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What characterizes Korean Medicine?
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Interview with Professor
Ahn Kyoo-seok
(Dean
of Kyunghee Univ. Korean Medical School)
interviewer: Ko Byung-eun
(Grade
3, editor-in-chief)
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Byung-eun
: Good morning, Mr.Ahn. I came to interview you on what
characteristics of Korean Medicine differentiates itself
from other medicines, especially the TCM(Traditional
Chinese Medicine).
People seem to
get confused over all this terminology and the confusion
may as well lead to misinterpretation or misunderstanding.
Pf. Ahn
: Yes, it is true that the terminology has
been confusing people a lot. But without clarifying
the differences, it would be in vain to just repeat
that they are different.First
of all, Korean Medicine has a history of putting emphasis
on the "roots", or the "originals".
As you know, ¡ºüÜð¨Ò®ÌÓ(Hwang-je-nae-kyung)¡»is considered
as the Bible of Korean Medicine. The book doesn't directly
deal with clinical practices of medicine but with basic
principles. Clinical applications, old and new, all
originate from basics. You first have to know the basics
to improve, as you know.
Byung-eun :
Grade 2 students took ¡ºáÈÙý(So-moon)¡»of ¡ºüÜð¨Ò®ÌÓ (Hwang-je-nae-kyung)¡»as
a major subject last semester. It did deal with the
basics but we thought it was too much focused on the
basics that in some parts, it was actually hard to understand
what it meant.
Pf.
Ahn : That actually
happens all the time. But I think that's what studies
like Korean Medicine is like. You can't get it all at
once, unless you repeat afterwards. And the repetitions
shouldn't just be mere repetitions. You have to think
and think for yourself, read books, or talk to your
classmates and professors before coming back to "get
more" of the book.
Byung-eun
: Thank you very much, Mr.Ahn. I will keep that in mind.
And now could
you show me some other examples which bolsters the fact
that Korean Medicine puts emphasis on the basics?
Pf.
Ahn :
Sure. Another good example is the Sa-am acupuncture,
which is based on the "Five elements theory(çéú¼)?.
Theoretical backgrounds of this unique Korean acupuncture
therapy comes from chapter 20 of ¡ºáÈÙý(So-moon)¡», where
it says "ãùöÎÞáñý úÈöÎÜÍñý(subtract from excessive parts,
and add on to the deficient parts)". Administering
only 60 acupoints(5 acupoints for each 12 Meridians),
it makes uses of ßÓß桤ßÓл relationships within the Five
Elements theory.
Byung-eun :
So I should stop complaining about not being able to
understand the basics at first. Maybe I need to put
more time and efforts. And is there any other characteristics
of Korean Medicine?
Pf.
Ahn :
Actually, another exclusive characteristics is that
it is also good at "summarizing" or "editing"
I should put it. It seems as not of a trait that can
go with "emphasizing on the basics", but it
actually is. Good example is ¡ºÛ° å·ùêøº(Bang-yak-hap-pyun)¡».
It is a representative Korean Medical prescription handbook,
which was written at the end of Chosun Dynasty. It categorizes
all the herbs and prescriptions according to symptoms
and you'll find the format very neat and organized.
Starting from the Chosun Dynasty, this kind of handbooks
came out in increasing amounts.
There are many other
characteristics that can define Korean Medicine, but
I'll specifically point out the two I've mentioned today.
Byung-eun :
Thank you again for your interview today.
Pf.
Ahn
: Thank you.
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