Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s2.t3: Personalities

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s2.t3

Language: English

Personalities

Ge Hong (282-364 or 343? CE) was a Taoist and medical scientist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), styled as Zhi Chuan, also known by his literary name Bao Puzi. He was born in Jurong, Danyang (present-day Jurong County, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu province) and was widely referred to as “Taoist Immortal Ge”.

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Ge Hong was an expert in alchemy and medical science. He was also a master in Taoism and Confucianism and wrote a number of books in his life, including *The Master of Preserving Simplicity*, *The Tales of Immortals*, *Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies* and *Yuhan Prescriptions*. It is said that the famous Chinese literary sketches, *A Miscellany of the Western Capital*, is also one of his works. There are a total of 13 books by him collected in the *Orthodox Collected Taoist Scriptures* and *Supplement of Taoist Scriptures in the Period of Wanli*. In his later years, he lived in seclusion in the Luofu Mountain, Guangdong province, to study alchemy, and his study made a far-reaching influence on medical

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Ge Hong

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science to later generations. According to *Study on Five Internal Organs* by Zhang Zhongjing, Dunhuang manuscript collected by the French National Library, the alchemy of Huainan Gehong was very effective and mysterious and had remained a secret recipe for later generations and the prescriptions of *Ji Yan* were widely used by people. It shows that Geng Hong’s alchemy or way of becoming immortal is highly valued by later generations. After his death, his *Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies* was further supplemented by Tao Hongjing, a famous medical scientist in the Liang Dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasty, and the new book, totalling 101 chapters, was renamed as the *Supplement of Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies for One Hundred and One Diseases* by Huayang Hermit. The “One Hundred and One Diseases” in the title is based on a theory in Buddhist texts that, a man’s body is made up of four major elements namely “earth”, “water”, “fire” and “wind”, and the discordance and imbalance of one of them will cause one hundred and one kinds of diseases. It demonstrates that traditional Chinese medicine scientists in the Northern and Southern Dynasty had acquired preliminary understanding of the Indian medical theory of Buddhism and took it down in their own writings.

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(Chen Ming)

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Tao Hongjing

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Tao Hongjing (456-536 CE) was a very famous Taoism thinker, medical scientist, spagirist and litterateur in the Southern Dynasties (including four dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang and Chen). He was born in Moling, Danyang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province) and styled Tong Ming, also well-known by his literary name Huayang Hermit. His posthumous title was 'Zhen Bai'. Many of his books widely cited the terms of Indian Buddhist medicine.

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Tao Hongjing lived in three dynasties of Song, Qi and Liang and was an expert in both Buddhism and Taoism, thus being widely recognised as the “Prime Minister in the Mountain”. Most of his life stories are recorded in *Book of Liang*, Volume 51, *History of Southern Dynasties*, Volume 76, *Recording of Huayang Hermit* and *Biography of Huayang Hermit Tao*, etc. He was very fond of reading *The Tales of Immortals* by Ge Hong in his childhood and then in his adulthood, he became an official but later he unexpectedly chose to live in seclusion in the prime of his life by retreating to Maoshan to explore Taoism for years during which he created the Maoshan Fraction, and eventually grew into a leading authority in the development of Shangqing Taoism. Tao was also very interested in Buddhism and maintained a very close personal relationship with Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, a firm believer in Buddhism. As a very excellent thinker proficient in medical science, Tao Hongjing made the 86-chapter *Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies* by Ge Hong (living in the Eastern Jin Dynasty) into a great medical book totalling 101 chapters which he renamed as *Supplement of Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies for One Hundred and One Diseases*. And in the foreword, he quoted one saying from Buddhist texts that a man’s body is made up of four greatest elements, “earth”, “water”, “fire” and “wind” and the disharmony and imbalance of one of them will cause 101 kinds of diseases. It is based on the theory of 404 kinds of diseases in *Sutra of Medicine*. We can recognise how deeply Tao was influenced by the Buddhist theories of medicine by the book’s name in which he added *One Hundred and One*.

