Early Medieval China (220–589); physician-monks; medical skill
摘要
Hagiographical tales tell us that some Buddhist monks who lived during the Early Medieval China (220–589) possessed considerable medical skills. Some were proficient in foreign medicine, while others had mastery over traditional Chinese medicine. The outstanding medical practitioners among these monks included Yu Fakai 于法開, Zhi Facun 支法存, Sengshen 僧深, and Shi Daohong 釋道洪. In addition to having a background in traditional Chinese medicine, these individuals are said to have had access to foreign medical knowledge due to their status as monks. However, the literature on these physician-monks’ medical skills is limited, which is why the present paper aims to explore this matter further, especially by introducing and elaborating upon some modern Chinese research which has generally gone unnoticed in international scholarship. To this end, this paper critically analyzes various historical records detailing these monks’ lives. It shows that, in addition to having extraordinary medical skills, some of these physician-monks mastered methods to cure specific diseases (such as beriberi [jiaoqi bing 腳氣病] (This is the name of the disease in traditional Chinese Medicine. It refers to a disease characterized by numbness, soreness, weakness, contracture, swelling, or muscle withering in the legs and feet.)). It also shows that they were usually more accurate in syndrome differentiation, while the treatments they prescribed were unique. However, given the lack of information, further research is required to clarify how these physician-monks learned methods as well as the impact of their foreign medicine knowledge on their methods.
目次
Abstract 1 Keywords 1 1. Introduction 1 2. Physician-Monks Recorded in the Gaoseng zhuan 高僧傳 [Biographies of Eminent Monks] 4 3. Zhi Facun 支法存, the Monk Yang (仰道人) and Sengshen, and Beriberi 7 3.1 Zhi Facun 7 3.2 Monk Yang and Sengshen 11 4. Shi Huiyi’s 釋慧義 Discussion on the Intake of Cold-Food Powder (hanshi san 寒食散) 14 5. Reflections on the Books Discussing the Prescriptions to Treat the Effects of Cold-Food Powder, Penned by Monks in Medieval China 16 6. Conclusions 21 Notes 21 References 23
