Origins of Acupuncture Many scholars believe that acupuncture evolved out of the ancient Chinese practice of bloodletting and that it did not appear on the scene in its present form until after the first century A.D. While the archeological evidence found in China supports this conclusion, it fails to acknowledge the influence of other neighboring cultures around China during the period in question. Although the geographical barriers certainly created a natural isolation in ancient China, it is important to acknowledge that China is not an Island. It is a fact of life that people move about and in so doing, exchange goods, services, technology and ideas, as well as cultural information. In his book, Tao and Dharma, Robert Svoboda relates this story as evidence of the exchange of information between India and China prior to the first century A. D.
Mr. Svoboda goes on to postulate that the texts on Ayurveda were spread throughout China not only with the arrival of the Buddhist monks during the first century A. D., but in fact, much earlier. There is ample evidence that this was the case. For example, the Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (110 - 208 A. D.) is recorded as the first physician in China to use a decoction of hemp as surgical anesthesia. Yet Ayurvedic medicine has a sophisticated history of surgery dating back as early as 600 B. C. to the Indian text Sushruta Samhita, where the use of hemp as surgical anesthesia was first recorded. In his book, Mr. Svoboda goes on to point out countless similarities in medicine, religion, astrology, art and alchemy providing abundant evidence that the exchange of ideas between India and China was a constant occurrence starting as early as 400 B. C. In his book, The Lost Secrets of Ayurvedic Acupuncture, Dr. Frank Ros provides evidence that one particular volume of an ancient Ayurvedic text known as Suchi Veda is translated as "the art of piercing with a needle" and deals entirely with acupuncture. Likewise, Dr. Ros goes on to point out that the terms "needling" and "burning" (moxibustion) were utilized by Charaka, the ancient Ayurvedic physician, not only with reference to surgery but also to non-surgical medical modalities. Likewise, the ancient Ayurvedic text written by Charaka, Charaka Samhita outlines the location and medical use for Marma (vital points) many of which correspond exactly to traditional Chinese acupuncture points. This Ayurvedic text was written sometime around 1000 B. C. There is evidence that this text was taken to China with the Buddhist monks in the first century A. D. or even earlier by other travelers. The carefully guarded Tibetan medical text, 4th Shastra, indeed explains that Tibet received knowledge of Acupuncture and herbal medicine from India. If these influences from India did in fact occur, why have scholars largely ignored Ayurvedic literature in their search for the roots of acupuncture in China? One possible explanation is that the ancient Ayurvedic texts refer to their use of acupuncture in the category of surgery and the acupuncture terminology is not distinct from surgical terminology. In contrast, the Chinese texts separate the two modalities into two distinct arts with separate terminology. Based on the above, there is evidence to suggest that acupuncture evolved both from the ancient Ayurvedic system of India and the extensive application and observation of the art by the medical experts in China during the first century A. D. Also, archeological evidence suggests that prior to the first century A. D., the use of needles for bloodletting was widely practiced in China but acupuncture, as we know it, had not yet appeared on the scene. Therefore, at some point during the first century A. D., there was a quantum leap in the use of needles from purely a means of bloodletting to the practice of acupuncture as a means of accessing and regulating the subtle energy of the body. Unfortunately, historians have very little information which would explain how this quantum leap occurred. This gap in the story only supports the theory that this leap in technology may have been sparked or facilitated by ideas coming from the outside. Perhaps India and China were working along two parallel tracts which converged in China during the first century A. D. There can be no argument that medicine in China, over the last 3000 years, has evolved through a rich exposure to countless influences, both from within and without. I believe it is fair to say that any meaningful examination of the origins of acupuncture would be incomplete without a thorough discussion of the influences from India, Tibet and perhaps other neighboring populations. References: |