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Tao Hongjing

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Meanwhile, Tao Hongjing, on the basis of reviewing and revising *Chinese Ephedra from Shen Nong’s Chinese Materia Medica*, added some new knowledge on medicine found at his time into his book *Collective Notes to the Canon of Materia medica*, another classic for the development of the Chinese traditional medicine and herbalism. The book is available in the three volume or seven volume version, collecting 730 kinds of drugs which are first categorised in accordance with the property of a medicine and include such seven categories as “Jade and Stone”, “Herb”, “Insect and Beast”, “Fruit”, “Vegetable”, “Food” and “Disused”. Now, there are two editions of *Collective Notes to the Canon of Materia Medica* available in the world, one is collected in the library of Ryukoku University in Japan, a manuscript of Buddhist texts from Dunhuang Caves Temple discovered by Otani Expedition during their third exploration. The front of the original volume (the serial number is Dragon 530) is *Collective Notes to the Canon of Materia medica* and *Mahaprajnaparamita Upadesha* while the back is *Dharmagupta-vinaya Buddhist Monk Pratimoksa*. This is the foreword of Volume I of the book and its contents were basically completely preserved. The other edition is collected in the National Library of Germany, the fragmented pieces of *Collective Notes to the Canon of Materia Medica* unearthed in Turpan, codenamed as ch. 1036v. This is the Volume III of the book, transcribed at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (the start of seventh century). The other books written by Tao Hongjing include *Essentials of Nature Cultivation and Longevity*, *Zhen Gao* and *Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians* and so on. About more studies on Tao Hongjing, please refer to *Collected Essays on Tao Hongjing* (Qilu Publishing House, 2003).

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(*Chen Ming*)

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Sun Simiao

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Sun Simiao (?-682 CE) is the greatest physician of the traditional Chinese medicine. He was born in Jingzhao Huayuan (present-day Yao County, Shaanxi Province) and lived for more than 100 years, whose life story and achievements can be found in *Old Book of Tang*. He is widely known as one of the Three Medical Sages in China along with Zhang Zhongjing and Li Shizhen, one of the “Three Greatest Taoist Medical Scientists” with Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing as well as the King of Medicine with temples built all over the country for people to worship his contributions. His works absorbed a large scale of the essentials of ancient Indian medical and Buddhist knowledge, a vivid embodiment of influence of Indian medical science on traditional Chinese medicine.

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Sun Simiao showed his intelligence when he was a little child and he was able to recite 1,000 words a day. As a quite knowledgeable person, he was very fond of discussing Taoism and dissecting various Schools of Thought and was an absolute expert in medical science and as a gentleman of noble nature and unsullied character, he never sought fame and wealth but lived in seclusion, practised medicine and tried his best to help the poor. He wrote a large number of books in his life among which *Essential Recipes for Emergency Use* (finished in 652 CE with 5,300 prescriptions in total) and *Supplement to* *Invaluable Prescriptions for Ready Reference* (finished in 682 CE, collecting 2,571 prescriptions), each totalling 30 volumes, are the most important classic literature in the history of Chinese traditional medicine. The two books systematically summarised the medical achievements before the Tang Dynasty and the author’s practical experience, and can be rated as the earliest encyclopaedia on clinical medicine.

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Sun Simiao’s works have been dramatically influenced by foreign culture with great absorption of Buddhism and Indian medical knowledge. Among them, *Essential Recipes for Emergency Use-Volume One* adopted the theory of the “404 Diseases” from Buddhist texts, but changes the idea of the “disorder of ‘earth’, ‘water’, ‘fire’ and ‘wind’, the cause of diseases” into the “irregularity of Qi, the cause of diseases”. Sun Simiao also copied the theory of *General Treatise on the Cause and Symptoms of Diseases* (by Chao Yuanfang) in his book. In *Essential Recipes for Emergency Use-Volume 27*, he said, “Various diseases can deteriorate the functions of the five internal organs; each of the organs corresponds to 81 kinds of illnesses; coldness, heat, wind and Qi altogether can lead to 404 kinds of illnesses in total”.

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His saying applies the five-internal-organ theory of traditional Chinese medicine to the theory of 404

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Sun Simiao

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diseases in Indian Buddhism medicine, and changes the “earth, fire, water and wind” into “coldness, heat, wind and Qi”, which demonstrated that Sun Simiao’s medical ideas have both absorbed and revised something of the Indian medical science. In *Essential Recipes for Emergency Use*, there are also Jivaka Pill for Various Diseases and Indian massages etc and the latter can also be found in *Taiqing Daolin Health Conservation Theory* and this is the first time that this essential Yoga practice method in India was translated into the classic of traditional Chinese medicine.

