Fei Zhenzhong / text
The transformation of the Song Dynasty in the history of medicine in China is beyond the general knowledge and technical vision. The changes in knowledge and technology in medicine are of course of great significance from the perspective of science and technology, but such a perspective may actually obscure the variation of Chinese medicine itself because of its more modern observations. At the very least, when I refer to the fact that the emperor's own interest in knowledge and technology in the Song Dynasty of China implied a political appeal to medical power from a far-reaching ideological influence, which means that the change of medical knowledge and the progress of technology are supported and constrained by morality, and the trend and degree of its progress actually depend on the occurrence and promotion of another ideological concept. This is the "study of sexual reason" of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty and the intellectual power it formed, which transformed and transformed the essence of medicine.
Let's start with a famous politician and scholar in the early Song Dynasty.
Mr. Fan Zhongyan Xiwen was an important minister of the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty (1023-1063). When he was two years old, he left the place where Gusu was born and moved to Zizhou, Shandong with his mother. Because of the birth of a bitter child, he knew to study hard since he was a child, and he grew up to do a career. At that time, his name was named after the businessman's stepfather called Zhu. Still studying hard in the cold window, perhaps infected by the deeds of the sages in the classics, he predetermined an ideal that he must strive to be the prime minister in the future. Such words are generally hidden in their hearts, and they don't dare to say it to people, once Fan Zhongyan still couldn't help it, so he asked a hexagram in Liquan Temple, a small temple in the mountain village where he studied. Who knew that the hexagram said that he did not have such an opportunity, Fan Zhongyan was not convinced, and asked a hexagram, and the hexagram was still like this, which inevitably made him a little disappointed. Fan Zhongyan was originally a hot-blooded young man, who wanted to be the prime minister, not only to get ahead and glorify his ancestors, but because of his humble background and being ridiculed, he felt that the society was particularly unjust, and he hoped that he would be able to "establish a life for the people" in the future and seek happiness for the people. However, could it be that God would not fulfill such a small wish?
Fortunately, Fan Zhongyan is not the kind of flashy teenager who gives up easily, he is a person with firm beliefs. As soon as he thought about it, he said the words that made everyone in later generations particularly admire, and also pointed out the life path for some later scholars: I would rather be a good doctor than a good doctor! To put it bluntly, if I can't be the best prime minister, then I will be the best doctor. The original meaning of these words, in that era of taking Shijin as the right path, was actually helpless, but this idea of taking one of the two has undergone positive semantic changes in the interpretation after the Song Dynasty, and the Chinese literati have gone further and have an enterprising and pragmatic demeanor in the idea of "attaining the rule of the world, and the poor will be good alone". In ancient times, there was a political saying in the book, "the upper medicine heals the country, and the lower medicine heals the people", but Fan Zhongyan's statement is obviously ingenious and more personal, and he has opened up a new concept and a new realm for Chinese Confucianism. It's really ambitious not to be old.
In 1016, after the thirty-year-old Fan Zhongyan reported to the emperor that he applied to return to his family name, although he was still more than 20 years away from his goal of becoming prime minister, he had gradually entered a better situation politically, and the realization of his ideal was no longer a pipe dream. This means that Fan Zhongyan did not become a good doctor after all, and his career direction has always been in the military and politics of the locality, frontier, and court, rather than the people. In August of the third year of Qingli (1043), Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong (reigned 1022-1063) appointed Fan Zhongyan as the governor (vice-minister), and he was bound to have no chance to complete the second choice if he realized his first ideal. However, if I read an important recital he gave to the emperor in the first year on medicine, "Song Qi in Beijing and Zhudao Medical Professors and Students", I will see that he did not abandon his relationship with the ideals of medicine. Zhang Zhejia in his paper "Official Medical Specialties and Medical Development" specifically pointed out the contribution of Fan Zhongyan's recital:
In the third year of Qingli (Fan Zhongyan), he was greatly used by Renzong, and after reaching the original first choice (good appearance), he wanted to make the second choice also be realized in many young people. In the fourth year of Qingli, he gave birth to millions of people and thousands of doctors in Bianjing at that time. They injure lives by accident every day." Therefore, it is recommended to appoint three or five people who can teach medical books as physicians to openly teach texts such as "Su Wen" and "Difficult Scripture". Moreover, his acupuncture and moxibustion are also taught by the department, and after three years, they can only take the optional examination, and those who are higher can only enter the Hanlin Academy as students. This proposal was immediately adopted, and the first use of the word "ke" in the history of Chinese medicine came from this letter.
