Desire is however
dif ficult to extirpate from the mind. A yurveda has therefore established
methods by which desire can b e disciplined; through beneficial routines to
maintain proper functioning of the or ganism during health and by therapeutic
procedures coup led with diet and lifestyle changes during sickness in order to
return the wandering Doshas to their proper bodily paths and the individual to
his or her proper life path. Any substance and any activity in the world can be and has bee n used
therapeutically in A yurveda. Generally , however , medical intervention used at
the phys ical level is of four types: diet, activity , purification, and palliation. Accumulation of the Doshas should be treated with changes in diet and
activity; when they become aggravated, palliating or pacifyin g them with
substances of opposite qualiti es is best. Once the Doshas escape their
reservoir or gans it is best to remove them from the system; if this is
impossible they  must be neutralized with medicine. Localized treatment is
always beneficial to that weak p art of the body in which the Doshas localize. Since dietary indiscretion is the most common cause in the majority of
diseases, changes in diet are often the single most importa nt aspect of
therapy . Whenever feasible A yurveda always favors gradual over instantaneous
cures to prevent unnecessary sh ocks to the system. Gradual e limination ofaddictions is less disrupting to your internal balance than is the immediate,
“cold turkey” procedure. Since a n or ganism always needs time t o acclimatize
itself to its new state, medica l treatment too, should never be stopped
abruptly . As each  individual is unique, ea ch patient requires a dif ferent treatment
program. In as much as all phy sical diseases are caused, either directly or
indirectly by Dosha imbalance,  all treatment is based fundame ntally on the
treatment of the Doshas. When Digestive T oxins are present in the digestive
tract, treatment usually begins with a near -total fast of one to two days to
digest a nd remove the accumulated toxins and to prepare the body for
purification. The Dos has are actively excreted from the body by Five Purifications
(panchakarma): emesis (therapeutic vomiting), pur gation, enema, nasal
medication, and  bloodletting. Before any form of purification is performed,
the Dosha to be eliminated must be made to leave the tissues to which it has
strayed, and return to its reservoir or gans in the digestive tract. This “change
of Dosha direction” is usually done by applying medicated oils to the body
and thus  inducin g it to sweat. Once a Dosha has returned back to its reservoir
or gan, su bstances are administered to encourage it to increase i ts force there. For exa mple, before emesis, which is often used to relieve Kapha, some
doctors increase  Kapha by giving the patient a mixture of yogurt, molasses
and salt. Only th en is vomiting induced. Similar procedures are  followed for
the other Doshas. Emesis (therapeutic vomiting) is the main purification method for
Kapha, though pur gation may also be used. Emesis is a strong purification
technique as it removes mucus and other undesirable substances from the
stomach, chest and other locations where Kapha concentrates, and
encourages an upward flow of ener gy in contrast to Kapha’ s n ormal heavy ,
downward move ment. In contrast purification for V ata should be mild so as
to re strain its no rmally intense nature. The purification of choi ce for V ata is
enema because it helps V ata’ s downward movement (being Airy it tends to
flow up ward), a nd does not rem ove much material from the b ody (as V ata
people t end to lack physical substance). Besides it does not  weaken the
digestive fire as emesis and pu r gation do. Pur gation and blood letting are
preferred purification techniques for the removal of excess Pi tta because it
concentrates in the digestive tr act and in the blood with its i nherent heat.Emesis i s also employed sometimes for Pitta if it is trying to escape the body
by moving upward (causing such symptoms as nausea and heartburn). Purification is only administered, however , if the patient is relatively
strong and the disease is relatively weak. In other cases, and during
childhood, old age, pregnancy , a nd other such circumstances palliation of the
Doshas alone is performed. Palliation is a seven-step procedure which
includes medicine to digest toxins, medicine to increase the digestive fire,
appropriate diet  and drinks, exe rcise, sunbathing, and exposure  to fresh-air ,
each prescribed according to the patient’ s requirements. A yurvedic medicines
are prepared from a wide va riety of substances derived from animal,
vegetable and mineral sources a nd produced in the forms of medicated pills,
powders, jams, wines, milks, ghees (clarified butter) and oils. Each Do sha requires a unique th erapeutic strategy for the restoration of
internal balance . Specifically , V ata’ s main remedies are heat and oil,
externally and internally , becau se they counteract its dry and cold qualities. Salty taste works best in small amounts both in medicine and food, since it
improves appetite and digestion, and is antispasmodic and slightly laxative. Only thereafter sour and sweet tastes are considered and employed. Medicinal wines are beneficial, as are medicines which have been potentiated
one hun dred or one thousand times. Massage of all kinds is very  desirable. In
certain cases shock treatments, “de-memorizing therapy” (so mething like
“de-programming”), and binding are used. The patient’ s anxieties should be
eliminated, and he or she should be furnished plenty of entertainment and
total relaxation to promote a free flow of Prana in the channels of body and
mind. Pitta, na turally needs to be co oled. Bitter taste performs this best,
followed by sweet and astringent. Sweet-smelling scents (perfumes, incense,
flowers) help to overcome Pit ta’ s strong odor . Especially ef ficacious are
sandalwood, lot us and rose, all  of which provide a cooling ef fect as well. Cool showers, moon-bathing, pearl necklaces, white clothes, and sojourn in
green ga rdens am id fountains are other means to calm the system. When Pitta
is permi tted to increase, it infla mes the body’ s tissues thus interrupting the
flow of Prana in the channels. This can be ameliorated by reducing Pitta’ s
native intensity with soothing m usic and by meditation to quie ten the mind. Regular consumption of raw food and a job or hobby of an absorbing nature
are other routines that should be followed for a timely recovery .Kapha requires intensity and act ivity to break up its natural inertia and
lethar gy . The pungent taste, com posed as it is of the Fire and Air Elements, is
the best Kapha-controlling taste, followed by bitter and astri ngent. When
toxins are present, bitter should first be utilized to clear the channels before
pungent things are employed to reawaken the digestive fire. The astringent
taste is utilized if excess “mois ture” removal is required. All medicines and
foods sh ould be hot, intense and  dry . Aged wines and liqueurs in small doses,
nights without sleep, frequent sexual intercourse, vigorous exercise like
wrestling, running and jumping to cause copious sweating, fasting, smoking,
rough dry warm clothes, and extremely hot baths all decrease Kapha. Saddling Kapha patients with responsibilities and preventing them from
indulging in their normal stupor helps to overcome their internal stagnation. The typical A yurvedic treatmen t consists of a remedy , a vehicle, and a
diet regimen. While remedies are most commonly administered either
through mouth or through anus (i.e. by enema), those that tar get structures in
the throat and head are frequently administered through the nostrils. Pastes
and oils are usu ally applied locally , though in certain conditions whole-body
application is used to exert a systemic ef fect. The vehicle helps the remedy
by proper digestion and absorption, and catalyzes its ef fect so as to reduce the
dose and thus prevent possible s ide-ef fects. While hot water can be used as a
vehicle for almost all preparations, other common vehicles include honey ,
ghee, oil, jams, and wines. Most substance s used as medicines can be employed singly or in
combination, the choice depending primarily on the physician’ s preference. Single d rugs possess the virtue of simplicity , while compounds are usually
formulated from several substances which share specific therapeutic qualities
and so syner gize with each oth er . Since most medicaments can af fect the
body in more th an one way , spe cific vehicles are prescribed to help tar get the
medicine. The way  in which substances are prepared for administration d epends
on the purpose for which they are to be used. For example, aloe vera is used
in po wdered form to purify the uterus or the digestive tract, in c rude form as
the juic e to soothe burns or ulcers, and as a medicinal w ine for liver
disorders. Some times the preparation of the substance is limited  by its nature,
i.e. while it is easy to obtain juic e from a pulpy leaf like aloe it may be almost
impossible to do so from more fibrous leaves, which will  have to bepowdered, decocted, or otherwise extracted. The nature of the Dosha
involved also af fects formulation: Kapha conditions often do better with
