Introduction: The development of Mongolian traditional medicine (MTM) has historical roots in Indian Ayurvedic and Tibetan medical systems. The Four Medical Tantras significantly influenced MTM’s education, theory, and practice. Disease classifications within the Four Medical Tantras have long been foundational for diagnosis, treatment, and teaching.
Mongolian scholar Lama Gegeen Luvsandanzanjantsan expanded the Four Medical Tantras’ classification system in his seminal work, A Comprehensive Explanation of Disease Differentiation from the Decrees of Khamba Nomun Khan. This study compares disease classifications from this work with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) specific to Traditional Medicine (TM). Goal: To analyze and compare the disease classifications in A Comprehensive Explanation of Disease Differentiation from the Decrees of Khamba Nomun Khan with ICD-10 TM classifications, providing detailed insights. Methods: The study utilized the following materials:
• Lama Gegeen Luvsandanzanjantsan’s A Comprehensive Explanation of Disease Differentiation from the Decrees of Khamba Nomun Khan.
• ICD-10 classifications of diseases. Research methods included source study, comparative analysis, and systematic categorization. Results: Lama Gegeen Luvsandanzanjantsan authored four volumes comprising 79 sections and 220 chapters, detailing 404 diseases classified by “place,” “cause,” “nature,” and “root.” While aligned with the Four Medical Tantras, his classifications offer deeper specificity, such as diseases caused by combinations of the five vital energies (wind, bile, phlegm, etc.).
This study focused on 101 diseases classified by “place” and 101 by “cause” for comparison. The ICD-10 TM classification system organizes diseases into 15 segments based on diagnostic criteria and etiology. A comparative analysis of the 202 diseases from Lama Gegeen’s text revealed alignment and divergence in categorization principles. Conclusion Lama Gegeen Luvsandanzanjantsan’s “A Comprehensive Explanation of Disease Differentiation” (1639–1704), written in Tibetan, provides an extensive classification of 404 diseases. While the ICD-10 TM system organizes diseases into 15 categories with etiology-based diagnostics, it lacks the detailed elaboration found in Lama Gegeen’s work. Integrating these classification systems could enhance diagnostics, treatment strategies, and research in traditional medicine.

As specified in the main textbook of traditional Mongolian medicine, when diagnosing a disease, first of all, the disease is analyzed according to the type and classification of the disease, and then the root cause of the disease is known. Although there are numerous diseases, it is possible to distinguish exactly which disease it is from other diseases by knowing its root. The ancestors of Mongolians have created and developed dozens of works of materialistic and intellectual culture related to nomadic civilization. In these works, the medical art, treatment methods, and classification of diseases created during the historical development of fighting diseases have a special place. In particular, the very ancient forms of cognition of diseases, their causes, conditions, diagnosis, and treatment methods have been deeply developed from the point of view of mythology, religion, as well as philosophical and scientific views, from the level of simple consciousness to evidence-based knowledge. Within the framework of this knowledge, skin diseases, which have not been widely studied and are not generally used in practice, occupy an important place. There are 18 diseases in the classification of skin diseases, and if we divide them into 4 in detail, a total of 24 diseases are identified. This classification should be called the general classification of skin diseases due to the fact that in addition to the general classification of skin diseases, many others related to skin diseases are mentioned in other categories of diseases in the “Four Medical Tantras”. The results of this study show that these diseases should be integrated and used as a special category of skin diseases.

