Vietnamese Oriental Medicine in Preserving National Cultural Identity

Many types of herbs are used as effective medicines. In the photo: Staff of Kim Xuyen Commune Health Station (Kim Thanh) take care of the station's herbal medicine garden. Photo: Duc Thanh

"Too Confucian"

The history of oriental medicine has left behind beautiful names that shine with noble medical ethics. National culture permeates every physician in two aspects: medical skills and medical ethics.

In terms of medicine, the portrait of ancient physicians was "qua Nho vi y" meaning that they had too much Nho before practicing medicine. They were people with comprehensive knowledge of Confucianism, medicine, philosophy, and numerology... many of them showed special talent in diagnosing and treating diseases, the ancients said that they were people with heavenly doctors. In the feudal state, in the court, there was the Imperial Medical Institute to train physicians to serve the king and mandarins. In society, people who practiced medicine were self-trained, such as Tue Tinh, Chu Van An, Hai Thuong Lan Ong, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, later Nguyen Tu Sieu... all followed the path of self-study. Their careers were closely linked to the lives of the working people, so the physicians had received traditional herbal remedies from the people. Many families and clans had traditional medicine, but it was rare for it to be passed down for many generations. Ancient oriental medicine classes were often spontaneous, the teacher only tutored a few students and then the students had to continue studying on their own.

There is a saying "Tien vi quan dac vi su" which means that if you advance, you can become an official or a teacher. Many scholars who did not meet the times returned to become teachers or practice medicine. The number of doctors in the past was very small, and those who practiced medicine were considered "saving people and helping the world". Today's era is different, oriental medicine is no longer the only one in treating diseases. Western medicine is considered orthodox medicine, the medical network covers the whole society, other treatment methods including oriental medicine are considered complementary medicine.

Traditional medicine practitioners and training are also different from the past. There are many good traditional medicine teachers now, but a teacher who has enough knowledge of Confucianism, medicine, philosophy, numerology and is knowledgeable in many aspects of life like in the past has gradually become a thing of the past. In return, there is an advantage in that there are many documents translated from Chinese into Vietnamese, the source of information from printed books and the Internet is very rich, along with increasingly modern means of examination and testing. Those who study Chinese and can read ancient medical books are even more valuable.

However, we should not rely entirely on modern means but should only consider them as references and especially should not westernize oriental medicine. In diagnosis, oriental medicine practitioners must still take the thinking of yin and yang, the five elements, the eight bonds, the four diagnoses and the meridians as the basis, modern science is only support. Moreover, oriental medicine thinking is the thinking of inductive generalization, while western medicine thinking is the thinking of analysis, if we apply analytical thinking mechanically to oriental medicine, it will have a deadlocked, unreasonable outcome. One thing worth noting is that our people's experience in treating diseases with traditional medicinal plants is still extremely rich and cannot be fully recorded in official books. It can be said that our country's plants are increasingly widely used, many plants are used as medicine as a new discovery bringing miraculous effects. Using indigenous medicine to cure diseases has permeated the spirit of every physician and has stimulated the minds of scientists to explore the endless healing potential of traditional medicine - traditional medicine to cure diseases of Southern people (Southern medicine to treat Southern people).

Medical ethics as the root

People who practice medicine often talk a lot about medical skills, but everyone understands that medical ethics must be the foundation. The medical ethics of modern physicians are fundamentally not far from the teachings of the ancestors of medicine, except that the ancients respected the law of cause and effect. Lan Ong once said: "Nhat the y tam the suy" and "Tam the luong y kha di hau sinh khanh tuong" meaning that if one generation of practicing medicine is immoral, three generations later will be corrupted, but if one generation of practicing medicine has virtue, "luong y" must have three consecutive generations, then perhaps the descendants will have the blessing of giving birth to khanh tuong (in the past, only those who practiced medicine skillfully and virtuously were called luong y). Therefore, many ancient physicians, although having many children, did not dare to pass on their profession because they could not find anyone with the qualities of a physician.

People who practice oriental medicine must be imbued with the 9 medical teachings and 8 sins to avoid of Hai Thuong Lan Ong, and must also know the Hippocratic Oath and the 12 regulations on medical ethics of the Ministry of Health. Uncle Ho once taught: A good physician must be like a mother and combine Eastern and Western medicine. These are extremely concise and profound teachings.

Medicine is always blended with medical ethics, oriental medicine practitioners always respect nature, are attached to nature, love nature more than anyone else. Always carry the desire for a clean environment with biodiversity, because nature and plants are where people rely on, are companions supporting the treatment of diseases every day. Absorbing the quintessence of ancient medicine and medical ethics, improving it to suit modern times so that the portrait of each physician has a high personality, bringing a position in society, creating the beauty of oriental medicine people in the new era.

Physician NGUYEN KHAC THU