Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c4.s2.102

v1.c4.s2.102

The *Compendium of Materia Medica* compiled by Li Shizhen (1518～1593) in the Ming Dynasty contains valuable information about medical exchanges between India and China. The book introduced and verified many medicines from India and by using many quotations from Buddhist texts, provided their Sanskrit names. Its citation is so extensive that it cannot be compared to any similar book from the past. It also included some Indian prescriptions, explained the preparation of medicines and evaluated their efficacy, indicating that these prescriptions then were in actual use. Some prescriptions required Indian medicinal materials and this could be taken as evidence that a number of Indian recipes had been assimilated into traditional Chinese medicine.