Traditional Chinese Medicine and Taoism
1 min readDaoism originated during the same period of Chinese history as Confucianism. However, the two philosophies differ significantly. Daoist ideas about life and health influenced traditional Chinese medicine even more than those of Confucianism.
Huangdi Neijing(The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic of Medicine), the fundamental work of traditional Chinese medicine, drew from the many philosophical schools of the pre-Qin period(prior to 207 BC) to create a comprehensive and rigorous theory of medicine. Among the philosophies represented in the Neijing are Confucianism, Daoism, Moism, and Legalism, as well as the School of Names(Warring States Period logicians who debated questions of name and reality), the School of Strategy (ancient military strategists interested in military tactics and strategy), and the Yin-Yang school(pre-Qin cosmologists who believed Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory explain all phenomena).
But the philosophy that exerted the greatest influence on the Neijing and subsequent medical works was Daoism, as articulated by Laozi during the late Spring and Autumn Period(770-476BC) and Zhuangzi during the Warring States Period(475-221 BC).
