Shénnóng běncǎo jīng shū 神農本草經疏
An Annotated Commentary on the Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica Classic by 繆希雍 (Miù Xīyōng, zì Zhòngchún, d. 1627, of Chángshú, 明)
About the work
Miù Xīyōng’s major late-Míng commentary on the Shénnóng běncǎo jīng, in 30 juan. Structured as a 10-part materia medica reference: (1) jade-and-stone (玉石); (2) grass (草); (3) wood (木); (4) human (人); (5) beast (獸); (6) bird (禽); (7) insect-and-fish (蟲魚); (8) fruit (果); (9) grain (米穀); (10) vegetable (菜). Each substance opens with the Shénnóng běncǎo jīng base text, followed by Miù’s elucidation (shū 疏), with appended discussions of famous authorities’ indications, ingredients-and-tastes, contraindications. The categorical sequence follows the Sòng Zhènglèi běncǎo with corrections of mis-placed entries. The work opens with 2 juan of Xù lì (Preface and Methodological Introduction) containing 30+ essays on prescription-formulation principles, the Qī fāng / Shí jì (Seven Prescription-Types and Ten Prescription-Effects), and the ancients’ use-of-medicines. Miù’s distinctive editorial choice — flagged by 喻昌 Yú Chāng — is that he discusses both the strengths (功能 gōngnéng) and the weaknesses (過劣 guòliè) of each substance, in deliberate contrast to the prevailing convention of recording only strengths. The SKQS editors note that while less encyclopedic than Lǐ Shízhēn’s Běncǎo gāngmù (KR3e0079), the work is more practically convenient.
Tiyao
Shénnóng běncǎo jīng shū, 30 juan, by Miù Xīyōng of the Míng. Xīyōng’s zì was Zhòngchún, of Chángshú; in Wáng Shàohuī’s Diǎnjiàng lù he is named to match the Shuǐhǔ zhuàn’s Shényī Ān Dàoquán — for his expertise in pulse-principle.
The compilation divides the běncǎo into 10 categories: first jade-and-stone, next grass, next wood, next human, next beast, next bird, next insect-and-fish, next fruit, next grain, next vegetable. Each takes the Shénnóng běnjīng as base and elucidates it. Appended are the famous authorities’ principal-treatments, drug-flavours, prohibitions. The sequence follows the Sòng Dà-guān-period Zhènglèi běncǎo with parts where the categorization had been mixed corrected. At the head are 2 juan of Xù lì (Preface-and-Methodology) — 30+ discussions, fully laying out the Qī fāng and Shí jì and the ancients’ essential use-of-medicines.
The self-preface says: “According to the jīng I elucidate the meaning; following the meaning I lead to use; cross-mutually I exhaust [the substance’s] strengths; concise-error I prevent its lapses.” — and so it is.
喻昌 Yú Chāng once said: “Ancient and modern běncǎo only describe the substances’ efficacious functions; only Miù discusses both the substances’ weaknesses. He does not realize that the nature of grasses-and-trees is precisely to take their bias to suit human use; the weaknesses, why must they be discussed?” — but the medicine-categories are so numerous and the natures-and-flavours so mutually different that, rather than fail at the moment of application, it is better to be cautious from the beginning. Xīyōng particularly analyses [the cautions], so that people know not only the medicines’ benefits but also their harms — his intention is most diligent. Although the citation is not as comprehensively gathered as Lǐ Shízhēn’s Gāngmù, it is concise-and-easy-to-follow — also not lightly to be criticized.
(Respectfully verified, 3rd month of Qiánlóng 43 [1778]. Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.)
Abstract
Composition window: 1620–1625, the late period of Miù’s career (he died in 1627).
The work’s significance:
(a) The classical-textual běncǎo commentary: in deliberate contrast to Lǐ Shízhēn’s encyclopedic Běncǎo gāngmù (which incorporates substances from many sources without privileging any), Miù’s Shū is a focused commentary on the foundational Shénnóng běncǎo jīng — the canonical Hàn-period base text. The commentarial format makes the work a more direct exegesis of the foundational text.
(b) The “both strengths and weaknesses” pharmacological method: Miù’s editorial insistence on documenting medicine-weaknesses (毒性 toxicity, contraindications, side-effects) alongside strengths is one of the more clinically responsible Chinese pharmacological-textual decisions, anticipating modern pharmaceutical-safety approaches.
(c) The Yú Chāng critique and SKQS defense: Yú Chāng’s criticism of Miù for discussing weaknesses — that all medicinal effects rely on the substance’s “bias” (偏性) and the weaknesses are merely the bias unsuited to a particular case — represents one Chinese pharmacological-philosophical position; the SKQS editors’ defense of Miù’s caution-from-the-start approach represents another. The exchange is a useful philosophical-pharmacological debate.
(d) The 10-category materia medica sequence: Miù’s 10-category sequence (jade-stone, grass, wood, human, beast, bird, insect-fish, fruit, grain, vegetable) is intermediate between the Sòng Zhènglèi běncǎo’s scheme and the Lǐ Shízhēn 16-part scheme — reflecting Miù’s flexible editorial approach.
The catalog meta dynasty 明 is correct.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western translation of this specific work.
- See KR3e0083 for principal references on Miù Xīyōng.
- Mǎ Jìxīng 馬繼興, Zhōng-yī wénxiàn xué 中醫文獻學, Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi Kēxué Jìshù Chūbǎnshè, 1990 (entry on the Shén-nóng běn-cǎo jīng shū).
Other points of interest
The “both strengths and weaknesses” pharmacological-documentation principle is one of the more methodologically progressive Chinese pharmacological positions. Modern pharmaceutical-safety standards (the FDA’s adverse-effect reporting, the WHO’s pharmacovigilance system) operate on Miù’s principle that medicine-weaknesses must be documented as fully as strengths. Miù’s late-Míng articulation of this principle is one of the more historically interesting prefigurations of modern drug-safety methodology.
The Yú Chāng / Miù Xīyōng dispute over pharmacological method is one of the more interesting late-Míng / early-Qīng medical-philosophical debates, addressing fundamental questions about the nature of medicinal action and the responsibility of the physician.