Content And Context Of Spirit In Yellow Emperor's Canon Of Internal Medicine

Aim:This study was undertaken to show the rich content and context of understanding of human vitality and mental activity i.e.spirit of Chinese medicine in Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine and the clue to early evolution of Chinese medicine.Methods:The study is a combination of normative study and historical study,which means to unite method of systematic analysis i.e.analysis of the argumentation and mechanism of the ides of Spirit and the theory of integration of Body and Spirit with the method of philology and history focused on specific idea, physiological and pathological phenomena and correspondent explanation and paradigm.Results:The study concludes a series of related issues on which analyses were carried out and resulted asfollows:Issue 1 is the mechanism of external factor influencing human character i.e.mental condition exampled by "drunken stupor".This chapter focuses on the physiological basis of human courage and its changes caused by alcohol recorded in Miraculous Pivot.Analysis of alcohol's functional mechanism attributes alcohol's capacity of filling a coward with provisional bravery to its influence on Qi and Qi-transformation.Furthermore, researchers should owe human courage/cowardice to no specific organ(s),but Qi and Qi-transformation of human body,which was represented by anatomical indexes of courage/cowardice specified in Miraculous Pivot.An instance from Zhang Jiebin shows that argumentation on relation between anatomy and mentality leads to partial explanation inevitably without considering Qi and Qi-transformation.Issue 2 is the physiological effect of mental activity exampled by explanations of "sorrow brings tears". Aiming at absolute understanding of the explanative theory about seven emotions and their physical effects in Chinese medicine,this chapter focus on the similarities and differences among three explanations of "sorrow brings tears" in Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine.According to analysis on theoretical modes and acknowledge basics of the three explanations,the track of early-period evolution of Chinese medicine was uncovered which developed from physical-orientated to physical-idealistic-orientated gradually.Especially,it is argued that how the physical study and the idea of Spirit were integrated to reach an improved explanation..issue 3 is pathological mechanism of a kind of mental disease epilepsy.There ate three types of explanation of epilepsy in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.The explanation of epilepsy in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon includes three types.The first is regarding epilepsy as upper body exuberance and lower body vacuity which based on the idea of qi and similarity between epilepsy and reversal pattern.The second is developed explanation of hyperactivity of yang due to yin vacuity,which is the result of the introduction of the idea of yin and yang.The third is channel entry according channel theory and corresponding treatment of acupuncture,which connect epilepsy with kidney.The rich implication of the explanation shows the early evolution of Chinese medicine and the inner characteristic of it.Issue 4 is explanative mode of mental disease exampled by the hermeneutical problem of "five evils".Chapter 4 focuses on hermeneutics of"five evils" e.g."gathering of yang causes epilepsy".There is a strange contradiction between the name of "five evils" and its content which includes six kinds of diseases.Analyses of two explanations of the contradiction show the double effect of the theory of five elements as a new strong norm to Chinese medicine-- positive and negative:Positive effect:The application of theory of five elements in mental pathology leads to more exact explanation of mental disease and more specific relation of Spirit and Body.Furthermore,the entering of theory of five elements changes the paradigm of research of human from equalized mode to focused mode.Negative effect:There are two related preconceptions which are side-effects of the theory of five elements,which influenced the interpretation of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon seriously and negatively:Dogmatizing the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon;dogmatizing the theory of five elements. Dogmatism due to the blind obedience to Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and prevents people to realize the fact that Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is historical assembly and demands historical study correspondently.Issue 5 is the inner mechanism of "Spirit" and its relevance to the "Body" exampled by the effect of the theory of five elements to the theory of Spirit in Chinese medicine i.e.the theory of five spirits.Study on dream in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon shows the innate gradates and interrelations of five spirits.Dream is regarded as pathological phenomena in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.Will and reflection are the governor of the ethereal soul and corporeal soul.The government is weakened and the ethereal soul and corporeal soul are vulnerable in sleep.Pathological factor leads the condition of the ethereal soul and corporeal soul to float which is reflected in dream.The idea of dream's mechanism in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is correspondent to the idea that ideal man does not dream in Taoism.The ethereal soul and corporeal soul are primary part of human vitality and mental activity i.e.spirit. Will and reflection are higher part of spirit governing them and the basis of the most complicated mental activities,which is the reason why