The Confucian Physician:the Merging of Confucianism and TCM
2 min readOne of the most significant and enduring products of the merging of Confucianism and traditional Chinese medicine was the phenomenon of the”Confucian physician.”Confucian physicians were highly versed in both philosophy and medicine.
Some were originally Confucian scholars or officials who went on to become physicians，while others were practicing physicians whose training included a thorough grounding in the Confucian classics.The phenomenon of the Confucian physician arose in part because of the correspondence between medicine’s social responsibility to heal the people andConfucianism’s social responsibility to regulate the state.Many progressive Confucians regarded prac-ticing medicine as second only to serving in government.
This high regard for medicine provided the historical and social context necessary for the emergence of a large echelon of Confucian physicians.Many famous physicians throughout Chinese history were also Confucian scholars or officials.For instance，Eastern Han Dynasty physician Zhang Zhongjing，known as the Sage of Medicine，was ap-pointed viceroy of Changsha after successfully undergoing the grueling imperial examination process.
Hua Tuo，another eminent physician of the Eastern Han Dynasty，never held a government post，but he was thoroughly conversant with the classical Confucian texts.These two figures are representative of the Confucian physician.The prominent Song Dynasty Confucian official Fan Zhongyan（989-1052AD）once vowed that if he could not be an outstanding prime minister，he would become a superior physician.
This is the source of the maxim，”If you cannot excel as an official，then excel as a doctor.”Some Confucian physicians hung plaques in their clinics equating their contribution to society with that of a prime minister，further indicating the close link between government and medicine.
