Who is making Chinese medicine artificially complicated?

Mondo Health Updated on 2024-02-11

Foreword: It is necessary to think about how traditional Chinese medicine, which has been accumulated for thousands of years, in modern times, and cannot avoid its shortcomings, such as correctly understanding the negative influence of literati on traditional Chinese medicine in history.

The ancients said that "the road is simple", and the biggest problem in Chinese medicine is that it is too complicated!

How many of the ancient medical books are truly able to guide clinical treatment? How many medical cases are completely restored to the actual face? How many doctors are truly clinical?

Professor Xiong Jibai, a master of traditional Chinese medicine, said: "I often say that our Chinese medicine is complicated enough, and we now have a lot of Chinese medicine, and even the so-called Chinese medicine scientist, he treats Chinese medicineArtificially complicated。Isn't it complicated enough? It's artificially complicated, how can our descendants learn it! As soon as he saw it, he was afraid of it, and when he saw it, he retreated and took three steps back, how could he learn? The ills brought by this artificial complexity to future generations can only be given to traditional Chinese medicineBrings a devastating effect

Some people say that the theory is the Tao, and the books are one after another, but they can't even read a cold, what kind of Chinese medicine is this? This is the biggest problem with the academic school, including the current master's and doctor's degrees. Therefore, what many of our highly educated people lack is precisely the professional level and clinical ability, which is also the crux of the problem of Chinese medicine talents. ”

The disconnect between theory and practice, that is, the knowledge in books (including textbook knowledge), cannot fully guide clinical practice, which is the primary problem that the development of TCM has failed to solve.

The factors that form the disconnect between theory and practice are complex, and the author believes that in order to analyze and solve this problem, it is necessary to study the history of the development of traditional Chinese medicine, in particularCorrectly analyze the influence of literati on traditional Chinese medicine.

With the continuous increase of literati and doctors, the quality of Chinese medicine personnel has been continuously improved, because the emergence of a large number of Confucian doctors has greatly improved the basic cultural level of doctors. The literati treated medicine, prospered traditional Chinese medicine, enhanced academic contention, and promoted academic development. The direct effect of the increase in the number of literati in general medicine on the development of medicine is the formation of a school of thought that mainly collates and compiles medical literature.

The negative influence of literati on TCM is as follows:

Reverence for the ancient has hindered the innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine

After the Han Dynasty, among the Confucian scholars and scholars, an atmosphere of studying scriptures, promoting scriptures and following the ideological norms of ancient sages was gradually formed, which was called "scripture and learning" by later generations.

Confucianism's "believing in the ancients" and "telling but not doing" have always been the guiding ideology of medical writing, and this solid convergence mentality has sharpened and curbed the enterprising and innovative of medical scholars. Respecting the scriptures and bringing thousands of horses to the medical world, and the doctors with profound insights did not dare to self-standard new opinions, which greatly imprisoned people's thoughts, resulting in the difficulty of producing new medical ideas and being easily suppressed after they were generated, and also led to people using outdated forms to accommodate new content that was not commensurate with it, thus limiting the further development of new content and greatly delaying the development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Extravagant talk about metaphysics, useless arguments

Ancient Chinese culture and natural philosophy have twice poured into the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine on a large scale, the first time was in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which led to the construction and formation of the theoretical framework of traditional Chinese medicine. The second is the Song Ming Theory. From the doctrine of yin and yang, the five elements, and the essence of qi to Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, cultural terms and philosophical concepts have been grafted and transplanted to each other.

Some medical scientists have blindly exaggerated the status of conscientiousness in medical research, and conducted arbitrary deductive reasoning on medical facts, so that a large number of subjective conjectures and specious contents have been mixed into various theories (before the Song Dynasty, the literature still emphasized practical results, but after the Song Dynasty, it was more exaggerated and biased, extravagant about metaphysics, and speculative criticism).

The method of speculative metaphysics used by doctors in pointless arguments has made the extension of certain medical concepts infinitely broadened and circulated indefinitely, but the connotation has been reduced and impoverished, and in fact speculation has only led people into solidified empty theories. This theory seems to explain everything, but in reality it doesn't explain everything.

Theories are rigid, academics are intimidated with innovation, and some theories constructed through speculative metaphysical methods not only do not arouse the innovative psychology of later doctors, but instead pull people away from the soil of clinical practice. The battle of fate, mysterious and mysterious, how can the six flavors and eight flavors cure all diseases?

Moaning without disease, a work of vassal elegance

The concept of "Liyan" was deeply ingrained among the literati, and some literati who were slightly involved in medical books were also often vassals and elegant, compiling prescription books, some of which were only sporadic experiences, and some were only hearsay.

Emphasis on literature, light on practice

Under the influence of classics, the research methods of traditional Chinese medicine are mostly limited to the revision, compilation, sorting and compilation of medical books, showing a "snowballing" trend. Although there is a lot of literature, there is little scientific content. In the traditional sense, there is merit, but the price to pay in terms of time is heavy, because such thinking has slowed down the development of Chinese medicine.

