འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 4.23

4.23

Therefore, in order to free those many hundreds of thousands of beings from the afflictions of various illnesses and the torments of various illnesses, I will go to my father, Jaṭiṃdhara, and question him so as to become skilled in the humors in order to heal illness. Having questioned him so as to become skilled in the humors, I will go to the villages, towns, market towns, countryside, realm, and royal capital. When I go there, I will free the many hundreds of thousands of beings from illness.’

“Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, Jalavāhana, the head merchant’s son, went to his father, Jaṭiṃdhara, and having come to him, he bowed down his head in homage at his father’s feet, and with his palms together he sat to one side. When he had seated himself to one side, Jalavāhana, the head merchant’s son, recited these verses to his father, Jaṭiṃdhara, questioning him about skill in the humors:

“ ‘How are physical powers destroyed³⁵²
And how do the humors change?
At what times do illnesses
Arise within physical beings?

“ ‘What foods should be eaten or not
At different times for health,
So that within someone’s body
The body’s heat³⁵³ will not be harmed?

“ ‘What are the medical practices
For healing the illnesses
That arise from air, from bile,
From phlegm, and from their combination?

“ ‘During which times does the air move,
During which times does the bile move,
And during which times does the phlegm move,
Through which there will be harm to humans?’

“Then the head merchant, Jaṭiṃdhara, taught his son Jalavāhana skill in the humors by reciting these verses:

“ ‘Know three months to be summer and three months the autumn,
And there are three that are winter and three that are spring.
Similarly, there are said to be six seasons,³⁵⁴
And there are twelve months in one year.