《祷告药皇誓疏》:中国版希波克拉底誓言初探

A preliminary study of Dao gao yao huang shi shu (Oath of Praying for the King of Medicine), a Chinese version of Hippocratic Oath

中国最早的期刊《吴医汇讲》于清乾隆五十七年(1792)发表的《祷告药皇誓疏》(《王家瓒七誓》)是迄今所见中国最早承传传统医德的的医者誓词,亦即中国版的《希波克拉底誓言》。孙思邈的《大医精诚》是一篇精湛的医德论文,却并未演化成为希波克拉底誓言那样的誓词体,而《祷告药皇誓疏》却从标题到内容都是一个完整的"誓言"范本。它传承了《大医精诚》的内容,丰富了"忍辱安贫"的内涵,更重要的是它的条理化、誓言化,标志着中国医德作为一种准则、一种信条、一种规范的表述,开始萌芽和生发,是中医业逐渐走向成熟的标志之一。

Dao gao yao huang shi shu (Oath of Praying for the King of Medicine), also called Wang jia zan qi shi (Wang Jiazan’s Seven Oaths), published in the Fifty-seventh Year of Qianlong Reign (1792) of the Qing Dynasty in the Wu yi hui jiang (Collected Discourses of Doctors from Wu Region), the earliest medical periodicals in China, was the earliest Doctor’s Oath ever seen since doctors inherited the traditional medical ethics, that is, a Chinese version of Hippocratic Oath. Sun Simiao’s Da yi jing cheng (Proficiency and Sincerity of Great Doctors) was a superb essay of medical ethics without using the style of oath, while Dao gao yao huang shi shu was a complete model of "Oath Statement" from its title to the contents. It inherited the contents from Da yi jing cheng and enriched its connotation of "forbearance to humiliation and enduring poverty" . What’s more, its systematization and stylization of oath mark that China’s medical ethics as a norm, a creed and a normative expression starts to sprout and germinate, and becomes one of the signs of the gradual maturity of profession of traditional Chinese medicine.