Before the beginning of this century, although countless cases proved its incomparable value, ancient Chinese medicine did not completely conform to the "rules" of modern western science in some aspects, so it was excluded from science. No wonder it is impossible to standardize Chinese medicine with modern science. Give a simple example. Do you think TCM is internal medicine or surgery? If it is internal medicine, Chinese medicine can often be separated from massage and acupuncture; If it is surgery, Chinese medicine involves decocting medicine. This makes foreigners who work hard embarrassed, because there is basically no medical model combining internal medicine and surgery in the west, and it is against the rules to look at Chinese medicine. The United States stipulates that anyone who performs acupuncture must have a surgical license.
On the other hand, Chinese medicine exudes a superstitious atmosphere that westerners can't stand from head to toe. For example, Zhang Jiebin, a great doctor in the Ming Dynasty, said, "Everything in the Book of Changes is a lesson for Tibetan doctors, such as cherishing the mirror of life", and there are "doctors, the Book of Changes" in Chinese medicine. What is Yi? It's the Book of Changes! Speaking of the Book of Changes, it is a great thing. Now many people think it is a divination book, a classic used by wizards in the past, and an out-and-out superstition. Looking at the posture of Chinese medicine, we must look, smell, ask, touch and see what it is before treating the disease, that is to say, the face looks smooth. Chinese medicine is full of essence and yin and yang, and westerners will never know what it means even if they want to break their heads, and such words are absolutely untranslatable. Therefore, if the Tathagata admits Chinese medicine, it is undoubtedly admitting many strange theories. In the eyes of westerners, these theories stink of superstition.
Another feature of TCM is that western science is not satisfied with its experience, or its subjectivity. Traditional Chinese medicine is "meaning" and has a strong subjective will. For example, things like pulse-taking are all based on experience, the same floating pulse or flooding pulse. Although there are some medical books, they are more based on experience and feelings, which are very mysterious and can only be understood, but not expressed. This is inconsistent with the western rule of thumb.
More problematic is the source of Chinese medicine. The source of western medicine has a very clear vein, which comes from physiological anatomy. However, no one can say clearly about the source of TCM. Some people say that Chinese medicine is accumulated in the process of thousands of years of labor of the Chinese nation. For example, a person cuts his hand when going up a mountain. He occasionally grabs a handful of grass and presses it on it, and the blood stops flowing immediately, so he knows that grass has the function of stopping bleeding and so on. But this explanation is hard to convince, and the most important thing is that it is not empirical, so it is certainly difficult to be accepted by modern western science.
Western modern science does not recognize Chinese medicine. What shall we do? China people adopt two methods. The first is to rely on the theory of Chinese medicine to go to western medicine. Don't you understand what meridians are? That's easy to handle. Why don't I just call the meridians the blood circulation system or the nervous system? The second is to reduce traditional Chinese medicine to chemical components. Don't you know Chinese medicine decoction? That's easy. I reduced the soup to the common chemical formula you know. Many people have given this method a nice name "Combination of Chinese and Western Medicine". In fact, this combination is likely to be a monster that is neither a donkey nor a horse.
For example, in recent decades, we invented the chemistry of traditional Chinese medicine, which is to study the components of traditional Chinese medicine through chemical testing. In other words, Chinese medicine will eventually become western medicine, and plants, animals, plants, minerals and other Chinese medicines will eventually be reflected in the chemical molecular formula. Is this method suitable? Can chemical formula completely restore the curative effect of Chinese patent medicine? If you can, there will be no Chinese medicine and western medicine. I'm afraid that China people's attempt to make up for the idea of TCM in this way is a big mistake, which will not help TCM at all, and even we are selling our own medicine.
For a simple example, Chinese medicine has a dose of "Danggui Buxue Decoction", which consists of Astragalus and Angelica. It is based on the principles of "visible blood cannot grow rapidly" and "invisible qi is born" in traditional Chinese medicine. Actually, it's not nourishing blood but invigorating qi. If you want to explain pharmacology through chemical testing, then you must explain what "Qi" is, what this "Qi" corresponds to in western medicine, what is the important relationship between this "Qi" and blood, and which chemical components of Astragalus membranaceus and which parts of it work. If "Qi" can't be explained, then even if the chemical components of Angelica and Astragalus are clearly analyzed, the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine can't be explained.
