2.1 Traditional Chinese Medicine 1 中医 1
Summary
TLDRIn this China Overview video, John Fenway explores traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), highlighting its holistic approach to health and its roots in Chinese culture. The video delves into TCM's philosophical underpinnings, including Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, which stress moral virtues, harmony with nature, and mental peace, respectively. It also previews upcoming segments on famous ancient Chinese doctors and TCM's development, promising an enriching journey into TCM's history and practice.
Takeaways
- 🌿 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a valuable knowledge system developed by Chinese people to cure diseases and alleviate suffering.
- 📚 The concept of TCM is divided into four subtopics: philosophy, basic theories, diagnosis and treatments, and development.
- 🧘♂️ Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are the three main philosophies influencing TCM, emphasizing morality, harmony with nature, and mental peace respectively.
- 👨🏫 Confucius, born in 557 BC, is a significant figure in Chinese history whose teachings on benevolence and morality have deeply influenced TCM.
- 💊 The term 'benevolent science' was used in ancient China to describe medicine, reflecting the cultural value placed on healing and helping others.
- 🏥 A famous 300-year-old TCM store named 'Hong's Benevolence' exemplifies the cultural influence of Confucianism in TCM.
- 🌱 Taoism's principles of living in harmony with nature are mirrored in TCM's recommendations for seasonal eating and practices.
- 🙏 Buddhism's introduction to China during the Han Dynasty and its peak during the Qing and Tang dynasties played a role in shaping TCM's approach to mental health and disease.
- 🏥 Buddhists' establishment of hospitals during the Sui and Tang dynasties helped promote both Buddhism and TCM, fostering a closer relationship between the two.
- 📈 The upcoming discussion in the next hour will focus on famous ancient Chinese doctors and their contributions to TCM.
Q & A
What is the main focus of traditional Chinese medicine?
-The main focus of traditional Chinese medicine is to cure diseases and alleviate suffering, emphasizing the harmony between nature and mankind.
What are the four subtopics discussed in the script about traditional Chinese medicine?
-The four subtopics discussed are the philosophy, basic theories, diagnosis and treatments, and the development of traditional Chinese medicine.
How does Confucianism impact traditional Chinese medicine?
-Confucianism impacts traditional Chinese medicine by emphasizing personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, and benevolence, which is considered the supreme principle.
What is the significance of the term 'benevolence' in the context of Confucianism and traditional Chinese medicine?
-Benevolence in Confucianism refers to the friendship between people and the requirement to do things benefiting society and others. In ancient China, medicine was called a benevolent science, and many people aspired to become good physicians to cure and save lives.
What is the relationship between Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine?
-Taoism influences traditional Chinese medicine by emphasizing respect for nature and living in harmony with it. This is reflected in TCM principles such as eating the right food in the right season and doing the right practices at the right time.
How does Buddhism contribute to traditional Chinese medicine?
-Buddhism contributes to traditional Chinese medicine by emphasizing the importance of a peaceful mind and by building hospitals to promote the joint development of Buddhism and medicine, thus helping to spread TCM.
What is the historical significance of Confucius in relation to traditional Chinese medicine?
-Confucius, born in 557 BC, was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher whose philosophy emphasized benevolence, which played a significant role in the lives of ancient people and influenced the practice of medicine.
Can you provide an example of how the philosophy of 'benevolence' is reflected in a traditional Chinese medicine store?
-The script mentions a famous traditional Chinese medicine store called 'Hong's Benevolence' with a history of 300 years. The name reflects the Confucian principle of 'benevolence' by implying a commitment to helping and being friendly to people.
What is the role of Taoism in suggesting lifestyle practices in traditional Chinese medicine?
-Taoism plays a role in traditional Chinese medicine by suggesting practices that align with natural laws, such as eating seasonally appropriate foods and performing certain movements or practices at the right times.
How did the introduction of Buddhism to China affect the development of traditional Chinese medicine?
-The introduction of Buddhism to China during the Han Dynasty and its peak during the Qing and Tang dynasties influenced TCM by promoting the idea that some diseases are caused by extreme emotions, and by building hospitals to treat people and foster a better understanding of both Buddhism and medicine.
