The Dhamma of Dental Hygiene

In the Anguttara Nikaya there is a short sutta in which the Buddha describes the benefits of using a tooth stick (dantakaṭṭha), the ancient Indian equivalent to our tooth brush. The advantages of regular brushing, the Buddha said, include that it is that it is good for the eyes, the breath does not have a bad smell, the taste buds are cleaned, bile and phlegm do not mix with the food, and food becomes more palatable (A.III,250). In my book Nature and the Environment in Early Buddhism I tried to identify the tree or trees that might have been used to make these tooth sticks, but without success. I conjectured  that   they were probably  Streblus asper and Salvadora persica both now  called the Toothbrush Tree, Azadirachta indica or Neem, and  (Acacia Arabica i.e. Babul, mainly because village people in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh use them today.

The monk Yijing who was  in India in the 7^th century and  on his  return to China wrote an account of his trip, advised his readers to follow Indian dental hygiene practices. He wrote: ‘The shortest (tooth stick) is not less than eight finger-lengths long, resembling the little finger in size. Chew one end of the wood well and then brush the teeth with it…After having used the wood for brushing the teeth, split and bend it and scrap the tongue…A thin flat piece of bamboo or wood, the size of the surface of the little finger and sharpened at one end, may be used as a toothpick to clean broken teeth…Twigs of a bitter, astringent, or pungent taste, the end of which may become cotton-like after being chewed are best for using as tooth wood…Toothache is almost unknown in India because the people there use tooth wood.’ While Yijing was quite detailed about how to use a tooth stick he did not mention what wood they were made of. 

Interestingly, the Mahisasaka Vinaya lists the trees that should not be used as tooth sticks without mentioning which should be.  Those  to be avoided are Toxicodendron vernicifluun, Bassia  latafolia (Pali madhuka), Ficus religiosa  (Pali assattha, the Bodhi Tree) and two others called dushu and saka, the identification of which are unclear. But just recently I discovered that the Susruta Samhita (circa 2^nd cent. BCE to 2^nd cent CE) has a section on oral hygiene and mentions four types of wood that can be used for tooth sticks – they are Neem (Pali nimba), Acacia catechu (Pali khadira), Bassia latafolia (Pali madhuka) and Pongamia galbra (Pali karanja). Neem is widely used in India today and probably was during the Buddha’s time too.  

Chartres,Faith And Reason

My readers would have noticed that I had not blogged for over four months. I was in much need of a break and so I did a three month retreat in the jungle – the concrete jungle of Paris, where I have access to a very small flat in a very quiet suburb, my only companion being the neighbourhood moggy who came to visit me each afternoon. During my time there, almost the only time I went out was to Chartres Cathedral on a day trip. It would be difficult for anyone of any religion not to be moved by this architectural masterpiece of the Age of Faith. Quite apart from the delicate sculptures, the glorious stained-glass windows and the souring spires and flying buttresses, the thought that simple, folk devote contributed their few pennies, their sweat and their creative skills to build this cathedral has to fill you with amazement. And the millions who trudged from all over Europe, mostly on foot, to  go there to worship the Virgin’s veil is a testimony to the power of faith. The only other place where I have ever been similarly moved is at the great Shwedagon Pagoda, and for much the same reasons – a heightened aesthetic sense mixed with mudita for other people’s

faith, devotion and spiritual aspirations. But it’s good not to be too carried away by feelings, not to let exaltation seduce the thinking   mind into sleep. As I stood in the front of the cathedral’s portals I saw one of the local street people try to solicit money from a small party of Chinese tourists, and that when they refused him he let them have it in the best French. This reminded me of my readings of medieval history and particularly about religion in the Middle Ages, when the faith that raised the cathedral would likely have been mixed with clerical skulduggery, pig-ignorance, the terror of hell, a hatred of the Jews and perhaps an occasional auto-de-fé in the town square, and that back then the portals would have been flanked, not by one street person, but by hordes of hideously deformed and leprous beggars. Likewise, the serene delight I felt at Shwedagon Pagoda and the appreciation of the simple faith of the devotees there, did not make the three strands of the Buddha’s hair said to be enshrine in the pagoda any more real to me. It is possible to have a regard for, sympathetic understanding of and even be moved positively by other people’s beliefs while ‘keeping your head.’     

A Few Good Books

Plenty of popular books on Buddhism come out nowadays, not all of them necessary very good. But the range and general high quality of academic books published on the subject each year is very impressive. Here are a few titles that have caught my attention, several of which I have been able to acquire.