The Mongolian Medical Surgery Bronze Research

This article mainly aims to explore the origin, appearance, materials, place of manufacturing, production methods and positions, names and indications of the acupuncture points of a bronze sculpture used for the treatment of Mongolian traditional medicine.The bronze is so far the unique bronze Buddha sculpture used in Mongolian traditional medicine, which was collected by the Museum of Mongolian Traditional Medicine in Inner Mongolia Medical College. The author explored the origin and place of manufacturing of the bronze sculpture through interviews with experts, Mongolian medical workers, and researchers on the field of bronze manufacturing and also cleared materials and time of production of the sculpture through cultural identification method combined with the opinions from the experts on cultural identification. In addition, the author determined production materials, time, source of the Mongolian medical treatment techniques and the characteristics of all the acupuncture points, moxibustion points and bloodletting points on the statue by using comparative analysis method as compared to the notes written in books as " Meilifushi " and " Manna four" and other academic papers.Through its appearance, materials, distribution of acupuncture points, inheritance and origin and in contrast to the bronze found at Duolun county in Inner Mongolia, this sculpture at the museum of Inner Mongolia medical college should be made at same place as the bronze from Duolun county. The author discussed the distribution of acupuncture points and indications at the main text section of this paper and preliminary proved the donor of the sculpture would be a Mongolian traditional medical doctor Yishigawa, a Lama worked at Yong HeGong temple (Tai Yuanzhen lamas) located in Beijing and time of production should be 1st March,1940。The main body of the sculpture was made of copper; the boots were made of red copper.The author found out 611 cavity acupuncture points on the sculpture and cleared out the name and position of each acupuncture point. Except for the hairline, palmar and plantar, the acupuncture points distributed on all other parts of the bronze sculpture. Diameter of each cavity was 0.2-0.3 mm and shaped as circular depression. The acupuncture points are lateral symmetrically arranged by the midline of spine with a total of 257 dyads and 97 single points. Among single points, 62 are located right at the midline and another 35 single points did not mark the left or right symmetrical points. The specific distribution of the acupuncture points are as follows:110 points at the head (facial part 9 columns with 75 points; pillow side:9 columns with 35 points) 7 points at neck; 257 point at trunk (chest and abdomen:9 columns with 143 points; back:5 columns with 114 points); 119 points at upper limb (humeral arm:7 columns with 81 caves; hand:3 columns with8 points); 118 points at lower extremity (leg:4 columns with 72 points; foot:46points). In accordance with the point symmetry theory in Mongolian traditional medicine, the sculpture should have 292 dyad points, including 257 existed dyads plus 35 unlabeled dyad points and should have a total of 646 cavity points, including 611 existing points plus 35 unlabeled points.In Mongolian Traditional Medicine, bronze sculptures have been used as traditional teaching materials and used as models for improving practical skills of medical doctors from generation to generation. This sculpture at the Museum of Inner Mongolia Medical College is the most precious cultural relics in traditional medical treatment in history either domestically or globally. This paper filled the blanks of research in this field with specific identification on the time of production, the source of manufacturing, the production materials and the locations of acupuncturing points of the sculpture. The author hopes that the results of the paper will become fundamental resources for the educators and researchers on the same field to develop further research.