パーリ学仏教文化学 (22) - 011Garusinha Udita「A Brief Note on the Guidance Possible from the Pali Canon for the Development of Nursing Today」

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A

BriefNote

on

the

Guidance

Possible

from

the

P51i

Canon

fbr

the

Development

ofNursing

Tbday

Udita

Garusinha

Buddhism

censiders _good

health

as the

highest

gain(i).

That

is

wlry,

there

is

a

1arge

number of rules and regulations and many teachings

in

the

Jiinayopit.akoand

Suttopit.aka

on such aspects as the

_preventien

of

disease

and

_personal

hygiene

and

the

treatmentnecessary once illnesssets in.

L

1.1.Special

_Qualities

Which a Nurse should Possess

In this regard

it

is

worth

indicating

five

special _qualities

which

a nurse should _possess as set

fbrth

in

the

GilanupatShaha

sutta of

the

Paficakonipdtainthe

Aitguttaranikliya.(2)

Same

five

facts

can

be

seen inthe

avarakkeandeako

ofthe

VZnaya

Mahdv[rggzz(3}

as

_given

below.

i'

ii'

iii"

iv'.

v.

The

nurse should

be

skilled in

the

handling

of thenecessary medicines.

The nurse should

know

what

kind

of

foods

apd

drinks

is

beneficial

and

non-beneficial to the_patierrt.

The

nurse should treatthe sick without expecting any material _gainbut

out ofcompassion.

The nurse should not show aversion to remove the

_patient's

faeces,

urme, vomlt or splt etc.

The nurse should often

be

able to talkto the _patient,to strengthen his

mind, make hismind _pleasant,and tomake

him

zealous with virtuous

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1.2.

The Nurse should not Leave thePatient

Alone

The

patientshould not

be

leftalone ifhismind isweak.

If

thereis

someone always vvith the

_patient,

loneliness,

fear

etc. are

dispelled.

The

Meghtya

sutta of

the

Uddnqpali isan example in_point.According to that

sutta ven. Meghiya was attending on the Buddha. When he expressed

his

intention

to

_go

to a separate _place

leaving

the Buddha alone, Buddha

advised

Meghiya

not to

leave

him

alone and to wait tillanother Bhikl(hu

came(4).

1.3.External Appearance ofthe

Nurse

orAttendant

He should

be

clean

in

whatever

he

does.

He should

be

clean and simple

indress.The Buddhist view of cleanliness and simplicity isimportanthere.

His

face

and outward appearance should be _pleasant.Mettnnisamsa sutta

explains that when one acts with compassion and

loving

kindness

his

face

becomes

charming and

he

appears

_pleasant

to

_people(S).

1.4.According totheBuddhist View Nurse's orAttendant's Speech

should be Killdand Soft

The 7likanipdtaof the

Anguttaranikliya

mentions three

kinds

ofwords

spoken

by

_persons

as

_giithabha4i,

macthubhdpt and _{phupphabha4i.(6)}

Giithabhdrpi

means

foul

smelling unpieasant words which are

like

excreta.

Such

words cause

the

mentality of the

patient

to

break

down.

It

is

words

sweet likehoney

(madhubharpi)

or fragrantlikeflowers

(pupphabhani)

which

bring

relief to the mind of the _patient.According to

Buddhism

such

kind

of words should

be

spoken

by

a nurse.

A

_good example forthisisthe

story of Pat5c5ra.

According

to that well-known story, she losther two

children, husband, _parentsand brotheron thesame

day.

She ran senselessly

without clothing. The Buddha addressed

her

in

very

intimate

words by

saying "my sister"(7).

The

nurse or theattendant should take thatincidentas

A BriefNote on theGuidancePossiblefromthePEIiCanon fortheDevelopmentofNursing Tbday 89

1.5.ANurse should be able to Understalld the Mentality ofthe Patient

According to Buddhism a nurse should

be

able to understand the

mentality of the _patientbecause some are _patentlymental

_patients.

The

story ofKisagotami

is

a

_good

example

for

this.

She

appealed tothe

Buddha

tocure

her

dead

child.

The

Buddha

understood

her

mentality and asked

her

to

bring

a

handfuI

of mustard seeds

from

a

house

where no one

had

died.

