-The Medical Classic of the Yellow
Emperor
-Shen Nong's Herbal Classic
-The Classic of Difficulties
-Treatise on Febrile Diseases
-The Pulse Classic
-Newly Revised Materia Medicae
-Compendium of Materia
Medica
The Medical Classic of the Yellow
Emperor
The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor is one of the earliest
books found in the corpus of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It
enunciates the systematic structure of the theoretical system of
TCM and reflects the theoretical principles and academic thoughts
associated with it. This theoretical system has formed the basis
for development of TCM since its establishment. Nearly all academic
thoughts of many well-known medical masters and medical schools
appearing during the history of TCM have grown out of the
theoretical system of The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor.
Consequently, it is one of the basic theoretical curriculums of TCM
today.
All medical theories come from practice and, in turn, direct
practice. Throughout the millennia, the great contributions by TCM
to ensure the well-being of Chinese people depended on the
theoretical system of The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor.
Therefore, it received lavish attention from medical practitioners
throughout Chinese history and was venerated as an ancestral work
of physicians, not to mention being a compulsory classical work in
TCM.
Times of Compilation and Its Author
Many historians and physicians throughout Chinese history
studied and verified that the major contents of The Medical Classic
of the Yellow Emperor had appeared in the Warring States Period
(475 BC -- 221 BC). It had been added during the Qin Dynasty (221
BC -- 206 BC) and Han Dynasty (206 BC -- AD 24).
The Yellow Emperor is the legendary first ancestor of the
Chinese nation, and many Chinese people are proud of being regarded
as his offspring. Many Chinese living in earlier times ascribed all
their culture to him. This book was titled with his name in order
to lead it to fame and authority. The academic divergence of
thoughts in this book sufficiently indicates that it is neither a
work of a single individual, nor medical achievement of a certain
period or a local region, but rather the summarization of
experiences of many medical practitioners over a long time.
Components of the Book
The currently universal version of The Medical Classic of the
Yellow Emperor encompasses two parts: The Plain Questions and The
Divine Pivot. Each part has 81 articles. Thus, the book is composed
of 162 articles.
Basic Academic Thoughts Found in the Theoretical System of The
Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor
The compilation of The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor
established the unique theoretical system of TCM, and formed the
basis for the development of TCM. According to the development
regularity of medicines and the inference from the theoretical
contents of The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor, this
distinct system is based on anatomical knowledge, and directed by
ancient philosophical thoughts. It was produced after long
observation of life's phenomena, and proved repeatedly through
medical practice. It developed gradually to form from perceptual
cognition to rational knowledge and from scraps to
comprehensiveness. Therefore, the theoretical system described in
this work is under the guidance of ancient plain materialist
dialectics, combining with the regularity of human life's
activities. This system also presents a lot of significant
theoretical principles and academic thoughts. They are also
ideological ways that we must master when we study The Medical
Classic of the Yellow Emperor. This theoretical system has two
typical features, i.e., plain materialist dialectics and integral
idea that man and nature are mutually corresponding.
Plain materialist dialectics
A. The "essential qi" is the source of the generation and
formation of everything. The ancient Chinese philosophers regarded
that the source of the cosmos was the essential qi. Everything in
the world was produced by the essential qi, namely, original qi.
The qi is an invisible materialistic element that forms everything.
Of course, the "everything" also encompasses the human beings. Man
is endowed with the essential qi from nature, and it is called qi,
essential qi, vital qi, or original qi. The concept of qi permeated
the medical field. This, the idea that everything consists of qi,
is inevitably shown in The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor.
The qi is not only the basic material that forms the body, but also
the dynamic power of the body. The life's activities of human
beings are the manifestations of movements of the qi. Different
combinations of the qi may generate different things. So, according
to different places an different functioning of the qi, different
names of qi are determined, such as true qi, ancestral qi,
nutritive qi, defensive qi, liver qi, spleen qi, heart qi, etc.
B. The materialism is highlighted. Prevailed the theories of
yin-yang and the five elements in plain materialist dialectics,
which were used to explain the changes of nature in the Spring and
Autumn Period (770 BC -- 476 BC) and Warring States Period (475 BC
-- 221 BC). It let more people become suspicious of the religious
superstitions towards gods and ghosts. Life science was led to the
realm of materialism.
C. The proposition that the life is antagonistic and united is
prominent. Not only the body's structures but also life's
activities are antagonistic and united, and too are man and nature.
Everything has its two antagonistic and united sides, i.e., yin and
yang. The antagonistic and united movements of the yin and yang
push everything to develop forward incessantly, originating birth
and death of everything.
D. Life is undergoing constant flux all the time. The Medical
Classic of the Yellow Emperor regards the entity of nature, living
things and diseases as not being motionless and still, but
incessantly moving, developing and changing under the mutual
actions of the yin and yang. Consequently, we should analyze and
treat a disease with the idea of movement. This is the theoretical
reference to syndrome identification and treatment determination in
TCM.
The integral idea that man and nature are mutually
corresponding
Man and nature are mutually corresponding. This is a unique
feature of TCM that differs from almost all other world medicines.
