Figure 2: Physiology and pathology of the human body

(1) This illustration is based on the contents of Chapter 3 “Physiology and Pathology of the Human Body” in the Four Medical Classics: General Principles.

(2) Based on the narration of Dai Yi’s classic medical texts, the upper corner of the picture shows: Tujurebai Yixi (1) lecturing on the contents of the Four Medical Classics: General Principles and Shochu Yilaigai listening respectfully.

(3) This diagram uses the roots, trunk, branches and leaves of a tree to systematically introduce the physiological functions and pathological changes of the human body.

(4) According to the record in the History of Medicine by the author Sangye Gyatso: “In the third chapter of the General Principles of the Four Medical Classics, the root of the human body’s physiology and pathology has two main trunks: human physiology and human disease, i.e., the causes of disease. The human body’s physiology trunk has fifteen kinds of pathology, and three branches: the seven substances and three kinds of excrement that maintain the body’s vital energy, with a total of twenty-five leaves. The human disease, i.e., the cause of disease, has nine branches: the root of the disease, the cause of disease, the path of disease, the site of disease, the specific location of the disease, the relationship between the law of disease and age, region, and season, the result of disease and the cause of death, the transformation of disease, and the classification of disease, with a total of sixty-three leaves. The whole map has a total of eighty-eight leaves. There are also flowers of health that bear the fruits of pious faith and wealth, flowers of longevity that bear the fruits of infinite happiness, and people can transform into rainbows and ascend to heaven.