法苑珠林 95.26

95.26

"How should one know / The four great elements and all the sense organs / Waning, damaged, decaying, and exhausted, / Whereby various diseases arise? / How should one know / The timing and measures of food and drink, / So that after one eats food, / The body's fire is not extinguished? / How should one know / The treatments for wind and heat, / Excess of water and lung diseases, / As well as the balanced condition? / When does wind stir? / When does heat stir? / When does water stir, / To harm sentient beings?" / Then the father, the elder, / Immediately through verses / Explained the medical methods / To answer his son: / "Three months are summer, / Three months are autumn, / Three months are winter, / Three months are spring: / These twelve months / Are spoken of by threes. / From such a calculation / There are four seasons in a year; / If spoken of by twos, / They fill out six seasons. / The groups of three originally subsume them, / The groups of two show the seasons. / In accordance with these seasons, / Regulating food and drink / Can benefit the body. / As medical treatises state, / In accordance with the seasons of the year, / The faculties and four great elements / Alternate, increase, and decrease, / Causing the body to fall ill. / A good physician / Accords with the four seasons, / Nurturing across the three months, / Harmonizing the six elements, / Providing food and drink according to illness, / As well as broths and medicines. / Those with many wind diseases / Have them flare up in summer; / Those with heat diseases / Have them flare up in autumn; / Those with balanced illnesses / Have them flare up in winter; / Those with lung diseases / Become more severe in spring. / Those with wind diseases / Should take in summer / Rich, oily, salty, and sour [foods], / Along with hot foods; / Those with heat diseases / Take cool and sweet in autumn; / For balanced illnesses, in winter take / Sweet, sour, rich, and oily; / For lung diseases, in spring take / Rich, oily, pungent, and hot. / After eating to fullness, / Lung disease is then triggered; / When food is being digested, / Heat disease is then triggered; / After food has been digested, / Wind disease is then triggered. / Thus the four great elements / Flare up according to the three periods. / For one weakened by wind disease, / Tonify with ghee and fats; / For heat disease, as a purgative / Take harītakī; / For balanced disease, one should take / Three kinds of wondrous medicines, / Namely sweet, pungent, / Along with ghee and fats; / For lung disease, one should take / An emetic according to the season. / If wind-heat diseases, / Lung diseases, and balanced diseases / Flare up out of season, / One should rely on a master / To calculate according to the illness / The food, drink, broths, and medicines."