經律異相 32.21

32.21

In the city of Rājagṛha there was a young maiden named Vārabhadrikā. The king ordered that a brothel be established for her; anyone who stayed the night with her paid two hundred liang of gold for a day and night. People gathered from the four directions, and the view was exquisite. At that time, Prince Abhaya, son of King Bimbisāra, spent the night with this courtesan, and she subsequently became pregnant. The courtesan instructed the gatekeeper, saying, "If anyone seeks to see me, reply that I am ill." Later, when the months were fulfilled, she gave birth to a boy whose appearance was handsome and upright. The courtesan immediately wrapped the child in white cloth and instructed a maidservant to abandon him in an alley. Prince Abhaya saw him and asked his attendants, "What is this?" They replied, "This is a small child." He asked, "Dead or alive?" They replied, "Still alive." He sent someone to carry him back to his residence and gave him to a wet nurse to raise. He was then named Kumāra Jīvaka. Later, as he gradually grew up, the prince loved him, called him, and said, "If you wish to remain in the royal house for long without any skills, you cannot eat royal provisions in vain. You should learn an art." He replied, "Yes." He then went to a physician in the state of Takṣaśilā, whose clan name was Ātreya and personal name was Piṅgala, to study. After seven years had passed, he said to his master, "When will my studies come to an end?" The master then gave him a basket and tools for digging herbs, [saying,] "Go around the state of Takṣaśilā within one yojana in every direction, seek all herbs, and bring back whatever is not medicine." Kumāra Jīvaka then followed his master's words, searched everywhere, but could not find anything that was not medicine. Whatever grasses, trees, and all things he saw, he was skilled at distinguishing and knowing where they could be used; there was nothing that was not medicine. He returned and reported this to his master. The master replied, "You may now leave; your medical way is accomplished. In Jambudvīpa I am the foremost; after I die, you will be next." Jīvaka returned to the city of Bhāgirathī. The wife of a great elder in the city had suffered from headaches for twelve years, and many physicians had treated her without cure. Jīvaka heard of this, went to her house, and said to the gatekeeper, "Tell your elder that a physician is outside the gate." The gatekeeper reported this to the elder. The elder's wife asked, "What does the physician look like?" He replied, "He is young." She thought to herself, "Venerable and aged physicians have treated me without cure, how much less a youth? If it causes no harm, call him in." Jīvaka then went to the elder's wife, took fine medicine, boiled it with ghee, and poured it into her nose and mouth. The ghee and saliva came out together. She had someone hold a vessel to catch it; the ghee was collected again, while the saliva was discarded separately. Jīvaka then said, "She is stingy even with this small amount of impure ghee; how could she reward me?" The elder's wife replied, "Managing a household is not easy; what benefit is there in throwing it away? It can be used to light fires, which is why I collected it. Just cure my illness; why worry like this?" Later, her illness was cured. The elder's wife gave him four hundred thousand liang of gold, along with male and female servants, cattle, and horses. Jīvaka returned to Rājagṛha and arrived at Prince Abhaya's gate. The prince called him in. Jīvaka recounted the whole story to the prince and offered all the goods he had received to him. The prince said, "This was Kumāra Jīvaka's very first cure." (Extracted from the second fascicle of the third section of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya; as the account of Jīvaka differs elsewhere, both are preserved.)