What can we expect to learn in the next part of the series on traditional Chinese medicine?
-In the next part of the series, we can expect to learn about famous ancient Chinese doctors and their contributions to the field of traditional Chinese medicine.
Outlines
🌿 Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine
John Fenway introduces the topic of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), expressing its interest to foreigners and students. He shows pictures to engage the audience and confirms their familiarity with TCM practices. John shares his personal experience with moxibustion, a TCM technique, and found it effective. The script outlines the structure of the talk, which includes the philosophy, basic theories, diagnosis and treatments, and the development of TCM. The first subtopic focuses on the philosophy behind TCM, which is influenced by Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. These philosophies have shaped TCM practitioners' approach to health and treatment. John explains the concept of 'benevolence' from Confucianism, highlighting its historical significance in Chinese culture and its connection to the medical profession, where the ideal was to be a good official or a good physician.
📚 Philosophical Foundations of TCM
The script continues with a discussion on the influence of Confucianism on TCM, exemplified by the story of 'Hong's Benevolence', a 300-year-old TCM store named to reflect the Confucian value of benevolence. It then moves to Taoism, emphasizing its principles of living in harmony with nature, which aligns with TCM's recommendations on diet, exercise, and lifestyle according to the seasons. The script also touches on Buddhism's contribution to TCM, noting its introduction to China during the Han Dynasty and its peak during the Qing and Tang dynasties. Buddhism's teachings on mental peace and the establishment of hospitals by Buddhists are highlighted as ways it has influenced TCM. The paragraph concludes with a预告of the next segment, which will discuss famous ancient Chinese doctors and their impact on TCM.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
💡Harmony
💡Philosophy
💡Confucianism
💡Benevolence
💡Taoism
💡Buddhism
💡Diagnosis
💡Treatment
💡Moxibustion
💡Qigong
Highlights
Introduction to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a topic of interest for foreign students and people.
TCM's aim to cure diseases and alleviate suffering through harmony between nature and mankind.
Division of the topic into four subtopics: philosophy, basic theories, diagnosis and treatments, and development of TCM.
Emphasis on the philosophy behind TCM and its connection to traditional Chinese culture.
Influence of Confucianism on TCM, with an emphasis on benevolence and its role in ancient society.
Confucius's teachings on personal and governmental morality, social relationships, justice, and sincerity.
The importance of benevolence in ancient China, with medicine being considered a benevolent science.
Example of 'Ren' in action: the story of a 300-year-old TCM store named 'Hong's Benevolence'.
Taoism's influence on TCM, with a focus on respecting and living in harmony with nature.
Taoist principles suggesting people eat the right food in the right season and practice movements at the right time.
Buddhism's introduction to China during the Han Dynasty and its peak in the Qing and Tang dynasties.
Buddhism's view on diseases caused by extreme emotions and its role in promoting a peaceful mind.
Buddhists' contribution to TCM by building hospitals and promoting joint development with medicine.
The dual impact of Buddhism on TCM: promoting peaceful minds and widespread understanding of TCM.
Upcoming discussion on famous ancient Chinese doctors and their influence on modern TCM practice.
Anticipation for the next part of the series focusing on the development of TCM.
