Mysterious Tujia medicine I. History Tujia, is an ethnic minority with a long history in China. Mainly living in Wuling mountain areas.  In ancient time, Wuling is the borders of Guchu, Bazi and Yelang countries. 　　　The Tujia population was about 5.7 million. Tujia ethnic characteristics are "respecting Tu king, believing in Tu teacher, speaking Tu dialect, having Tu festivals, dancing Tu dance, weaving Tu clothing”. Based on these six Tu, the natives there say they are Tujia people.     About 300 thousand Tujia people use Tujia language as a communication tool in their daily life.  Tujia language belongs to Sino-Tibetan Language Family, Tibeten-Myanmar Language branch, close to Yi dialect.

Tujia nationality only has their own language but not their own characters. Most of the Tujia people understand Han characters.

 

    II. History of Tujia Medicine
　　　Since Tujia people don’t have their characters, so the inheritance and development of their national culture mainly rely on verbal saying from generation to generation. Before our ancestors invented the language tools for recording their thinking, the data handed down by verbal saying would be the important historical materials. So the ancient people studied history, taking the legends as important historical materials......
    "Tujia people, in long-term social life practice, in the struggle with the diseases, created their own national medicine. These abundant data, although without written records, handed down by verbal saying, setting up a monument for their nation.
　　　1. Original medical knowledge
　　　The origin of Tujia medicine is closely related with the original human life activities. Just as the physiologist Pavlov pointed out: "There is the human, there is medical activities".
　　　Tujia ancestors summed up their understandings on medicinal plants in long years of life, such as which plants are not harmful for human body, which plants can be used for treatment of diseases, which plants are good to eat as food and take as medicine. Thus they accumulated many ways for prevention and treatment of diseases.

　2. Medical legends
　　　There are many folk stories about Tujia medicine, such as Yaowang Bodhisattva treated people with herbs, in the legend, he had a mirror on his abdomen, and from the mirror he could see the diseased part inside the patient; and The Very High Lord sent his disciple down to the earth to treat patients, and so on.
　　　One day, when Yaowang Bodhisattva passed by a river, he saw the blood drops on the rock. He asked people what happened. People told him that a lying-in woman died and was carried passing by. Yaowang Bodhisattva hurried up to the funeral team and told people that the lying-in woman was not died. He treated the woman with acupuncture. A moment later, she sighed, and then later on, her abdomen had peristalsis, giving birth to a son. Thus two lives were saved.
    One day, Yaowang Bodhisattva collected herbal medicines in a mountain. After tasting a kind of grass he fell down and lost consciousness. In the morning on the following day, dew dropped from the tea leaves into the his mouth, he waked up slowly, then he got to know that the tea had a function of detoxification. Thereafter, that tea can be used for detoxification is known to all people. When you take medicine, don’t drink tea.
　　　One day, when Yaowang Bodhisattva was busy with collecting herbal medicines, a white tiger suddenly ran to him, with mouth open, like to bite him. Bodhisattva was shocked, said: "I treated patients in all my life, I didn't do any bad things. Today you want to eat me, please nod your head three times, if you don't eat me, please shake your head three times." Hearing this, the tiger shook his head three times, tearing in his eyes, like begging Bodhisattva for something. Bodhisattva walked closer to the tiger and saw that a big piece of pig bone stuck in the throat of the tiger.
　　　Bodhisattva used a little medicine to remove quickly the pig bone from the tiger's mouth. The tiger didn’t leave, instead, he came closer to Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva rose on the tiger’s back, and the white tiger flied to sky together with Bodhisattva to become Buddha (Some Tujia people worshiped to white tiger). In the temple of Yaowang Bodhisattva in Pu city, the true believers still incense all year round. The temple was built in the Ming dynasty. A bronze mirror hanging in the temple could tell people about Yin and Yang, blood vessels, and actions of medicines inside the body of patients. It is said that Bodhisattva left it to people for diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
 
