Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.31.1

v1.c6.31.1

and air." Volume XXI of Wang Tao's *Wai tai mi yao fang* (*Medical Secrets from the Royal Library*) which was written during the Tang Dynasty, copies the contents of *Tianzhu jing lun yan* (*Indian Sutras and Shastras on Ophthalmology*). This was interpreted by Hu monks in the Western Regions to the Daoist priest Xie. Many theoretical sections of Indian Buddhist medicine could be witnessed in traditional Chinese literature unearthed from Dunhuang. P2115V of Dunhuang ms., *Zhang Zhongjing wu zang lun* (*Treatise on the Five Viscera of Zhang Zhongjing*) (Book A) quoted the exposition of sutras that "health is based on four elements and five *skandhas*, and abnormality of one element will lead to 100 diseases." P3655, *Ming dang wu zang lun* (*Treatise on the Five Viscera of Mingtang*) had the sentence that "the human body is composed of four elements and lives on five cereals." P2675, *Xin ji bei ji jiu jing* (*New Collective Moxibustion Techniques for Emergency*) adopted the theory that "health is based on four elements, and abnormality of one vein will lead to 100 diseases." The common phrase "abnormality of one element" in Indian Buddhist medical theory was changed into the typical traditional Chinese phrase "abnormality of one vein." Moreover, Daoist classics and divination literature also adopted the concept of "abnormalities of four elements" and "404 diseases" of the Indian sutras.