(Clearwisdom.net) There were many miracle-working doctors in ancient China. The reason a doctor was called a "miracle-worker" came from his supernormal capabilities and wisdom. The miracle manifested itself in their extremely accurate diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It was just incredible!
According to the book Historical Annals, Cang Gong during the reign of Emperor Wen in the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E. - A.D. 220) was considered to be a miracle-working doctor. There was a man who was suffering from a headache. Cang Gong felt his pulse and decided that it was a very serious disease, beyond help. So he told the patient's brother, "Your brother's disease will soon affect his intestines and stomach; his body will swell up five days later and he will vomit pus and die after eight days." It happened exactly as he said. Zhang Zhongjing of the Han Dynasty was also a brilliant, miracle-working doctor. Once he was diagnosing Wang Zhongxuan who was only seventeen years old. After the observation diagnosis, he said to him, "You have an internal disease and should consume the 'five-stone' soup, otherwise your eyebrows will fall out when you are 30 years old." Wang didn't believe him, nor did he take the medicine. Indeed, his eyebrows did fall out at the age of 30. Miracle-working doctor Hua Tuo was even more of a household word across the land. One patient had a pain in his abdomen. After diagnosing him, Hua Tuo said, "Your disease is deeply rooted and you should have an operation. In any event, you only have ten years to live, whether you have it treated or not. Upon the patient's request, Hua Tuo performed the operation, but he still died 10 years later.
Doctors also showed their amazing abilities in their treatment of diseases, cured many strange diseases and difficult symptoms, and saved lives. Once there was a poor scholar named Zhang Quan who lived during the period of the "Three Kingdoms." He unexpectedly received a bequest of a seven-room house, and was overjoyed by it all. However, his extreme joy led to sorrow and he developed symptoms, which compelled him to laugh uncontrollably and which could not be cured for a long time. Later accompanied by his father, he went to see Hua Tuo. After feeling his pulse, Hua Tuo shook his head and said, "Your disease is not curable. It is beyond my capability." The father and son were shocked at what they were told and knelt down to beg for help. Hua Tuo said, "I have a disciple called Wu Pu who lives in Xuzhou. Let me write a letter to him and maybe he can help. Remember, do not open the letter on the way and you must arrive within 10 days, otherwise your life will be in danger." It took eight days for the father and son to get there. Upon reading the letter Wu Pu burst out laughing. It turned out that the letter read, "The visitor can not help laughing uncontrollably due to extreme over-joy. It could not be helped with medicine, so I purposely told him that he was sick to death to make him worry and be anxious. The day they arrive will be the day he is cured." Only then did the father and son realize that the son's symptoms were gone. From the viewpoint of modern medical science, this was actually a type of psychotherapy treatment.
There was another case told in Hua Tuo Bie Zhuan [The Stories About Hua Tuo] that someone had symptoms of dizziness and could not be cured for a long time. Hua Tuo asked him take off all his clothes, hung him upside down and used wet cloth to wipe his whole body. His pulse then showed five colors. Hua Tuo cut his pulse with a knife and drained the five-colored blood, then applied a plaster to the cut. The dizziness of the patient disappeared immediately. The strange way of treatment was truly a work of art at its best.
How can miracle-working doctors be so amazing? It was mainly because of their sophisticated medical skills resulting from a long time of practice. We cannot exclude the fact that these doctors have some kind of special gift, even certain supernormal capabilities. Take the "observation diagnosis" in Chinese medicine for example. Ordinary doctors use it only for observing the color changes of the skin, the size of the pupils, the thickness of the coating on the tongue, while for miracle-working doctors it is a kind of latent form of communication through which the subject and the object achieve a divine interaction. Bian Que of the "Spring and Autumn Period" had such abilities. It was recorded in Historical Annals that Bian Que used to be in charge of an inn when he was young. A guest named Chang Sangjun became very close friends with him. Once, Chang Sangjun wanted to teach Bian Que a secret prescription. He took out a kind of medicine wrapped in a piece of cloth and said, "You need to take this medicine with rainwater before the rainwater drops to the ground. Thirty days later you can see what ordinary people cannot see." He then gave Bian Que the book with secret prescriptions. Bian Que took the medicine according to what Chang Sangjun told him. Thirty days later he could see people through walls. With such eyesight, he could clearly see all the symptoms in his patients. It must also be told that Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo practiced Qigong routinely, which might have induced supernormal capabilities. Through all this, in addition to their diligent study and using their mind, which led to their high morals and sophisticated skills, they eventually became miracle-working doctors of their time.
Category: Perspective
