Theory of the Relationship Between Heart and Brain in Taoist Medicine and Its Clinical Value
YAN Wenqiang
CHEN Zhenzong
CAI Yiyong
Abstract：Taoist medicine,as an important part of the traditional Chinese medicine,believes that the proper interpretation of"brain is the mansion of the primordial Shen"is that the brain holds the unconscious innate primordial spirit,and that"heart dominates Shen"means that the heart holds the acquired consciousness that directly undertakes spiritual activities.Primordial consciousness and acquired consciousness are essentially both spherical subtle particles'energy flow,only their subtleties are of different degrees.One is substantial and the other derivational,one concealed and the other manifest,yet both convertible to each other.Only thus can the human spiritual consciousness activities function normally.The clinical value of the"heart-brain relationship theory"of Taoism medicine is mainly manifested in two aspects:smooth communication between heart and brain and restore the physical nature of heart and brain.Through the analysis of prescriptions in cases such as Zhang Xichun's"mental disease"medical case,Liu Yiming's"Erhuang Pill",Sun Simiao's"Cizhu Pill"and others,this paper presents that the"heart-brain relationship theory"of Taoism medicine can provide brief and practicable guidance to clinical diagnosis and treatment of mental diseases.
Keywords：Taoism medicineHeart-brain relationshipSubstantial and derivationalInnate primordial spiritAcquired consciousness
Publication Date：2024-03-28
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：4( 472-475 )