TCM and Ayurveda share some commonalities in that they both rely on ancient texts. In TCM these texts are the Suwen (Basic Questions) and Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot), which together form the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine) written in about 100 B.C. In the Ayurvedic system, the two texts are the Caraka Samhita (Compendium of Caraka; also spelled Charaka) and the Susruta Samhita (Compendium of Susruta), both of which were written around 100 A.D. (Dharmananda, n.d.).

TCM, Ayurveda, and homeopathy all focus on the patient rather than the disease. Health is viewed in a more holistic fashion, with TCM and Ayurveda focused on achieving a harmonious balance within a person’s mind, body and spirit. Each views Illness and disease as being caused in some way by a vital imbalance. TCM and Ayurveda both see this balance in terms of the man and the universe, and as the result of ignoring sacred, natural laws (Patwardhan, Warude, Pushpangadan, & Bhatt, N, 2005). The therapeutic strategies for the treatment of disease or symptoms used by all are holistic in nature. While homeopathy primarily uses plants, minerals and animal products to create remedies, on some occasions homeopathic medicines are prepared from chemical drug substances such as penicillin or streptomycin (National Center for Homeopathy, 2017). TCM and Ayurvida exclusively use herbs or medicines provided by the environment (Koopsen & Young, 2009, pp. 159-160, 282; Oliver, 2013), and about half of the botanical sources they use have similarities (Jaiswal, Liang, & Zhao, 2016). Ayurveda is focused on using the body’s own energies and defenses to overcome illness (Koopsen & Young, 2009, p. 173), a concept it shares to some degree with TCM (Koopsen & Young, 2009, pp. 143-144).

One thing to keep in mind is that the word homeopathy is not an “umbrella” term used to describe a variety of different natural therapies. Although homeopathic remedies are derived from natural substances, homeopathy should not be confused with herbal medicine, TCM, or other types of natural medicines. It is its own, unique therapeutic system. Homeopathic medicines are regulated by the FDA and homeopathic pharmacies must comply with the FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practices (National Center for Homeopathy, 2017).

Herbal medicinal products, however, for the most part remain unmonitored and untested. The down side of this is that adverse reactions and contraindications with pharmaceutical drugs are largely unknown because of the lack of knowledge concerning their mode of action or how they work. Some herbs can actually be toxic if they are not used properly. There is a need for herbal treatments to undergo some sort of global regulation, and for the health care practitioners who provide or administer them need to be adequately educated. While providers of herbal medicines need to be empowered in this respect, there must also be a collaboration between them and more orthodox practitioners in order to achieve a standard of safety, quality, and efficacy (Zhang, Onakpoya, Posadzki, & Eddouks, 2015; Koopsen & Young, 2009, p. 158).

References

Dharmananda, S. (n.d.). Ayurvedic herbal medicine and its relation to Chinese herbal medicine. Retrieved from http://www.itmonline.org/arts/ayurherb.htm

Jaiswal, Y., Liang, Z., & Zhao, Z. (2016). Botanical drugs in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 194, 245-259. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2016.06.052

Koopsen, C., & Young, C., (2009). Integrative health: A holistic approach for health professionals. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

National Center for Homeopathy. (2017). What is homeopathy? Retrieved from https://www.homeopathycenter.org/what-is-homeopathy

Oliver, S. J. (2013). The role of traditional medicine practice in primary health care within aboriginal Australia: a review of the literature. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 9(46). doi:0.1186/1746-4269-9-46

Patwardhan, B., Warude, D., Pushpangadan, P., & Bhatt, N. (2005). Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine: A Comparative overview. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2(4), 465–473. http://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/neh140

Zhang, J., Onakpoya, I. J., Posadzki, P., & Eddouks, M. (2015). The safety of herbal medicine: From prejudice to evidence. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015, 1-3. doi:10.1155/2015/316706