The Chinese medicine and modren medicine

徐小周

As I talk with my foreign friends, one of the most often asked questions is the difference between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Modern medicine.
Some would say the difference is mostly in the medicine: TCM doctors use herbs, while Western medicine doctors apply chemical and synthesized medicine. Some would say they differ technically: TCM pierce with an acupuncture needle, but Western doctors cut with an operation knife.
But I think the biggest difference lie in the difference between ways of thinking and choice of value, which is a difference in philosophical thinking.
The same disease of the same person, if seen from different angels, would have seemed different to different doctors. This is just like several blind men feeling an elephant. Every one of them learn only part of the truth.
TCM originates from Taoism, an ancient Chinese philosophy which emphasizes on following the principle of the Nature and managing things in a simple and easy way.
The theories of TCM hold that the reason the human being exist on the Earth is not because we have doctors, hospitals or medicines, but that we are gifted with a nature capacity to prevent and recover from illnesses.
The doctors' responsibility is then to help exert this nature gift of people's.
Bian Que (407-310 BC), China's ancient medical scientist and founder of pulse diagnosis, was recorded to save a prince who had been believed to have died. When people were marveling about his ability to save the dead, he told seriously: ``I can not save dead people. I saved him because there was life in him and I could waken it.''
Bian's words reveals the basic principle of TCM, which is to help the patients recover their natural vitality and ability to cure themselves.
Based on that theory, TCM make detailed observation and collect experience of human beings illness prevention and curing system. As a result, they found the existence of {qi}, or vital energy. They discovered th channels of circulation of vital energy and the points where it is strong, or as is commonly known, the acupuncture points.
That discovery then became the basis of TCM, which is to cure diseases by regulating the circulation of {qi} in acupuncture, moxibustion and {tuina}, medical massage.
That basic theory decides that TCM will not isolate the part of body that is sick from the other parts of body. The human body is an inter-related whole instead of a combination of individual organs.
The study of TCM focus on researching relation between Man and the Nature, Man and the society, and the influence and function of different organs of the body on each other.
These relations are explained with the theory of {yin} and {yang}, and the five elements, which are still used by TCM doctors to direct their clinical practice.
While TCM focuses on the internal factor, Western medicine pay attention more to the external ones. The Chinese say a fly would not sting an egg without a crack, but Western doctors would have attributed all the fault to the fly.
A second difference between the two medicines is probably that TCM focuses on prevention more.
TCM maintains that the best doctor discovers an illness in its earliest stage and put it down then, instead of not saving someone until he is very sick.
Ancient Chinese has different terms for an illness in its different phases.
The difference of the two medicines can be shown in their ways of treating cancer.
Western medicine would not treat until malignant tumor appears. The treatment would be removal of the part that is sick and chemotherapy.
But TCM thinks the forming of cancer cells is a gradual process. A good doctor should wipe them off when they are still developing.
In treating cancer, TCM thinks the tumor is like several bad fruits on a malignant tree. To remove the fruits (removal operation) or to kill the fruits with pesticide (chemotherapy) will not help in the long run. The best thing to do is to chop the tree of illness from the root. Otherwise the bad fruits will keep growing. And because the operation and chemotherapy hurt the immune system, cancer cells will grow faster.
A more radical example might help explain how TCM look at the whole matter of fitness and treatment for people.
Maradonna the great soccer player broke through five of England's players on the 1986 World Cup and scored the winning goal for Argentina.
A TCM doctor would say Maradonna is good but the goal is impossible without the help of all other 10 players, the logistics people and even the support of fans.
A Western doctor would attribute the goal to Maradonna, and his left foot, then probably his left foot thumb, the cutin cell of the left foot, the DNA of the cell and a gene...
The same thing happens in the use of medicine. Chinese herbal recipes include different ingredients with different functions, which works on different aspects of the problem. But Western medicine would extract a certain herb that works on an illness. That is quite like using Maradonna's big toe to score a goal.