As we all know, there are few prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine, most of which are compound prescriptions, including Huangdi Neijing (13), Treatise on Febrile Diseases (1 13) and Compendium of Materia Medica (1kloc-0/000), and Traditional Chinese medicine compound is composed of monarch, minister, assistant and envoy. The coordination of compound prescription is only one purpose, and more importantly, it is to adjust the balance of yin and yang and strengthen the body resistance. So what is the balance of yin and yang? What are healthy qi, pathogenic qi, clear qi, turbid qi and sick qi? There is no corresponding word in the poor vocabulary of western medicine. So what do you want to explain by analyzing the compound prescription through chemical testing? In addition, each traditional Chinese medicine contains dozens or even hundreds of chemical components, such as Shanzhi, which has more than 70 chemical components. Therefore, there are probably hundreds of kinds of one decoction. Thousands of chemical components, how do these components embody the principles of monarch, minister, assistant and envoy? Can chemical detection methods be answered?
Chinese medicine attaches great importance to the relationship between man and nature, and factors such as climate, season and geography are directly reflected in Chinese medicine. For example, according to the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, the medicinal properties of many drugs before and after beginning of autumn are completely different, and there is a big difference between picking one day earlier and picking one day later. Can this difference be reflected in the chemical detection of traditional Chinese medicine? Will the chemical composition of a herb change before and after beginning of autumn and before and after beginning of autumn? At the same time, the seasonality of Chinese medicine is also very strong. There is a great difference in principle between autumn use and early spring use of the same disease, which western medicine does not have. Regardless of season, season and geographical environment, the same chemical is generally used.
Facts have proved that it is not feasible to analyze the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine by chemical detection. It may be useful in several doses of Chinese medicine, but it can't summarize the whole Chinese medicine.
For example, most of the drugs used in traditional Chinese medicine are taken orally and some are used externally, but they have never been injected intravenously. Injection was invented by westerners. Now it is found that it is almost useless to replace the chemical components extracted from traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine for intravenous injection. What does this mean? It shows that it is ineffective to treat traditional Chinese medicine with modern chemical methods.
Furthermore, the chemical analysis methods of modern western medicine are not omnipotent, especially for traditional Chinese medicine. Some traditional Chinese medicines have no effect on animals, but they are effective on people; Some are ineffective for people and effective for animals. In this way, the animal test methods commonly used in western medicine have lost their functions, basically blocking the way of studying Chinese medicine with chemical analysis.
Another point, according to western medicine, only those chemical components with biological activity indicators have therapeutic functions and can be analyzed and studied. In fact, many Chinese medicines can cure diseases without biological total activity, which runs counter to the theory of western medicine.
It can be seen that it is basically nonsense to study and explain Chinese medicine with the theories and methods of western medicine. Many people are worried because Chinese medicine is not supported by modern scientific principles, and they look down on themselves in their bones. So they have the cheek to rely on western medicine, thinking that only in this way can Chinese medicine become science. What a sad idea! The value of Chinese medicine does not need to be recognized by western medicine, and western medicine is not qualified. As early as thousands of years before the emergence of modern science, Chinese medicine was a complete medical system, and it was not western medicine but Chinese medicine that had a more say in the history of human medicine.
As can be seen from the theory of Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine and western medicine take two paths. If we insist on distinguishing who is higher and who is lower, we can say without blushing: Chinese medicine is much higher than western medicine as a whole! Why do you say that? Because there are many things in ancient Chinese medicine that western medicine or modern science can't explain at all, what's even more irritating is that Chinese medicine has been effectively used whether you can explain it or not. Who is advanced and who is backward?
For example, the study of meridians. Meridian plays an important role in traditional Chinese medicine. Looking at it from another angle, Chinese medicine is based on the study of meridians. Huangdi Neijing says meridians: "Promoting blood circulation and qi circulation, nourishing yin and yang, deciding life and death, and curing all diseases". So what are meridians? How did it come from? Some people once said that meridians are the blood circulation system, and some people once said that meridians are the nervous system. Both of them use western medicine theory to learn Chinese medicine, which makes no sense at all. Meridian is neither a blood circulation system nor a nervous system. Meridian is meridian. At present, it is also a mystery to all mankind, because meridians are invisible in modern anatomy.