dried powders, V ata problems w ith medicated oils and medicinal wines, and
Pitta disturbances with fresh juices and medicated ghees (see illustration 17). Minerals need to be purified as well as “humanized” before they
become fit for c onsumption by human beings. Most minerals are transformed
into bhasma (literally , “ash”); these “ashes” are prepared by incinerating the
mineral in the p resence of specific herbal or animal substances . The average
mineral must be incinerated at least seven times before  it can be
administered, but since each incineration potentiates the mineral’ s activity , a
lar ger number of incinerations is  almost always desirable. Mica, for example,
works best after being potentiated one thousand times. By astute purification and palliation a physician removes all
obstructions to the free movem ent of Prana so that Prana can a gain inflame
the d igestive fire, thus reviving the patient’ s immunity . It is impossible to be
healthy until the life force has f ree access to all parts of the bo dy . The seers
who cognized A yurveda did so  for the benefit of “dwellers in cities and
towns.” They realized that urbanites become more prone to disease because
of the combination of various factors of environmental pollution and due to
overcrowding. Such people may  become candidates for two therapies which
are unique to A yurveda: rejuvenation (rasayana) and virilization (bajikarana). V irilization is meant to enhance fertility , and rejuvenation to prevent future
diseases by enhancing immunity . These, like A yurveda’ s other therapeutic
modalities aim to maximize harmony between the external and the internal
environment of the individual.P A R T  T H R E E
T R A D I T I O N S  I N  C O M P A R I S O N1
H i s t o r i c a l  C o n s i d e r a t i o n s
B oth I ndian and C hinese medicine are unique systems that arose independently ,
remaining intimately associated with their own indigenous religious and cultural
perspectives. Th is, however , did not hinder the exchange of information and
absorption of concepts and practices from one system to the other , or from other
surrounding cult ures. T racing the exact routing and giving concrete dates to these
transmissions of knowledge is extremely dif ficult, but certain  general themes
may nevertheless be inferred from the mass of information available. An i mportant historical event oc curred sometime during the third or fourth
century B.C. that clearly estab lishes that these two societies were indeed in
communication with each other . At that time India already po ssessed a highly
evolved literary  society which had produced scores of texts on such topics as
religion, astrology and medicine. The preeminent A yurvedic text Charaka
Samhita  w as already m any hundred years old, while the landmark Y ellow
Emper or ’ s Inner Classic  was  only then being compiled  in China. During this
period reports started to circula te in China about soma, the psychotropic plant
associated with mystical experi ences which had occupied an im portant place in
early Indian religion. In the In dian context the use of soma is known to have
played a central role in the Rig V eda,  a scripture that appeared prior to 1000 B.C. Soma w as promoted in China as possessing the power to bestow
immortality , and  the persistent and enticing reports eventually led Emperor Qin
Shi (reigned 221-207 B.C. ), first Emperor of a unified China, to order the
procurement of this wondrous p lant. Eventually , the Emperor himself went to the
western mountains in an unsuccessful search. Despite this failure, the Emperor
refused to give u p, and apparently gave permission and support to a peculiar man
named Su Fu, who was sent with a lar ge contingent of vir ginal children on a sea
voyage to bring back this divine substance. The first journey did not go well, and
on S u Fu’ s return, he was re-equipped and sent of f again, but nothing more is
known about this later mission. The Chinese never did obtain s oma, even though continuous ef forts were
made du ring the Han Dynasty (2 06 B.C-220 A.D.), and even tod ay no one knows
soma’ s true identity , despite m uch search and speculation. This should not besurprising since according to T antric tradition,  there is no one “soma". Many
dif ferent substances can be used as soma, if they are employed in the proper way
at th e proper time. This deep  interest by the Chinese in soma did at least
stimulate, and perhaps initiate the development of the T aoist a lchemical arts. A
momentous spin-of f was an enthusiastic research into China’ s own plants and
minerals as well as the sys temization of Internal Medic ine. Clearly the
mysterious soma kindled the interest of the Chinese in the lands to the west. Other evidence suggests that th ere had been contacts between these two
ancient Asian cultures before th e 4th century B.C. There are for example some
remarkable similarities between their ancient systems of astrolo gy , including the
division of the sky into twenty-eight (later twenty-seven) lunar mansions
(Sanskrit naksh atra, Chinese xiu) comprised of similar star groupings. The
original purpose  of these divisi ons is not known, though most  likely they were
used to keep tra ck of the moon , which moves along the ecliptic about thirteen
degrees per day , about the width  of one lunar mansion. Nine of the twenty-eight
nakshatra stars were also used by the Chinese to determine the twenty-eight xiu,
and elev en more are in the same constellation as other xiu sta rs. Both systems
have stars in com mon—ten in the case of the nakshatras—with the set of thirty-
six u sed by the Babylonians, su ggesting at least the possibility that both systems
had been enriched by Mesopotamian astrological knowledge early on. The ancient philosophy of China prior to 4th century B.C. was of course
the Y in- Y ang doctrine, based on an image of a harmonic polarity found in all
nature. In India however , anci ent philosophy emphasized tri une doctrines. A
primary concept  was that of the Three Attributes (gunas) or propensities within
phenomena towa rds activity (rajas), inertia (tamas) and equilibrium (sattva). This
concept pervades religious belief as well, and the three chief gods of India
represent the fundamental pow ers in the universe: Brahma, the Creator , is the
embodiment of Rajas; Shiva, the Destroyer , embodies T amas; and V ishnu, the
Preserver , balan ces the other tw o. While we can view the dynamic dualism of
Y in and  Y ang as embodying the tendencies toward inertia and activity
respectively , the  Indian concept of equilibrium, a neutral r econciling force
between positive  and negative, i s lacking in the Chinese model. For the Chinese,
the space between Y in and Y ang was occupied by a creative tension that
materially manifests in the form of Qi. W ithin the Indian sciences there was, very early on, a highly developed
theory o f the Five Elements (p ancha mahabhutas). By comparison, before the
fourth ce ntury B.C., an archaic concept of five fundamental sub stances did existin China, but the importance of this idea was far eclipsed by the Y in-Y ang
doctrine. Accord ing to historians it was Zou Y in (359-270 B.C.) who developed
and integrated a unique versi on of the Five Elements (wu  xing) into the
mainstream of Chinese science  and religion. There is a reasonable probability
that the impetus  for development of the  Chinese Five Element  doctrine, as first
expounded by Zou Y in, may have come from the Indian theory , though the
Chinese modifie d and integrated this foreign concept to suit their own world
view . In fact va st dif ferences evolved between these fundame ntal concepts, as
can be seen on the most cursory level by the similarity of only three component
Elements within each system. Essentially , the Indian concep t of the Five Elements evolved from a
hierarchical mod e of thinking that underlines most ancient Hindu sciences and
philosophies, an  approach which is sometimes called “essence extraction." The
Five Elements are viewed as emer ging each from its precursor in a chain of
causation from Ether through  Earth. In this model each element contains
representative parts of the other four elements, but the element in question
predominates. The Earth Element, for example, is thus an “essence" of Earth, a
concentration of  Earthiness manifesting within the context of th e whole Group of
Five. Because of its relative predominance it prevents the othe r Elements from
exerting their influences significantly . In contrast to th e relatively static portrayal of the Elements in A yurveda,
the Chinese with no hierarchical order emphasized instead the dynamic inter -
relationships which exist among  the Five Elements. Chinese theory is dynamic
within th e relatively static context of embodied life, and does not seek to connect
the Elements to their ultimate source in the Absolute; A yurvedic theory is static,
relatively speaking, within the dynamic context of the perpetual projection of
consciousness into matter and its equally continuous withdrawal therefrom. In each society prevailing philo sophical beliefs contributed greatly to the
development of their medical sy stems, especially T aoism in China and the Y oga
philosophy in India. Although v arious forms of Y oga had been practiced in India