From

moming tillevening she went

from

house

to

house

carrying her

dead

child seeking mustard. But she could not

find

a house where no one had

died.Finallyshe understood that her child had undergone the reality of

death.Itwas then thatshe carne to her senses(g). We can say thataccording

to

Buddhism

thenurse should understand the mental condition ofthe _patient

similarly.

Therefore

it

is

the responsibility of the nurse or attendant to

stabilize the _patient'smind.

1.6.A

_Nurse

should

be

able toAllay theFear ofDeath ina Patient

When the

disease

increases,

fear

of

death

naturally overtakes

the

patient'smind. It

is

the responsjbility of the nurse to

dispel

that

fear

and

even

in

a terminalillnessassuage hisor hermind. The story of Dhammika

upEisaka

in

the Dhammapada(ghakothfi isa

_good

example in

_point.

When

Dhammika _updsako was

ill

and close to death.Bhikkhus went to him and

chanted the A`lahligatipatthanasutta.He

died

having

achieved calmness of

mind(9).

The above

facts

show that the nurse should

be

of very

high

mental

qualities.According to Afiguttaranikdyat(hakatha,

in

addition tothe above

qualities

thenurse should be a wise, clever and energetic

_person(iO).

2.

Presently

in

SriLanka, inthe nursing service there are

both

male and

female nurses and attendants. They belong to various religions. Most of

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cannot

be

related to

their

religions. But we can surmise that nurses and

attendants who are Buddhist

do

-their

duties

kindly

and _patiently,

because

Sri

Lanl(anBuddhist _peoplelearnfrom theirchildhood,

how

totreatand nurse

parents,

elders,

_patients

and others.

There are special schools on every Sunday in every temple

in

Sri

Lanka from where every

Buddhist

child _getsthe

knowledge

ofBuddhism as

well as the

basic

knowledge ofnursing and thetreatment ofpatients, _parents

and so on. In addition to thison special occasions thosechildren attendthe

programs called

siramadana

which are organized voluntary social service

where

they

_get

experience ofnursing by cleaning beds and

hospital

wards,

and treatingthe

_patients.

In

Sri

Lanka when Buddhist

_people

are not well they

invite

the

Buddhist monks to their

homes.

They _yearn very much

fbr

the Buddhist

monks tochant

Paritta.

After

ehanting they

drink

chanted

holy

water and

tiecharrted

holy

tlireads

in

their

right

hands.

This

kind

of

ritual

can

be

seen very often within

Sri

Ltm

Buddhist society

beeause

they

believe

fervently

that

illnesses

could

be

dispelled

by

it.

Therefore

the BudCihist

religious

functions,

specially the

Paritta

chanting on the occasions of

fa11ing

ill

are _popular and well-known arnong the

Buddhists

all over

Sri

Lanka.

Buddhist monks also

_perform

theseservices very compassionately without

expectation of any reward.

Monks in SriLanka have unhindered access to

_patients

atany time

in

any hospitalto attend te theirreligious needs. The hospitaladministration

does

not obstmct them

in

this.Even some

doctors

want

Buddhist

monks to

rnotivate _patients

by

preaching

Dhamma

or chanting Paritta.

On

the occasion of Bhikkhus fa11ingill,there are special wards

in

state

hospitals

and special attention

by

the staff isaccorded them. In almost

every

hospital

religious needs are cared

for

and there isa shrine-room with

a statue of the Buddha or a Bocthitree or both for_patientsto worship and

ABriefNote on the Guidance PossiblefromthePaliCanonfortheDevelopment ofNursing lbday 91

Notes

(1)

Dhammapada,No.204

(2)

A.N. II._p.144

(3)

VinayaMahEvaggaIp.303

(4)

Udanap.35

(5)

A.N. IV _p.342

(6)

A.N,L _p.128

(7)

DhammapadatthakathaII,p.267

(8)

Ibid,III._p,432

(9)

Ibid.I._p.I29

(1O)

A.N. A. II._p.191

Alltheaboye _primarysources are PaliffextSociety'sEditions,

Bibliography

Ayurvedu

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makramaarachchiEelicitationPblume,Ed.W. S.Karunarathna,Colombo,1968,

Ven.Gnariarama,R,Aspects

_ofEZirly

BuddhistSociological71hought,Singapore,1998.

Vimal Hewarrianage, Bauddha Svasthaidva:Roganivaranaya saha CikitsEimpa

(Sinala),

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