TCM regards the physiological processes and pathological changes of
human beings are closely related to nature. Many things involved
are put into correspondences organically, such as the waxing and
waning of the yin an yang of nature; the five elements that
constitute the world, i.e., wood, fire, soil, metal and water; the
running of the sun and moon and stars. The climatic changes of
spring, summer, autumn and winter; the spring generation, summer
growth, autumn harvest, and winter storage; the human functional
system in which the five zang-organs are the chief body, and such
things, are linked up as well. The occultness and the intrinsic
links of both the universe and human beings are incredibly
demonstrated.
Chapter Sorting
The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor was compiled over
2,000 years ago. The language used in this book is archaic and
laconic, and its expressions are gracious, far-reaching, and
abstruse. The time when it was written is very distant. The book
was copied again and again by hand. In ancient times people wrote
on bamboo slips which were then tied together. Over the years the
binding would sometimes fall apart and the slips would smudge or
break. Therefore, pieces of the original text might become mixed
up, incomprehensible or incomplete. This history gives us some
difficulty in trying to study The Medical Classic of the Yellow
Emperor.
In this book, all the contents are arranged in eight chapters,
except for "acupuncture" and "five movements and six climatic qi".
The eight chapters are respectively the yin-yang and the five
elements, zang-organs and manifestations, channels and
network-channels, pathogens and pathomechanisms, diseases and
symptoms, diagnostic methods, therapeutic principles and methods,
and health preservation.
(Source: The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor,
Foreign Languages Press, 2001)
Shen Nong's Herbal
Classic
Shen Nong's Herbal Classic (Shen Nong Ben Cao
Jing), which was first compiled some time during the end
of the Western Han Dynasty, lists various medicinal herbs at given
grade and rarity ratings. The book recorded 365 types of medicine,
some of which is still used in contemporary clinics, and also set
up a beginning of the establishment of Eastern medicine.
The Classic of
Difficulties
The full title of The Classics of Difficulties (Nan
Jing) is The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Eighty-one
Difficulties. The old writing was created by Bian Que (Qin
Yue-Ren), a legendary doctor in history. Completed circa the end of
Western Han Dynasty to Eastern Han Dynasty period, the book summed
up eight-one questions on TCM theory and provided explanation to
TCM concepts.
Treatise on Febrile
Diseases
Treatise on Febrile Diseases (Shanghan Zabing Lun) was
written by Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of Chinese medicine in the
Eastern Han Dynasty. Assimilating from previous medicinal
literature, and collecting many prescriptions elsewhere, Zhang
finally wrote the medical masterpiece. Unfortunately, however,
shortly after its publication, the book was lost during wartime.
Giving a detailed account on how to diagnose and treat various
diseases caused by internal organs, this book is meaningful in that
it helped the development of clinical medicine many centuries
later. The other work of Zhang is a compendium of his clinical
experiences, called Synopsis from the Golden Cabinet (Jingui
Yaolue) which is regarded as a highly influential
doctrine.
The Pulse
Classic
The Pulse Classic, also known as Mai Jing, was
written in the West Jin Dynasty by Wang Shuhe, in which he
described the pulse positions, methods, and established 24
different kinds of pulse. This work allowed future generations to
grasp the essence of pulse in an instance, as well as understand
the different pulse phenomena with every illness. It is the first
book in the Chinese medical literature entirely devoted to pulse
diagnosis. As such, it is the undeniable and necessary foundation
text for anyone seriously interested in understanding the rationale
for and method of reading the pulse in Chinese medicine.
Newly Revised Materia
Medicae
The book was edited by the government of the Tang Dynasty,
therefore is also known as Materia Medicae Tang Edition (Tang
Ben Cao). It is the oldest extant pharmacopoeia book (an
official book listing a catalog of medicine and their use) in the
world. This book included 850 types of medical herbs and their
pictures, which further improved the scale of eastern medicine.
Compendium of Materia
Medica
Li Shizhen's 410-year-old classic,
Bencao Gangmu: Compendium of
Materia Medica, with its lore chronicling centuries of Chinese
medical achievement, is a treasure trove of information on
traditional Chinese medicine and on Chinese folk views of the
world, which underlie many of the prescribed treatment regimens.
With the publication of the Compendium of Materia
Medica, not only did it improve the classification of how
traditional medicine was compiled and formatted, but it was also a
great medium in improving the credibility and scientific values of
biology classification of both plants and animals.
The compendium corrected many mistakes and false understandings
of the nature of herbs and illness. Li also included many new
herbs, added his own discovery in certain drugs, their
effectiveness and function, as well as more detailed description
according to experiments. It also has notes and records on general
medical data and medical history.
Compendium of Materia Medica is also more than a
pharmaceutical text, for it contains information so vast that it
covered topics in biology, chemistry, geography, geology, history,
and even mining and astronomy, which would seem to have little to
do with herbal medicine. It has been translated into more than 20
languages and spread all over the world. Even now it is still in
print and used as a reference book.
(Source: Compendium of Materia Medica, Foreign Languages Press, 2001)