since prehistori c times, it was  left for Patanjali (circa 3rd century B.C.) to
integrate it with the Sankhya philosophy and to or ganize it  into a coherent
system. The T aoist and Sankhya philosophies have much in co mmon: they both
propose an original formless non-manifest primordial source (p urusha/wu) and a
creative force or potential whic h initiated the cosmic process of dif ferentiation
(prakruti/tai yi). Further diver ge nce of the cosmos arose due to p rimal tendencies
(gunas/yin-yang) arising from this creative potential, and the Five Elements(pancha mahabhutas/wu xing) are essential manifestations of this diversity . Another vital concept shared by  the T aoist and Samkhya philoso phies is the view
that all things have their own unique nature (prakriti/de). Historically , the  era of the Han Dynasty was a period of an outward focus
for China. By 138 B.C. the Silk Road to the west and the Burma Road (115 B.C.) to the south had opened up commerce and exchange of ideas and technology with
foreign lands. On China’ s western frontier beyond the Kunlun Mountains a
southward branch of the Silk R oad led to India. China also embarked on great
navigational explorations to open up  sea links to the south and east. By the 2nd
century B.C., boats from impe rial China had reached far sho res in the Indian
Ocean, r eportedly to present day Sri Lanka, at the time when I ndian civilization
and religion were rapidly spreading. The arrival of A yurveda accompanied Sri Lanka’ s conversion to Buddhism
by Mahinda, the brother of King Ashoka, the enlightened ruler of the Maurya
empire o f northe rn India. King Ashoka, who after a long and bloody campaign to
capture the Kingdom of Kalinga  felt great remorse at all the sla ughter , converted
to Budd hism in 260 B.C. and re nounced foreign aggression. After conversion, he
sent out  emissa ries to all the neighboring lands, and possibly to more distant
realms such as Greece and China, to spread his new-foun d beliefs. Hindu
invasions of Sri Lanka began perhaps as early as the second century B.C., and by
100 A.D. Hinduization of the Malay peninsula, Indochina an d the islands of
present day western Indonesia had successfully begun. Indeed, along with religion and  culture, A yurvedic concepts and practices
spread throughout South-East Asia. In Cambodia, for example, Sanskrit
inscriptions of A yurvedic doctrines and quotations from Sushruta’ s treatise dating
back to the ninth century A.D . can still be found carved on stone. Another
example of A yurveda’ s influence in this region is the incorporation of the Nadis
and Marma theory into Thai massage, and practiced even to this day . This period of o utward expansio n and external focus of both cultures also
favored the introduction of Bu ddhism from its native Indian soil into China. Indeed b y 100 A.D. already there were many regional strongholds of Buddhism
in C hina. The B uddhist monks Kasyapa, Matanga and Dharma raksa carried the
gospel o f Buddh a to the imperia l Chinese court from India som etime during the
1st centu ry A.D ., and the first Buddhist texts from Sanskrit an d Pali translated
into Chinese are known to have been written then. The  introduction of
Buddhism, naturally due to Buddhist belief in compassion and removal of
suf fering, also led to the propag ation of ef fective medical care. Buddhist medicalconcepts incorp orated the A yurvedic model, but expanded and emphasized the
spiritual causes and treatment of illness as well. An interesting figure of this per iod was Hua T uo (110- 208 A.D.) who is
revered as a brilliant physician a nd sur geon, and also as the originator of various
T aoist physical  exercises (tao yin), especially the system  based on the
movements of five animals. R eports on his sur gical techniques bear striking
resemblance to the sur gical methods expounded in A yurvedic texts, in particular
the u sage of a concoction of hemp (ma fei san) to engender an analgesic ef fect in
the patient prior to the operation. Circumstantial evidence strongly indicates that
Hua T uo in all probability learn t at least some of his skills from Indian sources
(see illustration 18). India, w hose wr itten tradition of sur gery begins with the Sushruta Samhita
(perhaps 600 B.C. ), has had a longer and more sustained sur gical  tradition than
China. I n this text the use of hemp decoctions for sur gical an algesia is clearly
mentioned. Inde ed, India has a  long tradition of using hemp in medicine. The
gifted 5th century B.C. physici an and sur geon Jivaka, attended on the Buddha
himself. He was also a patron of the medical arts and sciences to the Buddhists in
India, as was Hu a T uo to the Chinese. A few centuries later , eve n the removal of
cataracts by sur gery seems to have been introduced into China from India.W ith the  growth  and influence of Buddhism both in India and China a
great deal of religious, cultural a nd medical interchange took place. Many Indian
monks transversed the frontier regions of India to spread Buddh ist teachings into
the adjoining kingdoms. By the  3rd century A.D., Chinese mo nks and scholars,
too, started to jo urney to the lan d of Buddha’ s birth in search of knowledge. The
first wel l-documented Chinese p ilgrim during this early period of exchange was
Fa X ian (337-422 A.D.) who went overland to India. Fa Xian studied for 14
years in the Buddhist lands of S outh Asia, including Sri Lanka, before returning
to China via the by then well established southern sea route. The gold en age of Buddhism in Asia coincides with the glorious period of
A yurveda in India and of Chinese Medicine in China approximately from the 4th
to 10 th c entury A.D. During this period Buddhism found popu lar appeal, and at
times of ficial sanction, promoting closer relationships between various Buddhist
kingdoms in Asia. However , Buddhism did not completely supplant either
Hinduism in India or T aoist-C onfucian teachings in China. This period saw
intense development in all sciences and brought significant social changes,
especially durin g the time of the Gupta Empires (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) in
India and the Six Dynasties period (3rd to 7th centuries A.D.) in China. One imp ortant Buddhist sage of South Indian origin, Boddhidharma (479-
543 A.D.), traveled by ship to China in the beginning of the 6th century A.D. and
originated a new religious community . After spending some time at the imperial
court in Nanjing he continue d his journey until he reached the Sungshan
Mountains whe re he founded the Shaolin monastery . The unique meditative
practices taught by him there ar e considered to be the origin of the Chan (Zen in
Japanese) school, and therefore he is recognized as the first patriarch of one of
the extent preeminent systems of philosophy and spiritual disciplines. Boddhidharma a lso introduced a form of martial arts (shaolin kung fu) that has
become famous the world over in modern times. The scholars generally believe
that what this sa ge had actually introduced was kalarippayattu, the South Indian
martial art from the state of Kerala, but as usual it under went a thorough
transformation into a characteristically Chinese form (see illustration 19). Buddhist doctrine was also subject to such transmutation; for example, the
masculine figure of A valokitesv ara, the Boddhisattva of Divine Compassion who
plays a significant role in the healing arts, had by the  7th ce ntury A.D. been
transformed into Guan Y in, the Goddess of Mercy , a distinctly feminine figure.In China , Buddh ist medical teachings emphasized the Indian concepts of
the Elements, although Buddhists refer usually to a four Element system, the five
Great Elements  of A yurveda minus Ether (akasha). It is possible that the
Buddhist concept reflects a Hellenistic influence, but deducing correspondences
by num ber alone can be mis leading. In India, for example, the venerable
Sushruta advocated a four Dosha concept. He included blood as one of the
doshas because of the importan ce of blood to a sur geon. It is also known that
Hellenistic medicine borrowed heavily from India through the writings of
Pythagoras (circ a 6th century B.C.) the philosopher and inventor , who, it is
known, had journeyed to India and later had such a significant influence on the
Hippocratic school. Ef forts were indeed made in C hina to reconcile the Buddhist-A yurvedic
concept of the Elements with the doctrines of Chinese Medi cine. The Indian
teachings referred to the great Elements as generating and dif ferentiating the
human b ody’ s various tissues, while the Five Chinese Elements envisioned more
the f unctional relationships betw een processes. The A yurvedic concept of Three
Doshas, howeve r , presented a dif ficult challenge for reconciliation from the
Chinese viewpoint, and it was never really incorporated into the Chinese
paradigm, mainly due to the strangeness of the concept and the dif ficulty
translators had in finding adequate terms. V arious Buddhist scriptures from the
2nd cent ury A.D. onward, in fact, reveal great inconsistency in  their translations
of A yurv edic terms and doctrines. For example, the term Dosha was translated
into Chi nese as poison (tu) or at other times into grave illnesses (da ping) which
only vaguely convey its origin al connotation as a fundamental fault; nor does
