The All-Wonderful Medicine of the Himalayas

Bodhisattva Kasyapa said to the Buddha: "All beings reap the karmic fruit of defilement. Defilement is evil. The defilement that arises from evil defilement is [also] evil. If so, there are two kinds. One is the 'cause' and the other the "result". As the cause is evil, the result is evil. As the fruition is evil, the seed is evil. This is as with the 'nimba' fruit. As the seed is bitter, the flower, fruit, stem, and leaves are all bitter. This is as with the seed of a poisonous tree, where as the seed is poisonous, the fruit is also poisonous. The cause is the being and the result is the being. The cause is impure, and the result is also impure. The cause and the result of defilements are beings, and beings are the cause and result of defilements. If this is indeed the inference, why the Tathagata employs the parable of the grass in the Himalayas which is poisonous, but [also] an all-wonderful medicine? If we say that defilement is the being and the being defilement, how can we say that there is a wonderful medicine in the body of a being?”

The Buddha said: "Well spoken, well spoken, Oh good man! Innumerable beings have the same doubt. You now do well to ask for an answer. I will make this point clear as well. Listen well, listen up! Think well about this. I will establish clearly now and explain this to you.

Oh good man! I speak of the Himalayas in my parable, alluding to beings therein. The poisonous grass refers to defilements, and the all-wonderful medicine refers to pure deeds. Oh good man! When beings practice these pure deeds, we say that they possess an all-wonderful medicine within them."

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 44 - On Bodhisattva Kasyapa 5.

the all-wonderful medicine of the himalayas.mp3