Hello, everyone! Last time, we briefly talked about the Buddha culture's influence on traditional Chinese medicine. Actually, its biggest influence lies in its respect for life. Its influence shows in the aspect of vegetarian diet and regular life as well. Besides, we mentioned something about traditional Chinese medicine. Today,as our last class, we will talk about the use of Buddhist in spreading the medicine. We will have several parts: firstly, the role played by foreign translators of Buddhist scriptures in spreading the medicine; secondly, how monks spread the medicine in their pilgrimages for Buddhist scriptures; thirdly, how local monks spread the medicine to Japan; and some unique Buddhist medicine and other methods which are related to medicine. Now, we move to the first part. The spread of medicine by foreign translators can be traced to the time when Buddhist first introduced into China. In some of the Buddhist scriptures spread by monks from the western regions, there are contents about general medical knowledge. For example, two books translated respectively by An Shih-Kao and Dharmaraksha. The translators themselves had a good command of medical skills. An Shih-Kao himself had a clear knowledge of medical skills and was good at acupuncture, using medicine and listening to the condition of the pause. While spreading Buddha's teachings, they practised medicine,gave medicine and taught some medical skills. To some extent, they helped the development of Chinese medicine's science and technology at that time. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a translator called Dharmaraksa introduced ophthalmology from the western regions into China. At that time, many people followed him to learn ophthalmology. In his book, he emphasized that human beings were the most important in the universe and among all the organs of human, eyes were the most important. He said that "it is not easy to cure eyes" which showed the difficulty and the importance. At that time, endotherapy, external application and fuming and washing were all useful methods in the ophthalmology of the western regions. Later on, the method of using acupuncture needle to cure cataract gradually spread across China. Secondly, how monks spread the medicine in their pilgrimages for Buddhist scriptures; As we mentioned before, the number of Buddhists in China increased a lot in the Tang Dynasty. As we all know, the famous monk, Xuan Zang, went to India through much difficulties. When he returned, he wrote a book "Records of the Western World" in which he introduced something about the medicine in India. He mentioned that people should wash their hands before eating food and people should chew Yangzhi after meals for the reason of health. These habits helped to prevent illness. Later on, Yi Jing went to India as well. When he came back, he translated some books such as one about how to cure haemorrhoids. His books involved many medical knowledge in the aspects of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology and dentistry. He also introduced some medicine like jaggery. In his another book "NanHaiJuGuiNeiFaZhuan", he introduced a lot about hygiene practices in India and the use and comparison of medicine. Thirdly, how local monks spread the medicine to Japan. One of the most representative was Jian Zhen, a famous monk in the Tang Dynasty. He became a monk when he was 14 years old. He worked so intelligent that he mastered Buddhist doctrines and medical skills. He once was the leader of the Da Yun Temple and then he went to Japan to promote Buddhism. From 743 to 753, he tried to go to Japan for six times and succeeded at last. The medicine he presented cured the empress dowager of Guangming. Then, he was appointed as the leader of all monks. When he went to Japan, he brought along some Chinese medicine such as kapur,benzoin,birthwor root and wonders pill,etc. As he was blind at that time, he can only identify the quality of medicine with senses of smell, taste and touch. It was quite amazing that he never made a mistake. Meanwhile, he wrote a book named as "JianZhenFuZhongRuSuiNianChiFang" in which he introduced some proved recipes. As a result, Jian Zhen was valued as the ancestor of medicine in Japan. Until now, he still was the pioneer of medical exchanges between China and Japan. In most of the temples, some monks are studying general medicine knowledge and develop some unique Buddhist medicine. For instance, Shaolin Temple is famous for orthopedics. As we all know, Shaolin Temple is a place where people learn martial arts. People may have some injuries in their bones and muscles, then they gradually know how to cure them and summarized to some cases and recipes in the field of orthopedics. At that time, a man named Lin Daoren wrote a book "LiShangDuanXuFang"ďź saying that, in the Shaolin Temple, there were methods to cure dislocation, to stop bleeding and to to the traction. These methods made the temple's orthopedics famous. Another famous temple was the Zhulin Temple in the Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province during the the Southern Qi Dynasty. It was famous for gynecology. During the Five Dynasties, a nun called Shi Jingxuan cure the queen from her sickness. These were the knowledge they have accumulated for a long time, which make them well-known. Then, we talked about something about Buddhism for example, the relationship between tea, practising meditation and people's health. It is said that there was a temple called Bolin near the Zhaozhou Bridge. Cong Shen chan master was the abbot. Two monks came to Zhaozhou to learn from him how to practice meditation. The master asked one of them: "have you ever been here before?" "No" was the answer. the master said "Go and drink some tea!" Then, he asked the other one "have you ever been here before?" "Yes" was the answer. But the master still said "Go and drink some tea!" How to understand this sentence? Whoever you are, whether you have been here or not, you can "Go and drink some tea!" because you can feel the meaning of life in the process. It means that, though tea is the popular drink in China, its relation with health cannot be explained clearly. Not only, according to the modern science, it contains tea polyphenol which does good to health and helps to resist oxidation, it also is a way of preserving health in the psychological level. So, what we mention here is the concept of tea and vegetarian diet and their relationship with health. Being a vegetarian is also called "practising abstinence from meat " Every monk is required to be a vegetarian all his life. As lay Buddhists, people also need to practice abstinence from meat on specific days. This way develops and is passed down to the modern society. For example, nowadays,many people who eat too much meat and fish can take a try to be a vegetarian for some time. It is a good opportunity to keep healthy. So that, as we mentioned last time, the Buddha culture has some influence on our Chinese medicine and ways to preserve health. Being a vegetarian is an important part. However, we should not go to another extreme. We should practice it properly and put great emphasis on. There was many famous stories in the ancient times. In the Liang Dynasty,Emperor Wu of Liang was initiated into monkhood in 521. All the people whose status was under the prince had to be initiated into monkhood as well. Besides it, the emperor issued a paper, putting a ban on wine and meat-- a good behavior regarded as necessary by Buddhist. The emperor himself only had one meal a day and only ate some cereal and beans without instead of drinking wine. Many imperial princes and court ministers followed him. Their behaviors not only reduce the waste of food but also do good to their health. Changing one's diet for some time is actually a good way to keep healthy. Examples of this kind are quite interesting. In the Buddhism, eating properly is regarded as a way to cure disease. For example, in the book "JiuHengJing", it introduces that there are nine reasons which cause people to die young. The first reason is eating something that is not a kind of food. The second reason is eating too much. The second one is about the wrong methods to eat. The fourth reason is poor digestion. The fifth one is irregular urination and defecation. Besides these five reasons, there are reasons on the psychological level such as breach of customs. In my perspective, the former five reasons are the same as the healthy diet advocated in the traditional Chinese medicine. In the traditional Chinese medicine, it says that eating too much will cause illness which is related to the "JiuHengJing". In addition to the eating part, it says something about hygiene. In fact, all the Buddhists pay much attention to their personal hygiene as required in the religious discipline. It helps Buddhist develop good habits and teaches the public some hygienic knowledge. I think religious discipline is a good way of transmission. All in all, not only foreign masters came here to spread medical knowledge, but also Buddhist in China spread it outward. It is a two-way road which brings benefit to both traditional Chinese medicine and other regions' medicine to be introduced into China. It's really meaningful. All right, today's class is over while this chapter is finished. Thank you.
