Biǎnquè shényīng zhēnjiǔ Yùlóng jīng 扁鵲神應鍼灸玉龍經
Biǎn Què’s Divinely-Resonant Acupuncture-and-Moxibustion Jade-Dragon Classic by 王國瑞 (Wáng Guóruì / Wáng Guóduān, fl. 1329, of Wùyuán, 元)
About the work
A Yuán-period acupuncture-and-moxibustion treatise in 1 juan, primarily in mnemonic verse-form, attributed by the work’s prefatorial conceit to the legendary Biǎn Què 扁鵲 — Wáng Guóruì’s disciple Zhōu Zhòngliáng’s Tiānlì 2 (1329) postface explicitly notes that the Biǎn Què attribution is to “give authority to the doctrine and make it divine” (重其道而神之). Structure: (1) 120-acupuncture-point Jade-Dragon Songs 一百二十穴玉龍歌 — 85 verse-pieces enumerating the principal acupuncture points and their indications, with prose annotations giving point-locations and needling techniques; (2) annotated Biǎoyōu fù 標幽賦 (a famous earlier acupuncture rhapsody); (3) Heavenly-Star 11-Point Verses 天星十一穴歌訣 — 12 verse-pieces; (4) Rénshén Kāoshén Tàiyǐ jiǔgōng gējué 人神尻神太乙九宮歌訣 (verses on the timing of acupuncture per the human-spirit / coccyx-spirit / Tài-yǐ-and-Nine-Palaces calendrical doctrine); (5) 66-Acupoint Treatment Indications 六十六穴治證; (6) Zǐwǔ liúzhù xīnyào mìjué 子午流注心要祕訣 (the Zǐwǔ liúzhù timing-doctrine secret essentials); (7) Rìshí pèihé liùfǎ tú 日時配合六法圖 (six-method day-and-hour correspondence diagrams); (8) Pánshí jīn zhícì mìchuán 盤石金直刺秘傳 (Pánshí golden direct-needling secret transmission); appended acupuncture-and-moxibustion verses and miscellaneous essentials.
Tiyao
Biǎnquè shényīng zhēnjiǔ Yùlóng jīng, 1 juan, by Wáng Guóduān of the Yuán. Guóduān was a man of Wùyuán. The book is wholly on acupuncture-and-moxibustion methods. Structurally:
- 120-acupoint Jade-Dragon Songs 一百二十穴玉龍歌 — 85 verse-pieces;
- annotated Biǎoyōu fù — 1 piece;
- Heavenly-Star 11-Point Verses — 12 verse-pieces;
- Rénshén Kāoshén Tàiyǐ Jiǔgōng verses ;
- 66-acupoint treatment indications ;
- Zǐwǔ liúzhù xīnyào mìjué ;
- Day-time-correspondence six-method diagrams ;
- Pánshí golden-direct-needling secret transmission ;
- appended acupuncture-and-moxibustion verses and miscellaneous essentials.
After [the body], a Tiānlì 2 (1329) postface by Guóduān’s disciple Zhōu Zhòngliáng says: “The attribution to Biǎn Què is to give authority to the doctrine and make it divine.” Among its category-titles, the wording is sometimes vulgar and the literary meaning often shallow, but the analytical-essentials are concise and clear, easy to follow on reading. Without precise mastery of the technique, no one could speak so aptly.
(Respectfully verified, 12th month of Qiánlóng 46 [1781]. Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.)
Abstract
Composition window: 1329/1329, the date of Zhōu Zhòngliáng’s postface. The work itself must have been composed in Wáng’s late mature period.
The work’s significance:
(a) The Yuán-period mnemonic-verse acupuncture pedagogy: the work’s reliance on verse-form (gē 歌, jué 訣, fù 賦) for transmitting acupuncture knowledge is one of the most distinctive Yuán-period medical-pedagogical traditions. Verse-form aided memorization in oral teaching contexts; the Yùlóng jīng is the principal Yuán-period example of this pedagogical style.
(b) The integration of Zǐwǔ liúzhù timing doctrine with acupuncture: the work systematically integrates the Zǐwǔ liúzhù 子午流注 (the doctrine of qì-and-blood circulation through specific channels at specific hours) with acupuncture point-selection. This timing-doctrine — that point-effectiveness varies by hour-of-day in correlation with channel-circulation — is one of the most distinctive Chinese acupuncture-temporal-pharmacological theories.
(c) The Tàiyǐ jiǔgōng calendrical-acupuncture doctrine: the Rénshén Kāoshén Tàiyǐ jiǔgōng verses encode the doctrine that the shén (spirit) circulates through the body’s positions over a 9-day cycle correlated with the Nine Palaces (九宮) of the Yìjīng / Hétú Luòshū. Acupuncture should avoid the position currently occupied by the shén lest the patient be injured. This doctrine became foundational to late-imperial Chinese acupuncture.
(d) The Biǎn Què pseudo-attribution: explicitly acknowledged by the disciple Zhōu Zhòngliáng as a divinizing conceit. The candor of the acknowledgment is unusual in pseudepigraphic Chinese medical literature.
The catalog meta gives the author as 王國瑞; the SKQS tíyào uses 王國端. The two are alternate orthographic forms of the same name. The catalog dynasty 元 is correct.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western translation of this specific work.
- Despeux, Catherine. Préscriptions d’acuponcture (1987) and her broader work on Chinese acupuncture timing-doctrines.
- Lu Gwei-Djen and Joseph Needham, Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980 (treats the Zǐ-wǔ liú-zhù tradition).
- Huáng Lóngxiáng 黃龍祥, Zhēnjiǔ míng-jiā xué-shù tǐ-xì 針灸名家學術體系, Beijing: Huá Xià Chūbǎnshè, 2007.
Other points of interest
The mnemonic-verse pedagogy of the Yuán-period acupuncture tradition is one of the more interesting examples of pre-modern medical-pedagogical orality. The standardization of acupuncture knowledge into memorizable verse-units made the technique accessible to a much wider population of practitioners than would have been possible with prose-only treatises, and was a major factor in the broad social diffusion of Chinese acupuncture in the YuánMíng period.
The Zǐwǔ liúzhù timing doctrine is one of the more sophisticated Chinese medical-temporal theories, grounding acupuncture in a 12-hour cyclical model of qì circulation. The doctrine is mathematically elegant and clinically influential: even today, modern TCM acupuncture practice often considers the liúzhù timing in selecting points.