中國六朝時期的巫覡與醫療

Shamans and Healing in China during the Six Dynasties Period (3rd-6th Century A.D.)

在六朝時期的中國社會中，巫者是主要的醫療者之一。其病人並不局限於某一地域、族群、性別、年齡層、社會階層、宗教團體，其所能診治的疾病也不限於特定的種類。至於其對疾病原因的解釋（包括：亡魂作祟、鬼魅作祟、鬼魂憑附、鬼擊、鬼神責罰、觸犯禁忌），以及所採用的治療方法或診察手段（包括：性療法、政治療法、厭勝法、禱解法、禳除法、探命之術），則大多承襲漢代巫術療法的傳統。然而，在醫療市場上，巫者必須和醫者、道士、僧人競爭。在疾病觀和醫療法上，巫、醫、道、僧都各有其特色和專長，不過，他們之間也有一些共通性，而這些共通性似乎是自先秦、兩漢以來即已發展成熟的巫覡的醫療傳統。

During the Six dynasties period (3rd-6th century A.D.), shamans (wu 巫) were one of the most important groups of medical practitioners in China. Their patients were by no means limited to one particular locale, group, gender, age group, social class, or religious organization, nor were diagnoses and prescriptions administered by shamans limited to one particular category. Some of their diagnosed reasons for a particular illness might include: being haunted by the soul of a deceased person, demon haunting, being possessed by a ghost, being struck by a ghost, being punished by deities, and breaking a taboo. Their methods of treatment and examination of the patient could include: sexual treatments, political treatments, treatments involving the suppression of spirits, various prayer and sacrificial treatments, and other skills pertaining to investigating ones' life span. They followed the shamanistic tradition of skills and treatments advocated during the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.). Shamans competed with other medical healers as well as Taoist and Buddhist medical practitioners. Shamans, physicians, Taoist and Buddhist monks all had their own unique approaches to conceptualizing illnesses and treatment methods; however, among all their various medical practices there were some that shared various commonalties. Furthermore, these commonalties, espoused by many shamans in a long tradition of usage, appear to come from ancient periods.