In our research article published in the Journal of Mongolian Medical Science, 2018 №1 (183), we made the following conclusion.
1. Activities of religious envoys from Europe to the Qing dynasty (Manchu) and Mongolia, the Imperial Russian Consular office, which was opened in Ikh Khuree (The ancient capital of Mongolia), and documents related to infectious diseases, European medical knowledge and information on medical care are historical facts that European medicine was first “imported” to Mongolia. Based on these facts, the knowledge of European medicine in Mongolia began to spread in the 1720s.
2. It was concluded that the knowledge of European medicine in Mongolia had previously been concentrated in Ikh Khuree through the Qing dynasty (Manchu), Inner Mongolia, and Buryatia in the north, and had gradually spread to some provinces of Mongolia to prevent communicable diseases.
Over the next three years, many pieces of evidence were found that enriched the history of Mongolian medicine. Among these facts, a book called in the Oirat dialect “Ahr surhl” is of great interest as the book provides an opportunity to further confirm that European medicine has begun to spread in Mongolia, as we noted in a previous article.
The Russian title of the book is “ Краткое наставление о лечении болезней простыми средствами” and the Mongolian translation in English is “A Brief treatise” (A Brief Instruction on Treating Diseases with Simple Methods). The book is called “Ahr surhl” when translated from Russian into Oirat dialects in Todo Bichig (Clear Script).
The first volume was compiled by Professor Osip Kirillovich Kamenetsky, the first Russian physician and member of the Academy of Medicine and Surgery, and the second volume was compiled by Yakov Osipovich Sapolovich and published in St. Petersburg in 1803. Later, with the help of Princess Tseveg Tundutova of Kalmykia, Nikolay Alekseevich Lebedev translated the Oirat dialect into Todo Bichig (Clear Script).
The book is one of the historical sources that clarifies how European medicine spread through Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and how European medicine and traditional medicine coexisted and developed. It is a brief book compiled by a Russian scholar on the medical knowledge, methods, and pharmacology in European medicine.
It is important to note that the translation of this book in the Oirat dialect into Todo Bichig (Clear Script) opened the door for the Mongolian people to use European medicine. Therefore, it is true that the knowledge of Western medicine began to spread among the Mongols as early as the 19th century. The only book currently preserved in Mongolia was found in Khuvsgul province in north, not in the Oirat-speaking western provinces of Mongolia. This is a testament to the book’s widespread popularity in Mongolia.

In our research article published in journal of Mongolian Medical Science, 2018 №1 (183), we made the following conclusion. These include:
1. Activities of religious envoys from Europe to Qing dynasty (Manchu) and Mongolia, the Imperial Russian Consular office, which was opened in Ikh Khuree (The ancient capital of Mongolia), and documents related to infectious diseases, European medical knowledge and information on medical care are historical facts that European medicine was first “imported” to Mongolia. Based on these facts, the knowledge of European medicine in Mongolia began to spread in the 1720s.
2. It was concluded that the knowledge of European medicine in Mongolia had previously been concentrated in the Ikh Khuree through Qing dynasty (Manchu), Inner Mongolia, and Buryatia in the north, and had gradually spread to some provinces of Mongolia to prevent communicable diseases.
Over the next three years, many evidences were found that enriched the history of Mongolian medicine. Among these facts, a book called in Oirat dialect “Ahr surhl” is of great interest as the book provides an opportunity to further confirm that European medicine has begun to spread in Mongolia, as we noted in a previous article. The Russian title of the book is “ Краткое наставление о лечении болезней простыми средствами” and the Mongolian translation in English is “A Brief treatise” (A Brief Instruction on Treating Diseases with Simple Methods). The book is called “Ahr surhl” when translated from Russian into Oirat dialects in Todo Bichig (Clear Script).
The first volume was compiled by Professor Osip Kirillovich Kamenetsky, the first Russian physician and member of the Academy of Medicine and Surgery, and the second volume was compiled by Yakov Osipovich Sapolovich and published in St. Petersburg in 1803. Later, with the help of Princess Tseveg Tundutova of Kalmykia, Nikolay Alekseevich Lebedev translated the Oirat dialect into Todo Bichig (Clear Script).
The book is one of the historical sources that clarifies on how European medicine spread through Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and how European medicine and traditional medicine coexisted and developed. It is a brief book compiled by a Russian scholar on the medical knowledge, methods, pharmacology in European medicine.
It is important to note that the translation of this book in the Oirat dialect into Todo Bichig (Clear Script) opened the door for the Mongolian people to use European medicine. Therefore, it is true that the knowledge of Western medicine began to spread among the Mongols as early as the 19th century. The only book currently preserved in Mongolia was found in Khuvsgul province in north, not in the Oirat-speaking western provinces of Mongolia. This is a testament to the book’s widespread popularity in Mongolia.