Jīvaka Komārabhacca (หมอชีวกโกมารภัจจ์)

หมอชีวกโกมารภจั จ์

Jīvaka Komārabhacca

By
Taksina Choovanitvong M.5/15 No.9

Content

Preface 1
2
Introductory Story 5
7
To profess Buddhism 9
10
His work on Buddhism

Virtues as a good model for leading a life

References

Preface

This e-book is presented as a part of Moral Year 2021
Subject. I have researched and studied on this topic of Jīvaka
Komārabhacca, who is the personal physician of the Buddha
and the Indian King Bimbisāra, and hoped that this report will
be useful for all readers. This topic was chosen since it was
fascinating. If there are any errors, I apologize here as well.

With great respect
Taksina Choovanitvong

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Introductory Story

Jīvaka, Jīvaka Komārabhacca, or Jīvaka Kumārabhṛta is
the personal physician of the Buddha and the Indian King
Bimbisāra. Jīvaka Komārabhacca is called the “Father Doctor”
by healers in Thailand, and the “King of Physicians” in
Mahayana Buddhism. He is sometimes described as the
"Medicine King", he figures prominently in legendary accounts
in Asia as a model healer and is honored as such by traditional
healers in several Asian countries. Tradition holds that Jīvaka
was a model Buddhist healer, and his biography is found in
multiple languages.

Early life

Jīvaka was born in Rājagṛha, Magadha in India. His
father was unidentified (Pāli tradition); Prince Abhaya
(Dharmaguptaka tradition; also Manorathapūranī, Commentary
on the Aṅguttara Nikāya mentioned that he was the secret guest
of Salāvatī) or King Bimbisāra (other textual traditions). His
mother was known as a courtesan (Sanskrit: gaṇikā; in the Pāli
and Dharmaguptaka canons this was not Āmrapāli (other textual
traditions), but Salāvatī) who had him discarded on a trash heap
by a slave.

Later on, Prince Abhaya, a son of King Bimbisāra was
riding through the city as usual when he saw a flock of crows
circling and cawing loudly around. With curiosity, stopping his
carriage, he investigated the sound and found a newborn baby
boy who had been left to die amongst the trash on the roadside.
He asked his servants whether the child was still alive. Upon

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inquiry, he learned that a courtesan had discarded her
illegitimate son whom she felt was a burden and had left him to
die. When his servants responded that it was, he named the baby
Jīvaka “he who is alive” (Sanskrit and Pāli: Jīvaka) and
Komārabhacca, which meant “adopted by a prince”.

Jīvaka led a privileged life in the palace. His friends,
however, often teased him as he had no mother. Jīvaka, who
was embarrassed by the teasing, questioned his father about his
origin. When he heard about his origins and his will to live he
decided that he would one day grow up to be a preserver of life.
He felt that he had no real heritage or family as he was only the
adopted son of the prince. Physicians, however, were treated
with great respect and could save many lives. In all versions of
the story, Jīvaka gave up his claim to the throne to study in
Takṣaśilā.

Accounts about Jīvaka can be found in Early Buddhist
Texts in many textual traditions such as the Pāli and
Mūlasarvāstivāda traditions, as well as later Buddhist discourses
and devotional Avadāna texts. Textual traditions agree that
Jīvaka was born as a foundling of a courtesan, but not who his
parents were exactly.

Regardless, Jīvaka was found and raised by people from
the royal court of King Bimbisāra. As he grew up, Jīvaka
decided to travel to Takṣaśilā, to learn traditional medicine from
a well-respected teacher. He turned out to be a promising
student, and after seven years, started his healing profession in
Rājagṛha.

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To profess Buddhism

Jīvaka’s medical feats gained him a reputation and he
was quickly appointed as the personal physician of King
Bimbisāra and the Buddha. As Jīvaka came more into contact
with the Buddha, he became an important supporter of the
religion and eventually founded the Jīvakarāma monastery.
Later, Bimbisāra was killed by his son Ajātaśatru, who usurped
the throne. Eventually, Jīvaka was instrumental in bringing him
to see the Buddha, to whom the new king repented the deeds he
had done.