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*Supplement to Invaluable Prescriptions for Ready Reference* is based on the theory that almost every material on earth is the panacea to a specific kind of disease. Volume 21 of the book lists some of

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Picture of Sun Simiao feeling the pulse

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the foreign prescriptions such as Agada Pill and Jivaka’s Recipe for Malignant Diseases. The Rhizoma Atractylodis Pill includes various aromatic drugs like fructus chebulae, *pistacia lentiscus*, radix curcumae, styrax and *aconitum napellus* etc all from India and Persia. Agada Pill makes good use of such five herbs as pterocarpus indicus, barberry, madder root, radix curcumae and pepper similar to the *Mahà-gandha-hasti-agada* in *Caraka-saühità*, another classic of Indian Ayurveda. There are also “Jivaka Decoction”, “Beisang Decoction” (from Persia and Ta Chin, the latter referred to as Eastern Rome in ancient China), “Drug Infusing Method in Wine” in *Jivaka’s Prescription-Study on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases Caused by Wind*, “Jivaka’s Prescription for Various Diseases of Internal Organs and Replenishing Life Extension Recipe” and *Bans for Family Harmony*, and so on, all pertained to foreign medical science. The Acorus Calamus Prescription in *Supplement to Invaluable Prescriptions for Ready Reference* is typically a foreign prescription which was brought to China by the envoy sent by Tripitaka Dharma Master Bamo Midi from the kingdom of Magadha in ancient India and Tujue in the eighth year of Daye Period (612 CE) and then translated by Master Zhuju in Pureland Monastery on July, 23, the sixth year of Wude (623 CE) Sun Simiao learnt a large amount of foreign medical knowledge by the eminent monks of Middle Earth, which were collected in his own works and even appropriately revised in accordance with the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. His works further strengthened and enlarged the influence of Indian medical knowledge and Buddhism thought on traditional Chinese medicine.

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Wang Tao

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Wang Tao (670-775 CE or 690-756 CE), born in Mei County, Shaanxi Province (present-day Mei County, Shaanxi Province), is a renowned medical scientist of the prosperous period of Tang dynasty. He is the author of Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library, a well-known medical book which recorded lots of medical knowledge of India and was widely

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*Wang Tao*

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acclaimed as the most essential collection of historical materials on the history of the India-China Medical Communication.

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Wang Tao’s life story and experience is attached after Biography of Wang Gui in the New Book of Tang. Wang Gui (571-639) is the great-grandfather of Wang Tao, once assumed several important posts such as Privy Counsellor and Director of the Board of Rites after engaging in politics. The epitaphs of Wao Tao’s grandson, Wang Shizheng and great-grandson, Wang Tan have both been unearthed, which offer a short introduction to his official positions. Wang Tao was in poor health when he was a little child but he was very kind and obedient and treated his parents very well, and in order to treat his mother’s disease, he pushed himself very hard to explore medical science and even travelled with some famous doctors at his time across the whole country, in the process of which, he almost acquired all of the skills and knowledge of that doctor. Though the medical achievements he made are not as influential and far-reaching as those of some medical giants such as Sun Simiao, his skill and experience is undoubtedly profound and deep.

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He was once appointed as supervising secretary, managing numerous volumes of literature and books in Hong Wen Library for more than 20 years and during this process, he read a wide range of books and managed to acquire their essentials and main

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*Tang Dynasty physician-scholar Wang Tao’s ‘Wai Tai Miyao Fang Shu’*

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ideas. However, he was demoted due to the marital upheaval, and then dismissed to Fangling (present-day Fang County, Hubei Province) and later he took the office of prefecture chief of Daning (Xi County, Shanxi Province). Wang Tao travelled a lot of places around the country and made good use of his medical knowledge and some classical prescriptions to save ordinary people’s lives. He devoted himself into medical science and eventually through years of painstaking efforts, completed the compilation of *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* in the 11^th year of Tianbao period (752 CE), an immortal book focussing on the discussion and exploration of medical science and an invaluable asset through generations. His works also include *Summary of Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* (10 volumes in total), *On Recipe for Lacteal Calculus in Essentials of Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* (two volumes), *Bright Hall Moxibustion Therapy* (or *Bright Hall Acupuncture and Moxibustion Chart*), *Prescription for Typhoid fever in Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library Volume One and Two* or *Medical Secrets from the Royal Library* and so on. *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library*, which is 40 volumes in total, collecting a total of 10 classic books from the Han to Tang Dynasty, absorbed the advantages and essence of each book, and it is no wonder that medical scientists in later generations all believed that a person cannot be a good doctor if he’s never studied the prescriptions in *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* and explored the discourse on prescription in *Essential Recipes For Emergent Use*. *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* extracted a great amount of foreign medical knowledge and was therefore one of the most valuable resources to study the medical communication from six dynasties of Sui and Tang Dynasty.

