakkhatta in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha even recommends a period of convalescence to the patient to get over the germs of ignorance left by the poisonous thorn of craving - true, again, to the art of healing. |