HISTORICAL BASIS OF

CHINESE MEDICINE

Linda Boggie, DVM

Okkenbroek, The Netherlands

Chinese Medical Theory

Based on observation of phenomena and

integrated with Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy has always had an important

role in day to day life

Chinese philosophers interpreted what they

saw in nature and applied it to the diseases/

disharmonies they witnessed in people

Neijing Suwen and Lingshu

THE reference for all modern

Chinese Medical Traditions

Neijing – Internal Treatise

Suwen – Simple Questions

Lingshu – Spiritual Axis

81 Chapters

Neijing Suwen

It is a conversation

Huang Di – the Yellow Emperor

A mythical(?) character who existed in 2700 BCE

Qi Bo – one of his ministers

Concludes with Huang Di teaching another of his

ministers, Lao Gong

The student becomes the teacher

The First Question

“I’ve heard in the days of old everyone lived

one hundred years without showing the usual

signs of aging. In our time, however, people

age prematurely, living only 50 years. Is this

due to a change in the environment, or is it

because people have lost the correct way of

life?”

The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine

The Answer

Qi Bo answers: “In the past people practiced

the Dao, the Way of Life. They understood

the principle of Balance, of yin and yang, as

represented by the transformation of the

energies of the universe.”

The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine

The Conversation

From this question and this answer come all

other questions and the tenants of Chinese

Medical thinking

The primary goal is to live in a state of balance

If this is not so then it is the duty of the

practitioner to bring everything back into

balance

The Information

How to live in balance – Proper lifestyle

Meridians – Anatomy

Zang Fu Organs – Physiology

Functions

Jing, Blood, Fluids, Qi and Shen

Yin and Yang Balance

Interrelationships

Eight Principle and Five Element

Causes of Disease – External and Internal

Clinical Signs and Symptoms when the Zang

Fu are out of balance – Pathophysiology

How to bring the body back into Balance –

Treatment strategies

What to expect from treatment strategies –

Prognosis

Neijing Lingshu

Original title – Zhen Jing or Acupuncture

Classic

Details on specific needling techniques

Gifts of Heaven and Earth

Self-cultivation to understand the art of

needling and the Channel system

Historical Background

Neijing Suwen and Lingshu

Written in 400 BCE; the Warring States

Earliest text found dated to the Han Dynasty

206 BCE – 220 CE

Philosophical Influence

School of Naturalism

Concept of Yin and Yang and Five elements

Daoism

Concept of De, Virtue, and living in balance with

Nature

Confucianism

Belief of Morality and giving to future generations

Nanjing

Classic of Difficulties

Bian Que – 407-310 BCE

also thought to be a Shaman

Also consists of 81 chapters

Intended to clarify 81 difficult concepts of the

Neijing Suwen

Put into writing in the Han Dynasty

Energetics of the points

Antique points

Front-Mu Points

Back-Shu points

Influential-Hui Points

Pathways of Extraordinary vessels and

symptoms of pathology

Details of Examination

Looking

Asking

Listening

Smelling and Palpating

Reference for 5 Element School of Thought

according to J.R. Worsley

Shang Han Lun

Written late in the Han Dynasty

Zhang Zhong Jin

Treatise on Injury due to Cold and

Miscellaneous Diseases

EPF Cold and how it affected the normal

physiology of the Channels and Zang Fu

Based on the Neijing Suwen and the primary

etiologies of Wind and Cold

Many of the concepts of the TCM Tradition

come from the SHL

Jin Gui Yao Lue

Essentials from the Golden Chamber

Great Herbal Text based on SHL theory

Small formulas and elegant in design

Jin-Yuan Dynasty

1115-1368 CE

A period of turmoil

Invasion of Tartars and Mongols

Chinese Philosophers are reevaluating their

philosophy and medical thinking

The Four Great Masters

Liu Wan-Su

Cooling and Cold School

Heat was considered the primary pathogen

With overpopulation there was the beginning of

epidemics

Treatments used Cold and Cooling herbs

Zhang Zi-He

Purging School

The school of attacking and purging, sweating and vomiting to expel the pathogenic factor

