Ruìzhú táng jīngyàn fāng 瑞竹堂經驗方
Tested-Effective Prescriptions of the Auspicious-Bamboo Hall by 沙圖穆蘇 (Shātúmùsū, zì Qiānzhāi, fl. mid-late 元) — Yuán-period Mongol/Inner-Asian official-physician
About the work
A Yuán-period clinical formulary in 5 juan (originally 15 juan; the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery preserves about half), reorganized by the SKQS editors into 24 categorical gates. Composed by the Yuán-period Mongol/Inner-Asian official-physician Shātúmùsū during his tenure as Grand Protector of Jiànchāng. The work draws on Shātúmùsū’s clinical experience and is dedicated to broad public benefit. The Tiáo bǔ 調補 (regulation-and-tonification) gate is praised by the SKQS editors for its restraint in the use of mineral preparations (金石之藥). The women’s-medicine gate’s Bā zhēn 八珍 prescription — the combination of Sìjūnzǐ tāng 四君子湯 and Sìwù tāng 四物湯 — became one of the most widely-used Chinese tonifying prescriptions, cited extensively in Xuē Jǐ’s Míng-period Yī àn. The surgical-medicine gate’s Fǎnhún dān 返魂丹 is identified by the SKQS editors as related to the standard MíngQīng surgical preparations Méihuā diǎnshé dān 梅花點舌丹 and Duómìng dān 奪命丹.
Tiyao
Ruìzhú táng jīngyàn fāng, 5 juan. By Shātúmùsū (formerly written Sālǐmíshí; now corrected) of the Yuán. Shātúmùsū has no biography in the Yuán shǐ; his career details are not recoverable. From Wú Chéng’s and Wáng Dūzhōng’s two prefaces, his zì was Qiānzhāi; he once served as Imperial Censor and was sent out as Grand Protector of Jiànchāng. The book was compiled during his prefectural tenure.
The original work was 15 juan. Yáng Shìqí’s Wényuángé shūmù records 1 bù (set), 1 volume; Cháo Lì’s Bǎowéntáng shūmù also lists the title — so by the mid-Míng the original recension was still in circulation. Subsequently, transmission was rare. We have now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn gathered the citations and re-edited; about 5–6 tenths is lost, but what remains is still substantial. Following the prescription-classification, we have organized into 24 gates, in 5 juan.
Among the gates: Tiáo bǔ — does not lightly use mineral preparations (金石之藥); the prescription-formulation is most pure-and-correct. Women’s medicine: the Bā zhēn (Eight-Treasure) is the combination of Sìjūnzǐ tāng and Sìwù tāng; its application is especially broad. The Míng’s Xuē Jǐ’s Yīàn 醫案 gives a detailed exposition of it.
The surgical gate’s Fǎnhún dān 返魂丹 is similar to the modern surgical practitioners’ Méihuā diǎnshé dān and Duómìng dān. The Nèituō qiānjīn sǎn 內托千金散 for treating yōng dú (carbuncle-and-toxicity) shows distinct effect. All these are useful for the broad-relief-of-suffering.
Only the pediatric gate’s Hè wánzǐ 褐丸子 — its name resembles the Hè wán of the SūShěn liáng fāng (KR3e0020) and the treatment is the same — but [the SūShěn] uses wūtóu, guì, xiāngfù, gānjiāng, chénpí combined for attack-and-supplement, very thorough; while this work uses hēi qiānniú, jīngsānléng, péngézhú and other items — somewhat more drastic. Yuán-period prescriptions often go this way: the northerners’ constitutional robustness differs from the southerners, and the treatment differs accordingly. Each application requires adjusting to the patient — one cannot bind oneself to fixed methods.
(Respectfully verified, 9th month of Qiánlóng 46 [1781]. Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.)
Abstract
Composition window: 1300–1400, broad mid-late Yuán period. The work cannot be precisely dated, but Wú Chéng’s preface (Wú Chéng was active 1249–1333) places the book in the mid-Yuán.
The work’s significance:
(a) An Inner-Asian Mongol-origin Chinese-medical author: one of the relatively few Yuán-period clinical works by a non-Han author preserved through Chinese-language transmission. Shātúmùsū’s career — Mongol/Inner-Asian official, integrated into Yuán imperial administration, practicing medicine in a Han-cultural framework — is a useful witness to the cultural-medical integration of Yuán-period elite society.
(b) The Bā zhēn tāng 八珍湯 prescription: one of the most widely-used Chinese tonifying prescriptions, here in its Yuán-period Yuán-Han combined form. The combination of Sìjūnzǐ tāng (Qi-tonification) and Sìwù tāng (Blood-tonification) into a single eight-ingredient prescription remains foundational to modern TCM tonifying therapy.
(c) The Yuán northern-constitutional pharmacology: the SKQS editors’ note on the more aggressive prescription-style (hēiqiānniú, sānléng, ézhú in pediatrics) reflects the Yuán-period assumption of robust northern constitutions tolerating stronger medications — an interesting witness to the regional-and-temporal contextualization of Chinese pharmacological practice.
(d) The Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery: about 50% of the original is preserved; the remainder is permanently lost. The recovery is one of the more substantial Yǒnglè recoveries among Yuán-period medical works.
The catalog meta gives the dynasty as 元, correct. The author-name 沙圖穆蘇 is preserved in the catalog (the SKQS editors restored this from the earlier-circulating 薩理彌實 — both transcriptions of the same Inner-Asian name).
Translations and research
- No substantial Western secondary literature on this specific work.
- Mǎ Jìxīng 馬繼興, Zhōng-yī wénxiàn xué 中醫文獻學, Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi Kēxué Jìshù Chūbǎnshè, 1990 (entry on the Ruì-zhú táng jīng-yàn fāng).
Other points of interest
The Mongol-Persian-or-Inner-Asian transcription of the author’s name — 沙圖穆蘇 / 薩理彌實 — is an interesting case of Yuán-period orthographic instability. The two transcriptions evidently render the same underlying personal name, with the differences reflecting which Han characters were chosen to transliterate the foreign syllables. The SKQS editors’ restoration of 沙圖穆蘇 as the principal form is methodologically careful.
The Bā zhēn tāng prescription’s enduring clinical centrality is one of the longer-lived single contributions of any Yuán-period medical work. The prescription remains one of the top 10 most-prescribed Chinese tonifying formulations in modern practice.