王不留行

Very good!Please let me translate it into Chinese.
当我和外国朋友谈话时,最常被问及的话题就是中医和西医之间的不同
一些人也许会说中西医不同主要在药上:中医用草药,而西医用化学合成药物;一些人也许会说它们不同在技术操作上:中医用针刺治疗,而西医用手术刀.
可是我认为两者最大的不同存在于不同的思路和价值选择的方法差异上,也就是哲学思想的分歧上
同一个人,同样的病,如果不同的医生从不同的角度看,结果就可能不同.这就像瞎子摸象一样,每一个人只不过是摸到了真相的一部分而已
中医起源于道家,道家是中国古老的哲学流派之一,它强调用直接简易的方法来探寻自然和事物运作的法则
未完待续

秦越人

下面引用由王不留行在 2003/07/29 12:01pm 发表的内容：
中医起源于道家

『中医起源于道家』一断语尚是首次听闻，王不留行君可否将这个主題移到『理论争鸣』专栏。然后详细阐述？

王不留行

下面引用由秦越人在 2003/07/29 12:12pm 发表的内容：
『中医起源于道家』一断语尚是首次听闻，王不留行君可否将这个主題移到『理论争鸣』专栏。然后详细阐述？

可笑!秦先生不象不懂英语的,怎么会犯这样的低级错误!!

秦越人

呵！原来你在作译文，为何不作附注译文于前，免得我们这些老家伙(老眼昏花)险被王君耍弄。
后生俊贤，将就着点，论年纪我们已是先生父辈一代，将就着点。

王不留行

续上译文:
中医理论认为世界上人之所以能够生存并不是在于有了医生\医院\药物这些东西,而是受惠于人自己的预防疾病和从疾病中恢复的能力
因而医生的责任就是去帮助努力使这人类的天赋能力得以充分的发挥.扁鹊(公元前407~310),这位中国古代的医学家,中医脉诊的开创者,记载中曾经提到他救活了一个大家都认为已经死去的王子.当人们正为他救活"死人"的能力表示惊异时,他却郑重的说:"越人非能起死人也.我能够救他是因为他并没有死,我不过是使他苏醒了而已"
扁鹊的话揭示了中医治疗的基本原则:帮助病人恢复他们自然的生命力和自愈力
基于这种原理,中医进行了仔细的观察,大量搜集整理了人预防和治疗疾病的经验,作为结果他们创立了"气"的理论,这种"气"或者可以称之为生命能量。他们还发现了气循环的途径和气相对强的点——就是我们平常所知道的穴位。
未完待续

王不留行

这个发现于是就成了中医理论的基础，在它的指导下针灸和“推拿”（医学按摩）通过调节“气”的循行来治疗疾病
这个基础理论决定了中医不会把病态的部分从其他正常的机体分开来进行研究，因为在中医看来，人体更是个密不可分的整体而不只是单个器官的堆积、
未完待续

王不留行

中医研究更着重于考察人与自然、人和社会的关系以及机体各个器官之间的相互作用和影响
这些关系中医是用阴阳五行学说来表述的，这种学说至今还在指导着中医的临床实践。与中医更注重于考察事物内部的因素不同，西医更注重于考察事物外部的原因。中国人说苍蝇不叮无缝的蛋，可是西医师却更愿意把导致蛋坏的过错都归结到叮蛋的苍蝇身上
中西医另一个不同点就是中医比西医更多的重视预防
中医主张最好的医生应该在疾病发展的最早期就发现并治好它，而不是等到疾病已经发展到很深重了再去治疗

黄岐建中汤

王不留行 先生的译文很漂亮，感谢！
秦越人 先生的意见很好呀，应该说这才是伯乐。
至于 楼主的这份帖子，当然更好，只是不知原作者，可否明示出处，谨致。

徐小周

本文发表在《BEIJING WEEKEND》2002年8月
中医学被翻译为传统中国医学，她同现代医学简称西医的最大区是什么呢？有人说在于所使用的药物不同，比如中医喜欢用植物药，而西医用化学合成药；有人说在于技术手段上，中医用针刺，而西医用刀割。其实不然，中西医的最大差别在于思维方式和价值取向，也就是形而上的哲学思想的不同。

面对同样的人，面对同样的疾病，如果站的角度不同，观察和了解的东西也就不同，这正如瞎子摸象，每个人了解的都是真理，但是仅仅是真理的一部分。

中医学源于中国哲学－道，道的哲学讲究“道法自然，无为而治。”中医学认为，人类能够在地球上生存至今的原因，不是因为我们有医生，医院，药物，而是因为我们有天赋的防病治病的本能。这就是自然之道，因此研究了解学习掌握自然之道，就是医生的职责，帮助发挥人的天赋的本能，就是中医防病治病之道。

