Temple prescription slips as living ethnomedicine: practitioner knowledge and exploratory bioinformatics mapping of Malaysian Chinese folk therapeutics.
9 affiliations
- 1The Second Affiliated Hospital of Henan Medical University (Henan Mental Hospital), Xinxiang City, 453002, Henan Province, China.
- 2School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800, Penang, Malaysia.
- 3Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Persiaran Perdana BBN, 71800, Nilai, Malaysia.
- 4The Second Affiliated Hospital of Henan Medical University (Henan Mental Hospital), Xinxiang City, 453002, Henan Province, China. [email protected].
- 5School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800, Penang, Malaysia. [email protected].
- 6The Second Affiliated Hospital of Henan Medical University (Henan Mental Hospital), Xinxiang City, 453002, Henan Province, China. [email protected].
- 7The Second Affiliated Hospital of Henan Medical University (Henan Mental Hospital), Xinxiang City, 453002, Henan Province, China. [email protected].
- 8School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800, Penang, Malaysia. [email protected].
- 9Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Persiaran Perdana BBN, 71800, Nilai, Malaysia. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
Temple prescription slips are Chinese religious-medical texts that combine divination practice, materia medica knowledge and household self-care. Malaysian Chinese temple slips remain poorly documented, particularly with respect to sampling, transcription, source identification, safety issues and reproducible informatics analysis.Methods
A complete on-site convenience census of 106 publicly accessible prescription slips from the Goddess of Mercy Temple, Penang, was photographed. One non-prescription slip and two illegible slips were excluded, leaving 103 prescriptions for practitioner-based analysis. Herb names were transcribed, standardised, interpreted with an experienced TCM practitioner and cross-checked against materia medica, pharmacopoeial and plant-name resources. Prescriptions were categorised into Formulary of Chinese Medicine categories, coded for safety/interpretation issues and mapped using BATMAN-TCM disease-domain enrichment (target score > = 0.84; adjusted p < 0.05). The workflow was designed for documentary standardisation and hypothesis generation rather than validation of clinical efficacy.Results
The most frequent categories were Tonifying (16/103, 15.53%), Heat-clearing (15/103, 14.56%), Phlegm-resolving (10/103, 9.71%) and Dampness-eliminating (9/103, 8.74%). Several entries required correction or remained low-confidence because of handwritten, vernacular or multi-source names. Practitioner-coded cautions were dominated by cold-digestion, yin-deficiency/heat-dry, dampness/phlegm/stagnation, pregnancy/reproductive and toxic/mineral safety issues. BATMAN-TCM generated broad enrichment outputs for 101 prescriptions, mainly cardiovascular, pain/inflammatory and neurodegenerative/neurological domains. These outputs were treated as exploratory database signals, not clinical claims.Conclusion
This single-site corpus shows recognisable TCM formula logic, diaspora adaptation and safety-relevant uncertainties. The findings are hypothesis-generating only; they do not validate temple medicine generally or demonstrate efficacy for specific diseases. The protocol provides a reproducible basis for future multi-site, multi-practitioner, pharmacognostic and experimental research.
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BibTeX
@article{chong2026temple,
title = {{Temple prescription slips as living ethnomedicine: practitioner knowledge and exploratory bioinformatics mapping of Malaysian Chinese folk therapeutics.}},
author = {Jia Yi Chong and Pin Jun Ooi and Xuan Jie Ang and Jing Hui Wong and Alvin Chin Ping Ang and Qiyue Qiu and Ruiling Zhang and Mun Fei Yam},
journal = {Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s13002-026-00914-4},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958395},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Temple prescription slips as living ethnomedicine: practitioner knowledge and exploratory bioinformatics mapping of Malaysian Chinese folk therapeutics.
AU - Jia Yi Chong
AU - Pin Jun Ooi
AU - Xuan Jie Ang
AU - Jing Hui Wong
AU - Alvin Chin Ping Ang
AU - Qiyue Qiu
AU - Ruiling Zhang
AU - Mun Fei Yam
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine
DO - 10.1186/s13002-026-00914-4
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958395
AB - Background Temple prescription slips are Chinese religious-medical texts that combine divination practice, materia medica knowledge and household self-care. Malaysian Chinese temple slips remain poorly documented, particularly with respect to sampling, transcription, source identification, safety issues and reproducible informatics analysis.Methods A complete on-site convenience census of 106 publicly accessible prescription slips from the Goddess of Mercy Temple, Penang, was photographed. One non-prescription slip and two illegible slips were excluded, leaving 103 prescriptions for practitioner-based analysis. Herb names were transcribed, standardised, interpreted with an experienced TCM practitioner and cross-checked against materia medica, pharmacopoeial and plant-name resources. Prescriptions were categorised into Formulary of Chinese Medicine categories, coded for safety/interpretation issues and mapped using BATMAN-TCM disease-domain enrichment (target score > = 0.84; adjusted p < 0.05). The workflow was designed for documentary standardisation and hypothesis generation rather than validation of clinical efficacy.Results The most frequent categories were Tonifying (16/103, 15.53%), Heat-clearing (15/103, 14.56%), Phlegm-resolving (10/103, 9.71%) and Dampness-eliminating (9/103, 8.74%). Several entries required correction or remained low-confidence because of handwritten, vernacular or multi-source names. Practitioner-coded cautions were dominated by cold-digestion, yin-deficiency/heat-dry, dampness/phlegm/stagnation, pregnancy/reproductive and toxic/mineral safety issues. BATMAN-TCM generated broad enrichment outputs for 101 prescriptions, mainly cardiovascular, pain/inflammatory and neurodegenerative/neurological domains. These outputs were treated as exploratory database signals, not clinical claims.Conclusion This single-site corpus shows recognisable TCM formula logic, diaspora adaptation and safety-relevant uncertainties. The findings are hypothesis-generating only; they do not validate temple medicine generally or demonstrate efficacy for specific diseases. The protocol provides a reproducible basis for future multi-site, multi-practitioner, pharmacognostic and experimental research.
SN - 1746-4269
ER -