It is reported that Zhu Zongxiang, a Chinese medical scientist, found through years of research that meridians are a kind of hidden inductive transmission lines along meridians that do not depend on central nervous system and blood circulation. It is a low-impedance, high-potential, high-luminous line, and it is a band-shaped object composed of some visible tiny crystal particles, which is about one millimeter wide in the human body. A few years ago, French scholars took advantage of the principle that technetium's R-rays can expose negative films, injected radioactive technetium into acupoints, and with the help of electronic cameras, successfully photographed the walking route of technetium, and found that the walking route was basically consistent with the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine, which proved that acupoints were some points on the meridians. Then, some Japanese scientists used computers and holographic technology to change the human body from a plane to a three-dimensional observation. Through fluorescent staining, it is found that acupoints are actually a "collection" of some tissues, which is highly sensitive. From the above research, we can see that with the help of advanced science and technology, we just proved that a proposition thousands of years ago is correct, but somehow, human beings have circled the big circle for 6000 years and returned to the original starting point, which is really interesting. Now that meridians have been proved to exist, what is the function of meridians? This involves what is the main object of Chinese medicine. We can get the impression that all theories of traditional Chinese medicine are not aimed at physical diseases, but at things that are invisible and intangible, which are called "qi". "Qi" is the highest category of TCM. Su Wen and Zheng Wuchang said: "Qi begins with biochemistry, disperses but is tangible, spreads and nurtures it, and finally changes and coincides." One of the main lines used by Chinese medicine to explain human life is "Qi".
Qi is the source of life, and Bao Xing said, "Heaven covers the earth, everything is ready, and it is not expensive for people. People are born with the spirit of heaven and earth, and the law of the four seasons is also. "
Yin-yang and five elements are the movement forms of qi. Su Wen's theory of Yin-yang should be like the big picture: "Yang turns into qi and Yin turns into shape. Form and gas are in harmony, and everything is born. " "On Qi and Ventilation" said: "The essence of life lies in Yin and Yang, and its life is five and its qi is three." Five movements and six qi are the gasification of heaven and earth, gold, wood, water, fire and earth are the five movements, and wind, heat, summer heat, humidity, dryness and cold are the six qi, emphasizing the idea of "harmony between man and nature"
The image of Tibet is the gasification of the human body. The theory of yin and yang should be like an image saying: "People have five internal organs, and the five internal organs are transformed into five qi to produce joy, anger, sorrow, worry and fear." "On Six Tibetan Elephants" said: "Order its five internal organs to be qi."
The etiology and pathogenesis lies in the disorder of qi. Su Wen's "General Theory" said: "All diseases are caused by qi, anger leads to qi, happiness leads to qi depression, sadness leads to qi elimination, fear leads to qi depression, shock leads to qi disorder, and thinking leads to qi depression." "On the Correspondence of Yin and Yang" said: "Too much yin leads to yang disease, and too much yang leads to yin disease." In other words, qi circulates in the body all the time. The so-called disease is that qi is hindered in the process of circulation.
The diagnosis must be a comprehensive examination of the pathological changes of the spirit, qi and blood, and the human body, which can be known from the external performance, because the gasification of the human body is "internal and external attack" and "you can know what disease it is by looking at the external reaction." Lingshu Bencang tablets.
The rule of law lies in regulating qi, and Su Wenzhi's Theory of Truth says: "There must be a difference between yin and yang in regulating qi, and each side should keep its own hometown." "Lingshu Ben Shen Pian" said: "We must examine the disease forms of the five internal organs to understand the deficiency and excess of their qi, so we want to adjust them."
