Buddha and evidence based medicine

The BMJ's efforts to highlight the evidence for evidence based medicine reminds us of its origins.1 I believe that evidence based medicine has been around us much longer than we think. One of its oldest proponents was the great Indian philosopher, the Buddha.

The Buddhist aim of eliminating suffering coincides with the objectives of medicine.2 The emphasis on compassion finds natural expression in the care of the sick. In the Buddhist monasteries it was laid down …