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(*Chen Ming*)

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LI Shizhen

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Li Shizhen (1518-1893 CE) was an expert of traditional Chinese medicine in the Ming Dynasty, and wrote *Compendium of Materia Medica* which was the great work of Chinese pharmaceutical science. He absorbed the achievements of pharmaceutical science development in past dynasties, recorded knowledge of multiple foreign medicines and wrote *Compendium of Materia Medica* which became an important historical book to study ancient Sino-foreign (especially India-China) medical exchanges.

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Li Shizhen, whose courtesy name was Dongbi, was also known as Binhu. He came from Qizhou, Hubei (Qichun, Hubei). He was born in a well-known family of traditional Chinese medicine. Being edified by what he saw, he visited famous doctors and accumulated many medicine books while especially being fond of conducting site investigations on herbal medicines, and finally compiled *Compendium*

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*Li Shizhen*

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*of Materia Medica* in 1578 after nearly 30 years of great effort. This was considered to be the ultimate work in the history of ancient traditional Chinese medicine. It had 52 volumes, divided into 16 parts and 56 categories and collected 1,892 medicines including 374 new medicines. The book collected widely from medical books and Buddhist explanation classics and added annotations of transliteration forms for Sanskrit medicine names from India and Central Asia. In terms of collected Indian medicines, the main original versions of *Compendium of Materia Medica* were *Supplement to Materia Medica* of Chen Cangqi in the Tang Dynasty and *Classified Materia Medica* was finished by Tang Shenwei in 1082, who was the folk doctor in the Northern Song Dynasty. Particularly the latter had many revised versions. It had 30 volumes, collected 1,746 medicines and was claimed as a great achievement integrating herbalism of previous generations and the Tang and Song Dynasty. *Compendium of Materia Medica* recorded multiple medicines related to India such as black pepper, nutmeg, asafetida, rhizoma picrorrhiza, aragbadha, emblic leafflower fruit, terminalia belerica, haritaki, long pepper, dutchmanspipe root and benzoin etc as well as rhizoma curculiginis offered by Brahmin monks to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in the first year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (713). It was named Asvagandha in Sanskrit and could dispel wind-evil, warm waist and feet, nourish

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*Compendium of Medical Herbs* compiled by Li Shizhen

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five viscera, strengthen muscles and bones and help in digestion. It could reduce weight and was good for facial appearance after having been taken for a long time. So it was called as salsify. Common people obtained it after the spread from the palace and Tantric Master Amoghavajra presented it to court officials and further extended the scope of its use in China. Li Shizhen absorbed the achievements of previous literature as well as corrected previous errors, supplemented new recognition and methods of medicines, and made some Indian medicines (such as haritaki and chavica roxburghii) which became common drugs of traditional Chinese medicine and gradually lost the characteristics of foreign culture and completed the process of thorough localisation.

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(*Chen Ming*)

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George Hatem

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George Hatem (1910-1988 CE) was a modern Chinese expert on venereal diseases and leprosy. He was an Arab American and his family origin was Lebanon. He was born in Buffalo, New York in the United States of America on September 26, 1910. He died on October 3, 1988 in Beijing. He was a famous international communist fighter and won the Gandhi International Leprosy Award granted by India because of his outstanding medical achievements.

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George Hatem began to learn medicine in 1927 in America, received a medical doctor degree from University of Geneva Switzerland in 1933 and came to Shanghai to investigate the conditions of tropical disease in the same year. In the spring of 1936, with the help of Song Qingling, George Hatem and Edgar Snow arrived in North Shaanxi and engaged in disease prevention, treatment and scientific research for decades in China since then. During the period working in hospitals of Yan’an, George Hatem received Indian doctors including M. Atal, D. S. Kotnis and B. K. Basu who came to support the Anti-Japanese War, and they exchanged ideas mutually and worked together. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, George Hatem became the first foreigner who was approved to join Chinese nationality. As one of the pioneers of the health service of New China, he helped establish Central Institute of Dermatology and Venereology, committed himself to prevention and research of venereal diseases and leprosy and found effective methods to treat syphilis which was suitable for China’s conditions. He set up comprehensive

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*Tang Youzhi teaching ophthalmology students*

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Beijing Guang’anmen Hospital and China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and engaged in clinical, research and teaching related to ophthalmology.

