Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s2.t3.15

v1.c6.s2.t3.15

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.