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A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c19: Chapter 12

A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c19

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English

Chapter 12

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Caraka in Tibet

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Caraka is called G-yo-ba-can in the title of the Tibetan translation of the Brahmave-dasāraṅgadharacaraka;¹ the same name is found in the Tibetan translation of the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayanāmavaiḍūryakabhāṣya.² Remarkable is the absence of Caraka’s name from the list of medical authorities in the Mahāvyutpatti.³

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The Carakasaṃhitā was translated into Tibetan and from the Tibetan into Mongolian.⁴ References to the Tibetan translation are available in the Dpal-ldan gso-ba rig-paḥi khog-bugs,⁵ written by Sde-srid saṅs-rgyas rgya-mcho.⁶

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The Tibetan medical tradition is acquainted with a work called Ca-ra-ka sde-brgyad,⁷ apparently thought to be related to the Carakasaṃhitā. The eight parts of this treatise were, according to the Tibetan tradition, written down by Nam-so-skyes and seven co-disciples:⁸ Thaṅ-la-ḥbar,⁹ Rkaṅ-gñis-spyod,¹⁰ Ḥdrob-skyoṅ-bu,¹¹ Me-bźin-ḥjug,¹² Lug-sna,¹³ Mu-khyud-ḥjin,¹⁴ and Bśol-ḥgro-skyes.¹⁵ This group of eight, to whom Indra transmitted the science, descended from the devas on the paternal side, but had a human mother.¹⁶

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All these names or part of them, together with some other ones, turn up in a number of Tibetan medical works¹⁷ as designating pupils of either Rygun-śes¹⁸ or Lhaḥi dbaṅ-po brgya-byin.¹⁹

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The ṛṣi Dpal-ldan ḥphreṅ-ba²⁰ wrote a commentary on the first part of the Ca-ra-ka sde-brgyad, called Bstod-ḥgrel ñi zla sbar bkab,²¹ and a commentary on the second part, called Smad-ḥgrel ḥphrul-gyi lde-mig.²² Both commentaries together are said to comprise 600 chapters.²³

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Several stories are known about the Ca-ra-ka sde-brgyad. One of these²⁴ tells that the medical science was taught to Yid-las skyes²⁵ and other attendants by Rig-paḥi Ye-śes,²⁶ and emanation of Bhaiṣajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha; the treatise transmitted was the Rgyud-bźi, but the only one to grasp its whole meaning was Yid-las skyes. The Deva attendants heard it as the medical text called Gso-dpyad ḥbum-pa,²⁷ the Buddhists as the Rigs-gsum mgon-po,²⁸ the ṛṣis as the Ca-ra-ka sde-brgyad, and the Hindus as the Dbaṅ-phyug nag-poḥi rgyud.²⁹

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Another version³⁰ relates that Brahmā, wounded by Rāhu, and remembering the medical teachings of the Buddha, composed a medical treatise called Gso-dpyad ḥbum-pa. He taught it to his disciple Skye-dguḥi bdag-po myur-ba³¹ and to the Aśvins;³² the Aśvins handed it down to Indra, Indra to Rgyun-śes-kyi bu.³³ The science passed, successively, from Rgyun-śes-kyi bu to Thaṅ-la-ḥbar, Dkaḥ-gñis-spyod, Mu-khyud-ḥjin, Bśol-ḥgro-skyed, Me-bźin-ḥjug, Lug-nag,³⁴ and Rgya-skegs-sna.³⁵ Each of these eight wrote a commentary called Ca-ra-ka sde-brgyad. Through these great divine sages (devarṣi), the science of medicine came down from the gods to the human world, to the king of Benares; it was called the divine Brāhma system.36

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The biography of G-yu-thog yon-tan mgon-po mentions six systems of medicine: the system of binding diseases by spells, which belongs to the Asuras, the Gso-dpyad ḥbum-pa of Brahmā, the Bodhisattva system, laid down in a text called the Mercy of self-release, the Ca-ra-ka sde-brgyad of the ṛṣis, the Mahādevatantra of the non-Buadhists, and the Rigs-gsum mgon-po rgyud of the Buddhists.

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Other Tibetan medical works referring to Caraka are the Dpag-bsam ljon bzaṅ of Sum-pa mkhan-po,37 the Mkhas-paḥi dgaḥ-ston of Chos-rgyal don-grub,38 Jayapaṇḍita’s biography of G-yu-thog-pa in the Thob-yig,39 and the Śes-bya kun-khyab of Ḥjam-mgon koṅ-sprul blo-gros mthaḥ-yas.40

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