Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s2.t4.15

v1.c6.s2.t4.15

Sun Simiao also paid attention to a combination of Indian and Chinese medical principles. Volume 21 “Jīvaka’s Curing Malignant Diseases” of *Supplement to Valuable Prescriptions* pointed out that “there were 404 disease winds. Generally speaking, there were five types, ie they were caused by five winds. Every hundreds of disease is related to five internal organs, and each internal organ may cause 81 kinds of diseases altogether 404 diseases. Every disease shall be treated with the category well known.” The sayings that “there were four hundred and four kinds of disease winds” and “each internal organ had 81 kinds in terms of the five internal organs”, reflected that Sun Simiao tried to combine the Indian medical theory of “404 diseases” with inherent theories of traditional Chinese medicine (such as the theory of