第10章 医圣张仲景

与华佗一样,张仲景也是东汉时期的名医,尤其对伤寒病最有研究。

公元196—219年,战乱频繁,瘟疫大为流行,病死的人很多。张仲景的家族原有200多口人,不到10年的时间,就病死了2/3,其中70%的人是患伤寒这种流行病死的。那时候所说的伤寒病,是包括霍乱、痢疾、肺炎、流行性感冒等一些急性传染病。在东汉末年,大多数医生对这种流行病还束手无策,没有对症治疗的办法,所以成百上千的人被这种病夺去了生命。经过长期努力,张仲景总结出一整套关于伤寒病的病理、诊断及治疗、用药的理论和方法。他认为伤寒病从初起到病危,有一个逐步发展的过程,在不同的阶段,对不同的病人,应当有不同的治疗方法。张仲景一边行医,一边总结自己的临床经验,记录最行之有效的方剂。在多年行医经验的基础上,他撰写了一部《伤寒杂病论》,这部医书是中医的经典著作,历代医家都视为必读之书。

目前,各中医药大学都将此书作为必修的课程。张仲景以他自己的杰出贡献被后人尊称为“医圣”。

Zhang Zhongjing--The Sage of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Zhang Zhongjing,lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty(25—220),was a doctor as famous as Hua Tuo.He especially specialized in the typhoid fever.

From 196 to 219,warlords fought in chaos and plagues spread widely.Numerous people died of contagions.In Zhang Zhongjing's kindred,there had been over two hundred kinship members,but two thirds of them died of the disease within ten years.Among them,seventy percent died of the contagious typhoid.The so-called typhoid at that time included cholera,dysentery,pneumonia,flu and some other acute contagious diseases.In the late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty,most doctors felt helpless to these diseases,for there was no remedy right to cure them.As a result,thousands of people lost their lives.For that reason,Zhang Zhongjing researched the diseases for years and summed up a complete system of theories on pathologh,diagnosis,therapy and prescriptions for typhoid fevers.He maintained that the typhoid developed gradually from the initial attack till the crucial dying stage.Treatments should be varied according to different individuals at the different stages of the disease development.Zhang Zhongjing kept on summing up his clinic experience while he was practicing medicine,noting down those effective prescriptions.Based on his years'practice of medicine,he worked out a monograph,Shang Han Za Bing Lun(Teatise on Febrile and Miscellanesous Diseases).This is a classic work on traditional Chinese medicine.Doctors of all generations deemed it as a must-read book.

Now all the TCM universities in China assign it as a compulsory course.In memory of him,Zhang Zhongjing was admired as a medical sage in honor of his significant contribution to TCM.