འཕགས་པ་ཡངས་པའ་གྲང་ཁྱར་ད་འཇག་པའ་མད་ཆན་པ intro.6

intro.6

In The Chapter on Medicines, the episode is set during a long and detailed account of the Buddha’s final journey toward the north, not long before his parinirvāṇa, which parallels in many other respects the narrative of the Mahā­parinirvāṇa­sūtra in the Dīrghāgama.⁶ While the Buddha is staying in Rājagṛha under the patronage of King Ajātaśatru, an emissary sent by the Licchavis from their capital of Vaiśālī arrives, bearing news of a terrible epidemic that has decimated the city’s population and a request to the Buddha to visit and quell the disaster. The Licchavis have been at war with Ajātaśatru, so the Buddha first has to obtain King Ajātaśatru’s assent, and he then sets out under the king’s protection, stopping at several places on the way to teach before crossing the Ganges into Licchavi territory. He again stays and teaches in several places, including Nādikā, where an epidemic has also struck (there is no mention of it being the same as Vaiśālī’s) and many of his disciples have died, providing the setting for a famous teaching on the twelve factors of interdependent arising. Here, The Chapter on Medicines inserts the less somber episode (perhaps out of sequence⁷) of the Vaiśālī courtesan Āmrapālī’s invitation, her meeting with the Buddha, his teaching to her, and his interactions with other Licchavis.