Ancient medicine and health in jingbianhua

Jingbianhua painting is to explain the ideological content of a Buddhist Scripture with portraits Dunhuang Scripture painting is rich in content and various in form In addition to the Buddhist Scripture content, a large number of social life contents are vividly reflected in the scripture painting Many of them are masterpieces of art These murals reflect the changes of people's emotions in production and life, such as happiness, anger, worry, fear and so on, as well as the life movement phenomena of life, old age, illness and death, which are vivid and rich "Image medicine" refers to the expression of the way and method in which the ancient working people fought against diseases in production and life reflected in "jingbianhua painting" There are nearly one hundred "image medicine" in Dunhuang frescoes, 30 of which have been selected into "Dunhuang Chinese medicine book" These murals represent the folk life of the ancient Silk Road thousands of years ago with the images of curing diseases and saving people, brushing teeth and teeth, shaving and bathing, qigong fitness, sweeping the courtyard, blocking water wells, building toilets, boiling milk, etc It, together with a large number of medical documents, constitutes the two basic frameworks of Dunhuang traditional Chinese medicine From theory to image, from scriptures to murals, it shows the unique features and connotation of Dunhuang traditional Chinese medicine The fresco of Futian Jingbian, painted at the east end of the North top of cave 296 in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, depicts the life-long scene of "extensive application of medicine": two patients' families support a half lying patient, while the doctor meditates on the pulse, and behind him there is a person who is busy using medicine to pound and make traditional Chinese medicine This may tell people that the patient's condition is more urgent and serious He needs to be treated quickly while making diagnosis and making medicine This is a rare historical material of "image medicine" for diagnosing and applying medicine In addition, in the 302 Grottoes built in the fourth year of kaihuang of Sui Dynasty (584 A.D.), there are also image records of curing diseases and applying medicine in the Sutra of Futian at the lower end of the western slope The painting is divided into two groups In the first group, a naked patient is on the sleeping table, and the patient's family members hold their left and right hands on both sides The doctor is diagnosing and treating the patient; in the second group, a weak naked patient is sitting up under the support of his family In front of him, a doctor is busy adjusting the medicine, while behind the patient stands a young girl holding the medicine, serving the patient for oral administration If the former mural depicts doctors' treatment of traumatic diseases, or the use of external drugs (which is consistent with the extensive use of external treatment methods in ancient medical prescriptions in Dunhuang genealogy), the latter one describes the treatment of internal diseases by oral drugs This shows that the ancient folk painters seize the real life examples to vividly show the prospect of travel medicine, the vivid description of these life details, vividly record the medical and health and other social life scenes of Dunhuang and the ancient Silk Road at that time, which is very valuable In the absence of other means of image recording at that time, mural is an ideal tool of image recording As early as the Warring States period, the working people in ancient China had the habit of "getting up in the morning and mouthwashing" About the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a primitive willow toothbrush People use the willow toothbrush made of broom to brush their teeth with salt, so there is the theory of "willow toothbrush" Many pictures in the Dunhuang Scripture painting vividly record this custom of cleaning teeth For example, in the shaving map of Maitreya Sutra change in the south wall of cave 159, a fat monk with a bare upper body and a scarf around his neck, squatted on the ground with a mouthwash cup in his left hand, a willow toothbrush in the cup, salt in his right finger, and a waiter standing next to him From a large number of modified paintings, we can not only see a lot of pictures reflecting personal hygiene such as shaving, tooth cleaning and bathing, but also a lot of murals reflecting environmental health, which are also very eye-catching For example, set up fences to prevent sundries and garbage on water wells, and use brooms made of Achnatherum splendens to clean courtyards, streets, horse circles, etc A mural of a man defecating in a roofed toilet was painted in cave 206, built in the Sui Dynasty These are rare image materials for the study of environmental hygiene in Sui and Tang Dynasties In addition, in the Dunhuang Scripture changing paintings, some pictures of practicing martial arts and Qigong are also found Through these pictures, we can understand the ancient people's health needs and the importance of medicine and health from different aspects.