　In folk legend, it is said that The Very High Lord sent his disciples descending down from heaven to treat diseases of people. He gave them three grains of elixir of life, and then his disciples became transparent after taking these grains. Next, he taught his disciples that what plants were herbal medicines for treatment of diseases. Although this is a legend, for thousand years, Tujia people do not forget Yaowang Bodhisattva and his disciples for saving their lives.
　　　Legend says that in Tujia villages people used to have a kind of strange disease. The symptoms of patients are weak pulse, shortness of breath, weak extremities, neither dead nor alive all day. A Tujia doctor surnamed Dang found a plant, with which he cured this disease, under the guidance of immortal. This plant was named then“Dangshen”.
　　　Another story is that an old man hunting in the mountains rescued a goat who was bitten by a wolf. The wounded goat was carried home and taken good care by the old man. Originally the goat was the son of Mountain God. Ten years later, the old hunter broke his leg in an accident when his eyes were damaged by sand. The goat treated the old hunter’s eyes by licking with tongue and treated his broken leg with herbs. The old man got recovery soon.
　III. The characteristics of Tujia medicine1. Guided by the philosophy thoughts
　　　Tujia medicine originated and developed in the era of "natural philosophy", have a tendency to materialism, and is affected by the thought of dialectics.
　　　In ancient times, people think that Qi is the basic substance of everything in the world. Human body is composed of Qi, blood, and essence. The physiological qi of human body is called internal qi, qi in the external environment is called external qi. The connection of external qi and internal qi makes an important part in the life activity of human body.
　　　In addition, Tujia medicine also pays attention to the relationship of haven and earth with human body, namely the relationship of human body with environment.
     Tujia medicine doctors use the natural philosophy theory to recognize the structure and disease of human body from the macro and overall understanding, and summarized their experience in practice.
Tujia medicine is a weapon of Tujia people from generation to generation for prevention and treatment of diseases, and an important component of traditional Chinese medicine.                                               2. Food and medicine from the same origin
　　　In the development process of Tujia medicine, a notable characteristic is “food and medicine from same origin”. The Tujia natives accumulated rich experiences about herbal materials of food for daily life, medicine for treatment of diseases, and of both food and medicine. The medical treatment activities began in the long social practice.
    3. Inherited by mouth-to-mouth telling
Tujia medicine is inherited by mouth-to-mouth telling with the following characteristics.
　　　(1). Pass down through hereditary family (also known as the ancestral): generally passing down to son, not to daughter, sometimes to honest credible friends or apprentices.
　　　(2). Learn from medicine teachers. Those who do not have medical knowledge followed the teachers in collecting herbal medicines in fields or mountains and in treating patients at the same time. 。
  (3). Some methods and medicines spreading among people for a long time were adopted in Tujia medicine, such as Baguan (cupping), Fangsha (scrapping).
　　　In addition, folk songs, legends, stories, and riddles also help people make deep memorization of knowledge of Tujia medicine.    

                                                              

((4). Noble medical ethics
Tujia people are industrious and brave. The Tujia doctors have medical ethics. They take “serving patients” as vocation.

　　　①. Work warmly and thoughtfully for patients. The poor and rich, men and women, and young and old patients are served equally. Sometimes they go to patients’ home to give treatment.
　　  ②. Serve on calls. Patients with mild diseases come to see the doctor and those with serious will call the doctor to come home for treatment.
　　　③. Come to patient’s home to give treatment. It is of a doctor’s sin if he knows that someone is sick but he doesn’t go to make diagnosis and give treatment.
　　  ④. Treat patients without charge. Patient doesn't have to pay anything to doctor. Sometimes patient gives money or gift to doctor after the disease is cured. The gift can be a piece of pork, a bottle of wine, a pair of cloth shoes or some cigarettes, etc.
    ⑤. Doctors are not conservative in telling the name of medicine and the method of treatment to patients. But sometimes the secret prescriptions handed down from older generations are kept secret by doctor, not easily told others, including the doctor’s relatives, so they are lost.