either term reflect the basic concept that the doshas actually arise from and are a
condensed form  of the Five Elements. And the individual Dosha s were translated
into the terms w ind for V ata, he at for Pitta and cold for Kapha. Such superficial
translation of the Doshas inadequately denotes their unique individual attributes
and erro neously links them to t hree of the Chinese medical co ncepts of the six
exogenous Pernicious Influences. The celebrated physician of the T ang Dynasty , Sun Simiao (581-682 A.D.),
a devot ed Buddhist, tried in his writings to reconcile these two medical
traditions. He wrote on a wide field of medical topics including alchemy , bone
setting, B uddhist spirituality and etiology based on karma, states and treatment of
possession, acupuncture and bo tanical medicine. But, in general, even in Sun
Simiao’ s exposit ion a genuine understanding of the theoretical concepts of Indianmedicine was lacking, and on ly some comparatively minor elements were
eventually incorporated into Chinese medicine. China in turn h ad a lot to of fer to India in terms of theory an d practical
medicine. In this context Y i Xing (635-731 A.D.), a Chinese Buddhist monk who
studied in India at Nalanda University between the years 671- 695 ad. and who
thus had a good insight into both systems of medicine, has remarked that “... in
the healing arts of acupuncture , moxibus-tion and in diagnosis through pulse,
China has never been supersed ed by any country of Jambudvipa (India).” Y i
Xing also observed many bene ficial practices in India including the usage of
therapeutic fasting that were dif ferent from those of his native land. But for some
obscure reason, the useful Chinese techniques of acupuncture did not seem to
have lef t a great impression on A yurvedic and Buddhist medicin e, for no records
point to its adoption in India. Y i Xing is said to have brought more than 400
Buddhist texts back with him to  China; of which 56 he translated into Chinese
himself. In recording his own journey , he also included biogr aphies of a lar ge
number of Chinese monks who were traveling to India mainly by the sea route. In spite of the seeming lack o f interest in Chinese acupuncture among
Buddhists in India there appears  to have existed in Sri Lanka an indigenous form
of a cupuncture. Even in prese nt day Sri Lanka one comes across reports of
acupuncture bei ng used by traditional healers in cases of snake bite, and the use
of ac upressure on elephants! Dr . A. Jayasuria suggests that this unique system of
acupuncture wa s a branch of Deshiya V edakamae, an ancient medical system
practiced on that island well before the arrival of A yurvedic medicine during the
middle o f the 3rd century B.C. This does not however preclude the possibility of
Chinese acupun cture having influenced the development of this healing science
in S ri L anka, sin ce contact between these two lands did exist a s far back as the
2nd century B.C. The Sri  Lankan system of a cupuncture utilized a lar ge number of
therapeutic poin ts (nilas, meaning command point) along with a lar ge number of
forbidden points that closely resemble the present day concept of the Marmas in
A yurveda. In contrast to the Chinese system, however , a uniq ue feature of Sri
Lankan acupunc ture is the absen ce of any concept of Meridians  (jingluo). In Sri
Lanka th e utiliz ation of acupuncture in veterinary medicine seems to have been
practiced to a m uch greater extent than even in China, and an cient charts have
been found illustrating the points for use in treating, among others, elephants,
water buf falo, tigers and pigs. King Buddhadasa (reigned 33 7-365 A.D.) hasbeen reported to be a well-verse d sur geon and acupuncturist himself who treated
both human beings and animals alike. T ibetan medicin e clearly shows the impact of both A yurveda a nd Chinese
medicine. A yurv eda entered T ibet in the wake of Buddhism around 6th century
A.D., and still remains at the core of T ibetan medicine. King Srongtsan Gampo,
who reig ned in the first half of t he 7th century A.D., was respon sible for opening
T ibet’ s doors to new cultural and religious influences from the surrounding
kingdoms. It was during this period that even the T ibetan alphabet was adopted
from Sanskrit. The king was  s o keen on the study of medicine that he had a
medical conference or ganized inviting doctors from India, Persia and China. It
was recorded at that time tha t each representative translated  into T ibetan a
medical work from their respective country . Over the ensuing centuries T ibetan doctors acquired further texts and
knowledge from  neighboring lands, and today T ibetan written medical tradition
is a repository for many classical A yurvedic texts that have become extinct in
their nat ive Indi a. Even the mo st important text in T ibetan me dicine, the Four
T antras (Gyiishi)  i s consi dered to be of Indian o rigin. Buddhist legend says that
Jivaka, the Buddha’ s physician actually wrote down these m edical teachings
which o ver the centuries were s upplemented by writings of other distinguished
Indian and T ibetan doctors. T ibetans acknow ledge the influence of Chinese medicine in the practices
of ac upuncture, the system of pulse diagnosis and inspection of the tongue. Pulse
diagnosis (nadi pariksha) makes its appearance in mainstream A yurvedic
literature only during the 12th century A.D., with the Sharngadhara Samhita. India’ s system of pulse diagnosis in all probability came from the Muslim
medical system of Unani T ibbia or from T ibetan, both of which may have
originally acqui red this knowledge of the pulse from the Chinese. T ibet’ s great
contribution to A yurveda has been the detailed development of urine analysis
(mutra pariksha). T ibetan medicine had also developed a rather sophisticated knowledge of
anatomy , which  was acquired from their long-standing experience with human
dissection. T ibetans, out of necessity , had long ago adopted the practice of
“celestial burial” because of their country’ s harsh terrain in which the ground is
frozen for extended periods d uring the year and the scarc ity of wood for
cremation. This form of so-called burial, still widely practiced, p roceeds with the
ritual dis section of the deceased, and then followed by the feeding of the parts to
vultures on the hill tops. Over time this anatomical knowledge f ound its way intoA yurveda and to a lesser extent into China. Indeed, T ibet was th e site of two well
known Buddhist medical centers (Chogpori and Menchikhang), between the
twelfth t o sixtee nth century A.D., where monks came to study even from foreign
countries. During t he golden age of Budd hism, many techniques and other practical
aspects of medicine were excha nged between China and India, and one area in
which th is is certainly evident is in medicinal pharmacology . China imported
hemp, s andalwood, cardamom, long pepper , camphor , calamus root, datura and
cinnamon from India, while India obtained rhubarb, sarsaparilla, angelica,
licorice, ginseng , mugwort and tea from China. The exchange of ideas stimulated
each other ’ s understanding of the pharmacodynamics of plants and minerals, and
ushered in new advancements in the preparation of these plant/mineral based
medicines (see illustration 20).The alchemical schools of both countries were predominantly responsible
for the exchange of this knowledge. These schools in those days were intimately
linked to the rel igious institutio ns of T aoism and T antra, and to a lesser extent
Buddhism. Historically the Chi nese had a more highly advanced knowledge of
the alche mical a rts since the times of the Han Dynasty , and they  are credited with
considerably aiding the advancement of Indian alchemy . The earliest adept at
alchemy known  to have traveled  between the two countries was  Siddha Bogar , a
famous Chinese alchemist, who  during the 3rd century A.D. journeyed, taught
and eventually settled in what is  now T amil Nadu in southern India. Legend has
it that Bogar al so returned briefly to China with a group of Indian disciples
before settling back in T amil nad. Unlike most Chinese travelers to India,
however , Bogar was apparently a T aoist rather than a Buddhist. Alchemy has two forms of expression: an outward search, dealing with the
transformation of substances for the benefit of the adept, and an inward quest,
dealing with special internal practices for personal transformation. External
alchemy stimulated intense research into plants and minerals , generating new
knowledge that was imbibed into such diverse fields as medicine, metallur gic
sciences, botany or even in w arfare (as with the discovery of gunpowder). Initially gunpowder , literally a “fire drug” (huoyao), was a prod uct of alchemical
experimentation that was subsequently used as a medicine to cure skin diseases. In general, mineral substances have a most important role to play in external
alchemy with mercury and sulfur being the two most significant. It is a curious fact that in China mercury denotes the female pr inciple and
sulfur th e mascu line principle, while in India it is just the reverse. Mercury is
considered feminine or Y in in Chinese alchemy due to its dissolving and
softening ef fect s and its coagulative and liquid form. In contrast Sulfur is