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The gold needle couching originated from ancient India, and was recorded in *Medical Secrets from the Royal Library* written by Wang Tao in the Tang Dynasty but it had been lost in China and India for a long time. Since 1960, Tang Youzhi restored to use the gold needle couching successfully and solved the problem of the early complication such as glaucoma after operative incision on pars plana and couching clinically. In 1966, the couching was recognised by Ministry of Health and was promoted as the first scientific research achievement of traditional Chinese medicine which was verified by Chinese and western medical experts scientifically. Tang Youzhi conducted the golden needle couching for important domestic and foreign political members such as Mao Zedong, Prince Penm Nouth of Cambodia, Kim II Sung of North Korea, Wahid of Indonesia etc and made them recover their eyesight.

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In 1981, Tang Youzhi, the then deputy director of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, led the delegation of traditional Chinese medicine visited India. They visited six Indian cities and widely discussed traditional medical theories

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*George Hatem*

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research bases to prevent leprosy in Hai’an County of Jiangsu province and Chao’an County of Guangdong province and made great contributions to eliminate venereal disease and leprosy in China. George Hatem developed cooperation and exchange in Chinese and foreign medical circles actively and as the advisor of China Ministry of Health, he led a delegation of 10 people to participate in the 12ᵗʰ International Conference on Leprosy in India. In 1985, he held the first International Exchange Conference on Leprosy in China. In his later years, he visited different areas with poor health and made his due contribution to prevention of leprosy on an international level. George Hatem’s medical achievements were recognised by the world and he was granted with the American Damien-Dutton Leprosy Award in 1982. He received the Gandhi International Leprosy Award granted by India in 1988 which was of great importance in the modern India-China medical exchange history.

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(*Chen Ming*)

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*Tang Youzhi performing operations*

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Tang Youzhi

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Tang Youzhi (1926) is an ophthalmology expert of traditional Chinese medicine. His style name was Kunwu, he came from Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province and his main achievements are restoration and innovation of ancient Chinese “gold needle couching” originated from India.

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He began to learn ophthalmology from his teachers since 1942. He studied in medical department of Beijing Medical College from 1952 to 1957. After graduation, he successively worked at and technologies of both countries with peers in India’s medical circle. At Varanasi, the delegation got together with several hundred of experts of Traditional Indian Medicine Institute and watched the documentary film of Chinese doctors including Tang Youzhi doing “the gold needle couching”. Indian experts felt surprised and pleased to see the revival of this unique ancient skill. This was a much told story in the modern India-China medical exchange history.

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Nagarjuna - the Physician

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Nagarjuna is a name common to several famous scholars in ancient and medieval India linked with correlated areas like Buddhist philosophy, tantrism, medicine as well as alchemy, all of whom lived in the period ranging from 2nd to 9th centuries CE. He connected with the revision of *Suṣṛtasamhītā*, an ancient Indian work on medicine, especially surgery. He is traditionally considered to be the author of its last chapter that includes ophthalmology.

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In Chinese history, Nagarjuna’s name (recorded in Chinese as Long Shu龍樹, Long Shan龍勝or Long iMeng龍猛, literally, Dragon tree, Dragon conqueror and Dragon the brave or transliterated as 那伽闕刺樹那) appears in two contexts. The first as a “Second Buddha” – the founder of Madhyamak philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism who contributed 24 philosophical works to the Chinese Tripitaka. The second as a great doctor with specialisation as an ophthalmologist producing several works on medicine on topics ranging from pharmaceutics, compounding of perfumes and incense, nourishing the vital essence and ophthalmology.

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The bibliography of the “History of the Sui Dynasty” (581-618 CE) mentions 12 titles on medicine authored by Indians out of which three are attributed to Nagarjuna viz Pharmaceutics of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna (Longshu pusa yaofang龍樹菩薩藥方), Bodhisattva Nagarjuna’s Methods for Compounding Perfumes and Incense (Longshu pusa hexiang fa 龍樹菩薩和香法) and Bodhisattva Nagarjuna’s method for nourishing the vital essence (Longshu pusa yangxing fang 龍樹菩薩養性方). Unfortunately, none are available now.

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Further, in the 9th century CE, Nagarjuna’s name appears in a poem entitled Mu-bing目病 (eye disease) of Bo Juyi白居易 (772 - 846 CE), the famous poet of the Tang dynasty (CE 618-907). It was about ophthalmology. Bo Juyi had a serious eye-disease in his old age. He subsequently refers to his problem in many poems referring to “Nagarjuna’s classics” and “a drug for clear eyesight”.

