The Medical System Of The Han Dynasty Fangshi-Occult Masters

In addition to the current mainstream tradition of Chinese medicine, which is based on the Yellow Emperor s Inner Canon and the Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases, we find that there are other streams of medicine, which can still be included under the broader umbrella of "Chinese medicine". These include Daoist medicine, itinerant physicians, and witchcraft or shamanistic medicine, all of which diverge in significant ways from the mainstream tradition. Although they are all still recognizable as Chinese medicine, why do they differ so profoundly? Can we trace their bodies of thought and their healing methods to specific times, places and people? How did they develop? What is the relationship between them? Up to the present, scholars have divided their inquiries into "Daoist medicine" and "the thought and culture of fangshi-occult masters," and in fact no specialized studies of fangshi-occult masters medicine have been published to date. The present study utilizes research methods from literary studies, bibliographic studies, and evidential scholarship. I focus on the Han Dynasty as the era which laid the foundation for two-thousand years of Chinese civilization and which in many ways represents the culmination and synthesis of diverse, plural cultural traditions. I take fangshi-masters medicine as my starting point because I believe this gives us essential insights into the forms of medicine that came both before and after. Extant medical literature dating to the Han era, histories and annals, as well as relevant Daoist literature are my main sources. Medical literature from other dynasties and modem, secondary studies were also consulted. All of these materials have been classified and analyzed in order to identify a coherent line of development that can be traced back to earlier sources and whose influence on later medical thinking and practice can also be described.My research has shown that the general outline of the origin, development and permutations of the Han Dynasty fangshi-occult masters medicine is as follows. All of the related medical techniques that we have knowledge of, including bian-stones, moxibustion, du-toxic medicinals, the nine needles, dao-yin and acupressure, dietetics, arts of the bedchamber, spells and charms, exorcisms and taboos, originated in ancient times. Of these, spells and charms, exorcisms and taboos can be classified as "witchcraft" or "shamanistic" practices. Although the other techniques of healing listed above have relatively independent origins, in ancient times they were also a part of the practice of shamans or occult masters. Beginning in the Spring-autumn period, theories based on the triad qi-yinyang-wu xing gradually emerged as a philosophy and guide to the application of techniques for health and longevity. This process continued until the late Warring States period, when all techniques based on qi, yinyang and the five phases were generally referred to as "fangshu" or occult arts. Therapies involving bian-stones, moxibustion, du-toxic medicinals, the nine needles, dao-yin and acupressure, dietetics, and arts of the bedchamber began to develop on this new theoretical basis and it proved to be more fruitful than the previous basis in the culture of witchcraft. This shift can be described as "casting-off witchcraft and entering the occult era" The other three practices mentioned, spells and charms, exorcisms and taboos, although seemingly firmly rooted in witchcraft, also underwent a process of elaboration based on the new occult theories. At the beginning of the Western Han, fangshi medicine primarily consisted of what would later become the standard four branches of traditional Chinese medicine, medical classics (divided into Bian Que, Huang Di and Master Bai lineages), formula books, bedchamber arts books and immortal studies. Spells and charms, exorcisms and taboos were secondary practices in this system. It is important to note that practices of pure witchcraft, relatively untouched by fangshi thinking, continued to exist in Han society and in fact continued up until the end of the Han period. After this time, we begin to see qian-wei literature (and the contemporary script movement in classical studies) overtaking fangshi thought and producing the theory of qi-movement (yun qi). Zhang zhong-jing’s synthesis of medical classics (primarily the works attributed to Huang Di) and formula books can be seen as utilizing the paradigm of the ancient script movement in classical studies to transform fangshi medicine and create a new chapter that would henceforth be known as the medicine of Cold Damage. These two processes eventually coalesced into Literati or Confucian medicine.In the later Han, Hua Tuo, one of the most famous fangshi of his times, was the successor to Bian Que medicine and expanded its scope in important ways. However, since he died in prison without leaving any books, this stream of medicine came to an abrupt rupture. Religious Daoism absorbed the immortal and bedchamber techniques of the fangshi, which over time changed in line with more specifically Daoist ideas and practices. However, it was precisely the use of wu-yi (witchcraft-medicine) in Daoist religious ritual that made these forms of practice so vital at the end of the Han. In addition to these two areas. Daoism also absorbed many other practices from fangshi medicine, making "Daoist medicine" a large rubric encompassing a wide multitude of forms. After the Han, and up until the beginning of the Tang, the government maintained a "department of spells and charms" consisting of fangshi-influenced spells and charms, exorcisms and taboos, combined with elements of witchcraft-medicine. Among the common people, roving or itinerant physicians became popular, some of whom continued the tradition of du-toxic medicinal therapy inherited from the tradition of Bian Que medicine.Fangshi medicine was a part of the mainstream of medical practice and thought during the two Han, a period spanning400years. This tradition had its roots in witchcraft-medicine and was the predecessor to Confucian medicine. Fangshi medicine was a dynamic combination of a flourishing fangshi culture and systems of thought and practice based on yinyang and five phases. This was a mature, sophisticated system of medicine that contained both all of the foundational theories upon which Chinese medicine would continue to develop through later centuries, as well as the modalities of maintaining health and treating disease. After the Han, fangshi medicine moved in two directions:towards techniques of immortals and towards Confucian medicine. From a historical point of view, these two directions both involved the "scientization" of medicine in the Han Dynasty. All streams and branches of Chinese medicine are based upon yinyang and the five phases, we can therefore declare that all forms of Chinese medicine are fangshi medicine if the term is taken in its broadest sense. It is reasonable to hope, then, that deepening our understanding of fangshi medicine may lead to new avenues and innovations in the "scientization" of contemporary Chinese medicine.