considered masc uline or Y ang o n account of its drying and hardening ef fect, and
a solid, rhombic form. Cinnaba r contains elements of both me rcury and sulfur ,
thus considered, in Chinese alchemy , the quintessential mineral for purposes of
transformation. In Indian  alchemy properly transformed mercury was found to promote the
production of semen, while transformed sulfur is used to purify the blood and
regulate the menses. It is therefore highly likely that the dif ference in opinion
between the two systems over the gender of these two substances arises mainly
from Ch inese al chemy’ s conside ration of physical properties to determine gender
whereas in India physiological ef fects seem to have led them to the reverse
conclusion. How ever , Indian alchemy concurs with its Chinese counterpart inaccepting cinnabar (mercuric su lfide) as the great transformer , and A yurveda also
makes great use of black sulf ide of mercury (mercurous sulfide) mainly in
therapeutic preparations. The internal alchemical practic es of T aoism and T antra are remarkably
alike, especially in their vision of the subtle body . T antra places great emphasis
on awak ening th e ener gy within the Nadis and Chakras while in T aoism a very
similar c oncept of the Three Fields of Influences (san qi hai d an tian) and the
Extraordinary V essels exists. The unique Indian concept of the Chakras
historically is of much greater antiquity and most likely ins pired the T aoist
version of the Three Fields. In both systems the general idea is to vitalize these
structures with ener gy (prana/q i) to initiate a process of psychophysical and
spiritual transformation. Extensive communication between China and India did not unfortunately
last for very long. The first M uslim invasion in the 8th centu ry A.D. blocked
travel al ong the Silk Road. Moreover Buddhism, the religion that had directly
spawned the cultural and trade c ontacts, had already entered into a state of severe
decline in India, and would do so in China one century later . No significant trade
or cross -cultural activity seems to have occurred during the medieval periods of
India an d China, and A yurveda and Chinese medicine were essentially isolated
from one another from the 10th century A.D. onward. Classical A yurveda began to lose its vitality during this age, though the
medical systems  of the Siddhas (alchemists) and Muslims flourished, and their
thoughts and methods did influ ence A yurveda’ s development. In the China of
that era there w as a return to Confucianism which coincid ed with foreign
invasions, isolation, and internal divisions within the Middle Kingdom for the
next 450  years. Chinese medicin e, which had acquired a firm foundation prior to
that turb ulent er a, nevertheless slowly progressed, adding a number of new ideas
and innovations to its classical form. Thereafter , however , from about the early
part of the Min g Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), Chinese medicine entered into a
long period of decline. In both  these countries the introduction of European
medicine, beginning in the 18th century A.D., severely challenged the integrity
and influ ence of  their indigenous medical systems. It was only after throwing of f
the foreign domination that governments of both nations were able to provide
meaningful support and sponsorship to these ancient healing traditions.2
E n e r g e t i c  P h y s i o l o g y
A yurveda and Chinese medicine have developed since antiquity  an impressive
and integral understanding of the human physiological and ener getic state. Unfortunately in neither traditi on did the in-depth study of anatomy receive an
equally high priority Comparat ively , the Indians due to their ancient tradition of
sur gery derived a greater depth of anatomical knowledge than the Chinese. However both cultures seem to h ave suf fered in this endeavor from the same cause
—the objections by the orthodox segment—which led often enough to outright
prohibition of the dissection of human cadavers. In ancient China, dissection was considered profane because it risked
disturbing the normal departure of the soul from the body , and so of ficially
sanctioned disse ctions were generally performed only on criminals after execution. T raditional beliefs such as Confucianism which encouraged ancestor worship were
hostile to anyone who disturbed the remains of the departed, for they believed that
dissection might  interfere with t he Y in soul’ s (Po) return to the earth. Such a soul
might th en beco me a wayward ghost, unable to complete its journey after death. Pieces of jade w ere placed upon the orifices of the deceased bodies of the rich and
famous so that the Y in soul would not escape, thus ensuring its r eturn into the earth
with the dissolution of the physical elements. Similar prohibit ions were in force in classical India, where rituals were
performed after death to ensure  that the deceased will enjoy healthy , undeformed
limbs and or gans in his or her next birth, and any damage to the corpse before its
cremation was considered like ly to show up on the succeeding incarnation. Additionally , for a high-caste Hindu to touch a corpse was and is considered to be
a pr ofound defilement, one wh ich could be counteracted only through intensive
and com plex purifications. Th ere was also the ever -present awareness of the
danger that the dissector might choose to use some of the disse cted body parts in
black m agic ritu als. In spite of  all these impediments, dissection seems to have
been practiced, though probably  mainly on the sly , and students augmented their
skills by practicing sur gery on dummies, melons, dead animals, and lotus stems. Some m aterialists have ar gued  that the two systems concentrated on the
ener getic aspects of physiology  because they were prevented from  refining their
anatomical know ledge, but available evidence suggests that in  fact both systemsactively valued the vital above the merely physical. Both sy stems describe the
existence of a p ervasive life force, called Qi by the Chinese and Prana by the
Indians, and the conception of this life force or ener gy and its functions within the
human body including the belief that this substance flows throu gh subtle pathways
or Meri dians (nadis/ jingluo) appear to be remarkably similar in both systems. Though the Chinese did develop the concept and mapping of the Meridians to a
more advanced level mainly from their experience with acupuncture, the
A yurvedic idea of the Marmas also appears to be closely akin to the Chinese
concept of an a cupuncture poin t. Also in virtual agreement a re the concepts of
Blood (rakta/xue) and Essence (ojas/jing) in both systems. The development of the Meridian theory , by the Chinese, closely parallels
their profound knowledge of hydrology , which includes such practices as canal
making, irrigatio n systems and w ater conservation methods. As  far back as the 6th
century B.C. many hydrologic projects were undertaken to facilitate China’ s
agricultural development and dependability , as well its inland transportation
through shipping. One testamen t to China’ s technical mastery o f hydrology is the
Grand C anal, built about 2,400 years ago and stretching nearly 1,800 kilometers
from Beijing in the north to Ha ngzhou in the south. The Chinese concept of the
human M eridian system is decidedly patterned upon the mechanistic model of
these an cient hydrologic princip les. Examples within the Meridian theory of this
hydrologic notion are the concepts of graduated systems of greater to smaller
channels in which Qi circulate s; the 24 hour circulation of  Meridian Qi; the
existence of source and connecting points along each Meridian’ s flow and so on. According to Chinese medici ne the body is composed of five basic
substances whic h provide and m aintain life and from which a ll other tissues are
derived. The five primary substances namely Qi, Blood, Fluids, Essence and Spirit
are e ner getic reflections of the F ive Elements. The substances have no hierarchical
structure: rather  these substances are dependent upon and support each other . According to the traditional Chinese viewpoint, other tissues and or gans are
derived from the matrix of these substances. The Five Element s play an ener getic
role in linking substances with specific tissues, or gans and structures. By cont rast, in the A yurvedic system Prana, Subtle Fire (tejas) and Essence
(ojas) are viewed as being pure expressions of the Five Elements within the
physical body . These three subtle quintessential elements act upon the digestive
and met abolic processes to produce seven substances that in turn create and
maintain the body . The substances are Sap, Blood, Flesh, Fat, Bones, Marrow and
Reproductive T i ssue. These substances are produced in a progressive order , one
substance being refined out of another . Furthermore the seven substanceseventually serve  to nourish the  Prana, Subtle Fire and Esse nce, which absorb
rarefied aspects  of the substances. Thus the substances and elements have a
reciprocal relationship in maintaining homeostasis. The Doshas for their part are th ought to be grosser expressions of the three
quintessential el ements Prana, Subtle Fire and Essence. In healthy equilibrium the
