Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

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Aemilius
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Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by Aemilius »

"A sauna is a room or house designed to induce sweating, for either hygienic or medical reasons. The sweat can be induced by wet heat (steam) or dry heat. In the Vinaya, the rules for monks and nuns, the sauna is referred to as a hot room (jantaghàra) or more specifically as a fire room (aggisàlà). The Vinaya gives a detailed description of how these saunas were designed and used. They consisted of a room with tight-fitting doors, windows and ceiling to keep the heat in. Seats and benches were arranged around a fire and there were bowls or troughs of water for sprinkling on the body and on rocks heated by the fire. Clothes were hung on wall pegs, drains led excess water away and pipes let the steam out (Vin.II,120-1). Monks were not allowed to be naked in the sauna. The normal procedure was to smear fine clay on the body, probably as an abrasive to remove old skin, and rub or massage the limbs until the clay was washed off by the sweat.

There were four kinds of `sweating treatment' (sambhàraseda); using steam made from water with certain herbs it, steam made from water with cannabis in it, `great sweating' and udakakottaka, which may have meant soaking in a tub of hot water (Vin.I,205).

Like many people before and since, the Buddha recognized the medicinal value of cannabis and he recommended it as a cure for rheumatism. The patient should be placed, he said, in a small room filled with steam from a tub of boiling water and cannabis leaves (bhangodaka), and inhale the steam and rub it on the limbs (Vin.I,205).

Image

Indian Buddhist monks introduced the sauna to China from where it spread to Korea and eventually to Japan. The Daito Seiiki Diary by Genjo Sanzo (602-664 CE), mentions Chinese Buddhist temples with saunas that were open to the public. These saunas also provided medicine and food for the benefit of the poor and the sick. From the introduction of Buddhism in Japan during the Nara Period, many of the larger temples had saunas from which the modern baths, the sento, evolved. In the beginning these baths were meant mainly for the monks but occasionally they were open to others. Records mention that the wife of the Emperor Shomu, Koumyou Kougou (701-760 CE) allowed the sick the opportunity to bathe six days every month and even personally washed them. From the Kamakura period (1185- 1333), it was normal to make temple baths available for the sick. When public saunas and baths were established away from temples they continued to be built in the style of temples, a tradition that continues even today. Since the 1960s when Japanese houses were more commonly designed with bathrooms, public saunas and baths have declined in popularity."

Already during Buddha's lifetime monasteries or viharas, owned by the Sangha, had saunas or bath houses built on their grounds.

source: https://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=482 (Saunas)
https://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=68 (Cannabis)
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
Natan
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by Natan »

Aemilius wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:51 am "A sauna is a room or house designed to induce sweating, for either hygienic or medical reasons. The sweat can be induced by wet heat (steam) or dry heat. In the Vinaya, the rules for monks and nuns, the sauna is referred to as a hot room (jantaghàra) or more specifically as a fire room (aggisàlà). The Vinaya gives a detailed description of how these saunas were designed and used. They consisted of a room with tight-fitting doors, windows and ceiling to keep the heat in. Seats and benches were arranged around a fire and there were bowls or troughs of water for sprinkling on the body and on rocks heated by the fire. Clothes were hung on wall pegs, drains led excess water away and pipes let the steam out (Vin.II,120-1). Monks were not allowed to be naked in the sauna. The normal procedure was to smear fine clay on the body, probably as an abrasive to remove old skin, and rub or massage the limbs until the clay was washed off by the sweat.

There were four kinds of `sweating treatment' (sambhàraseda); using steam made from water with certain herbs it, steam made from water with cannabis in it, `great sweating' and udakakottaka, which may have meant soaking in a tub of hot water (Vin.I,205).

Like many people before and since, the Buddha recognized the medicinal value of cannabis and he recommended it as a cure for rheumatism. The patient should be placed, he said, in a small room filled with steam from a tub of boiling water and cannabis leaves (bhangodaka), and inhale the steam and rub it on the limbs (Vin.I,205).

