Traditional Chinese Medicine Classics

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Traditional Chinese Medicine Classics

The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor

The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor is one of the earliestbooks found in the corpus of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Itenunciates the systematic structure of the theoretical system of

TCM and reflects the theoretical principles and academic thoughtsassociated with it. This theoretical system has formed the basis fordevelopment of TCM since its establishment. Nearly all academicthoughts of many well-known medical masters and medical schoolsappearing during the history of TCM have grown out of thetheoretical system of The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor.Consequently, it is one of the basic theoretical curriculums of TCMtoday.

All medical theories come from practice and, in turn, directpractice. Throughout the millennia, the great contributions by TCMto 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 andwas venerated as an ancestral work of physicians, not to mention being a compulsory classicalwork in TCM.

Times of Compilation and Its Author

Many historians and physicians throughout Chinese history studied and verified that the majorcontents 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 Chinesepeople are proud of being regarded as his offspring. Many Chinese living in earlier times ascribedall their culture to him. This book was titled with his name in order to lead it to fame andauthority. The academic divergence of thoughts in this book sufficiently indicates that it isneither a work of a single individual, nor medical achievement of a certain period or a localregion, but rather the summarization of experiences of many medical practitioners over a longtime.

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 iscomposed of 162 articles.

Basic Academic Thoughts Found in the Theoretical System of The Medical Classic of the YellowEmperor

The compilation of The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor established the unique theoreticalsystem of TCM, and formed the basis for the development of TCM. According to the developmentregularity of medicines and the inference from the theoretical contents of The Medical Classic ofthe Yellow Emperor, this distinct system is based on anatomical knowledge, and directed byancient philosophical thoughts. It was produced after long observation of life's phenomena, and


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proved repeatedly through medical practice. It developed gradually to form from perceptualcognition to rational knowledge and from scraps to comprehensiveness. Therefore, thetheoretical system described in this work is under the guidance of ancient plain materialistdialectics, combining with the regularity of human life's activities. This system also presents a lotof significant theoretical principles and academic thoughts. They are also ideological ways thatwe must master when we study The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor. This theoreticalsystem has two typical features, i.e., plain materialist dialectics and integral idea that man andnature are mutually corresponding.

Plain materialist dialectics

A. The "essential qi" is the source of the generation and formation of everything. The ancientChinese philosophers regarded that the source of the cosmos was the essential qi. Everything inthe world was produced by the essential qi, namely, original qi. The qi is an invisible materialisticelement 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, ororiginal qi. The concept of qi permeated the medical field. This, the idea that everything consistsof qi, is inevitably shown in The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor. The qi is not only thebasic material that forms the body, but also the dynamic power of the body. The life's activitiesof human beings are the manifestations of movements of the qi. Different combinations of the qimay generate different things. So, according to different places an different functioning of theqi, 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 inplain materialist dialectics, which were used to explain the changes of nature in the Spring andAutumn Period (770 BC -- 476 BC) and Warring States Period (475 BC -- 221 BC). It let more peoplebecome suspicious of the religious superstitions towards gods and ghosts. Life science was led tothe 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 andunited movements of the yin and yang push everything to develop forward incessantly, originatingbirth and death of everything.

D. Life is undergoing constant flux all the time. The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor regardsthe entity of nature, living things and diseases as not being motionless and still, but incessantlymoving, developing and changing under the mutual actions of the yin and yang. Consequently, weshould analyze and treat a disease with the idea of movement. This is the theoretical referenceto 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 fromalmost all other world medicines. TCM regards the physiological processes and pathologicalchanges of human beings are closely related to nature. Many things involved are put intocorrespondences organically, such as the waxing and waning of the yin an yang of nature; the fiveelements that constitute the world, i.e., wood, fire, soil, metal and water; the running of the sunand moon and stars. The climatic changes of spring, summer, autumn and winter; the springgeneration, summer growth, autumn harvest, and winter storage; the human functional system inwhich the five zang-organs are the chief body, and such things, are linked up as well. Theoccultness and the intrinsic links of both the universe and human beings are incrediblydemonstrated.


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Chapter Sorting

The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor was compiled over 2,000 years ago. The language usedin 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. Inancient times people wrote on bamboo slips which were then tied together. Over the years thebinding would sometimes fall apart and the slips would smudge or break. Therefore, pieces of theoriginal 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 "fivemovements and six climatic qi". The eight chapters are respectively the yin-yang and the fiveelements, zang-organs and manifestations, channels and network-channels, pathogens andpathomechanisms, diseases and symptoms, diagnostic methods, therapeutic principles andmethods, 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 duringthe end of the Western Han Dynasty, lists various medicinal herbs at given grade and rarityratings. The book recorded 365 types of medicine, some of which is still used in contemporaryclinics, and also set up a beginning of the establishment of Eastern medicine.

The Classic of Difficulties

The full title ofThe 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 inhistory. Completed circa the end of Western Han Dynasty to Eastern Han Dynasty period, the booksummed 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 ofChinese medicine in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Assimilating from previous medicinal literature, andcollecting many prescriptions elsewhere, Zhang finally wrote the medical masterpiece.Unfortunately, however, shortly after its publication, the book was lost during wartime. Giving adetailed account on how to diagnose and treat various diseases caused by internal organs, thisbook 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 theGolden Cabinet (Jingui Yaolue) which is regarded as a highly influential doctrine.

The Pulse ClassicThe Pulse Classic, also known as Mai Jing, was written in the West Jin Dynasty by Wang Shuhe, inwhich he described the pulse positions, methods, and established 24 different kinds of pulse. Thiswork allowed future generations to grasp the essence of pulse in an instance, as well asunderstand the different pulse phenomena with every illness. It is the first book in the Chinesemedical literature entirely devoted to pulse diagnosis. As such, it is the undeniable and necessaryfoundation text for anyone seriously interested in understanding the rationale for and method ofreading the pulse in Chinese medicine.

Newly Revised Materia Medicae


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The book was edited by the government of the Tang Dynasty, therefore is also known as MateriaMedicae Tang Edition (Tang Ben Cao). It is the oldest extant pharmacopoeia book (an official booklisting a catalog of medicine and their use) in the world. This book included 850 types of medicalherbs 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 lorechronicling centuries of Chinese medicalachievement, is a treasure trove of information ontraditional Chinese medicine and on Chinese folkviews of the world, which underlie many of theprescribed treatment regimens.

With the publication of the Compendium of MateriaMedica, not only did it improve the classification ofhow traditional medicine was compiled andformatted, but it was also a great medium inimproving the credibility and scientific values ofbiology classification of both plants and animals.

The compendium corrected many mistakes andfalse understandings of the nature of herbs and illness. Li also included many new herbs, addedhis own discovery in certain drugs, their effectiveness and function, as well as more detaileddescription according to experiments. It also has notes and records on general medical data andmedical history.

Compendium of Materia Medica is also more than a pharmaceutical text, for it containsinformation so vast that it covered topics in biology, chemistry, geography, geology, history, andeven 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 inprint and used as a reference book.

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Traditional Chinese Medicine Classics