2000多年前的名医扁鹊，曾经救活了一个被认为是已经死亡的王子，当人们称赞他能起死回生的时候，他严肃地说：“余非能生死人，因其自当生，余能使之起而。”（《史记》）扁鹊的话不是谦逊的托词，而是揭示了中医治病救人的最基本道理，患者有生机，有自愈的能力，医生给予帮助，最终靠患者本身的能力存活。

基于这一准则，中医学对人是如何预防和自愈疾病，做了细致入微的观察和体验，发现了人体“气”的存在，以及气在人体内的运行路线和经常的停留地点，也就是人们常说的经络和穴位，通过调节气的运行，达到治疗疾病的目的，也就是针刺，艾灸，按摩，推拿的基本原理。

其次，中医学不会孤立，割裂地看待局部疾病。而是把人和人所处的自然环境和社会环境看成是有机的整体。把人的当作活的整体，而不是各种组织器官的组合。因此，中医学特别重视研究人与自然，与社会，人体内部各种器官组织之间的关系，以及相互的作用和影响。当然这种关系是看不见摸不着的。中医学还创创造了阴阳五行等理论高度概括总结了这种关系，使得今天人们还在运用这些理论来指导新的临床实践。

中国医学讲阴阳，重视事务的两个方面，尤其注重内因。而西方人似乎治看重一方面，特别是外因。中国人讲苍蝇不叮无缝的的鸡蛋，西医似乎只关心苍蝇。就吃饭而言，食物的色香味形固然很重要，更重要的是吃饭人的心情，胃口。啃骨头比吃肉香，众人抢着吃饭香，偷来的东西吃着香，同样的饭，如果调动了人的心情胃口，感觉就不一样了。

再者，中医强调预防为主，最好的大夫应该是能在早期预防和发现疾病的，而不是病人已经病势沉重才来救死扶伤的人。中医原来中国人把疾病分成不同的发展阶段，小毛病，轻微的不舒服叫“恙”，感冒，发烧，偶染风寒，叫做“疾”，因为它来得快，去得也快。病久了，或者严重了才叫做“病”，相当于英文的“SICK”。还有就是身体内长了肿瘤，象羊肉串一样，就是“患”了。 良性的相当于英文的“TUMOR”，恶性的就是“CANCER”了。

说到癌症，西医只能等到癌细胞出现以后，才能治疗。而治疗也只是局部和部分切除，然后辅助放疗化疗。而中医认为冰冻三尺非一日之寒。癌细胞不是一天长成的，而是一个渐变的过程。高明的医生应该并且能够在癌细胞没有发生质变之前，就把它消灭在萌芽中。如果已经有了癌细胞，中医认为那也如同在一棵树上结了几个坏果子，仅仅把果子摘了（手术），或者喷农药杀死几个果子（化疗），根本无济于事。真正根治的办法就是把树砍掉。否则癌细胞还会长，也许由于你的手术和化疗伤害了人的免疫系统，癌细胞会长得更多更快。

在治疗上，中医讲究身心全面的调整。打个比方，86年世界杯马拉多纳连过英格兰5名队员，把球射入网窝。如果是中医看待这件事，他会认为，马拉多纳无疑是出色的，但是能够射入这个球还离不开其他队员的配合，呼应。是11个人合作的结果。在往大了讲，有教练的指挥，队医的治疗，替补队员的鼓励。是全队的功劳。还有球迷的声援。更大地说离不开阿根廷的足球环境，整个国家的经济文化。等等等等。如果是西医看待这件事，他就会认为是马拉多纳进的球，是马拉多纳左脚踢进的，是马拉多纳左脚大拇趾触的球，是大拇趾的角质细胞起了关键作用，进而他会研究到DNA片断，甚至某个基因。
中药处方讲究配伍，讲君臣佐使。而西医则只见树木不见森林，听说某种中药有效，马上分析，提取所谓的有效成分，这不是在找马拉多纳的大拇趾嘛。结果当然是失败的。