It was the duty of the minister of state to give constructive advice to the emperor, and when Fan Zhongyan set out for political reform, medicine was listed as one of the key points in the construction of the "New Deal", "an independent medical school, the Taiyi Bureau, established in 1044, to teach professional courses, examine students, and confer official ranks and positions." Sometimes even responsible for the supervision of local medical officials. Although Fan Zhongyan himself soon failed and left the position of deputy minister, medical education was implemented along his design, and the completion of the medical education system of the two Song Dynasty and the formation of new medical knowledge cannot but be said to have made pioneering contributions. Although Fan Zhongyan himself did not become a good doctor, there is no doubt that his design of medical education has cultivated many "good doctors", and the emergence of the new group of Confucian doctors in the Two Song Dynasty depends on this as a guarantee for the system.
Wu Zeng, the author of "Neng Gai Zhai Manlu", seems to have forgotten Fan Zhongyan's real contribution to medicine when recounting many of Fan Zhongyan's deeds, but Fang Lao, the author of "Bo Zhai Edition", recorded an anecdote between this contemporary minister and medicine in his notes. After Fan Zhongyan reverted to his surname, he did not move to his hometown, and his old mother used to live in the north, so he also settled his mother near Luoyang to live for a long time. At that time, the climate in the north was abnormal, and there were often epidemics, thinking that his mother was weak and frail, every summer, he put a kind of herb called Qingshu in the old well in his yard, and put a few catties at a time to prevent the invasion of epidemic qi and ensure his mother's health. This may be an anecdote of the literati, but it is a very important thing in Fang Lao's view, so he specially used this daily medical work to dye Fan Zhongyan's extraordinary life, so as to preserve the sincerity and filial piety of a Confucian scholar.
This is the end of the personal narrative about Fan Zhongyan. However, the peak and loop turned around in the Song Dynasty, during the reign of Song Renzong (1023-1063), a key change in medicine took place, which made Fan Zhongyan's thought of "good doctor" have more follow-up significance.
However, it is said that during the Qingli period of Song Renzong, during the period when the dynasty adopted Fan Zhongyan's suggestion and deliberately implemented the major decision of the new policy, the capital was in an agitation and noise, but a small matter was inserted. A jinshi named Shen Chang came to Bianliang to look for a job. Shen Jinshi is a talent officially selected by the imperial court, and for some reason he has never had an official position since the Chinese style, which is a rare anomaly in the Song Empire, which is very good for scholars. Presumably, Shen Jinshi was still unlucky in Kyoto, and after touching the wall a few times, he found that there was a person in Kyoto who was more spirited than ordinary officials, and that was the Hanlin Medical Officer. Since Emperor Taizong emphasized medicine, the status of Hanlin medical officials in the imperial court is indeed beautiful. However, Fang Ji and the like, scholars and literati were originally disdainful. But Shen Jinshi doesn't think so now, since the medical officer is a good messenger, then why not try to change his career to medicine.
So, Shen Jinshi specially visited Zhao Conggu, a medical officer who served in the Tai Hospital, hoping that Zhao could introduce him to the Tai Hospital for the sake of him being a scholar. Unexpectedly, Zhao Conggu rejected Shen Jinshi. There is an interesting conversation between Zhao and Shen. Zhao said: "Medical skills are better than Confucianism, but secondary. Gai moves people's lives, not idle scholars. Shen was unconvinced and said: "I am poor, but I am self-obedient, read the books of Confucius and Mencius, and know the way of the kings and ministers of the past dynasties." "Zhao Conggu Zhengse said: My Tao is not a cheap land!" He told Shen about an incident in the Jin Dynasty, a well-educated and talented man, ready to use "Zhou Yi" to revise medicine, and discussed with the famous doctor Zu Na, Zu Na Dao, scholars to distinguish the classics, even if there are some similarities and differences, it will not affect the country's style and teaching, and people who can practice medicine do not know a little decoction, they will die, how dare they despise it! Listening to Zhao's words, Shen Jinshi still had to retreat in shame.