Transcripts
hello everyone welcome to China overview
I'm John Fenway today we are going to
talk about a topic I think most of the
foreign students or foreign people are
very interested in that is the
traditional Chinese medicine so speaking
of traditional Chinese medicine I first
would like to ask you to see some
pictures to see whether you have seen
this picture or have heard of such a
thing before now let's see the first one
this is the one the lady is using water
to do what have you seen that before and
what about this one and
this one
end of this picture actually all these
pictures are part of the traditional
Chinese medicine and I think some of you
might have already tried that and for me
personally I have tried some of this
like the moxibustion and it works for me
um so now we'll move on to today's topic
what is traditional Chinese medicine
let's see
so traditional Chinese medicine is a
versatile of Priceless knowledge that
has been built up by Chinese people and
its aim is to cure diseases and
alleviate suffering it focuses on the
harmony between nature and Mankind and
actually for the traditional Chinese
medicine we will divide this topic into
full subtopics so let's first see what
are the four subtopics
the first subtopic is the philosophy
that is we're going to talk about the
philosophy behind the traditional
Chinese medicine and the second
sub-topic is the basic theories of the
traditional Chinese medicine and the
third subtopic is the diagnosis and the
treatments of traditional Chinese
medicine and finally we will see the
development of traditional Chinese
medicine so for today's part we'll first
talk about the first sub-topic that is
the philosophy behind the traditional
Chinese medicine and actually speaking
of the philosophy by learning this part
you can also have a slight or basic
understanding of a traditional Chinese
culture and the traditional Chinese
people now let's see the philosophy part
so in the philosophy part let's see what
we are going to learn we are going to
learn the Confucianism taoism Buddhism
and all these three philosophies or
ideas they are
um impacting the TCM and the TCM
practitioners that is the doctors the
ancient doctors so in the last part
we'll learn some famous doctors in
ancient China and their ideas their
prescriptions are actually using
nowadays by the present TCM
practitioners so let's see the first
report is the Confucianism
who's Confucius Confucius let's see this
is a State statue of Confucius who is
born in the year 557 BC and he actually
is a Chinese teacher editor politician
and a philosopher of the spring and
Autumn period of Chinese history the
philosophy of Confucius emphasized
personal and governmental molarity
correctness of social relationships
Justice and the sincerity and I would
like to emphasize this word benevolence
benevolence is the Supreme principle of
Confucianism
so let's see the meaning of benevolence
so originally benevolence referred to
the friendship between people it
requires people to do things benefiting
society and others so medicine was
called benevolent science in ancient
China and this is saying in the ancient
times it says that if I cannot be a good
official I will be a good physician
that's why in the ancient times you will
see a lot of people they are working
very hard to to become a good doctor to
cure people to save people's lives and
to cure people's diseases
so we can see that gen actually plays a
very important part in ancient people's
life so this is saying if I cannot be a
good official I will be a good physician
and speaking of Ren I have another
example to show the importance of friend
I don't know whether you have seen this
story in China this story is a very
famous traditional Chinese medicine
store it has the history of 300 years
old and its name is called
is the word I mentioned just now
ramming's benevolence right Hong means
to to be together so means to to help
people to be friendly to people you know
things like that so its name actually
shows the profound influence of Ren from
confusion culture So after talking about
Confucianism
then let's move on to the other impact
or other influence on the TCM that is
the taoism there's a saying that the
medicine and the taoism share the same
origin and the towers are often
Physicians and now we move on to some
important principles in the taoism let's
first see the Chinese
maybe you are not familiar or maybe you
don't understand what I'm talking about
now let's see the English part man takes
his law from the earth the earth takes
its law from heaven heaven takes its law
from the Tau and the law of the Tao is
its solution that is the natural laws so
from this part we can see that the
taoism emphasized a lot on respecting
nature on leaf in harmony with nature
and this also can be seen from some
important principles in TCM for example
we suggested people eat the right food
in the right season do the writer
movements the writer practices in the
right time so all this actually
influenced by the principles from Taoism
and now let's see the impact of Buddhism
in traditional Chinese medicine Buddhism
was introduced to China during the Han
Dynasty so the religion reaches its peak
in China in the Qing and the Tang
dynasties and we all know that and
especially in the TCM it thinks that
some of the diseases were actually
caused because of your uh too sad or you
are you know very extreme emotions and
in Buddhism people can fight the comfort
in its mind and also besides that most
of the Buddhists in sui and Tang
dynasties had a good knowledge of
medicine and the treatments they built
hospitals to promote the joint
development of Buddhism and Atheism and
to development closer links between the
two disciplines so the people who
believe in Buddhism they actually helped
to promote the the widespread of TCM so
we can say that the functions of the
Buddhism on the traditional Chinese
medicine come from two parts the one
part is that the Buddhism emphasized
only importance of a very peaceful mind
and the second is that the Buddhism they
built a lot of hospitals to cure
people's lives yeah on the one hand they
have people to have a better
understanding of Buddhism and on the
other hand it also
promotes the the understanding of the
popularity of TCM so so that's all we
have
discussing the philosophies that
influenced the traditional Chinese
medicine in the next hour we will get to
know some famous ancient doctors so
looking forward to see you again goodbye
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