The Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area is reviewing the Lotus Sutra a month at a time. The first Sunday of the month is a formal discussion about the subject of the chapter and the third Sunday, today, is devoted to a discussion of each attendee’s favorite verse of the chapter and how that verse impacts daily life. This month’s topic was Chapter 5.
The version of the Lotus Sutra that I have here, which was translated by Senchu Murano, calls the chapter “The Simile of Herbs.” But the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area’s preferred translation of the Lotus Sutra is Rissho Kosei-kai’s The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation for Contemporary Readers. This 2019 translation by Michio Shinozaki, Brook Ziporyn and David Earhart calls Chapter 5 “The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.”
There are no Medicinal Herbs in either translation. Both are English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation of the Sanskrit in 406 CE.
During the discussion on the first Sunday I raised the question of why “Medicinal” was added to the title. It distracts from the meaning of the simile, which discusses how the Buddha’s wisdom is rained upon everyone equally and it is received individually based on the individual’s nature and characteristics. Some of us are herbs, some are rice plants, some are trees – all receive the same nourishment from the Buddha. Adding “Medicinal” was a puzzle.
This week, when I was preparing for participating in the service, I decided I would quote from the two “missing” parables from Chapter 5. These – the Simile of the Clay Pots and Parable of a Blind Man – are from a surviving Sanskrit version that was translated by Leon Hurvitz in his 1983 “Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma.”
It was here, in the portion of the sutra Hurvitz added to Chapter 5, that I understood why Hurvitz called Chapter 5 Medicinal Herbs. It all has to do with how blindness was cured by a physician. Here’s the context:
“Now there is a certain physician, who knows all ailments. He sees that man born blind. The following occurs to him: ‘This man has fallen victim to an ailment thanks to a former evil deed. Whatever ailments arise, they are all of four kinds: rheumatic, bilious, phlegmatic, or due to a derangement of the humors.’ Then the physician thinks again and again of a means to put an end to that ailment. The following occurs to him: ‘Whatever drugs are current, with them this ailment cannot be treated. But on the Snowy King of Mountains there are four herbs. Which four? The first is named The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being; the second is named The One That Brings Release from All Ailments; the third is named One That Destroys All Poisons; the fourth is named The One That Confers Happiness on Those Standing in the Right Place: these four herbs.’ Then the physician, showing compassion for that man born blind, thinks of a device by means of which he is able to go to the Snowy King of Mountains and, having gone, ascend it, then descend it, and also search through it thoroughly. Searching in this way, he finds the four herbs. And, having found them, he gives the blind man one chewed with his teeth, one he gives him pounded, one he gives him cooked in a mixture with other things, one he gives him mixed with other things raw, one he gives him after piercing his body with a lancet, one he gives him after burning it in fire, one he gives him mixed with a variety of things, including even such things as food, drink, and the like.
“Then that man born blind, through the application of those devices, regains his sight. …”
Still unresolved is why anyone else would add “Medicinal” to the title.
Gene Reeves’ 2008 translation has “The Parable of the Plants” for Chapter 5. Reeves offers a footnote explanation for the difference:
“In Kumārajīva’s version, though the title is literally ‘Medicinal Herbs Parable,’ in the chapter itself there is no parable having to do with medicinal herbs.”
Reeves notes Hurvitz’s inclusion of a medicinal herb parable but, since it wasn’t included in Kumārajīva’s translation, Reeves chose to change the title to more accurately reflect the content.
Interestingly, the 1975 version of Rissho Kosei-kai’s “The Threefold Lotus Sutra” has Chapter 5 as “The Parable of the Herbs.”
