觀音玄義記 2.8

2.8

Fifth, the medicine and the jewel, in three parts: First, indicating the names and presenting the teaching. As for the "Nārimṛgāra-sūtra," its full title is Fo shuo nannü qiyu jing in one fascicle. Nārimṛgāra was born from a mango tree at the house of a brāhmaṇa in the state of Vaiśālī; her appearance was upright and beautiful, and her fame spread to distant lands. King Bimbisāra went to seek her hand, and she later gave birth to a son named Jīvaka. At birth, he held needle-cases and medicine bags in his hands. By the age of eight, he was thoroughly versed in medical arts and traveled everywhere curing illnesses. Later he encountered a boy carrying firewood; Jīvaka looked at him and saw all of this boy's five viscera and stomach and intestines. Jīvaka thought to himself: "The Materia Medica classic says there is a King of Medicines tree, which from outside illuminates the inside, revealing people's viscera and bowels. Could there not be a King of Medicines tree in this boy's firewood?" He immediately went and asked the boy: "How much money for the firewood?" The boy said: "Ten coins." He then paid the money and took the firewood. He lowered the firewood and placed it on the ground, but in the dimness he could not see into the belly. Jīvaka pondered: "I do not know which piece in the bundle is the King of Medicines." He then untied the two bundles, took them one by one, and placed them upon the boy's belly; seeing nothing, he kept taking others. Having gone through the two bundles of firewood in this way, at the very end there was a small branch barely more than a foot long; testing it by using it to illuminate, he saw everything inside the belly. Jīvaka rejoiced greatly, knowing that this small branch was definitely the King of Medicines, and returned all the firewood to the boy. Having received the money, and with his firewood intact as before, the boy left with joy. Jīvaka treated sick people everywhere in the state; he examined them all by illuminating them with the King of Medicines, saw the root of the illness completely, and then treated them, with none failing to be cured. Here this is taken as an analogy for the true body's eradicating of suffering, like the King of Medicines curing illness. "The jewel is the wish-fulfilling gem": as in the Avataṃsaka, having obtained the mani jewel polished in ten ways, it can rain down myriad treasures. Here this is taken as an analogy for the response body's bestowing of joy, like the mani raining down treasures.