Libraly Journal

Libraly Journal ›› 2022, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (7): 139-147.

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The Buddha’s Sutra on Hemorrhoids and the Cultural Exchange between India and China  

Zhao Yachen, Wang Xingyi (Institute of Chinese Medicine Science and Humanities, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine)   

  • Online:2022-07-15 Published:2022-07-19
  • Contact: Zhao Yachen, Wang Xingyi (Institute of Chinese Medicine Science and Humanities, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine)

Abstract: The Buddha’s Sutra on Hemorrhoids is a Tantric text translated by Yi Jing from India, with a distinctive description of hemorrhoids. The text is found in Dunhuang manuscripts S.5379, the Dazhengzang, the Medical Heart Formula, and the Xixia Scroll IHB. NO.807. According to research findings, S.5379 is the earliest manuscript and differs from the latter three. Each of them must have been copied from a different source. Its contents reflect the understanding that haemorrhoids are greatly influenced by Indian Ayurvedic medicine, which believes that the haemorrhoids can be found on all parts of the body and gradually shrink, describing only perianal diseases, from a broad to a narrow sense. However, the sutra was first spread in the Middle Kingdom of China, then back to Dunhuang, Heishui City and later to Japan. It also influenced the understanding of haemorrhoids in Chinese medicine, expanding from a perianal disease to other parts of the body, such as nasal and ear haemorrhoids. The meaning of the word ‘haemorrhoid’ was further expanded from a narrow to a broad sense. The sutra thus preserves the traces of cultural exchange between India and China, leaving a valuable historical legacy in the rich history of cultural exchange between India and China.