Disease, dissension, and strife are universal human conditions. Prehis-
toric artifacts reveal that combat is contemporaneous with the human species.
The drive for preservation of self, family, and social community is very pow-
erful. It is the basis for all martial methods. Just as healing traditions are com-
mon to all civilizations, so too combat traditions are found in all cultures.
There is a profound association between medicine and martial arts
within Chinese civilization. Both disciplines are born of a common prem-
ise: the need to sustain the life and health of the individual, the social unit,
and the culture. Each represents a relative aspect of this life-sustaining
function. Medicine is relatively life-enhancing. Martial arts are relatively
life-destroying. The convergence of these two techniques offers therapeutic
options along the continuum of human existence.
Anthony Schmieg, M.D.
See alsoBoxing, Chinese; Ki/Qi; Religion and Spiritual Development:
China
References
Confucius. Analects of Confucius [30]. Translated by Anthony Schmieg.
Dao De Jing[31]. Translated by Anthony Schmieg.
Griffith, Samuel B. 1963. Sun Tzu: The Art of War.New York: Oxford
University Press.
Holbrook, Bruce. 1981. The Stone Monkey: An Alternative, Chinese-
Scientific, Reality.New York: William Morrow.
———. 1974. “World-View Revisited through Ethnographic Semantic
Analysis: The ‘Kinship’- and ‘Color’-Focal World-View of Traditional
Chinese Physicians.” In Cross-Cultural Context.New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Legge, James. 1885. The Li Ki.Vols. 27 and 28,The Sacred Books of the
East. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lewis, Mark Edward. 1990. Sanctioned Violence in Early China.New
York: SUNY Press.
Mengzi. Numerous translations. Book 4 [32].
Needham, Joseph. 1954. Science and Civilization in China.Vol. 2. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Porkert, Manfred. 1974. The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine:
Systems of Correspondence.Cambridge: MIT Press.
Sun Si-miao. 1975. Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold [33].
Translated by Tony Schmieg. Taibei: Di Qiu Chu Ban She [34].
Sunzi. The Art of War. Chap. 3 [35].
“Designs of the State.” 1970. In Wuzi [36]. From Sun-Wu Bing Fa [37].
Taibei: Ji Wen Shu Zhu.
List of Ideograms
Medicine, Traditional Chinese 333