Ancient Chinese healing through sorcery

Zhu You Ke (祝由科) is the term for the ancient Chinese system of healing through sorcery. The Chinese word “Zhu” (祝) stands for “Zhu Shou” (祝寿), meaning praying for longevity. “You” (由) refers to the cause of the sickness. “Ke” means branch or division.

Zhu You, in other words, is the healing of disease using mind power, with the aid of prayers, magical incantations and amulets.

Example:

This case happened during the Republician Era of China.

A German doctor, who worked in a missionary hospital in China, had a big furuncle (boil) on his back. His condition was deteriorating as medicine treatment did not result in any improvement.

He was introduced to a Zhu You master by a friend. The master had the German stand in front of a tree, eyes closed, and facing East. A red circle was then drawn on the tree with cinnabar ink “zhu sha” (朱砂). Standing behind the patient and chanting, the master began to draw circle after circle around the diseased part with “zhu sha”. The size of the circle became smaller and smaller until it reached the centre of the furuncle. The master then pointed at that spot with his brush and after some chanting, exclaimed “cured”.

The German no longer felt any pain on his back. On checking, his friend found that the big furuncle had gone, with only a small mark left on the previously diseased part.

The master then directed them to look at the tree. The tree now had a big lump that looked similar to the furuncle, with a black centre. The disease was mysteriously transferred to the tree.

The term “Zhu You” first appeared in both Suwen (素问) and Lingshui (灵枢) of Huangdi Neijing (黄帝内经)), which is the most important ancient text in Chinese medicine.

Huangdi Neijing, also known as The Inner Canon of Huangdi or Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, has two parts: Suwen (Basic Questions) and Lingshui (Divine Pivot, Spiritual Pivot, Numinous Pivot, or Miraculous Pivot).

Suwen covers the theoretical foundation of Chinese Medicine and its diagnostic methods. Lingshui laid out the whole foundation of acupuncture, and is also called “Acupuncture Canon”.

Zhu You was discussed in these ancient texts.

As Zhu You underwent changes in its ritual ceremony over the centuries, it began to be known by other names such as jin su (禁术), jin fang (禁方), zhou jin (咒禁), su jin (书禁), and zhu you su jin (祝由书禁). The word “jin” (禁) in these names means “control the spread of disease”.

Zhu You has its origin in the sorcery healing (巫祝) of the early ancient Chinese civilization. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, it was usually used to treat sores or other diseases under the External Medicine Branch (外科) of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

(Note: In TCM, external medicine is the branch concerned with the body’s surface. Diseases such as sores, wounds, carbuncles, and ulcers are all under the External Medicine Branch.)

Zhu You technique reached its full development during the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Starting from Sui Dynasty (A.D. 581), Zhu You Ke was listed under the Imperial Physician Bureau of the various dynasties.

Zhu You Ke was included in the official medical system for almost a thousand years. It expanded side by side with the other branches of Chinese medicine. However, friction and competition existed between them. It also has close relationship with the development of Buddhism and Taoism.

In its early stage, Zhu You concentrated on treating diseases under the External Medicine Branch, for pain ailments, and for mental problems claimed to be caused by demons. The treatment involved mainly prayers, incantations and charms.

From the Yuan Dynasty onwards, Zhu You was designated as one of the thirteen branches of Chinese Medicine. It began to use medicine to complement its healing technique, enabling it to treat a wider scope of sickness. As a result, it was seen as competing with conventional Chinese medicine branches. In addition, the usage of medicine led to a deviation of the original Zhu You healing system, resulting in a gradual regression of the art.

The challenges from the traditional Chinese medicine branches and the regression in technique subsequently led to the elimination of Zhu You Ke from the Imperial Physician Bureau. It was in A.D. 1571, during the reign of Ming Emperor Longqing, that Zhu You Ke was abolished from the official medical system.

It was not the end of Zhu You Ke after it lost its official status. Instead, it became very popular with the common folks. Sorcery practitioners or Taoist priests were believed to have learned such skills.

Throughout the centuries, opinions towards Zhu You are generally divided into two kinds:

(1) support

Sun Simiao (孙思邈) was a very famous imperial physician of the Tang Dynasty. He acknowledged “jin zhou” (禁咒) (Zhu You) as a part of the Chinese medical system, in his works “Qian Jin Yi Fang” (千金翼方).

The late Ma Guang Ya (马光亚), a well-known Chinese physician in Taiwan, once narrated a case of shingles (or zoster) being treated by one of his students using Zhu You technique. The patient was healed in a much shorter time when compared to those cases treated by medicine. As such, he said that people should not look down upon Zhu You just because its technique appears mysterious.

The effectiveness of Zhu You in emergency healing was mentioned in the manifesto of the Republic of China Taoist Association. (Original text: 至於小道之巫医，则辰州祝由, 救急屡惊奇效.)

(2) non-acceptance

Chinese Medicine Research Institute’s Guang An Men Hospital published a book titled “Bo Ji Yi Yuan Di Sun Simiao“ (博极医源的孙思邈), in which Sun Simiao was highly praised and respected for his contributions in Chinese medical science. However, the Hospital considered Sun to have overly publicize Zhu You healing system in his most important work “Qian Jin Yi Fang”. The last two scrolls containing such information were considered dross.

After collating annotations for “Qian Jin Yi Fang”, the People’s Medical Publishing House in China also commented that the last two scrolls on “Jin zhou” were of no value to medical science.

Professor Dr Ma Boying is widely known as a famous medical historian in the world. In his book titled “Cultural History of Chinese Medicine” (中国医学文化史), he quoted the rejection of Zhu You by several ancient physicians such as Xui Da Chun (徐大椿), Yu Bian (俞弁)，and Yu Bo (虞搏). The conclusion is that Zhu You has no place in mainstream Chinese Medicine.

Zhu You Ke was also called “Chen Zhou magic” (辰州法) as the practice flourished in Xiangxi Chen Zhou during the olden days. The ritual process is complex and has a complicated set of rules that need to be strictly adhered to.

For the preparation of the Chen Zhou charms, time, location, direction, specified movements, codes, and stuff for worshipping purposes have to be correct. When writing the charms, there are rules regarding the order of the strokes, especially for the first and the last stroke.

The charm used in the mysterious Xiangxi "hurrying corpse”(赶尸) magic is believed to be the Chen Zhou charm.

In Taiwan today, it is said that healing by Zhu You technique still exists but is considered under Taoism practice.

Interested in joining HubPages? If so, please click here.