Cultural Features of Chinese Medicine

Over the long course of their development, Chinese medicine and health-preserving science have evolved a whole body of unique principles that manifest the background and special features of traditional Chinese culture.

1. The spirit of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying.

Sun Simiao summed up the morality required of physicians in his Essential Prescriptions worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold: Physicians should never seek fame and personal gains. Any physician who merely pursued his profession in search of fine food and clothes would be humiliated and cursed by the people for neglecting the agonies of his patients. The primary duty of a physician should be protection and care of the health and life of his patients. He repeatedly stressed that a physician should "desire nothing" and be "devoted to the relief of patients," regardless of who they were. He should cherish a deep compassion for his patients, and be considerate of them. He should not be overcautious and indecisive in the treatment of his patients, merely worrying about personal gains and losses. He should overcome all obstacles and never recoil from those who were filthy and stinking. This humanitarianism embodies the sense of benevolence of Confucianism, the freedom from desire of Taoism, the love of the Mohists and the compassion of Buddhism.

2. Prevention before treatment~ and health promotion before becoming old.

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine records, the idea of preventing diseases before they appear. Prevention of disease should be started as early as the first day of birth. Man cannot become immortal or reverse the ageing process, but it is possible to prevent oneself becoming old before one's time, and to live a long life. Health care should be carried out throughout one's life, particularly during the crucial stage of one's life. Persistence in practice ensures the prevention of diseases. This accords with the traditional concept of "thinking of danger in times of peace."

3. The unity of Heaven and man, and of form and spirit. Chinese philosophy stresses that all things in nature are connected.

Nothing under Heaven is independent; all things depend on each other and interact with each other. This principle also underlies the theories of Chinese medicine.

In Chinese medicine astrology, geography and human affairs arc considered to be parts of a whole. Man lives in both natural and social circumstances. He cannot live independent of human society. Pathogenic factors come from either biological or social or psychological factors. TCM stresses the importance of natural circumstances and psychological factors in the understanding of human diseases,-emphasizing the principle of "adapting to the change of seasons, and climate."

At the same time, TCM holds that the human body is also an integral whole. It integrates the five internal organs of man with his five body constituents, nine orifices, five voices, five sounds, five emotions, five kinds of secretions, and five tastes to form the whole body and its five functional systems. On this basis, it also links the relationships between the internal organs and the channels and collaterals. Their operations in coordination make the vitality of life.

4. Equilibrium between Yin and Yang. TCM holds that Yin and Yang are two opposite aspects that constitute the human body as a whole.

These two aspects are indispensable to man's growth. Under normal conditions, they maintain a state of balanced equilibrium. If one aspect becomes less than or more than the other, physiological disorders occur, resulting in disease. All activities in daily life, food, spiritual regulation, physical exercise and administration of drugs must have the purpose of balancing the two aspects. Ageing indicates a deficiency of Yin or Yang, or both. To prevent rapid ageing, it is advisable to regulate and control the balance of Yin and Yang. This manifests the idea of balance and symmetry in Chinese philosophy in traditional Chinese culture.

5. The idea of permanent dynamics based on the combination of static and dynamic states.

Chinese philosophy learned the dialectical relationship between static and dynamic states early in ancient China. According to The Book o1 Changes, "the static and dynamic states of things are constant." LÜ’s spring and Autumn Annals says that "Running water is never stale and a door-hinge never gets eaten by worms." Matter in nature is always in a state of motion and change. Motion means change and nothing in the world can be produced without motion. TCM holds that human life from its start to its end contains a series of motions of internal contradictions in the body, including rising and falling, entry and exit. The Classic of Internal Medicine says: "Change occurs between high and low, or is caused by rising and falling." Motion is a law of nature, and a cardinal factor of maintaining health. The law of life is the process of metabolism. If the process is blocked, it leads to disease. Therefore, the concept of motion and change is integral to Chinese medicine. Life relies on motion because motion is part of the nature of life. Every cell in the human body is always in motion. Physical exercise is essential to improvement of health and prevention of diseases.

Both the Buddhist and Taoist tenets contain the doctrine of "tranquility." Meditation and Qigong have had a great influence on Chinese culture, also affecting TCM. Medical theories of nature cultivation and self-cultivation were developed and Taoist Qigong became medical Qigong.

Here, tranquility is not absolute, itself being another from of motion. Motion is absolute but tranquility is relative. Combination of static and dynamic states are needed to maintain health.

Cultural Features of Chinese Medicine

The School of TCM and the Schools of the TCM Health-Preserving Science

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