Sun Simiao has been called the “yao wang” or king of medicinals. Â He was a master of herbology, acupuncture, qigong and dietary therapy. Â I’d believe it, because he lived to be a 100 years old. Â Now I found an article about him speaking about medical ethics, sadly lacking today even in China.
Worth a read. (http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28988/)
Sun Simiao, Part 2
Sun Simiao’s Medical Ethics and Further Contributions to Medicine
by Shanxing
Sun Simiao expressed his belief that medicine is an art of kindness. In his book “Da Yi Jing Chen” (“Sincerity and Devotion of Great Doctors”), he wrote: “When a great doctor treats a patient, he must concentrate, calm down, and be free from desires and pursuits.
He needs to have a compassionate heart and devote himself to freeing patients from illness. If patients come for treatment, whether they are of high or low social status, rich or poor, elderly or young, beautiful or ugly, enemies or relatives, the Han race or other ethnic groups, intelligent or stupid, the doctor should treat them the same as if they were all the doctor’s dear ones. …”
He adopted a holistic approach to treating illnesses. He believed that through skillful nursing and caring for oneself, one could be free from illness. As long as “a good doctor treats the illness with prescriptions and acupuncture, the patient’s illness will be curable, and disasters on the earth will be avoided.” He stressed medical ethics and treated all patients equally. He said, “A human life is precious, and more valuable than one thousand liang of gold.”
Sun Simiao expressed his belief that medicine is an art of kindness. In his book “Da Yi Jing Chen” (“Sincerity and Devotion of Great Doctors”), he wrote: “When a great doctor treats a patient, he must concentrate, calm down, and be free from desires and pursuits.
Sun Si Miao, daoist, confucian, physician, healer.
He needs to have a compassionate heart and devote himself to freeing patients from illness. If patients come for treatment, whether they are of high or low social status, rich or poor, elderly or young, beautiful or ugly, enemies or relatives, the Han race or other ethnic groups, intelligent or stupid, the doctor should treat them the same as if they were all the doctor’s dear ones. …”
He adopted a holistic approach to treating illnesses. He believed that through skillful nursing and caring for oneself, one could be free from illness. As long as “a good doctor treats the illness with prescriptions and acupuncture, the patient’s illness will be curable, and disasters on the earth will be avoided.” He stressed medical ethics and treated all patients equally. He said, “A human life is precious, and more valuable than one thousand liang of gold.”
How different than today, where it seems life is seen as a statistic.
Sun Simiao also paid great attention to gynecology and pediatrics. He authored three volumes of “fu ren fang” (gynecology) and two volumes of “shao xiao ying ru fang” (pediatrics), which were placed inside of “Qian Jin Yao Fang.”
Definitely well rounded!
“Qian Jin Yao Fang” is the earliest encyclopedia of medical subjects in China. It covers a broad range of categories, from basic medical theories to different clinical subjects, and from theories and methodologies to prescription formulas and drugs. One part of the book covers classical material.
Another part details empirical formulas and prescriptions that were circulated among the populace. This book includes the strong points of different schools and is suitable for people of different educational backgrounds. It is still popular today. It is indeed an asset of traditional Chinese medicine.
By summarizing clinical experiences and prescription formulas from the era of Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Han Dynasty, to that of Sun Simiao, the book demonstrated Sun Simiao’s profound medical knowledge and extraordinary medical skills.
Instead of ignoring and laughing at the past (I recall my earlier post criticizing a writer for basically treating past tradition like dirt), he takes it, corrects what is wrong and embellishes what is right.
Future generations have called “Qian Jin Fang”—the two books of “Qian Jin Yao Fang” and “Qian Jin Yi Fang”—the ancestor of prescription formulas.
Sun Simiao valued preserving health and actively practiced his values. Because he was good at the art of cultivating health, he lived to over 100 and still enjoyed good vision and hearing when he was old.
He combined ideas of the preservation of health from Confucianism, Taoism, and from India with those of traditional Chinese medicine. He proposed many practical and effective ways to cultivate good health, which even today, guide people’s daily lives.
Among them was proper diet… and this was in 600 AD or so!
For example: “One should keep a balanced mindset and not solely pursue recognition and self-interest. Be constrained in food intake, and do not eat or drink too much. Pay attention to the circulation of Qi and blood and do not be lazy and motionless. Live a regular daily life and do not violate the laws of the nature. …”
Emphasis: Do not violate the laws of nature? What does this mean? Â It means eat food according to season, dress accordingly, sleep and rise at the proper time, and ensure adequate time for work and rest. Â Sadly, not done then, not done now.
Sun Simiao was also the first to invent a urethral catheter. According to historical records, one of his patients could not pass urine. Seeing that the patient was in extreme pain, Sun thought, “It is already too late to treat him with medicine. If there was a way to insert a tube into his urethra, the urine could perhaps flow out naturally.”
He saw a neighbor’s child at play blowing on a green onion stem. The green onion stem was very thin, long, and soft. Sun decided to use such a tube and gave it a try. Having chosen a suitable green onion stem, he charred it gently, cut the sharp end off, and then carefully inserted it into the patient’s urethra.
He then blew into the tube once. As expected, the urine flowed out of the tube. The patient’s bloated abdomen gradually became smaller, and the patient’s illness was also cured.
Okay… I have sincere doubts about how an onion stem can be made into a foley cath… that must have been interesting. Â No doubt though, that he had invented something similar to the modern foley catheter, since this was written before foley catheters were invented (obviously)
By cultivating morality and virtue and by being talented, Sun Simiao became a great figure, whom common people and medical professionals for several generations have greatly respected.
Hopefully this generation as well!
