Research On The Relationship Between Zhongjing’s Academic Theories And Buddhism Medical Thought

Exploring and sorting the association between the great Physician Zhang Zhongjing’s medical theories and Buddhist teachings on health(Buddhism medicine),emphasizing on the relation and uniqueness between the two school of thoughts,in the area of preventive medicine and treatment.The practical significance of this research is to propose ideas which can be implemented to enhance the present methods of TCM clinical treatment.The research is based on literature search and theoretical analysis to compare the relationship between Zhongjing’s medical literature from ancient to modern times and Buddhist teachings that concern medicine.As the literature of Zhongjing are too broad-based,only the parts on disease causation,wellness and disease treatment are compared with the Buddhism medicine.The section on the treatment of emotional diseases by Zhongjing,has been researched under a category that corresponds to medical treatment on mind-related diseases.On the research on Buddhism medicine:first,the definition of Buddhism medicine is outlined;second,the relationship between Buddhism and medicine is clarified and lastly,the possibilities of the Buddhism influences on Zhongjing medical thoughts are investigated.Through the study of the relationship between these two schools of thought,in areas of the etiology of disease,wellness disease causation,it is realized that Zhongjing’s concept on the above was based on the primary wellness of the five Zang i.e.the "internal causes".Besides these "internal causes",emotional factors,are classified as "external cause".In short,Zhongjing’s medical thought is built on the human body,the five Zang,Wei/Qi/Ying/Xue and the naive materialism theory.On the other hand,Buddhism medicine,in addition to inheriting the elements of ancient Indian philosophy of the 4 elements(earth,water,fire,wind),and theory of the three-body fluid(tri-dosa):wind(vata),bile(pitta),phlegm(sleshma),the development of the disease theory is different from secular medicine.It contains the religious concept of "karma"and "retribution".Karma theory would explain the cause and effect of disease.In terms of time span of disease,it includes three stages,i.e.past,present and future.Corresponding to etiology,the causes of some diseases in this world can be traced to the patient’s past(pre-born)period.Buddhism medicine believes that the mind is the source of the good and evil,thus,teaching of goodness,compassion for the poor suffering,and even teaching patient’s visitor to develop compassion are considered good deeds which can have auxiliary functions that affect the health of the body and assist in disease rehabilitation.Furthermore,through the training of"mindfulness",it could establish mind stabilisation,which can provide a strong karma to improve health and enhancing the healing effect.In the field of Wellness,Buddhism medicine and Zhongjing "prevention of disease"principle are basically the same.Both embody the spirit of prevention is better than cure.Their content and mechanism have similarities as both reflected the essence and philosophy of ancient oriental medicine,which are:doctrine of the golden mean,interrelationship between human and nature,compliance with nature and the holistic view of the human body.These are applied both in terms of health maintenance and disease treatment and in the application of general preventive medicine.Both schools of thought also encompass health promotion and wellness to include mental health,sexual health,avoidance of "evil influences" and dietary treatment.The main emphasis is that prevention is better than cure.In terms of mental health,there are also similarities with the Buddhism’s practice of meditation,which aligns the body and mind to coordinate and produce health effects.Calmness and full attention in meditation and keeping the spirit,can solidify the body’s Qi,improve the body’s immunity,i.e.a body with good Qi would not be invaded by "evils".In the meditation process of mindfulness would produce the good"Material phenomena originating from consciousness(cittasamutthanarupa)" which is beneficial to health and has disease healing effect.With regard to the principle of treatment,both are based on the same principle of "cure the root cause".However,Buddhism medicine uses the Medicine of Rite(Four Noble Truths,The Noble Eightfold Path,Twelve Links of Dependent Origination,etc.)for treatment of greed,anger,ignorance and other troubles mind diseases;whereas Zhongjing medical thought mainly use herbal decoction for treating the diseases of the body,with some cases in the treatment of emotional disease.Of course,the main aim of the two is to relieve physical and mental suffering.Buddhism is fundamentally the treatment of troubled minds and release of pain in life and death.As with the teaching of Buddha,which is known as the Dharma,is to present an overview and a way out of suffering from mental and physical pain of life and death.Although some contents are related to medicine,but mainly uses medicine as an analogy to expound the way of Buddhism rather than as a purely medical theory.When the Buddha himself was sick,or when monks are sick,doctors would be invited for his/their treatment.In a narrow sense,Buddhism medicine does not belong to the category of general mainstream medical studies.However,in Buddhism scriptures,from their understanding of life and disease concept,health content and even on the identification and treatment of mind trouble,one can appropriately say that it is a"general medical science for life".As for the definition of "Buddhism medicine",it is the use of the Dharma as a medicine to cure the root of suffering caused by greed,aversion and ignorance.This is the essence of Buddhism medicine,as it can solve what mainstream medicine cannot cure,which is the illness of greed,aversion,ignorance,which bring sickness,both physical and mental.During the life time of Zhang Zhongjing,Buddhism had certain influence on the social situation then.Zhongjing himself being the "official of Changsha Prefecture" in his time,placed him on the upper ruling class of society.He definitely had the opportunity to interact with Buddhist monks and certainly would not be unfamiliar with Buddhism.As Zhongjing wrote that he "paid great attention to medicine,done refined study on medical formula and techniques" and"learn from aspects of many formula" proved that he had great spirit of learning.During that time,Buddhist monks used to carry along a super efficient medicine called medical fruit of haritaki(Terminalia Chebula).Zhongjing would definitely not be unaware of such Buddhism medicine product.The haritaki formula documented in his "Synopsis of the Golden Chamber"could have its origins from the Buddhist monks.However,Zhongjing only provided the herbal contents and usage of the haritaki powdered formula.The meaning and the mechanism of "Qi Li"(气利)were not known.This led to various interpretations by many practitioners later.By tracing the ancient Indian medical and Buddhism literatures,it was found that haritaki has special effect on body disorders caused by the effect of "Wind disease" mainly in "samana"which is part of stomach/intestine of the digestive system.The mechanism of haritaki treatment of "Qi Li",is the treatment of indigestion due to a "Qi" which also known as "vata".In comparison,for treatment of bloated stomach,Zhongjing used the technique of "treating incontinent syndrome with dredging method".Through investigation by tracing the origins of haritalki,undoubtedly,one would gain valuable experience and broaden ideas in its related clinicaluses.It also ended the myth that haritaki is an astringent medicine which is only applicable to patients of long term sickness.The Buddhism medicine eventually did not greatly infiltrate and influence the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine.The main reason being,before the introduction of Buddhism into China during the Han Dynasty,Chinese Medicine theory had already evolved into a rather mature and comprehensive system.Another reason was that the treatment of diseases had different emphasis and views.These significant differences would be the key to explain why Buddhism medicine did not greatly infiltrate and influence the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine.