This is a very
interesting fable I heard from my guru:
“When Lord Buddha was still alive, he taught
Sri Rama the knowledge of using herbs to cure various sicknesses and Lord
Buddha also gave Sri Rama a bag filled with various herbs. Majority of the
herbs are stems and roots, so Sri Rama was able to follow the samples to
identify and collect herbs to cure the sick.
On day, Lord Buddha fell ill. So he asked his
servant Hanuman, the monkey king to look for Sri Rama. Unfortunately as the
nature of monkey was very playful, Hanuman has forgotten his task until when
Sri Rama heard of the news, it was a little too late. While Sri Rama was
hurrying on his way to see Lord Buddha; the news that Lord Buddha has achieved
nirvana (dead) reached Sri Rama.
Out of extreme sorrow and despair, Sri Rama
spread the bag of herbs all over the mountain ranges and hence gave birth to
thousands of herbs available today. After done so, Sri Rama also taught people his
experiences and the correct method of using herbs to cure illnesses. So,
hereafter begins the history of herbal medicine.
That was also the beginning of traditional
Thai medicine for the last 2500 years.”
Okay. The above is just a fable, but it clearly shows the influence of Brahmanism and
Buddhism in traditional Thai medicine.
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