Tāngyè běncǎo 湯液本草
The Materia Medica of the Decoction Tradition by 王好古 (Wáng Hǎogǔ, zì Jìnzhī, hào Hǎicáng, fl. 1308, 元)
About the work
Wáng Hǎogǔ’s specialist materia-medica treatise, in 3 juan, integrating the pharmacological doctrines of his teachers Zhāng Yuánsù (Jiégǔ) and Lǐ Gǎo (Dōngyuán) with selectively chosen entries from the broader běncǎo tradition. The title’s Tāngyè derives from the Hàn yìwén zhì’s Tāngyè jīngfāng — locating the work in the decoction-prescription tradition descending from the legendary Yī Yǐn 伊尹 (Shāng minister) through Zhāng Jī. The work’s structure: Juan 1: Lǐ Gǎo’s Yàolèi fǎxiàng 藥類法象 (drug-categories-and-dharma-images, organizing materia medica by qì / flavour / channel-entry) and Yòng yào xīnfǎ 用藥心法 (heart-method of drug-use), with appended discussions of the Wǔ yí 五宜 (Five Suitabilities), Wǔ shāng 五傷 (Five Injuries), Qī fāng 七方 (Seven Prescription-Types), and Shí jì 十劑 (Ten Prescription-Effects). Juan 2 and 3: substance-by-substance pharmacological exposition, with each substance organized by SānyīnSānyáng channel-entry and jūnchénzuǒshǐ hierarchy. Each entry begins with qì (energetic property), then wèi (taste), then channel-entry. The Yàolèi fǎxiàng-marked entries are Lǐ Gǎo’s; Yòng yào xīnfǎ-marked are also Lǐ Gǎo’s; Zhēn náng-marked are from Zhāng Yuánsù’s Zhēnzhū náng 珍珠囊.
Tiyao
Tāngyè běncǎo, 3 juan, by Wáng Hǎogǔ of the Yuán. The title “Tāngyè” (Decoction-Tradition) takes the Hàn zhì’s Tāngyè jīngfāng (Decoction-Tradition Classical Prescriptions) as its sense.
The upper juan records Dōngyuán’s Yàolèi fǎxiàng and Yòng yào xīnfǎ, with appended Wǔ yí, Wǔ shāng, Qī fāng, Shí jì. The middle and lower juan match the běncǎo substances with the Sānyīn Sānyáng and twelve channels, with the principal-disease-treating substance placed first, chén (minister), zuǒ (assistant), and shǐ (courier) substances responding next. Below each substance is first the qì (energetic property), next the wèi (taste), next the channel-entry. The entries marked “Xiàng” (象) are from the Yàolèi fǎxiàng; those marked “Xīn” (心) are from the Yòng yào xīnfǎ; those marked “Zhēn” (珍) are from Jiégǔ’s Zhēnzhū náng. Other authorities are also occasionally drawn upon, but since Hǎogǔ apprenticed with Jiégǔ and discussed-and-studied with Dōngyuán, the two of them are particularly extensively cited.
Examining the běncǎo: the substance-flavours are limited to three categories, the named substances numbering 365. From Tao Hongjing’s Biélù onward, additions have been continually made — often with names but no longer in clinical use. Even the jīng (the Shénnóng běncǎo jīng)‘s indication-statements are sometimes inconsistent with present clinical knowledge, the original-and-current pharmacological character not always agreeing. For example, huánglián 黃連 today is used only for clearing fire and resolving toxicity; but the jīng says it can “thicken the intestines and stomach” — would today’s medical practitioner dare follow that? Hǎogǔ’s book lists only what comes from famous physicians’ tested experience — though the substance-count is small, the categorical organization is clear, concise, and to the point. It can therefore be called a work suitable for practical use.
(Respectfully verified, 10th month of Qiánlóng 46 [1781]. Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.)
Abstract
Composition window: 1238–1308, the broad post-Jīn-collapse period during which Wáng Hǎogǔ was active. The work cannot be precisely dated; it likely postdates the Yīlěi yuánróng (1237) and predates the Cǐshì nánzhī (1308).
The work’s significance:
(a) The doctrinal integration of Yì-shuǐ-school pharmacology with the běncǎo tradition: Wáng’s most important pharmacological contribution. The work integrates Zhāng Yuánsù’s Zhēnzhū náng and Lǐ Gǎo’s Yàolèi fǎxiàng / Yòng yào xīnfǎ into a single channel-entry-organized pharmacopoeia, providing the doctrinal foundation for YuánMíngQīng pharmacological reasoning.
(b) The SānyīnSānyáng + twelve-channel pharmacological matrix: Wáng’s organizational choice — substance-by-substance, with each substance keyed to channel-entry — represents a major Yuán-period pharmacological innovation, integrating the cosmological-pathological framework of the Sùwèn with concrete pharmacological practice.
(c) The Yī Yǐn → Zhāng Jī → Zhāng Yuánsù → Wáng Hǎogǔ doctrinal lineage: Wáng’s preface lays out a self-conscious lineage from the Shāng-period legendary Yī Yǐn (the “inventor” of decoction), through Hàn-period Zhāng Jī (codifier of decoction therapy), to Jīn-period Zhāng Yuánsù (renewer), to Wáng himself (synthesizer). The lineage-claim is doctrinally significant — placing Wáng’s work in continuity with the foundational decoction tradition.
(d) The clinical-empirical orientation: the SKQS editors’ favorable judgment — that Wáng selectively included only substances tested in clinical experience, with clear categorical organization — is a useful summary of the work’s editorial method.
The catalog title is given as 湯液本章 (with a transcriptional error — the correct title is 湯液本草). The slip is preserved in the catalog meta per CLAUDE.md, and flagged here.
Translations and research
- Yang, Shou-zhong, trans. The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, Boulder: Blue Poppy Press, 1998 (broader běncǎo context).
- See KR3e0055 for the principal references on Wáng Hǎogǔ.
- Mǎ Jìxīng 馬繼興, Zhōng-yī wénxiàn xué 中醫文獻學, Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi Kēxué Jìshù Chūbǎnshè, 1990 (entry on the Tāng-yè běncǎo).
- Shàng Zhì-jūn 尚志鈞, Zhōngguó běncǎo yào yán-jiū 中國本草藥研究, Beijing: Zhōng-yī-yào Kējì Chūbǎnshè, 1996.
Other points of interest
The “Yàolèi fǎxiàng” 藥類法象 organizational scheme — drugs categorized by qì / flavour / channel-entry rather than by botanical or mineralogical family — is one of the most distinctive Chinese pharmacological organizational principles, and represents a fundamentally different ordering principle from Western pharmacopoeial taxonomy. Wáng’s preservation of Lǐ Gǎo’s scheme is methodologically important: it is one of the principal sources for Lǐ Gǎo’s pharmacological doctrine.
The SKQS editors’ candid acknowledgment that the Shénnóng běncǎo jīng’s indications are “sometimes inconsistent with present clinical knowledge” — and the example of huánglián’s “thickening the intestines” — is a useful piece of mid-Qīng pharmacological-historical realism.