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Venerables, Scholars, and Friends in Dhamma,
What are the authoritative secondary sources on ingestible items that can be viewed as medicine? The basic framework is given in the “Medicines” chapter of the Khandakas (Kd 6). Are there good commentaries on (or contemporary explorations of) these guidelines?
I’m particularly interested in the application of the Great Standards to cover medicines and medicinal foods that did not exist in Ancient India.
Thank you. Mettā to you and to all beings! 
Hello bhante. 
Have you checked the Buddhist Monastic Code by Ajahn Thanissaro?
BMC?
Indeed! Every English-speaking bhikkhu I know spends time with the BMC!
From the “Lifetime Medicines” heading in Volume II, Chapter 5:
As the Canon itself makes clear, any medicine that would come under these six classes—as long as it does not serve as a staple or non-staple food—is allowed here.
That’s a very clean, straightforward explanation. However, in practice, every non-food within these classes is not considered medicine; different monasteries choose differently. Moreover, medicinal foods outside these six classes are often considered lifetime medicine.
As a junior bhikkhu, the answer for me could be easy – just do what everyone else in my community does. As long as I take medicine with the clear intention to heal the body, I should be fine.
However, I’m a junior bhikkhu that likes to read the EBTs, and a little knowledge can create a load of trouble. 
Perhaps hoping that further reading will bring clarity is somewhat naïve…
Yep.
Your basic premise is off. Modern things are by definition not going to be found in the EBTs, so all you are going to get are (hopefully wise) opinions.
Authoritative to whom? Each monastery or organization will be interpreting things differently. And to be fair, the vast majority of places don’t really follow most of the rules anyway. So then you are really left with just the places that actually try to follow the Vinaya, and they are going to have widely diverging views. Sometimes strongly held and opposed to each other. And often shifting over time. Good luck!
Junior or not, everyone needs to follow the practices of their community, or find a new community. Or at least try to not cause disruption if you decide to not consider something as medicine that the community does. (The opposite situation of considering something to be medicine that the community does not is going to be even more problematic)
If you have specific questions about how different communities think about specific substances you could ask here. But for the sake of happiness and harmony, doing what your community/preceptor does is the best thing to do.
Most of the users who have access to the Lounge category are monastics, so you could post there to narrow the audience. You can also request that only monastics reply.
That’s what I intend to do.
The plan is continue consuming exactly as they consume here, slowly removing a few “medicines” that seem dubious. It’s easy enough to consume the questionable nampāna before noon, or to quietly pass it to another bhikkhu. If I do that well, no one will notice.
For context, it’s worth mentioning that this temple regards itself as observing Vinaya; most Thai bhikkhus regard it as quite strict. However, a number of distinctly Thai traditions have crept in.
I won’t judge my brothers for consuming sunflower seeds or “aiteem” or anything else… it’s my own fault that I decided to read the Bhikkhuvibhanga and the Khandakas. 
For better or worse, I cannot “unsee” what I’ve read. I cannot ignore the advice of the Early Sangha, which may even be the advice of the Tathāgatha…
I can avoid making waves.
There is almost always someone happy to relieve you of allowables no questions asked, lol.
Sounds like you have a good plan. And it sounds like you are in a good place overall.
Indeed! It would be silly to let nampāna disturb an otherwise very good situation.
If you are able to just access sugar/jaggery and ghee, you shouldn’t actually neeeeeeeed anything else for day to day practice… other than coffee/tea. You can just take the list in the vinaya as your guide. There’s nothing wrong with the modern standards in most forest monasteries though. If you don’t think cheese/soy milk/miso/gummy bears are according to vinaya, they’re not necessary anyway. Over my monastic life I’ve experimented with different slackness on the evening allowables front. I mostly just don’t bother with them, but a small amount of sugar and caffeine can do wonders at 5pm on a busy day.
Ajahn Brahm wrote his vinaya guide a bit before BMC. For a long time he would get letters (the dead tree kind) arguing one way or the other about cheese. In the end he started telling people to worry more about what came out of their mouths than what they put in.
This would be quite helpful! I’ve seen ghee exactly once in 14 months. We’re supported by a rural, Isaan village; the Indian grocery hasn’t gotten started here yet. 
We finish our meal around 830AM. Life is very active at this Wat: 15-25 km a day, often carrying loads, vigorous sweeping, etc. When I was an anagarika, I calculated daily maintenance calories at 3500-3800. It’s tough to get that in one sitting, and one sitting is all you get.
So when I notice the weight dropping, I drink more:
sugar
Ajahn Brahm’s point about attending more to Right Speech than the right foods is right on. It’s so easy for mendicants (and humans, in general) to obsess about the wrong things.
Yeah, when we dig in, it’s easier to see why groups end up branching out into sunflower seeds.
If ghee is rare/expensive or considered somehow extravagant, and sunflower seeds are cheap but unknown as a regular food, then it makes more sense.
I’m actually not sure what the logic is behind sunflower seeds. But if the monastery schedule (both food and work) assumes everyone will be eating them, it might be better to just go along to protect your body. When you go to a new community you can confess everything if you like.
There’s an allowance somewhere for “medicines made from flowers”
Ah. I always assumed that was talking about flower petals. All fruits and nuts and seeds are made from flowers, lol.
I don’t want to debate it, though.
I looked for that allowance, but could not find the text… do you know where it is found, Bhante?
There’s a whole thread on this