Phlegm is first introduced

Hot-phlegm, Cold-Phlegm, Phlegm Harassing the Heart

Tonifying should not be done first as this could be misread as a cure

Li Dong Yuan

Post-natal Qi School or Earth School

Theorized that all disease stemmed from an

imbalance of Spleen and Stomach

Influenced by School of Harmonization which

placed importance on Liver and Gall Bladder

Did not agree with Purging School as he felt

purging could damage th Yuan Qi

Zhu Dan Xi

Nourishing Yin School

Believed all conditions due to Damp-Heat

which became internalized as Chronic Disease

Many of these masters stressed herbal

treatments but the theory also became infused

with acupuncture strategies

Ming Dynasty

1368-1644 CE

Wen Bing School

Feverish Diseases Tradition

Heavily influenced by teachings of Liu Wan-

Su of the Cooling and Cold School

Ming Dynasty

Zhang Zhi Bing

Develops the 6 parameters

Hot and Cold

Excess and Deficiency

Internal and External

Become incorporated into the 8 Principles

Ming Dynasty

Further elucidation of the Extraordinary

Vessels by acupuncturists

Trajectories

Diseases

Opening points

Coupled pairs

Influence of Western Medicine in China

Jesuit Priests

Great Accomplishments of Acupuncture by

Yang Ji Zhou

Published by Zhen Jiu Da Cheng in 1601

Basis for today’s acupuncture

Qing Dynasty

The Last Chinese Dynasty

1644-1911 CE

Further development of Wen Bing Tradition

Concept of Latent Heat

Exploration of the San Jiao and Fire and Water

imbalances

Wang Qing Ren

Chinese Physician

Anatomical studies and surgery of

thoracic cavity

Heart and vena cava

Skull and Brain

Heavy integration of Western Medicine

Imperial China

1911-1949 CE

Acupuncture has fallen out of favor

Forced underground in 1822

By the 1920’s it is officially banned by the

rulers of The National Republic of China

The People’s Republic of China

1949-current

Following the Cultural Revolution Mao Tse

Dong comes to power

Mandarin is made the official language of

China

Desire to distance China from the West

Go back to its roots

Formation of Traditional Chinese Medicine

A separate School of Thought or Tradition

Barefoot Doctors

Chinese Medicine no longer taught from

Master to Student

Sometimes requiring up to 10 years of study

Taught in a systematized fashion to many

people

Firmly established by the 1960’s

Chinese Medical Theory and

Veterinary Acupuncture

Classic history of Veterinary Acupuncture is

seen primarily in texts regarding the treatment

of horses

By the Chou Dynasty (1066-221 BCE)

acupuncture was practiced by veterinarians

who were government employees

Bo-le (Sun Yang)

430 BCE

Equine veterinarian skilled in acupuncture

Bo-le Zhen Jing

Bo-le Canon of Veterinary Acupuncture

Most problems treated involved bleeding

points – Hemoacupuncture

Little reference to treatment of small animals

During the Sui (589-618 CE) and Tang (618-

907 CE) Dynasties many books written on the

treatment of horses

Interestingly the practice of inoculation/

vaccination took place in the Sui Dynasty but was

abandoned after 200 years as it was found

ineffective

In 1608 two brothers Yu Ben-Yuan and Yu

Ben-Hang compiled and published

Yuan-Heng Liao-ma Ji, Yuan and Heng’s

Therapeutic Treatise of Horses

Now being translated into English by Dr. Yann-

Ching Hwang, DVM, PhD

Unanswered Questions

There exists many unanswered questions

concerning veterinary acupuncture

Do meridians exist in animals?

If so, why are they not documented in the

ancient texts?

Why do so many of the traditional acupuncture

points in animals (horses) not correspond to

transpositional points and meridians?

Can the transpositional model really be

effective in animals and does it exist?