This story, called "Zhao Yan Shen Shay", is recorded in the 1220 issue of Mengqiu, a famous doctor of the past dynasties, written by Zhou Shouzhong, who lived in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty and was a scholar who tried to write a history of medicine. Although we see that due to the arrogance of the medical officer Zhao Conggu, Jinshi Shen Chang's wish to enter medicine was not realized, there is an unprecedented message conveyed here, that is, the Confucian scholars expressed their identification with a certain cause of medicine. That is to say, Fan Zhongyan's second choice at that time not only has reality in Shen Chang's story, but will also enter the process of new medical thought and cultural evaluation. Zhao Conggu's speech, whether it is correct or not, does not matter at this time, what is important is Shen Chang's choice, which means that medical Confucianization has become a need and possibility in the real situation.
According to the history of the Song Dynasty, in the second year of Renzong Jiayou (1057), according to the suggestion of Han Qi, a minister of the imperial court and a scholar of Zhaowenguan University: "Medical books such as Lingshu, Taisu, Jiayijing, Guangji, Qianjin, and Waitai...... Please select the Confucian ministers and the imperial physician to participate in the promulgation", set up a correction medical book bureau in the editorial institute, and appointed "four people including Zhiji Xianyuan and Wenyuan to review Zhang Yuxi and other medical scriveners", and began the investigation and correction of ten most important medical classics such as "The Yellow Emperor's Neijing Suwen". This is the Confucian ministers who participated in and presided over the correction of medical books, and constantly proudly proclaimed that "the state edicts Confucian ministers, correct medical books". The choice of using Confucian ministers to correct medical books is not a simple matter of writing, but is related to the displacement of the official medical position. It can be said that Song Renzong's practice is really innovative compared with the previous generation. Sun Zhao, who participated in the revision of the medical book that day, said: "Three generations down, the prosperity of cultural relics will be called the Western Han Dynasty, and Li Zhuguo will not be able to kill Confucian ministers." "Sun Zhao and others all have the status of Jinshi, and they obviously have a lofty sense of their school mission. However, Song Renzong's change of the tradition of the past dynasties and the position he took actually provided political legitimacy for Confucianism to formally intervene in medicine.
We know that for hundreds of years since the Wei and Jin dynasties, the discourse power of medicine has mainly been in the hands of Taoism, including the participation of Buddha, while Confucianism has never had a place in medicine. Moreover, because the medical tradition has always been monopolized by the "mountains and forests", it has great authority in its intellectual power, which makes the court medicine since the Wei and Jin dynasties also focus on relying on those "Taoist priests" who were born in the mountains and forests, so as to form a group of medical officials with Taoist identities as the main body. Taking the Tang Dynasty as an example, the court medicine of the Tang Taizong to Gaozong period was served by Sun Simiao, that is, a famous Taoist priest who was called into the palace. Wang Bing, the editor of "The Yellow Emperor's Neijing: Suwen", not only has the identity of a Taoist priest named Qi Xuanzi, but also teaches him medicine to his mentor Xuanzhu Taoist, and is also a Taoist priest and medical theorist hidden in the mountains and forests.
This is of course due to the fact that the Tang Empire established Taoism as the state religion, so it attached importance to Taoist scholars, and at the same time, because medical knowledge was generally exclusive to Taoist scholars, it formed a value identity that medicine valued Taoism. This situation even continued until the beginning of the Song Dynasty. Because of tradition and habits, the important court physicians around Song Taizu and Song Taizong were all from the Taoist group. The aforementioned Xinglong Taoist priest Wang Huaiyin, as the chief physician of the Tai Hospital, became the hottest medical scientist in the court of the early Song Dynasty because he was ordered to receive the "Taiping Shenghui Fang". Now, in the time of Song Renzong, the emperor used his political authority to give the discourse of medicine to Confucian scholars, and this fundamental change indicated that a new era of knowledge in medicine had officially arrived, and at the same time, the conditions for the emergence of a new medical group, Confucian doctors, had been formed.