In the typhoid system, there are more than 1,000 statistical annotations on "Typhoid Fever", mainly for compilation and annotation, but most of them stay in theoretical play and controversy, or even make a big fuss about how to restore the original appearance of Zhongjing Quanshu, and then argue and slander endlessly, and there are too few in-depth researchers from a clinical point of view.

It is very obvious that the whole TCM research system emphasizes classical literature and ignores clinical practice.

There are quite a few "literal doctors", and their writings have influenced and influenced the art of Chinese medicine. Some doctors have been practicing medicine before Confucianism, or they have abandoned their careers to become doctors, and most of them are not confused when they systematically study Chinese medicine, and they still have to engage in writing, and they have not had much time to actually engage in clinical practice, and the practical value of their works still needs to be scrutinized.

The author believes that the disconnection between theory and practice is a concentrated embodiment of the negative influence of literati on traditional Chinese medicine.

The complexity of science

Together, numerous theories have formed the worldview of TCM, guiding thousands of years of clinical practice and less rigorous but life-saving clinical experiments, and giving birth to countless geniuses.

The basic four-diagnosis (artificial intelligence diagnosis system) model in TCM scientific research has spent a huge amount of money, and there are no obvious results, and the complexity of TCM principles can be imagined.

The Theory of the Five Elements of Yin and Yang, the Theory of Essence and Qi, the Theory of Qi Monism, the Theory of Tibetan Elephants, the Theory of Qi, Blood and Fluid, the Theory of Meridians, the Theory of Five Luck and Six Qi, the Theory of Physique, the Theory of **, the Theory of Pathogenesis, the Dialectical Theory of the Viscera, the Theory of Attacking Evil Spirits, the Theory of Internal Injuries to the Spleen and Stomach, the Theory of One Qi Circulation, the Theory of Fuyang...The more you read medical books, the more confused you become, and people don't know where to start.

The complexity of the law

The treatment method is one of the processes of syndrome differentiation and treatment, connecting patients and doctors from the past and the future, and the dialectic alone has the differentiation of viscera syndrome, qi, blood and fluid, the eight outlines of syndrome, the six meridians and the blood and blood differentiation, etc., many classic treatment rules are precise and profound, and each can enlighten the wisdom of the doctor in clinical practice, but it is indeed difficult to truly fully grasp it.

The complexity of the party

Prescription is a prescription, and a prescription is a combination of suitable drugs under the guidance of the treatment method. The "Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescriptions" edited by Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine records 96,592 Chinese medicine prescriptions in the past dynasties, which is not exhaustive. In the face of so many prescriptions, how much can the average person master?

The complexity of the drug

The Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine contains a total of 5,767 flavors of traditional Chinese medicine, and different doctors have different discussions on the origin, performance, and processing of medicines.

For example, "Seven Emotions of Traditional Chinese Medicine" and "Medicine has Yin and Yang Cooperation....There are those who walk alone, there are those who have each other, there are those who are in aura, there are those who fear each other, there are those who are evil, there are opposites, there are those who kill each other, and all these seven emotions are regarded in harmony. According to this, later generations called the seven aspects of single-line, mutual beard, mutual envoy, mutual fear, mutual killing, mutual evil and opposite, as the "seven feelings".

Secondly, the functions of single herbs are diverse, and the "Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach: The Theory of Monarchs and Ministers" clouds: "Within a thing, there is both smell, and in a medicine, there is reason and substance, and the Lord is right, and it comes out of it." Li Dongyuan proposed in the "Treatise on the Prohibition of Medication": "All people who treat diseases and take medicines must know the four prohibitions of time forbidden, menstrual prohibition, disease prohibition, and drug prohibition", and must "investigate the facts, argue the scriptures, examine the disease, and then use the medicine", in order to achieve "the corresponding effect of the drum".

Sun Simiao once said: "Anyone who wants to be a great doctor ......."It is necessary to understand the yin and yang life, the methods of all families, and the five trillion of the burning turtle and the six of Zhou Yi, and must be proficient, so that he has to be a great doctor. If not, if you don't have eyes to swim at night, you will be moved upside down. ...And you have to dabble in group books....As for the Five Elements Huking and Qiyao Astronomy, they must be explored. If you can learn it, you will have no hindrance in the medical path and be perfect! ”

To sum up, let alone becoming a worker, it is to become a worker, how easy is it? Whose fault is it that studying medicine has become a daunting path? Is it the fault of the TCM system itself?

As Zhongjing said: Fu Tianbu five elements, in order to transport ten thousand kinds, people are five constants, to have five Tibets, meridians and Fu Yu, yin and yang will pass, Xuan Shen is subtle, change is extremely difficult, since he is not talented and wonderful, how can he explore its reason!

Related Pages