So what is the "qi" of Chinese medicine? This is a difficult question to answer. First of all, qi definitely does not refer to the human body. Neijing clearly puts forward that "Qi comes first". Although there is suspicion of idealism in the expression, it shows that qi and body are not the same thing. Secondly, qi does not refer to people's thoughts, worries, worries and joys. Sadness, fear, fear and other conscious States, because any conscious state has corresponding stimulation and loads its visible body organs. For example, when the body is injured, people will feel pain, and the injury is an external stimulus, and the nervous system is the carrier of pain feeling. In addition, a large part of people's conscious consciousness belongs to cultural types, such as fear, hobbies and so on.
Qi is the general name of essence, qi and spirit in traditional Chinese medicine, which is transformed into spirit in Tibetan images. There are five forms of soul, spirit, will and ambition. It can be seen that qi in TCM refers to spirit, which is a pure spirit divorced from the body, rather than the knowledge, culture and personal cultivation we are talking about today. To put it bluntly, it is the soul in religion and another kind of life hidden in our bodies.
The "Qi" in TCM is the speculation of the soul, which can also be confirmed by Oracle Bone Inscriptions's word "Qi". Write Oracle Bone Inscriptions together. Yu Xiansheng believes that this is the symbol of dry divination in China's eight diagrams, that is, the three Yang's crossing each other. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's "Qi" can be directly understood as life or the foundation of life. In fact, the word "Qi" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions can also be understood as the number three. Laozi said: "The Tao gives birth to one, two, three and everything." From this perspective, the word "qi" can also be understood as the source of all life. So where does this gas come from? The composition of the word "Qi" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions also tells us a clear answer. "Qi" is given by others, and Shuowen explains the "Qi" cloud: "Qi, feed the guests with food. From the instrument, the sound of air. Oxygen is also fed. " This explanation is consistent with the ancient creation myth in explaining the source of soul. It is worth noting that in China's myth of creating man, there is no such detail as God's "giving qi", and this explanation in Shuowen just makes up for the defects of the myth. From this point, we are once again shocked by the consistency of world myths, and once again feel that ancient civilization is a complete civilization system, which contains great vitality.
Therefore, Chinese medicine is not aimed at physical diseases, but at mental health. It believes that as long as the mind and body are healthy (there is no obstacle to the flow of qi in the body), the body must be healthy. Therefore, Chinese medicine pays the most attention to nourishing qi, regulating qi and regulating qi. From this point of view, Chinese medicine is "intermediary medicine", a medical system between material body and spiritual life, and its function is to coordinate the balance between the two.
The existence of traditional Chinese medicine just proves our hypothesis that there is indeed an independent life body inside the human body, which we can call spiritual life body. It does not exist in a tangible way, but makes life invisible. If the body is the evidence of our life, then the meridians are the evidence of the existence of spiritual life. Fundamentally speaking, Chinese medicine is a medical system that stands between spiritual life and body. It regulates the balance between body and spirit, and ultimately has nothing to do with our body, but serves spiritual life.
We speculate that the basic principle of Chinese medicine may be this: the relationship between spiritual life and material life is interactive. When spiritual life is influenced by various forces in the universe, it is also divided into healthy and unhealthy. When it is unhealthy, it is directly manifested as a physical disease. Similarly, the pathological changes of the body itself will also affect the healthy state of spiritual life. Therefore, the role of TCM is to adjust the balance between the two sides, communicate and transmit information, treat physical diseases with strong spiritual strength, and coordinate the relationship between spiritual life and the universe and nature with geographical, climatic and seasonal factors.
Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that the mechanism of Chinese herbal medicine in treating diseases is by no means the alum mechanism we understand today, that is to say, it is wrong to attribute Chinese herbal medicine to chemical molecular thought. There must be something needed for spiritual life in Chinese herbal medicine, which is not reflected in the chemical molecular structure. For example, there is a saying in ancient Chinese medicine called "eighteen opposites and nineteen fears", which refers to the taboo of drug compatibility, but this taboo can't be found in modern science, such as "licorice can't match sweetness", but when rabbits are used for experiments, no abnormalities are found, and the heartbeat, body temperature, pupils and stomach are normal. For another example, "Banxia Fritillaria against Aconitum" has not found any toxic and side effects in pharmacological tests. It can be inferred that the compatibility principle of "eighteen opposites and nineteen fears" is not aimed at the body, but at the spiritual life, that is to say, such compatibility will endanger the spiritual life.