The Monk Whose Body Stunk Dhammapada

The Monk Whose Body Stunk
ONCE WHEN THE BUDDHA was wandering about teach-
ing and preaching, he came upon a community of his
monks in which one of them was suffering from a debili-
tating skin disease. Sores that continually oozed blood and
pus covered his body from head to foot. Too weak to wash
himself or his stained robes, a nauseating stench had set-
tled about him which none of his brother monks could bear.
And so he was left alone, unable to fend for himself. It was
in this pitiful state that the Buddha found him and imme-
diately proceeded to look after him.
First, the Buddha went to boil some water and brought
it back to bathe the monk. Then, as he was trying to carry
the monk outside to bathe him, the other monks saw him
and came to help. They all took hold of the couch that the
sick monk was lying on and carried him to a place where
he was gently scrubbed clean. In the meantime, his clothes
were taken away and washed. When they were dry, they
dressed the sick monk in fresh clean robes, which made
him also feel clean and fresh.
The Buddha then admonished the bhikkhus present,
saying, “Bhikkhus, here you have no mother or father to
take care of you when you are sick. Who will take care of
you then if you don’t take care of one another? Remember
whenever you look after a sick person, it is as if you were
looking after me myself.”

He then followed with a small sermon in which he said
that although it was true that the body would one day be
as useless as a fallen log, while it was still alive, it should be
taken care of.
In the state of heightened alertness in which the sick
monk dwelled, brought on in part by the fresh bath and
fresh clothes, he attained enlightenment at the end of the
sermon.
Before long, alas, this body will lie lifeless
on the ground, discarded like a useless log.
3 Verse 41