My two-year-old nephew was born with his Mongol birthmark on his wrist. In Korea we say that Granny Samshin (in this case the Granny is also the goddess who grants babies) slaps the baby's butt to shove him out of his mummy's tummy, and in the process leaves behind her bluish hand mark. Granny Samshin must not have wanted to let go of my nephew, and held on to his wrist--he was several days later than due. The awesome thing about this Mongol birthmark is that while Chinese babies don't have it, Korean and Mongol babies do.
That must be because we are people of one origin, the Tungus Mongol in the Ural-Altaic language family. The Koreans are descended from the Yi(夷) people who lived up north near the Baikal Lake. They were a people who worshipped a great(大) principle and who were masters of archery(弓). (The Chinese letter for 'Yi' is an assemble of 大 and 弓.) This people of Mongol origin moved eastward towards the bright sun, and split into the North Yi and the East Yi. Dangun Chosun is the first nation the East Yi people founded.
The myth of Dangun is the Genesis story of Korea's beginning. God's name was Hwan In and he lived in Heaven. God had a son named Hwan Wung who came down to Earth and built Shin Shi (a congregation place of the theocracy in the ancient time) under a holy tree (called Shin Dan Su) in Mountain Taebaek. In that time, pure and good-hearted people lived peacefully in the Korean peninsula. Hwan Wung became their king, bringing with him the philosophy of humanitarianism. One day, a bear and a tiger who admired the happy and civilized lives of man came to Hwan Wung and asked to become man. Hwan Wung gave them a handful of garlic and mugwort and bade them to go into a dark cave to pray for one hundred days. The impatient tiger could not stand the trial and escaped back into the wilderness. The bear, on the other hand, prayed and prayed and became a woman. Hwan Wung married the Bear Woman and had a son called Dangun. Kochosun, the archetype of Korea, was a nation that had been established by Dangun in 2333 B.C. and existed for two thousand years. Garlic and mugwort are also the fist recorded herbs used for medicinal purpose.
When Kochosun fell in B.C. 194, the nation was inherited by Goguryeo, one of the three nations in the Korean peninsula along with Baekje and Shilla. Shilla united the three kingdoms in the 7th century, but lost a vast amount of Goguryeo's land to Tang(China's Tang Dynasty). In 918 Koryeo("Korea") was founded by Wang Geon amidst the remnants of the civil war-ridden Shilla.
Koryeo was a Buddhist country. Along with the religion came great exchanges of culture between East and West, and foreign Medicine also found its way to Koryeo. It was then that tropical medicines like Chim Hyang (Aquilariae resinatum lignum) came to be used in Korean Medicine.
In 1392 Yi Seong Gye overthrew the last king of Koryeo and began the Chosun Dynasty. The transition of the kingdom brought about the transition of governing philosophy. Korea became a Confucian country from a Buddhist one, and cultural changes followed. Even in Medicine, Eastern metaphysics--a branch of Confucius teaching--was reflected in unique ideas such as the Sasang Constitutional Medicine, which will be discussed with greater depth in our upcoming newsletters.
After the turbulent times of modernization period through Korea's colonization by Japan and the Korean War, we are one people divided into two countries, but the time will come when the North and the South will become one again. As a student of Korean Medicine, I dare hope for the unification of North and South Korean Medicine one day too, which are unfortunately also apart currently.
We call ourselves the Baedal people. Baedal comes from the Goguryeo pronunciation "bak-dal," 'bak' meaning light and 'dal' meaning mountain. Therefore Baedal has the meaning of 'the mountain of light,' a bright land open for new hope. Mountain Taebaek, where Hwan Wung built the Shin Shi, can be translated as 'the great white mountain.' 'White' at that time meant brightness for Koreans, so when we say we are the 'white clothed people,' along with out naivety, the term symbolized our love of light and all that is bright such as justice and equality.
The Baedal people are in a different ethnic group from the Chinese Han. (Han babies don't have the Mongol birthmark.) But our Medicine was greatly affected by China. We use their herbs, we study their books, and we write with their characters. However, the Medicine transformed in Korea, in our way. For example, we have records of intense research in medicinal herbs that grow in our soil. Dong Eui Bo Gam, the masterpiece of Korean Medicine written by Heo Jun, contains an original viewpoint towards Medicine. In the 21st century, Korean Medicine can be transformed into the Medicine of the world in the same way as it did back then. I believe Korean Medicine can be the bridge that connects the highly versatile modern Medicine and traditional Eastern Medicine.
Who are we?
I recently watched the musical The Last Empress. The beautiful melodies had a typically Korean sentiment, and they told a sad story of the fall of Chosun. Koreans are the people who survived under the callous trenching of history. What made us endure the harsh winter and bloom again like the sagebrush in the spring must have been inherited along with the birthmark on our butts.
We are a people of great faith. Faith in humanitarianism was the inspiration behind our rise. And the Bear Woman of great endurance and patience was our ancestor. Koreans are also capable of extending a great emotional range, and hold pure honesty in their hearts. We are often compared for our passion to the Latin Americans. Anyone who has witnessed the mirthful Gut*, with its vivacious 神(pronounced shin), would recognize the passion forged from it. (*Gut is a kind of Korean musical performance played with the four traditional percussion instruments. It is unique in that it draws participation from watchers. Koreans express the glee that come at the climax of the music as '神 synthesized.' 神 is also a Medical term that can be translated approximately as spirit.)
Foreigners will wonder at a Korean man forgiving someone's offense over a drink of Soju (a spirituous liquor). That is how compassionate we are.
The passion and fire described above might go against what I am about to say, but Korea is also the 'land of morning calm.' We are known for our polite ways and our respect for elders. In other words, we have many faces. The cascading tears and the easy laughter and the rage and love all belong to the same man whose hobby is drawing orchids and hearing the chirps of crickets. Because many Koreans tend to embrace the tornado of emotions inside themselves, there are many physical conditions owing to the blocked Ki. One example is Hwa Byoung. Hwa Byoung is a disease defined only in Korea. It is a chronic condition of pent up anger, often seen in middle-aged women who are mistreated and neglected at home. In a world of immense stress like this one, Hwa Byoung treatment can be practically adapted in many ways.
Ultimately, the difference between Korean Medicine and traditional Chinese Medicine is the focus on individuals. Based on the viewpoint of the Sasang Constitutional Medicine, which emphasizes the role of one's character, Korean Medicine concentrates on every one of the different patients and puts diagnosis and treatment on this basis.
The great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore once said in his poem, "Korea is the lamplight of the Far East." We can be the lamplight in many ways. Today, innumerous diseases are breaking out due to unhealthy life style and unpacified emotions. Let us be the light house for the voyage searching for the World Medicine.
