Changing poison into medicine
changing poison into medicine
[変毒為薬] ( Jpn hendoku-iyaku )
The principle that earthly desires and suffering can be transformed into benefit and enlightenment by virtue of the power of the Law. This phrase is found in a passage from Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, which mentions "a great physician who can change poison into medicine." In this passage, Nagarjuna compares the Lotus Sutra to a "great physician" because the sutra opens the possibility of attaining Buddhahood to persons of the two vehicles, or voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones, who in other teachings were condemned as having scorched the seeds of Buddhahood. T'ient'ai (538-597) says in The Pro found Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: "That persons of the two vehicles were given the prophecy of their enlightenment in this [Lotus] sutra means that it can change poison into medicine." This phrase is often cited to show that any problem or suffering can be transformed eventually into the greatest happiness and fulfillment in life.