Image

Indian Buddhist monks introduced the sauna to China from where it spread to Korea and eventually to Japan. The Daito Seiiki Diary by Genjo Sanzo (602-664 CE), mentions Chinese Buddhist temples with saunas that were open to the public. These saunas also provided medicine and food for the benefit of the poor and the sick. From the introduction of Buddhism in Japan during the Nara Period, many of the larger temples had saunas from which the modern baths, the sento, evolved. In the beginning these baths were meant mainly for the monks but occasionally they were open to others. Records mention that the wife of the Emperor Shomu, Koumyou Kougou (701-760 CE) allowed the sick the opportunity to bathe six days every month and even personally washed them. From the Kamakura period (1185- 1333), it was normal to make temple baths available for the sick. When public saunas and baths were established away from temples they continued to be built in the style of temples, a tradition that continues even today. Since the 1960s when Japanese houses were more commonly designed with bathrooms, public saunas and baths have declined in popularity."

Already during Buddha's lifetime monasteries or viharas, owned by the Sangha, had saunas or bath houses built on their grounds.

source: https://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=482 (Saunas)
https://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=68 (Cannabis)
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by Kai lord »

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ratna
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by ratna »

It is not certain that bhaṅgodaka here refers to cannabis. According to Zysk:
bhanga.png
bhanga.png (63.9 KiB) Viewed 2835 times

It's also possible that bhaṅga simply refers to "shredded leaves."
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Aemilius
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by Aemilius »

The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary
1) Bhaṅga, 2 (nt.) (cp. Class. Sk. bhaṅga, fr. bhañj: see bhañjati) 1. (lit.) breaking, breaking off, in sākhā° a layer of broken-off branches J. III, 407.—2. (fig.) breaking up, dissolution, disruption (see on form Cpd. 25, 66) Ps. I, 57 sq. (°ânupassanā insight into disruption), quoted & explained at Vism. 640 sq. ; VbhA. 27 (°khaṇa); Sdhp. 48, 78 (āsā°). Cp. vi°. (Page 496)

2) Bhaṅga, 1 (nt.) (cp. Sk. bhaṅga, which occurs already Atharva-veda XI. 6. 15 (see Zimmer. Altind. Leben 68), also Av. baṃha, Polish pienka hemp. On its possible etym. connection with Vedic śaṇa (Ath. Veda II. 4. 5) =P. saṇa & sāṇa hemp (=Gr. kάnnabis, Ger. hanf, E. hemp) see Walde, Lat. Wtb. s. v. cannabis) hemp; coarse hempen cloth Vin. I, 58 (where combined with sāṇa). (Page 496)
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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It'sYa1UPBoy
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by It'sYa1UPBoy »

I know that cannabis use in Buddhism can be a controversial topic (not necessarily here, but definitely in other places), but if bhangodaka does mean cannabis, then I can understand why the Buddha would recommend it specifically for medicinal use. There's a vast difference between using steamed leaves for rheumatism and smoking it to get high, just like there's a huge difference between Adderall use for ADHD and people who snort speed for recreational purposes, and just as there are both medicinal and recreational uses for cocaine, ketamine, and opium. And the Buddha, of course, told us to see doctors for our physical ailments and use the medicines they prescribed us.

With regards to the dual meaning of bhanga, I imagine that cannabis was just one form of bhangodaka, and that bhanga could also be used to refer to "cannabis bhanga" in the shorthand, kind of like how if you say "crack" people understand you mean general cocaine, not necessarily specifically crack cocaine.
DharmaJunior
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by DharmaJunior »

Cannabis (quote unquote) if you know what you're getting that is very important. The poor commercial sorts are dreadful, mark my words. I will not, in good conscience encourage this sort of behaviour, that is (a) people are going to experiment (b) want to have fun/be happier. There's stuff you can pick from the ground, you know what...

This works, but it has to be a ninja effect medicinally, in order to avoid potentially psychotic misery, not only for the subject but also for family too.

Sorry to be preachy but too much of a good thing. Pass kids on the streets today, one free whiff and I'm flying. Way too powerful. plz be careful friends.
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bowsamic
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by bowsamic »

Not all cannabis has a high enough THC content to even be particularly psychoactive. Today's cultivars are specifically bred and grown using high-tech methods in order to control, and usually increase, the THC content. I doubt they had such technology in the Buddha's time.
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Nemo
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Re: Saunas, bath houses (and cannabis) in Vinaya texts

Post by Nemo »

Using topical cannabis extracts for inflammation does work in my experience. You barely get high but it takes down that heat quite well. Cons, it's expensive.




Mod note June 2023: Topic locked, because it's not worth necroing even after 5 months already.
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