Doshas aid in t he or ganizational integration of physiological processes, while a
lack of equilibrium within th e Doshas generates physiologic imbalance and
eventually disease. While A yurveda and Chinese medicine both propose a Five Element model
to or gan ize the human physical terrain, in A yurveda this model is simplified into a
triune th eory for understanding human physiology and ener get ic associations, the
theory of the Three Doshas. This A yurvedic model relates well to the Chinese
medicine conceptualization of Y in, Y ang and the potential Q i that arises from
them, though the doshas cannot be equated with their Chinese counterparts. Kapha
is relate d most closely to and e xhibits the attributes of the Ele ment W ater and is
thus analogous to Y in, while Pitta by relating to and displaying the qualities of the
Fire Elem ent cor responds to the image of Y ang. V ata, which is p rimarily associated
with the Air Element and is in c har ge of all forms of circulatio n, including that of
Prana, is in accord with the Chinese idea of Qi. In classi cal A yurvedic physiology the three Doshas are further subdivided
into five  aspects each. While t he five forms of Kapha manife st as special body
lubricants and the five forms of Pitta appear as transformative substances, the five
forms of  V ata divide the body i nto spheres of influence, and th is idea about V ata
has a striking resemblance to the Chinese concept of the T riple Burner . The T riple Burner has both systemic and local functions and orientations,
and the three Burners correspond to the Forward-Moving (prana), Equalizing
(samana) and Downward-Moving (apana) V atas. The Forward-Moving (prana)
V ata, situated between the throat and diaphragm, takes in and distributes the life
force; this is similar to the function of the Cosmic and Ancestral Qi within the
Upper Burner in Chinese medicine. The Equalizing (samana) V ata which is
localized between the diaphragm  and the navel and is in char g e of digestion and
assimilation is reminiscent of th e Nutritive Qi that is centered  within the Middle
Burner . The Downward-Moving  (apana) V ata, located in the lower trunk below the
navel, has the function of pushing things downward and out of the body . In
Chinese medici ne Downward-M oving V ata corresponds to the location of the
Lower B urner , although the descending function is specific to th e Stomach’ s Or gan
Qi (see illustration 21).As a whole unit the T riple Burner is perceived to arise out of the Original Qi,
also known as the “moving Qi  between the Kidneys” in the Lower Burner . The
Original Qi, under the direction  of the T riple Burner , is distributed throughout the
body . Th e T riple  Burner also di stributes Protective Qi, which is directed upwards
from the Lower Burner to the Lungs and then outward along the Meridians
throughout the body’ s surface. The systemic function of the T riple Burner in
distributing the Original and Protective Qi provides protection and nutrition and
regulates the body’ s temperatu re. This global function of the T riple Burner is
reminiscent of the function of Pervasive (vyana) V ata, for Pervasive V ata is said to
emanate from the heart and to control the body’ s perspiration and temperature
through its function of distribut ing blood and nutrients throughout the system. A
fifth, Upward-M oving (udana) V ata, extends from the throat to the top of the head
and app ears to be the only com ponent totally absent in the Chinese model. The
following table summarizes the most important correspondences:In C hinese medicine Blood is the counterpart of Qi, having a re lationship to
it which is anal ogous to the rel ationship of Y in to Y ang; being more Y in, Blood
tends to be injured easily by heat, a Y ang force. In A yurveda, disorders of blood
are usually classified as Pitta disorders, since blood is mos t often injured by
excessive heat. The concept of Blood is generally speaking a secondary feature of
both sy stems, though as mentioned earlier , Sushruta and the Buddhists did
advocate a system that included Blood as the fourth Dosha. The Chinese developed a com plex model to explain the functions of the
various or gans based on the ener getic patterning of the individual or gans in
relationship with the body . These patterning images of the or gans combine a broad
range of ideas within the rubrics of traditional Chinese medical thought, including
the Y in-Y ang and the Five Element doctrines. According to the theory of the
Meridians, the domain of an or g an is not confined to its particular area in the body ,
but eman ates its influence throughout the or ganism via its paired  Meridian. Overall
the C hinese placed great emphasis on the or gans in terms of the ir ener getics and in
their role in pa thology . Indian medicine’ s perspective of the  or gans, however ,
tended to be more practical in consequence perhaps of the ir more extensive
anatomical know ledge. That is perhaps the reason why the or gans perceived and
described by classical A yurved a resemble more closely with the descriptions of
modern biomedical science. This is one reason A yurveda seems easier to integrate
with modern biomedicine than Chinese medicine (see illustration 22).Despite dif feren ces in their treatment of the or gans, similarities also abound. For exam ple, the A yurvedic doctrine of the preeminent role of the lungs and lar geintestine in the a bsorption of Prana helps to explain the pairing of these two or gans
in the Chinese system. Chines e medicine’ s explanation of why the Lungs and
Lar ge I ntestine are connected is based on structural manifestation. The cool
“white” Or gans Lungs and Lar g e Intestine are outside of and so surround, buf fer
and rest rain the inside, hot, “re d” Or gans Heart and Small Intestine respectively . The lungs and heart manifest together a rhythmic motion, as do the intestines in the
form of their peristaltic rhythm. This outside-inside structural relationship
compliments an d contrasts their ener getic relationship within the Five Elements,
which states that the Fire (Heart and Small Intestine) controls Metal (Lung and
Lar ge Intestine). These two Or gan pairs are the only coupled Elemental Or gans
that are physically separated, by the diaphragm; all the other pairs are coupled
because of their proximity and their similar physiological processes. A yurveda proposes an ener getic connection between Lung and Lar ge
Intestine that is not clearly made in Chinese medicine. In A yurveda the lungs
perform “immediate” absorption of Prana into the body from ingested air , while
the lar ge intestine performs “ delayed” absorption by extra cting Prana from
ingested food. Although Chine se medicine also accepts the Lungs to take in
Cosmic Qi, it does not mention any significant absorption of Qi by the Lar ge
Intestine. Chinese medicin e and A yurveda both af firm that the emotions h ave specific
sites of resonance within the body , sites which correspond to various or gans. In
general, both systems assign the same imbalanced ef fects from the same emotions;
anger , for example, is said by both to relate to the liver and  gallbladder . This
practical understanding of fers a  unique and clinically valuable tool to trace the
psycho-physiologic manifestati ons of illness. From the Chinese perspective,
specific imbalan ced emotions generate directional changes in th e flow of Qi, thus
deranging it. Imbalanced emot ions also negatively influence the or gans and/or
related structures according to their Five-Element resonance. In A yurveda
imbalanced emo tions will disturb the corresponding Dosha, but the manifestation
of the imbalance may appear in any part of the body , depending on a variety of
other factors.3
C o n s c i o u s n e s s
T he w ord “consciousness" is often taken in English to include all
conscious, subconscious and un conscious faculties of awarene ss. Neither
Sanskrit nor Chinese of fers an equivalent all-embracing synon ym for the
English word. Nor is it easy t o compare the many distinctive terms in
ancient India and China to elucidate their unique ideas on the subject of
consciousness, for their concepts tend to diver ge. Though A yurve da makes selective use of many Indian schoo ls of
thought on the subject, including the Nyaya-V aisheshika and the Mimamsa,
it is mainly indebted to the  Sankhya philosophy for its ideas on
consciousness. Indian culture, science and religion seem alw ays to have
been pr eoccupied with understanding and explaining consciousness, a
preoccupation which produced t he rich body of knowledge that includes the
science of A yurveda. The Chinese approach to this question, on the other hand, is rather
physical, more archaic and dow n to earth. Chinese philosophy and religion
view the physical body and Spirit as a continuum of each other , expressing
the dynamic dualism that perm eates nature according to the Y in-Y ang
theory . C hinese medicine neve r significantly added to or dev eloped new
theories of consciousness beyond these ancient cultural ideas in  spite of the
later influence of Indian Buddhism. In th e Chinese c lassics the Spirit (shen) is considered to encom pass
and regulate all aspects of con sciousness; mind, cognition, intellect, ego
functioning and so on. Spirit, being an integrative force, is centered in the
