Hindu Medicine c7.118

c7.118

The so-called Four Noble Truths of Buddhism correspond exactly to the four successive problems which the Hindu doctor is taught to face in treating a patient. The Indian physician, when called upon to examine a patient, is instructed to ask himself four questions: three in order to reach a proper diagnosis, and one inquiring into the proper therapy of the case. First of all, are the complaints of the patient based on some real suffering; has he a real disease or is he only seemingly ill? If the answer is that he is ill, the physician proceeds to inquire into the particular nature of the sickness, answering the second question: with what kind of suffering is the patient afflicted and what is its origin? The third step, completing the diagnosis, is to decide whether the disease can be cured or not. If not, the doctor is supposed to withdraw. He leaves the patient to his relatives and his house-priest; at this point the priest may have recourse to the superior wisdom of magic procedure in an attempt to exorcise or propitiate the superhuman forces that may have seized upon the patient, baffling medical skill; or the priest and the relatives may dispense to the soul, definitely bound westward, the blessings of sacramental offices that it requires for the next life. But if the third question is answered in the affirmative and the disease seems curable, then the doctor will ask himself the fourth and last question: what kind of treatment is indicated for this particular ailment?