The Meritorious Qualities of the Attendant to the Sick: Interpretation of the Dutiyaupaddhaka Sutta

Abstract

The sick caregiver refers to a caregiver or a person who provides first aid with medicines (both tangible and intangible). In Theravada Buddhism, the importance of sick caregiver is mentioned in many ways. That is, as monks should treat each other with kindness, as supporting the monks' practice of Dhamma, and as creating stability for Buddhism. Monks who are nannies are those who devote themselves to caring for and looking after sick monks. They willingly and willingly undertake this duty with compassion for their fellow monks. In caring for monks, monks must be mentally prepared to care for their preceptors, teachers, and fellow monks when they are ill. The qualities of the Lord Buddha's care for the sick, from studying the documents in the Tripitaka, consist of 1) The qualities of the Lord Buddha's care for the sick, "good", consist of 5 elements. (1) Able to prescribe medicine; (2) Knowing what is and isn't a taboo, that is, removing what is and isn't a taboo; (3) Not nursing patients for the sake of bribes, but nursing with compassion. (4) He is not averse to taking feces, urine, saliva or things that the patient has vomited, and (5) he is able to speak clearly to the patient, encouraging him to want to practice, inspiring him to be brave, courageous and comforting him with Dhamma talks. And 2) The “bad” quality of the patient's care consists of five elements: (1) not being able to prescribe medicine, (2) not knowing what is and isn't a taboo, that is, bringing in what is a taboo and taking away what isn't a taboo, (3) nursing patients for the sake of bribes, without a heart of compassion. (4) Dislike of throwing away feces, urine, saliva or vomit, and (5) unable to speak clearly to the patient, to entice him to practice, to excite him to be courageous, to comfort him with joyful Dhamma talks.