Master Rigzin Chenpo | Brief Explanation of the Four Medical Classics

According to Bon religion historical records and relevant expert research and demonstration, the Four Medical Classics is the earliest existing Tibetan medical monograph. The book was written by Gyalwa Trishi, the son of Tsongkhapa, the founder of Bon religion, and was completed in 1999 BC. Yutuo Yundian Gongbo, a famous medical scientist in Tibet who was known as the incarnation of Medicine Buddha in the 8th century, and others studied, enriched, supplemented and revised the Four Medical Classics, thus forming the famous Tibetan medical work The Four Medical Classics.

The Four Medical Classics is an authoritative reference book on Tibetan medicine that integrates the essence of Tibetan medicine practice and theory. It is known as the encyclopedia of Tibetan medicine and is the most systematic, complete and fundamental theoretical system in Tibetan medicine.

In addition to the view that the Four Medical Classics were created by Yutuo Yundian Gongbo, there are several other theories:

1. Buddhists believe that the Four Medical Treatises are Buddhist scriptures, which were spoken by Sakyamuni Buddha. Regardless of whether they are Buddhist Bodhisattvas or immortals of other religions, they all pray to the Four Medical Treatises spoken by Medicine Buddha.

Second, it is a classic work, which integrates various medical sciences such as Mongolian, Indian, Turkish, and Han Chinese, and presents various annotations in the form of annotations, which finally become a theory. It is not what the Buddha said.

It was taken out from the hidden treasure by Master Zhawanxi.

The Four Medical Classics (also known as the Four Sequels to Medical Prescriptions) is divided into four parts. The first part is the “General Principles” (Tibetan name “Zha Ju”), which discusses the human body’s physiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment in a programmatic manner; the second part is the “Discussion” (Tibetan name “Xie Ju”), which elaborates on the human body’s physiological anatomy, pathology, causes of disease, pathways of disease, health care knowledge, drug properties, diagnostic methods and treatment principles; the third part is the “Secret Formulas” (Tibetan name “Men’a Ju”), which discusses the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases; the fourth part is the “Postscript” (Tibetan name “Qima Ju”), which discusses pulse diagnosis, urine diagnosis, the compatibility of prescription drugs, drug preparation, functions and routes of administration, as well as external treatment methods (bloodletting, moxa treatment, potions, external application, cupping), etc.

The basic theories of “Four Medical Classics” are the same as those of traditional Chinese medicine. The similarities such as the places for taking the pulse and the eight extraordinary meridians are almost exactly the same as those of traditional Chinese medicine. The difference lies in the ingredients of the medicine. Tibetan medicine uses mostly minerals and flowers, with very few animals; Chinese medicine mainly uses roots and fruits, with a lot of animals.

There are parts of Buddhist scriptures that specifically mention medical theories, and the more representative ones include the Vinaya Pitaka, the Golden Light Sutra, the Kalachakra Tantra, the Sound Vehicle Tantra, the Secret Tantra of the Amrita Sutra, etc. They all cover diagnosis, treatment, and medicine, and the medical theories are relatively complete. As for health preservation, all tantras are methods of health preservation. Every scripture has ways of health preservation, but there are no methods of treatment and diagnosis.

The methods of observation, palpation, questioning and palpation in Tibetan medicine are mostly the same as those in traditional Chinese medicine. According to statistics from relevant data, there are currently more than 3,000 kinds of Tibetan medicine in my country, and four to five hundred Tibetan medicine prescriptions, but only about sixty kinds of prescriptions are commonly used in daily life. If conditions are not met, they can be summarized into about twenty kinds.

Tibetan medicine also includes Ayurveda. There are two or three commonly used medicines in Ayurveda. In the eighth century AD, Master Vairocana had translated it into Tibetan. These are the more popular medicines in Tibet today: the herb Kezi, the three holy fruits, and the five essences. These are often used in health preservation.