Abstract
Moxibustion is an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It achieved higher level of recognition and had more general application in ancient times than in contemporary life. As the vital historical sources, the records of unearthed literatures offered precious insights to Chinese social life pattern and medical practice in Qin and Han dynasties (221 BC–220 AD). There was no surprise that the bamboo and silk documents excavated from Mawangdui (马王堆) tomb, Hantanpo (旱滩坡) tomb, and other relics had a large amount of texts relevant to moxibustion. This research sorted moxibustion recordings from seven unearthed literatures and discovered that moxibustion had been developed into different modalities and utilized to treat many diseases at that time. In addition, the indications, contraindications of moxibustion, and the method of postmoxibustion care were also discussed. On this basis, some hints were provided to support the hypothesis that the practice of moxibustion led to the discovery of meridians. All our preliminary results in the research have drawn attention for this old therapy and given a new source for its application in clinic and scientific research.
Highlights
Moxibustion is an external therapy using burning moxa stick or cone to produce a warm sensation and moxa smoke on the acupoints [1]
The purpose of the current paper is to explore how the treatment method employed for the vessels, moxibustion, might have contributed to the evolution of the vessels to the meridians and to the development of meridian theory
Since the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of bamboo slips and silk books have been unearthed from tombs of Qin (221 BC–206 BC) and Han (202 BC–220 AD) dynasties in China [5, 6]
Summary
Moxibustion is an external therapy using burning moxa stick or cone to produce a warm sensation and moxa smoke on the acupoints [1]. The studies of the earliest known form of Chinese writing, Oracle Bone Script (Jiagu Wen, 甲 骨 文), indicated that moxibustion might have been applied in Yin dynasty (1600 BC–1046 BC) [2] It is not as popular as acupuncture today, and Zhenjiu (针 灸), acupuncturemoxibustion therapy, is often misconstrued as a medical practice that only uses needles to cope with diseases. Since the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of bamboo slips and silk books have been unearthed from tombs of Qin (221 BC–206 BC) and Han (202 BC–220 AD) dynasties in China [5, 6] They documented valuable medical materials and partially illustrated how Chinese medicine originated [7]. After illustrating the circumstances of moxibustion’s application at that time, some clues were offered to reflect the influence of moxa practice on the development of the meridians
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