Vietnam's hot and humid tropical climate provides for a lavish range of
medicinal plant species. Statistics from the Vietnam Ministry of Health
show that 1,300 medicinal plant species have been found in Vietnam.
Early on Vietnamese people discovered hundreds of medical remedies and
accumulated a large range of experience in health care, disease
prevention and treatment and these form a basis of Vietnamese
traditional medicine.
In
fact, many of the courses of treatment and prevention have remained
useful
until now such as eating ginger as an anti-cold and flu treatment,
anti-malaria plants such as Artermisia and Thuong Xanh, tumeric for
stomach issues and chewing betel and dying teeth to prevent tooth decay
and gum disease and to deaden or anesthetize the gums, etc.) As
early
as the 2nd century BC, Vietnamese used hundreds of plant species for
medicinal purposes. Traditional Vietnamese Medicine (sometimes
abbreviated as TVM) has a long history starting in the Hung Vuong
dynasty over 2,000 years ago. For thousands of years,
Traditional
Vietnamese Medicine evolved and was influenced from Traditional Chinese
Medicine but also with distinct differences.
From
the Ly Dynasty (11th to 13th century), the Imperial Court had an
organized medical division, which was later changed to a medical
institute - one of the first in Vietnam. Under the Tran Dynasty (13th
to 14th century) medicinal herbs were planted in an organized fashion,
nurtured, collected, managed and used for disease treatment. This
record is based on archeological and other records such as the Duoc Son
historical remains in Pha Lai- Quang Ninh province. This period was one
in which many famous medical doctors made significant contributions to
the development of Vietnamese traditional medicine, especially the
great physician Tue Tinh, known as the founder of Vietnamese
traditional medicine.
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The
greatest physicians in Traditional Vietnamese Medicine are Tue Tinh
(14th century) and Hai Thuong Lang Ong Le Huu Trac (18th century) who
are known as the medical founders of Vietnam’s Traditional
Medicine.
Normally, according to Vietnamese tradition and custom, those who were
considered as the most talented and successful men in any specific
field were named as the saints or fathers of their specialty. Tue Tinh
was called the saint and founder of Vietnamese traditional medicine. He
was also the author of some famous books such as the Miracle Vietnamese
Pharmacy and Great Morality In the Art of Medicine. He was the first
person to give prominence to an idea of “the need for Vietnamese to be
treated by Vietnamese medicines”. |
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The
great physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le
Huu Trac was the author of a
memorable work about Vietnamese traditional medicine known as the
encyclopedia of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine. This
encyclopedia has
28 episodes and makes up 66 volumes including “Medical origins with
morality and skills”. On his 250th birthday, UNESCO recognized and
acknowledged him as a world cultural and well-known man for his great
contribution to the development of traditional medicine and culture of
the world.
During
the Tran dynasty (century XIII-XIV) Royal Medical Physician Pham Cong
Ban gained fame for his high ethical standards and precise and
successful care in treatment of patients without any discrimination
between the rich and the poor. In addition to his work as a medical
physician in curing the sick, Ban spent his own money for emergency
relief, care of the poor, destitute, disabled patients, orphans and
donated rice and medicines to people who experienced epidemics. He
saved hundreds of lives and is one of the leading lights in the history
of Vietnam medicine. |
Another
physician Tran Canh under the
Tran Du Tong King Dynasty (Century XIV)
used acupuncture to save the life of the King from drowning when the
King was a small child. After the King grew up and experienced
impotency, Tran Canh himself successfully treated him which enabled the
King to have 3 sons ensuring the dynasty.
The famous Vietnamese author Chu Van
An (XIV Century) gained fame in
the history of Vietnam and its’s culture not only as the Headmaster of
Quoc Tu Giam college but also the author of the medical work "Detailed
explanations to Medicine”.
Acupuncture
was practiced since the 14th Century by a Vietnamese
physician named Tran Canh.
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The great physician and prolific author
Tue Tinh, originally known as Nguyen
Ba Tinh
was born under the Tran Dynasty (Century XIV). In 1351, he passed a
state exam organized by the King and received a doctor degree. However,
he refused to work as a state mandarin and instead became a monk in a
pagoda, making medicine and writing books. In 1385, he was arrested and
brought to China as a tribute to the Minh Dynasty. In China, he became
well-known as an excellent physician and was granted the title ‘Great
Physician and Zen Buddhist’. The “Vietnamese Medicines as Magic” work
he wrote chronicled 499 Vietnamese medical herbs and 3932 remedies for
treating 184 types of diseases. The “Skills and Knowledge of Medical
Treatment” book he wrote recorded 630 Vietnamese medical herbs, 13
remedies for treating various diseases in a Vietnamese way and 37
remedies for cold related disease treatment. |
Nguyen Dai Nang was a
medical physician under the Ho Dynasty (1400-1406). He was known
as a wizard who specialized in acupuncture in the early XV century of
Vietnam. He wrote a book on “Collection of Acupunctural
Techniques and Methods”. The work of acupuncture methods was the
earliest logically and structurally written in Vietnamese Nom
Language. Chu Nom language was a written form of Vietnamese that
utilized Chinese characters. Chữ-nôm uses a mixture of
standard Chinese characters and new characters invented specifically
for writing Vietnamese. This work of Nguyen Dai Nang repeatedly
utilized a style of six words and eight words per sentence poetry in
3020 lines. Apart from his reporting on the dangerous spots of 14
pulses in this acupuncture book of Oriental medicine, this work also
showed some special vital points that Vietnamese physicians used at
that time.
Phan Phù Tiên,
the author
of “Comprehensive Manuscripts of Flora” published the first pharmacy
book in Vietnam. This was published in the year 1428.
Nguyen Truc, author of
“Bao Anh Luong Phuong” - specialized in pediatrics in the 1400s and
published his book in 1455.
The great physicians in the XVI century included Vu Toan Trai. In the
Seventeenth Century, Hoang Don Hoa
was a royal physician and a noted
healer and also a teacher of the prince Nguyen Dao An.
Noted physicians in the XVIII century that was considered a golden Age
in the history of Vietnam traditional medicine included the physician Trinh Dinh Ngoan who was born and
worked under the Le Hien Tong dynasty. Trinh Dinh Ngoan made
great contributions to constructing Thang Long Medical Temple.
The above include some of the leading lights in medicine in the early
era. These pioneers set the standards and in some cases
identified the cures and the principles of care that in some cases are
still in use today.
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