Heart, though it utilizes the physical brain for functiona l purposes. Furthermore, ac cording to the Chinese doctrine of the Five El ements, the
four oth er Y in Or gans assist the  Spirit housed in the Heart in st oring subtle
aspects of consciousness. The most important of these psycho-physical
forces are the Spiritual Soul (hu n) housed in the Liver and the Animal Soul
(po) housed in the Lungs (there were actually said to be three Spiritual soulsand seven Animal souls). T hese two soul groups form a polarity ,
functioning to primarily generate a person’ s unique temperament; and
secondarily to govern the fate of the individual after death. The Kidneys are
said to house the  W ill, while the  Spleen for its part is believed to house the
Intellect. By c ontrast the Indian classics distinguish between a causal body , a
subtle b ody (con sisting of mind, intellect and senses) and a physical body ,
all c onnected together by an or ganizing principle (ego or ahamkara). The
soul (pu rusa) wh ich is of a pure transcendental nature, being sel f- luminous
and eternally conscious, is set apart from all three of these bodies. Embodied consc iousness operates in accord with the cosmic tendencies of
the Three Attributes (gunas; i.e. sattva, rajas and tamas), the intellect
providing the physical basis for cognitive and discriminatory abilities while
the ego provide s self-awareness and individuation to the personality . The
mind motivates,  supervises and receives the impressions of the s ense or gans
that are constituted from the Five Elements that form the gross body . The
mind thi nks, measures, and makes decisions. A yurveda describes the seat of
this mind-intellect-ego complex as the ‘heart’; under certain conditions
this‘heart’ is actually the brain, while in others it is the physical  heart in the
chest. At any particular moment, whatever or gan co nsciousness
concentrates in is considered the‘heart’ at that time.4
D i s e a s e  C a u s a t i o n
B oth  Indian and Chi nese cultures recognized the fact that living in KS  harmony
with nat ure and human society is a prerequisite for perfect health. Disorientation or
interruption of this or ganic relationship with the physical, social or spiritual
environment is seen in both A yurveda and Chinese medicine as  the primary cause
of ill health. Both traditions agre e that every human being has an inherently unique
physical and psychological profile that arises from predisposed hereditary and
karmic factors and develops ac cording to the conditioning received from one’ s
social milieu. Each individual by virtue of his or her cons titution will react
dif ferently to environmental conditions and psychological stresses, and the
complexion of this reaction wil l determine whether or not one is able to live in
harmony with nature. In A yurveda people are dif ferentiated according to the Three
Doshas while in Chinese medicine the theories of Y in-Y ang and the Five Elements
provide the basis for understan ding a person’ s constitution and susceptibility to
illness. Indian and Chinese medicine both concur that disease can arise either within
the body or from the exte rior environment, depending on constitutional
precipitating factors. Chinese medicine considers interior disorders to arise,
primarily , from disturbance wit hin the seven emotions and, sec ondarily , from the
or gans. A yurveda views the “allurement” of the mind by sense objects and its
“willfulness” in  gratifying these desires as the fundamental cause of all disease,
since improper gratification will disturb the digestive fire. In gene ral, con temporary Chi nese medicine tends to put its greatest
emphasis on the external climatic and endogenous or gan causes for disease, while
A yurveda places its greatest emphasis on the role of digestion in the generation of
disease. Almost all diseases in A yurveda are said to be traceable  to weakness of the
digestive fire. In Chinese physiology , the internal fire that  warms the body ,
regulates temperature and kindles digestion is referred to as Y ang Qi. Unlike
A yurveda, intern al fire in Chine se medicine does not assume this central role in
disease causation. External causative factors are spoken about as forces in nature that injure the
body , an d both systems use remarkably similar ideas and term s to describe this
form of etiology . For example t he climatic factors of cold and damp are known toaggravate the Kapha Dosha in A yurveda, while in  Chinese medicine these external
forces are said t o increase the Y in within the body . The chart below lists some of
the correspondences that exist between external etiologic factors:
W ind an d dryness according to Chinese medicine are classically associated
with the  Y ang. In the chart above these two climatic factors are associated with the
Qi b ecause wind and dryness af fect the Liver and Lungs respectively . These or gans
are paramount in the circula tion of Qi throughout the b ody , and clinical
observation sho ws that these cl imatic factors do in fact disturb  the circulation of
Qi. Indian and Chinese medicine al so agree that the transitions or  junctions of
the seaso ns are crucial times dur ing which illness may arise if the body’ s resistance
to d isease and adaptability to  the environment is low . For example, Kapha
predominates during childhood and Pitta during adulthood. Puberty and
adolescence form  the transition between these two “seasons” of  life, and teenagers
accordingly are prone to develo ping physical and mental imbalances. Menopause
and its male eq uivalent, form the junction between the Pitta-predominant adult
years and the V ata-dominated later years. Both systems also emphasize the need to understand the ef fects of daily
cycles o n the human body . The Chinese perceive night and day as expressions of
Y in and Y ang, and label diurnal and nocturnal flows of ener gy through the
Meridians and or gans. In the A yurveda paradigm, Pitta predominates during
midday and midnight, Kapha in  early morning and early evening, and V ata at the
two junc tions (dawn and dusk), but there is also a relative overa ll predominance of
Pitta during the day and Kapha during the night. Likewise while the Indian year is
sub-divided into  six seasons acc ording to the ef fects of annual time on the Doshas,
it is also divided into two halves according to whether the sun  is “withdrawing”
ener gy from the earth (as it does when we are closest to it, during the summer) or
“releasing” ener gy to the earth (during the winter). Similarly th e Chinese ascribed
each sea son to an Element which reflected its innate nature whose forces could
enhance or disrupt the body’ s equilibrium depending on the circumstance.All diseases create either a defi ciency or an excess condition. In A yurveda
both conditions eventually weaken the physical or mental dige stive fire, and give
rise to the produ ction of Digestive T oxins, a pathological auto toxin composed of
partially digested material that clogs the system  and engenders unique symptoms. Digestive T oxins in their turn ag gravate V ata’ s circulatory funct ions, and V ata then
further aggravates Pitta and Kapha. Eventually the imbalanced Doshas spread
throughout the body , dispersing disease farther afield. Chinese medica l thought has a similar concept of pathological autotoxins in
the form  of Phlegm and, to a lesser extent, Stagnant Blood. According to this
theory P hlegm originates from a disturbance of water metabolism in the body ,
mostly b ut not exclusively from  the digestive system. Stagnant Blood is the result
of traum a or injury wherein blood pools and coagulates in a particular location. Both of  these result in the disruption of normal circulation , complication of
disease, and the manifestation of unusual symptoms. They ar e considered extra
factors, neither purely internal nor external. In a broader sense Chinese medicine believes that most diseases originate as
an e xcess condition which will eventually transform itself into a  deficiency state in
chronic illness. The more Or gan s and Elements the disease patt ern is dispersed in,
the grea ter its severity . In A yurv eda the Doshas are believed to generate states of
either ex cess or deficiency , though most common patterns are co nditions of excess. And the greater number of Doshas, T issues, W astes and Pathway s that get involved
in an illness, ob viously the greater its severity . Additionally , A yurveda maintains
that any disorder that matches the constitutional pattern of the patient is more
dif ficult to cure than a disorder which is dif ferent in nature from the constitutional
type. Whereas A yurveda describes a certain sequence of pathways for a particular
disease t o penetr ate within, Chinese medicine ascribes the main role for the spread
of d isease to the  Meridian network. For example, an external climatic factor , such
as wind, will enter the body through the skin and respiratory tract first, and then
move progressively inward to the or gans via the Meridians. And in case of internal
disorders the Meridians convey the signs and symptoms of the disease to the
periphery . A yurveda generally tends to be comparatively linear in its conceptualization
of diseas e progression, while the Chinese propound a somewhat circular sequential
order in  this context.