will and reflection are regarded as representative of spirit at all.Heart spirit supervises will,reflection,the ethereal soul and corporeal soul totally.It is explained by the innate gradates and interrelations of five spirits that why spiritual health care and congruence of body and spirit are valued in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and Chinese medicine.Issue 6 is the classification and interpretative system of mental phenomena exampled by the dream-diagnosis theory of Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.Analysis shows that there is no exact classification and consistent logic and integrated system of dream interpretation but two different interpretative systems coexist in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Analogy and incomplete application of the theory of five elements in dream interpretation.The fact that Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is multi-originated and composed complicatedly is revealed by the way the two systems coexist and combine.Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is still,whilst Chinese medicine develops.The last part of this study examples and analyzes three opinions on the relation between spirit and brain as a prospective study on how Chinese medicine deals with challenge from western medicine.Conclusion:1.Studies above mentioned unfold the fivefold mechanism of the theory of Spirit and the integration of Body and Spirit in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.Substantial factors influent the outlook of the theory of Spirit and the integration of Body and Spirit in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon are:the idea of qi;the channel theory;the idea of yin and yang;the theory of five elements.Theses factors acted on the study on human vitality and mental activity successively and formed the theory of Spirit and the integration of Body and Spirit in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon in common,which contains five gradates as follows:(1)The research on human vitality and mental activity begins with empirical study i.e.study on Body both actually and logically,which remains some indications in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.(2)The combination of empirical study and the idea of qi is the preparation for the theory of integration of Body and Spirit to form.Empirical study combined with the idea of qi in early stage in Chinese medicine and was integrated as a part of its application in the field of medicine,which promote regarding the human body as a whole and the study on human vitality and mental activity e.g."drunken stupor" of Chinese medicine away from simple empirical study and reductionism.The channel theory performed as an important role in the development of pathological explanation of mental disease which can be regarded as improved and specified theory of qi.(3)Spirit occurs as a interpretative element indicates the theory of Body and Spirit of Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon come into being and the first gradate of it.Invisible Spirit oppose the visible Body lead the study on human vitality and mental activity apart from local phenomenon to deeper and macroscopic viewpoint.(4)The application of the idea of yin and yang indicates the second gradate of the theory of Body and Spirit.in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.The application of the idea of yin and yang improved the explanation of mental activity's physiological effect and mental disease in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.(5)The reconstructive power from the theory of five elements indicates the third gradate of of the theory of Body and Spirit.The application of the theory of five elements in the field of medicine is the theory of five spirits which divides Spirit into five segments corresponding to five viscera.The five spirits are not equal but in a rank according to their respective intension.The positive effects of the theory of five spirits are:first,it specified the abstract ides of Spirit and set exact and close relationship between Spirit and Body;second,it supplies more specific explanative mode of mental disease and more specific explanation on mental activity e.g.dream,which are the basis of the health cultivation viewpoint of Chinese medicine emphasizes on "guarding Spirit" and the congruence of body and spirit.The negative effects of the theory of five spirits are formalism and dogmatization which reflect obscurely in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and obviously in the interpretation of Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon from later scholars.2.Significance of the fivefold mechanismThe five gradates are not arranged in order but reflect in arguments of specific issues distributed in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.We can draw an analogy between the fact that viewpoints in various perspectives about human vitality and mental activity coexist in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon with fossils deposit in layers in a long term,which accumulate,move and overlap but take on some type distribution and evolutionary series nevertheless,which is the reason why the fivefold mechanism above mentioned can be regarded as five stages of the evolution of the theory of integration of Body and Spirit in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.too.It was decided that the fivefold mechanism and its appearance of the theory of integration of Body and Spirit by the fact that Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is time-orientated itself.It is necessary to study Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon with the insight of history combined with normative study.