The ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine Law’ as the first comprehensive and systematic law in China reflecting the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that everyone knows its positive significance for the development of traditional Chinese medicine. This not only means that traditional Chinese medicine has entered an era with rules to follow, but also means that traditional Chinese medicine has gained the support and application of the Party and the government. So, where to learn traditional Chinese medicine?

Where to learn traditional Chinese medicine? The first step in learning traditional Chinese medicine

Of course, to study traditional Chinese medicine, one needs to read books on traditional Chinese medicine, and there are countless books. How to choose a beginner’s textbook and read it systematically is undoubtedly related to time and results.

1. Basic knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine

This book is the overall framework of traditional Chinese medicine theory. Starting from this book, we first learn how traditional Chinese medicine discusses the physiology of the body, the occurrence of diseases, and the understanding of diseases. The traditional Chinese medicine terms and technical terms mentioned in the book will be abundant in all traditional Chinese medicine books. Therefore, after understanding this book, we will know its specific meaning. Because traditional Chinese medicine is filled with ancient philosophical theories, it is very abstract, and has a strong holistic concept and logical thinking. Therefore, we cannot rely solely on literal interpretation when reading it, and we need to systematically think and practice it, not only to integrate it but also to be able to use it freely.

2. Medicinal materials category

According to the excavation and sorting of various generations, the current traditional Chinese medicinal materials have reached more than 10,000 species, while the content of some current textbooks of medicinal materials is basically still slightly improved around the ‘Shennong’s Materia Medica’, with only about 400 herbs listed, and most of the functions are inherited, which is insufficient for professional TCM practitioners engaged in multi-disciplinary clinical diagnosis and treatment.

In addition, due to historical and standard limitations, there are some misunderstandings about the action of drugs in the books, or false claims, or other effects that have not been discovered, so when used in clinical medicine, it is still necessary to refer to some contemporary pharmacological works to enrich it. It is necessary to accurately grasp the properties, flavors, functions, processing of traditional Chinese medicine, and dosage of drugs, as well as their side effects, especially the toxic and side effects of drugs.

3. Prescriptions category

Pharmacology is a course that discusses and studies the laws of drug formula combination and clinical application, and is one of the basic sciences in each clinical department.

There are many prescriptions described in traditional Chinese medicine books, and a rough statistical analysis shows that there were more than 60,000 prescriptions before the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the many innovative ones that followed. Today’s textbook of prescriptions often classifies and discusses various significant prescriptions according to the methods of treatment and action, selecting about 400 prescriptions, some of which are already rarely used or completely unnecessary, while many prescriptions in each clinical department have not been selected. Therefore, beginners need to consult clinical TCM guides for selection.

In studying the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine, it is not only necessary to master the basic professional knowledge of prescriptions, but also to memorize the composition, action, and main treatment of commonly used clinical medicine prescriptions and the ingredients of prescriptions not mentioned in books. The prescriptions of the ancients are the summary of their medical experience, some of which have been in use for more than two thousand years, and therefore, it requires hard work and memorization.