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After the first allusion in Bo Juyi’s poem, Nagarjuna and his work are repeatedly mentioned in medical works and compendia written between the 9th and 16th centuries CE in China. Some of them mention Nagarjuna as the author, others have “Discourse on Eyes” as the title, yet their contents point to Nagarjuna’s text as the source which point to 72 kinds of eye diseases and their prescriptions. Almost a century before Bo Juyi’s reference to Nagarajuna, Indian ophthalmology was noted by Chinese medical writers in Tianzhu jing lunyan 天竺經論眼 “Indian Classic of discourse on eyes” which was part of a Tang work viz. Waitai miyao外臺秘要 “Medical secrets of an official’ compiled by Wang Tao in 752 CE.

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*Nagarjuna (Fotucheng)*

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Nagarjuna’s “Discourse on Eyes” mentioned by Bo Juyi is preserved in a later medical compendium viz. Yi fang lei ju醫方類聚 (a collection of various medical prescriptions) which was compiled by Jin Li-meng, a Korean who studied medicine in China at the beginning of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE). The first essay in this book categorically states that the method for the removal of cataract was first taught by Bodhisattva Nagarjuna.

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Nagarjuna’s Longmu Zonglun 龍木總論is included in a later work Michuan Yanke Longmu Zong Lun 秘傳眼科龍木总論 which secretly passed down comprehensive discourse of Nagarjuna on ophthalmology that appeared around the 13th century CE and was used as standard text for students of ophthalmology till the 16th century CE. Even the standard examination paper for Tai yi ju, the imperial medical service contained excerpts from Nagarjuna’s works.

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From the contents of the doctor Nagarjuna’s works in Chinese, it is apparent that the ancient Indian ophthalmology influenced Chinese ophthalmology in various ways eg etiological, morphological, as well as related to classification of eye diseases. This suggests the prominent position Nagarjuna enjoyed in medieval Chinese medicine and his contribution to the historical evolution of ophthalmology in India as well as in China.

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(*Vijaya J Deshpande & Kamal Sheel*)

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Buddhacinga (Fotucheng)

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Buddhacinga (232-348 CE) was an eminent monk from the Western Region who visited China in the late Western Jin Dynasty. His last name before pravrajana was Bo. Buddhacinga’s stories have been recorded in the 10ᵗʰ volume of *Biography of Eminent Monks*, “*Log of Buddhism and Taoism*” in *Book of Wei* and “*Biography of Buddhacinga*” in the *Book of Jin*. Buddhacinga himself made significant contribution in the dissemination progress of Buddhism in China.

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After his arrival in China, Buddhacinga disseminated Buddha Dharma with his magical skills and expertise in ingenious technologies. It is said that he was good at spellings and was capable of ordering ghosts and spirits with sesame oil-rouge mixture painted on his hand, he could see scenes thousands of miles away through his hand. By hearing sound of bells, he could read good or bad omens; by washing gut near pools, he could purify his body; moreover, he could

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Buddhacinga (Fotucheng)

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also summon rains to put out fire on his whim. Buddhacinga possessed splendid healing skills, he could treat people’s difficult diseases and patients would recover just as he said. He also possessed profound understanding in Buddhism *dharma* with incomparable explanation profession and a great goal of spreading great *dharma*, he was never short of words in discussions; Shi Le, Shi Hu, Guo Heilue and other people educated by Buddhacinga all began to uphold benevolent rules for saving all creatures on earth and enrolled masses of followers. Buddhacinga’s *dharma* dissemination later became foundation for thriving of northern Buddhism in the period of the 16 Kingdoms and primarily created the dissemination mode of Buddhism-Monarch (Imperial Power) Combination. Buddhacinga eventually passed away in fourth year of Yonghe (348) during the rule of Emperor Jin Mu at the age of 117 years. Buddhacinga had students like Shi Daoan and Zhu Fatai and they were all knowledgeable people with high morales. Since most stories about Buddhacinga contained mysterious and divine elements, these have foreshadowed his otherwise excellent accomplishments in Dharma and righteous deed. His stories are categorised in *Biographies of Eminent Monks* by people in later generations.

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Buddhacinga is of quite some divinity. He assisted Shi Zhao for over 30 years, organised construction of over 1,000 temples and enrolled over 10 thousand students which is why his stories are still spreading in the later ages and affecting more people. There are transcripts of *Stories and Luck of Monk Buddhacinga* (No. S.1625va, P.2680j) and *Glorifications about Arhat Buddhacinga – the Monk* (No. 0276vc) unearthed from the Dunhuang Sutra Cave. There are also wall paintings about Buddhacinga in middle section of the northern wall of No. 323 Early-Tang Dynasty grotto among Mogao Grottoes, including *Picture of Buddhacinga Educating Shi Le*, *Picture of Buddhacinga Extinguishing Fire in Youzhou*, *Picture of Buddhacinga Reading Omens by Hearing Bells*, *Picture of Buddhacinga Washing Gut by River*. Such paintings are of rather important value in the study of Buddhacinga’s life and transmission history of northern Buddhism in Later Zhao Dynasty.

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(*Chen Ming*)

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Jīva

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Jīva (Jīvaka) is an Indian monk who visited China in the late West Jin Dynasty. Jīva is transliterated from Jīva or Jīvaka in Sanskirt. His story is recorded in “Part I of Miracles”, ninth volume of *Biographies of Eminent Monks*. Jīva introduced magical Indian invocation therapy into southern China.

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By maritime route, Jīva travelled from India, Kingdom of Funan to Jiaoguang. After stepping on China’s land, Jīva continued his journey, passed by Xiangyang and eventually arrived in Luoyang in late years of Emperor Jinhui’s govern (306). He believed that palaces in and around the urban area of Luoyang was constructed by divine

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‘Shi Hua Yuanliu Yinghua shiji’ Jīva treating his patients

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craftsmen from the Trayastrimśa heaven. Jīva possesses untrammelled, magical characteristics and biblical arts of healing, and has been involved in two medical affairs in China. One affair is about Teng Yongwen who was the governor of Hengyang County and was lodged in Manshui Temple. Teng was affected by some tough disease which twisted his legs and affected his ability of walking. Jīva sprayed some conjured water with a willow vimen, on Teng’s leg and his disability healed. Another affair is about a dying patient who had been affected by heatstroke. Jīva placed an empty bottle on the belly of the patient and covered the bottle with a white cloth. Then, Jīva cast thousands of spells and forced disgustingly smelly foul materials hidden in the patient’s stomach into the bottle and saved the patient’s life. As for *dharma* dissemination, instead of those profound philosophies and ideas, Jīva advocated to act more and speak less. Most stories about Jīva are quite singular, it is said that he could form double-gangers to perform *dharma* dissemination and was capable of many other mysterious skills. Some people believe that Jīva was performing some magic of forbidden willow spell and such kind of magic actually originated from an ancient philosophy in the Western Regions but not in India and they took fine willow vimen found in a tome along the south path of the Silk Road as proof for such opinion. Methods involving spraying water with willow vimen were actually rarely seen in documents about Indian Esoteric Buddhism. In Jīva’s story, willow vimen was just applied as a tool for healing magic while the key for the magic was the conjured water. Therefore, it is not necessary to identify Jīva’s healing method as a kind of ancient witchcraft belief from Western Regions.

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Jīva (Jīvaka) is also the Chinese name of another eminent healer from India (see the “Qipo” entry).

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(*Chen Ming*)

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Buddhasena

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Buddhasena [Buddhasena] was an eminent monk of Kasmira, Uttarapatha (now Kashmir) who came to China in Northern Liang Dynasty (397-460 CE). His name can be transliterated into Fuoduoxian and Fuodaxian and the meaning is a soldier or general.

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Buddhasena was the master of Sarvastivada and inheritor of Buddha *dharma* later. He converted the people in Kasmira and was the leader of the third training. He once studied Buddha *dharma* with Bhadrabahu and his disciples then spread it to Central China. According to the *Records of Buddhist Esoteric Treatment Scriptures, Volume nine of Record Set of Tripitaka* written by Sengyou, Buddhasena was very talented. He recited a mass of *gatha*, was proficient in Buddha *dharma* and researched Buddhist and non-Buddhist classics deeply so that he was then called “the disciple of the most excellent master”. Buddhabhadra once learned from Buddhasena and translated two volumes of *Dharmatrata Scriptures* after coming to China. The king of Hexi areas of Northern Liang learned Buddha dharma from Buddhasena in Qumo Emperor Temple of Khotan with his brother, Juqu Anyang marquis Juqu Jingsheng who translated the Buddhist scriptures he recited namely *Buddhist Esoteric Treatment Scriptures* (also named as *Esoteric Treatment Methods of Buddhist Diseases*). *Esoteric Treatment Methods of Buddhist diseases* includes two volumes and involves “72 treatment methods of Aranya heart disease”, “treatment method of choke”, “treatment method of walker’s corruption and obscenity”, “treatment method of sore-prone disease”, “treatment method of violation of commandment”, “treatment method of indulgence in music”, “treatment method of enjoyment in extolling Buddhist verses”, “treatment method of diseases caused by flood”, “treatment method of headache, ophthalmodynia and epicophosis caused by internal heat”, “treatment method of insane disease due to fear of inauspicious things predicted during *samadhi*”, “treatment method of gale” and “treatment method of various uneasy diseases of tyros caused by ghosts and goblins” mainly to adjust and treat different unwell and chaotic phenomena during the process of studying Buddha *dharma*. Recently, some scholars think that this scripture was made in Central China which have not been confirmed.

