Cow Urine for Monks and All

In ancient times asce-tics (yogis, shramanas, bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, and other wandering mendicants) utilized a somewhat strange medicine: fermented cow urine. It was effective, free, and had a long history of use.

• VIDEO: Cow Urine drink set to launch in India

Even today ascetics in India, and Buddhist monastics in Asia in particular, utilize it for various ailments. Of course, they are not limited to this remedy. Nor, one imagines, are they required to use it. But it remains in their vows. An alternative and superior vegan option is apple cider vinegar.

As repugnant as it sounds, American consumers have long used cow urine in countless cosmetic products and medicines. (Read your labels). It usually goes under the name "urea" (uric acid = urine) and similar names.

It's used because it's effective -- not in making one more beautiful but in making a product more stable and lucrative for cosmetic companies. Horse urine is what millions of American women consume in the medicine Premarin (short for "pregnant mare urine"). However, rubbing pee all over one's face to become pretty is a far cry from drinking it on purpose.

While most Americans don't drink cow urine, they do eat a lot of it, not only as medicine but as food. It's the principle "ingredient" in aujus (French for "it's [own] juice") -- the salty dipping sauce (originally derived from liquid drippings) oozing out of roast beef [beef = cow], steak, and hamburgers during cooking.