Different versions of the biography relate dozens of
cases where Jīvaka healed different individuals, including
instances of major surgeries like the opening of the abdominal
and cranial cavities. Among Jīvaka’s patients were merchants
and their wives, kings, and he treats the Buddha’s illness with a
purgative of powdered lotus flowers.

Apart from his role as a healer, Jīvaka also developed an
interest in the Buddha's teachings. One Pāli text is named after
Jīvaka: the Jīvaka Sutta. In this discourse, Jīvaka inquired about
how to be a good lay devotee. He also specifically asked why the
Buddha ate meat. The Buddha responded that a monk is only
allowed to eat meat if the animal is not killed especially for
him—apart from that, meat is allowed. He continued by saying
that a monk cannot be choosy about the food he is consuming,
but should receive and eat food dispassionately, just to sustain
his health. The discourse inspired Jīvaka, who decided to
dedicate himself as a Buddhist layperson.

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The Tibetan tradition has another version of Jīvaka's
conversion: Jīvaka's pride that he thought he was the best
physician in the world obstructed him from accepting the
Buddha. The Buddha sent Jīvaka to legendary places to find
ingredients, and finally, Jīvaka discovered there is still a lot he
did not know yet about medicine, and it turned out that the
Buddha knew a lot more. When Jīvaka accepted the Buddha as
"the supreme of physicians", he was more receptive to the
Buddha's teachings and the Buddha started teaching him. Jīvaka
took upon himself the five moral precepts.

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His work on Buddhism

Pāli texts often describe Jīvaka giving treatments to the
Buddha for several ailments, such as when the Buddha had a
cold, and when he was hurt after an attempt on his life by the
rebellious monk Devadatta. The latter happened at a park called
Maddakucchi, where Devadatta hurled a rock at the Buddha
from a cliff. Although the rock was stopped by another rock
midway, a splinter hit the Buddha's foot and caused him to
bleed, but Jīvaka healed the Buddha. Jīvaka sometimes forgot to
finish certain treatments, however. In such cases, the Buddha
knew the healer's mind and finished the treatment himself.
Jīvaka tried to heal the Buddha using only objects that are
regarded as reverential, such as parts of the lotus flower instead
of herbs from trees. Tibetan texts stated that Jīvaka very often
checked up on the Buddha, up to three times a day. Jīvaka not
only cared for the Buddha but also expressed concern for the
monastic community, at one point suggesting to the Buddha
that he had the monks exercise more often.

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Pāli texts relate that Jīvaka later attained the state of
śrotāpanna, a state preceding enlightenment. Having
accomplished this, he started to visit the Buddha twice a week.
Since he had to travel quite far for that often, he decided to
donate a mango grove close to Rājagṛha and built a monastery
there. The monastery was used by monks during the yearly rains
retreat. Later on, Jīvaka was the first layman recorded to offer
robes to Buddhist monks. It was probably out of health
considerations that Jīvaka offered the robes since before that
time, Buddhist monks would usually sew their robes together
from pieces of rag left behind, or from corpses, which was less
hygienic. At the time of Jīvaka's gift of robes, the Buddha was ill
and this illness could be related to lack of hygiene. On a similar
note, Jīvaka is described to donate robes made of woolen
material, to be used in the winter.

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Virtues as a good model for leading a life

Jīvaka Komārabhacca spends his entire life treating his
patients. He is a devotee who helps himself and helps others
according to the Buddha's words in every respect. He devoted
himself to eminently valuable knowledge and used it for others.
It is a precious model to lead our lives to seek and appreciate
education and take his work for others as a model.

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References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%ABvaka#Role_i
n_Buddhism

http://www.jivaka.net/who-is-jivaka/
https://so03.tci-
thaijo.org/index.php/ibsc/article/view/223739/164845
https://www.matichon.co.th/columnists/news_107212
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