In ancient times, the key to understanding and treating illness throughout the world was that a human was regarded as a holistic entity in both physical and spiritual aspects. Ancient people generally classified diseases according to visible and sensible symptoms. They focused on ailments such as swelling, bleeding, pain, numbness, and impaired functioning. The treatments were about getting rid of these problems and restoring bodily functions at the same time. Thus, the comprehension of illness refers to understanding the possibility of all human activities, which entails careful observation and detailed recording of the conditions of humankind.


1. All External Symptoms are Reflections of One's Internal Conditions.

Various physical appearances of one's body can be used as indices for one's health. For an index to be acknowledged as a harbinger for a special disease, there must be shared experiences of numerous people. For an index to be believed as universal knowledge, centuries of experiences should be accumulated. The Dongui Bogam systematically arranges the experiences acquired by human observation in the broader East Asian medical society. Its content includes the change in one’s voice; how and how often one sweats; one’s dreams; and also color, shape, smell, and the frequency of urine and stool, which all serve as indicators for the changes inside one's body.

One of the most typical indicators of a person’s physical condition is the face. Change in facial expressions is used for reading emotions, but according to the Dongui Bogam, changes in the condition of the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, forehead, and tongue also help us to understand disorders of the five viscera and six bowels. In addition, the book provides a detailed record on which sign reflects which kinds of diseases. It says one gets short-of-breath and flares one’s nostrils if one has illness in the lung. The eyes become red if one has an illness in the liver. The tongue curls and shortens and the cheekbone area becomes red if one’s heart is ill. One cannot taste food well if the stomach and the spleen are ill. The lips' color and gloss change when the stomach and the spleen are ill. One has liquid discharge or cerumen in the ear when the kidney is ill.

The Dongui Bogam adds that urine and stools reflect the internal condition of the body. It states that, "Yellow urine means there is heat in the lower abdomen and liver. A red color is mostly due to alcohol, while clear urine is due to deficiencies." It covers several urine-related disorders such as difficulty in urination, dysuria, bladder colic (dysuria with lower abdominal colic), urinary incontinence, dribbling urination, and nocturia. Each of these conditions are indicators for particular disorders. Likewise, differences in the condition of stool reflect different physical conditions.

2. Diagnostic Technique by Reading the Qualitative Change in Pulse

In ancient medicine in both the East and the West, it was common to diagnose by taking the pulse on the patient's wrist. While western medicine placed emphasis on the count and rhythm of the pulse, East Asian medicine highlighted the sensation of the pulse. Unlike the western pulse-taking method, merely taking its position as a diagnostic technique, the eastern pulse-taking method attempted to detect every possible alternation in human body. East Asian medical practitioners went as far as to determine the prognosis of illness and the patient's life expectancy. Therefore, "to take the pulse" in East Asian culture has an identical meaning as "to go to a doctor," and the idiom is still being used over time. The pulsation near the wrists of both sides is an accurate reflection of the heartbeat. Nevertheless, the East Asian medical world considered that the pulse slightly varies with individuals or symptoms, and it is subject to change with time even in the same individuals or symptoms. Medical professionals historically started to put the subtle change in pulses in a systematic order. The Dongui Bogam gives a fine description of the connection between disease and variation in the pulse. Although diagnosis by pulse-taking is a highly advanced technique unique in East Asian medicine, solely depending on pulsation for diagnosis must be avoided. In other words, when it comes to medical examination, we should always take other diagnostic methods into account, as stressed in the Dongui Bogam.

3. Different Types of Individuals Have Different Types of Diseases.

In the Dongui Bogam, it is said that the same symptoms may have different causes with respect to the individuals. Therefore, we must consider this factor while diagnosing a disease. At first, we must inspect if a person is obese or thin. The obese and shiny person reflects a condition of abundant qi and blood, while the obese but not shiny person reflects a condition of abundant qi and lack of blood. The thin and not-shiny person reflects a lack of both qi and blood. Therefore, we have to inspect whether physical appearances and qi are abundant or not, and give a variety of treatments according to such differences.

It is easy to cure a lean patient with dark color, while it is difficult to cure an obese patient with reddish or white color. People with a dark color are not susceptible to colds, while poeple with a reddish or white color are. Lean people have firm muscles and obese people have soft muscles. If someone has soft muscles, it is hard to cure his or her disease. The obese have weak qi and they easily feel cold. Coldness generates dampness, which in turn generates phlegm. Lean people have a deficiency of blood and they easily feel hot. Heat generates fire and fire generates dryness. Therefore, obese people often get cold or damp syndromes and lean people easily get heat or dryness syndromes.

The brave and cowardly people have different appearances and psychology so that they get different diseases. It is important to note that there are differences between men and women in diseases. When treating male diseases, we have to ask about their sexual life, especially the frequency, intensity, and tendency of sex in detail. For female diseases, we should not miss the minute details of their menstruation cycles and pregnancies. The Dongui Bogam maintains that social relations can be a key clue to the treatment of diseases. In other words, when a wealthy person becomes poor, his or her skin will be dry and limbs will be too weak to move. If a person is laid off from a high position, his or her body will certainly become weak.

4. About the Importance of Preventing Colds

In ancient medicine, a human body is considered as a holistic entity and an independent unit of life, living in harmony with the surroundings. It maintains and protects individuals, and establishes its own domain. The occurrence of a disease means such independent activity is obstructed. When such a change occurs, no matter the human body is aware of it or not, it informs us through various ailments and pains that certain measures should be taken. The start of such a change mostly begins with a change of mood. It usually starts by feeling unrefreshed. It is the same when we suffer from colds. At one point, the feeling of motivation disappears. The body gradually feels a chill and its movement gets rusty, and finally it experiences such symptoms as runny noses and coughing. The common cold tends to be easily cured with the passing of time; however, it often turns into chronic rhinitis or pharyngolaryngitis, or worsens into pneumonia and takes away one’s life. In the East Asian medicine, the disease that starts in such a way is called Cold Damage. As there are many types of Cold Damages, it does not only mean the simple cold. But if we localize the symptoms caused by external coldness, the Cold Damage can correspond to cold. To maintain the body’s health unstrained in order not to catch a cold, and to keep this condition through proper nutrition, rest, and exercise in order to deal with the change in the environment or the change of emotions flexibly, are not only the ways to prevent colds but also the ways to stay healthy and live long.



*This series of articles about the Dongui Bogam has been made possible through the cooperation of the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine.