Long before the Blessed One had attained enlightenment,
self-mortification had been the custom among those who earnestly
sought for salvation. Deliverance of the soul from all the
necessities of life and finally from the body itself, they
regarded as the aim of religion. Thus, they avoided everything
that might be a luxury in food, shelter, and clothing, and lived
like the beasts in the woods. Some went naked, while others wore
the rags cast away upon cemeteries or dungheaps. 1
When the Blessed One retired from the world, he recognized at
once the error of the naked ascetics, and, considering the
indecency of their habit, clad himself in cast-off rags. 2
Having attained enlightenment and rejected all unnecessary
self-mortifications, the Blessed One and his bhikkhus continued
for a long time to wear the cast-off rags of cemeteries and
dung-heaps. 3
Then it happened that the bhikkhus were visited with diseases of
all kinds, and the Blessed One permitted and explicitly ordered
the use of medicines, and among them he even enjoined, whenever
needed, the use of unguents. 4
One of the brethren suffered from a sore on his foot, and the
Blessed One enjoined the bhikkhus to wear foot-coverings. 5
Now it happened that a disease befell the body of the Blessed One
himself, and Ānanda went to Jīvaka, physician to Bimbisāra, the
king. 6
And Jīvaka, a faithful believer in the Holy One, ministered unto
the Blessed One with medicines and baths until the body of the
Blessed One was completely restored. 7
At that time, Pajjota, king of Ujjenī, was suffering from
jaundice, and Jīvaka, the physician to king Bimbisāra, was
consulted. When king Pajjota had been restored to health, he sent
to Jīvaka a suit of the most excellent cloth. And Jīvaka said to
himself: "This suit is made of the best cloth, and nobody is
worthy to receive it but the Blessed One, the perfect and holy
Buddha, or the Magadha king, Senija Bimbisāra." 8
Then Jīvaka took that suit and went to the place where the
Blessed One was; having approached him, and having respectfully
saluted the Blessed One, he sat down near him and said: "Lord, I
have a boon to ask of the Blessed One." 9
The Buddha replied: "The Tathāgatas, Jīvaka, do not grant boons
before they know what they are." 10