摘要
「祝由」一詞首見於《黃帝內經‧素問》，推其原意，應指某種治療的方法。至於這種療法的具體內涵，近代的辭典編者或認為是以符咒治病，或認為是以「祝說病由」或祝禱的方式治病。但是，傳統學者對於「祝由」一詞的意涵，則有相當分歧的看法。或將「祝由」釋為神名或人名；或認為是「以祝為由」治病（用祝治病）；或釋為「祝說病由」；或說指「通祝於神明，病從而可愈」；或謂「以祝移病」；或謂「斷絕病由」。而晚近的語言、文字學家則提出「同義複詞」、「聯綿詞」（合音字）的說法。
但是，多數學者主要還是以「祝說病由」解釋「祝由」的意涵。然而，對於「祝說病由」的具體內涵，學者又有許多不同的見解。以「祝說」而言，便有「咒說」（唸咒）、「祝禱」（祈求）、「祝告」（說明）三種解釋。其次，對於祝說者的身分，究竟是醫療者還是病人自己，乃至醫療者究竟是醫者、巫者、祝者、巫醫（毉），還是專門的咒禁師，也有不同的意見。再者，祝說的對象究竟是神、是人還是鬼，也各有主張。此外，對於「祝由」與「移精變氣」之間究竟有何關係，學者也有所討論。或認為這是兩種不同的療法，或主張兩者並無差別，若真要區分，則可說是一種療法的先後階段或程序。
The term zhu-you (祝由) first appears in the Huang-di nei-jing (黃帝內經), and seems to refer to some kind of healing practice. The compilers of modern dictionaries believe that the practice either entails a healing spell or prayer, or gloss it as “zhu-shuo bing-you” (祝說病由). Traditional scholars, however, have held rather varied views as to the meaning of zhu-you. Some have interpreted zhu-you to be the name of a person or a deity. Others have suggested that it means to heal sickness through the act of zhu (祝), or have also translated it as zhu-shuo bing-you. Still others have taken it to mean explaining the cause of a sickness to the gods so that it may be healed, to be an incantation to transfer the illness to an object or another person, or to eliminate a malady at its root. More recently, linguists and philologists have suggested that the characters zhu and you of zhu-you may be synonymous, or that they together comprise an inseparable polysyllabic word.
Many scholars still interpret zhu-you as meaning zhu-shuo bing-you, but then offer many interpretations of the concrete meaning of this phrase. Zhu-shuo is translated alternately as to utter an incantation, to offer a prayer, or to explain (the cause of sickness). Furthermore, the identity of one who engages in zhu-shuo is variously thought to be the afflicted person, or a healer: a physician, shaman, invoker, medicine man, or professional exorcist. It is also disputed whether those to whom one directs the act of zhu-shuo are spirits or the afflicted persons. There is debate as to the precise relationship between zhu-shuo and the practice of “transformation of jing (精) and qi (氣)” (yi-jing bian-qi 移精變氣). Some hold that these represent two different healing practices. Others believe that they refer to the same practice; if a distinction must be made, then they are different stages or procedures of the same practice.
關鍵詞
祝由 《黃帝內經•素問》 符咒 醫療 巫醫
zhu-you, Huang-di nei-jing, talisman and incantation, healing, shaman