Superior Commander should defeat the pandemic to usher development, lessons from China

June, 29, 2021

By Prof. Samitha Hettige

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently addressed the nation. He mentioned about the efforts to control the pandemic & to develop the country. However, it is not very clear if the majority of socially, politically & economically divided Sri Lankan population who may be thinking that they have mastered the use of smart phones has a clear understanding on how countries have developed overcoming obstacles during the past few decades. Sri Lankans may learn new lessons on this from the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Xu Dachun, the highly respected physician from the Qing dynasty compared applying medicinal remedies to deploying troops. He observed similarities between TCM’s principles of diagnosis & treatment & the military tactics developed by legendary Chinese General Sunzi. According to Xu all 13 chapters on military strategy developed by Sunzi covers all aspects of treating a disease.

Xu highlighted below;

  1. Subduing the Enemy without Fighting: Promoting Health & Preventive measures.
  2. Swift Attack: TCM’s Rapid Treatment.

According to Sunzi’s “Art of War”, fighting & conquering all battles is not supreme excellence. He described supreme excellence as subduing the enemy without fighting. According to him walled cities should only be the last resort. Xu saw a great similarity between this approach & prevention & promotion of health among population. He encouraged physicians to treat decease before it occurred.

Sunzi stressed that troops should be maintained to suppress rebellions & assault should be made only when it is unavoidable.  Xu agreed that medicines should be kept ready & applied only when there is no other choice. According to TCM, if the body is prepared to adapt to environmental changes it will resist attacks by external factors.  Xu educated the population that every medicinal substance is toxic to a certain degree & it is similar to deploying troops. TCM also focus on climatic changes & how individuals should change behavior to be healthy during different seasons. Sliced raw ginger boiled in water with brown sugar is a very popular medicinal remedy to prevent health conditions related to cold climates as per TCM. This according to Xu is similar to Art of War’s principle of vanquishing the enemy without deploying troops.

Sunzi advocated using caution when deploying troops & stressed the value of swift attack since it is important to rapidly crush the enemy when it starts advancing to cause disaster.  The legendary four great physicians from the Jin (1115 – 1234 AD) & Yuan (1271 – 1368 AD) dynasties have successfully applied this military strategy in combating decease & pandemics using TCM. According to physician Zhang Zihe (1156 – 1228 AD) as soon as external forces invades the body it must be rapidly crushed. When that is done, the body will be calm, disorder will cease & health will be promoted. When humans are healthy, the economy they energize will regain speed. Sri Lankans can learn from “Art of War” & TCM approaches on how to overcome obstacles as we have also mastered both in different ways for centuries.

Above references were made accessible by Anshal at the library of the late Mrs. Indra Ambawatte who passed away peacefully on the 16th of June 2021. May she attain Nirvana!

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