_OceanofPDF.com_Tao_and_Dharma_-_Svoboda.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Desire is however
dif ficult to extirpate from the mind. A yurveda has therefore established
methods by which desire can b e disciplined; through beneficial routines to
maintain proper functioning of the or ganism during health and by therapeutic
procedures coup led with diet and lifestyle changes during sickness in order to
return the wandering Doshas to their proper bodily paths and the individual to
his or her proper life path. Any substance and any activity in the world can be and has bee n used
therapeutically in A yurveda. Generally, however, medical intervention used at
the phys ical level is of four types: diet, activity, purification, and palliation. Accumulation of the Doshas should be treated with changes in diet and
activity; when they become aggravated, palliating or pacifyin g them with
substances of opposite qualiti es is best. Once the Doshas escape their
reservoir or gans it is best to remove them from the system; if this is
impossible they  must be neutralized with medicine. Localized treatment is
always beneficial to that weak p art of the body in which the Doshas localize. Since dietary indiscretion is the most common cause in the majority of
diseases, changes in diet are often the single most importa nt aspect of
therapy. Whenever feasible A yurveda always favors gradual over instantaneous
cures to prevent unnecessary sh ocks to the system. Gradual e limination ofaddictions is less disrupting to your internal balance than is the immediate,
“cold turkey” procedure. Since a n or ganism always needs time t o acclimatize
itself to its new state, medica l treatment too, should never be stopped
abruptly. As each  individual is unique, ea ch patient requires a dif ferent treatment
program. In as much as all phy sical diseases are caused, either directly or
indirectly by Dosha imbalance,  all treatment is based fundame ntally on the
treatment of the Doshas. When Digestive T oxins are present in the digestive
tract, treatment usually begins with a near -total fast of one to two days to
digest a nd remove the accumulated toxins and to prepare the body for
purification. The Dos has are actively excreted from the body by Five Purifications
(panchakarma): emesis (therapeutic vomiting), pur gation, enema, nasal
medication, and  bloodletting. Before any form of purification is performed,
the Dosha to be eliminated must be made to leave the tissues to which it has
strayed, and return to its reservoir or gans in the digestive tract. This “change
of Dosha direction” is usually done by applying medicated oils to the body
and thus  inducin g it to sweat. Once a Dosha has returned back to its reservoir
or gan, su bstances are administered to encourage it to increase i ts force there. For exa mple, before emesis, which is often used to relieve Kapha, some
doctors increase  Kapha by giving the patient a mixture of yogurt, molasses
and salt. Only th en is vomiting induced. Similar procedures are  followed for
the other Doshas. Emesis (therapeutic vomiting) is the main purification method for
Kapha, though pur gation may also be used. Emesis is a strong purification
technique as it removes mucus and other undesirable substances from the
stomach, chest and other locations where Kapha concentrates, and
encourages an upward flow of ener gy in contrast to Kapha’ s n ormal heavy,
downward move ment. In contrast purification for V ata should be mild so as
to re strain its no rmally intense nature. The purification of choi ce for V ata is
enema because it helps V ata’ s downward movement (being Airy it tends to
flow up ward), a nd does not rem ove much material from the b ody (as V ata
people t end to lack physical substance). Besides it does not  weaken the
digestive fire as emesis and pu r gation do. Pur gation and blood letting are
preferred purification techniques for the removal of excess Pi tta because it
concentrates in the digestive tr act and in the blood with its i nherent heat. Emesis i s also employed sometimes for Pitta if it is trying to escape the body
by moving upward (causing such symptoms as nausea and heartburn). Purification is only administered, however, if the patient is relatively
strong and the disease is relatively weak. In other cases, and during
childhood, old age, pregnancy, a nd other such circumstances palliation of the
Doshas alone is performed. Palliation is a seven-step procedure which
includes medicine to digest toxins, medicine to increase the digestive fire,
appropriate diet  and drinks, exe rcise, sunbathing, and exposure  to fresh-air,
each prescribed according to the patient’ s requirements. A yurvedic medicines
are prepared from a wide va riety of substances derived from animal,
vegetable and mineral sources a nd produced in the forms of medicated pills,
powders, jams, wines, milks, ghees (clarified butter) and oils. Each Do sha requires a unique th erapeutic strategy for the restoration of
internal balance. Specifically, V ata’ s main remedies are heat and oil,
externally and internally, becau se they counteract its dry and cold qualities. Salty taste works best in small amounts both in medicine and food, since it
improves appetite and digestion, and is antispasmodic and slightly laxative. Only thereafter sour and sweet tastes are considered and employed. Medicinal wines are beneficial, as are medicines which have been potentiated
one hun dred or one thousand times. Massage of all kinds is very  desirable. In
certain cases shock treatments, “de-memorizing therapy” (so mething like
“de-programming”), and binding are used. The patient’ s anxieties should be
eliminated, and he or she should be furnished plenty of entertainment and
total relaxation to promote a free flow of Prana in the channels of body and
mind. Pitta, na turally needs to be co oled. Bitter taste performs this best,
followed by sweet and astringent. Sweet-smelling scents (perfumes, incense,
flowers) help to overcome Pit ta’ s strong odor. Especially ef ficacious are
sandalwood, lot us and rose, all  of which provide a cooling ef fect as well. Cool showers, moon-bathing, pearl necklaces, white clothes, and sojourn in
green ga rdens am id fountains are other means to calm the system. When Pitta
is permi tted to increase, it infla mes the body’ s tissues thus interrupting the
flow of Prana in the channels. This can be ameliorated by reducing Pitta’ s
native intensity with soothing m usic and by meditation to quie ten the mind. Regular consumption of raw food and a job or hobby of an absorbing nature
are other routines that should be followed for a timely recovery. Kapha requires intensity and act ivity to break up its natural inertia and
lethar gy. The pungent taste, com posed as it is of the Fire and Air Elements, is
the best Kapha-controlling taste, followed by bitter and astri ngent. When
toxins are present, bitter should first be utilized to clear the channels before
pungent things are employed to reawaken the digestive fire. The astringent
taste is utilized if excess “mois ture” removal is required. All medicines and
foods sh ould be hot, intense and  dry. Aged wines and liqueurs in small doses,
nights without sleep, frequent sexual intercourse, vigorous exercise like
wrestling, running and jumping to cause copious sweating, fasting, smoking,
rough dry warm clothes, and extremely hot baths all decrease Kapha. Saddling Kapha patients with responsibilities and preventing them from
indulging in their normal stupor helps to overcome their internal stagnation. The typical A yurvedic treatmen t consists of a remedy, a vehicle, and a
diet regimen. While remedies are most commonly administered either
through mouth or through anus (i. e. by enema), those that tar get structures in
the throat and head are frequently administered through the nostrils. Pastes
and oils are usu ally applied locally, though in certain conditions whole-body
application is used to exert a systemic ef fect. The vehicle helps the remedy
by proper digestion and absorption, and catalyzes its ef fect so as to reduce the
dose and thus prevent possible s ide-ef fects. While hot water can be used as a
vehicle for almost all preparations, other common vehicles include honey,
ghee, oil, jams, and wines. Most substance s used as medicines can be employed singly or in
combination, the choice depending primarily on the physician’ s preference. Single d rugs possess the virtue of simplicity, while compounds are usually
formulated from several substances which share specific therapeutic qualities
and so syner gize with each oth er. Since most medicaments can af fect the
body in more th an one way, spe cific vehicles are prescribed to help tar get the
medicine. The way  in which substances are prepared for administration d epends
on the purpose for which they are to be used. For example, aloe vera is used
in po wdered form to purify the uterus or the digestive tract, in c rude form as
the juic e to soothe burns or ulcers, and as a medicinal w ine for liver
disorders. Some times the preparation of the substance is limited  by its nature,
i.
According to the text, A yurveda establishes methods to treat imbalances by applying medicated oils to the body to induce sweating, followed by administering substances to increase the Dosha's force in its reservoir or organ.
What are the primary methods used to treat imbalances in the Doshas?
The text does not explicitly discuss the concept of "soma" in the context of A yurveda, but it is mentioned that the Chinese had a great interest in this concept, which they failed to obtain despite efforts.
What is the significance of the concept of "soma" in A yurveda and Chinese medicine?
A yurveda aims to restore balance by using a seven-step procedure called palliation, which includes medicine, diet, and lifestyle changes. This approach is different from other methods, as it is focused on gradual, gentle, and holistic treatment.
What is the approach to treating diseases in A yurveda, and how does it differ from other approaches?
The text states that A yurveda views the Five Elements as a hierarchical model, whereas Chinese medicine sees them as interconnected and dynamic, emphasizing the relationships between the elements.
How do A yurveda and Chinese medicine view the concept of the Five Elements?
The text highlights the differences in the two systems' views on the concept of the Three Doshas, the role of the organs, and the understanding of consciousness.
What are some of the key differences between A yurveda and Chinese medicine in their understanding of the human body and disease?