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(*Chen Ming*)

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Jīva Jīvaka

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Jiva Jivak, or Jivaka Komarbhacca (in Chinese Qi Po), is famous as the doctor of Lord Buddha. Introduced to China through the translated Buddhist Tripitakas, he became a celebrated personality of ancient Chinese medicine on account of his excellent accomplishments in the field of medicine (gynecology, obstetrics and pediatrics) and surgery (especially neurosurgery). In Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese

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[Figure: Fragments of the ‘Five Buddhist Scriptures’ now in possession of Chinese Tibetan Museum]

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and Tibetan traditions, he is considered to be the son of an unwed mother, probably a courtesan of the famous Magadh king, Bimbisara. He had been thrown out of his place of birth and was found alive (hence his name from the Sanskrit root, *jiva* meaning life) and raised by the king’s son, Abhaya. Jivaka was written as Qi Po耆婆 in Chinese. Many other phonetically equivalent characters were also used to represent Qi Po eg 耆域 Jīva, 時縛迦 Jīvaka. The word, Qi气, which means “life force” in Chinese, has probably originated from the Sanskrit term Jīva. Some scholars date Jīvak to the 5^th century CE.

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All versions of his life story refer to his interest in study of medical sciences and then going out possibly to Taxila for a long advanced training in medicine and neurosurgery. He probably had training under Ótreya (Ótreya Punarvasu), the famous sage who learned medicine from Bhårdvåja and whose disciple was Agniveßa. There are many narratives in various canonical texts about his successful treatment of kings, merchants and commoners and their family members. He thus earned fame and wealth and was honoured with the title of “king of physicians” by his King, Bimbisara. According to a legend, he was assigned to Buddha as his personal physician by the King and treated Buddha for ailments contracted in the course of travel. In various stories, it is claimed that Buddha told him: “I heal the soul, you heal the body”.

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There are numerous references to Jīvaka in later Chinese works both historical and medical. For example, in the history of Sui Dynasty, a section is attributed to Qi Po. In a contemporary medical compendium viz Zhu bing yuan huo lun, 諸病源候論 (a complete discussion of the origins and symptoms of diseases) written by Chao Yuan Fang in CE 610, some medical treatise of Qi Po (Jīvaka) are mentioned. Sun Simiao, a well-known medical writer of the time, known as the “king of pharmaceutics” writes: “A great medicine man of India, Jīvaka has said that all things under heaven have medicinal efficacy.” His two compilations Beiji Qianjin Yaofang 備急千金要方 (Emergency medicinal formulae worth a thousand pieces of gold) and its supplement Qianjin Yifang 千金翼方 (Supplement to the medicinal formulae worth a thousand pieces of gold), there are medical prescriptions attributed to Qi Po.

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Excavations of the Dunhuang caves in the early 20^th century unearthed some medical manuscripts as well. One is named Qiposhu 耆婆書 or Jīvakapustaka which was written both in Sanskrit and Brāhmi. It has been extensively studied by Chen Ming as well as Jean Filliozat. A Japanese scholar, Tanba Yasuyori in 984 CE made a collection of Chinese medical works viz Yixinfang. These include formulae for women's diseases like stomach ache during menstruation, pregnant women's problems, treatment for infertility etc. It thus appears that the incomplete work Qiposhu (*Jīvakapustaka*) is a short version meant for practical use.

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A Central Asian prince monk, An Shikao, is said to have translated two works in 147 CE that were accredited to Jīvaka-Kaśyapa. They were Nai nu qi po jing 佛說奈女耆婆經 (Jīvaka's classic on women's standard diseases) and Ka ye jin jie jing 迦葉禁戒經 (a classic of Kaśyapa's prohibitions for pregnant women). Fa Xian in the late 10^th century CE translated Ka ye xian ren shuo yi nu ren jing 迦葉仙人說醫女人經 (a classic on women’s diseases as told by the Sage Kaśyapa) into Chinese.

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(*Vijaya J Deshpande & Kamal Sheel*)

Linked texts (2)

Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit
Suśrutasaṃhitā — Suśruta & Nāgārjuna (siddha/alchemist), Sanskrit