Biàn Mài Píng Mài Zhāng Jù 辨脈平脈章句
Phrase-by-Phrase Exposition of the “Biàn Mài” and “Píng Mài” Chapters by 周學海 (Zhōu Xuéhǎi, 字澂之, 號健霞, 1856–1906, 清)
About the work
A two-juan close commentary on the Biàn mài 辨脈 and Píng mài 平脈 chapters of Zhāng Zhòngjǐng’s Shānghán lùn 傷寒論 — the two introductory chapters that frame the pulse-doctrinal apparatus of the Shānghán tradition. Zhōu Xuéhǎi applies his usual zhāngjù 章句 method: each clause is quoted, glossed, and discussed in the light of the Sùwèn, Língshū, Nànjīng, and the prior commentarial tradition (Chéng Wújǐ 成無己, Zhāng Yǐnān 張隱菴, Zhāng Lìngshào 張令韶, Wèi Lìtóng 魏荔彤, Yú Jiāyán 喻嘉言, Zhāng Lùyù 張石頑, Huáng Kūnzài 黃坤載). The book is the fourth component of Zhōu’s pulse cycle and reads as the Shānghán-applied counterpart to the more theoretical Mài yì jiǎn mó KR3eb036.
Prefaces
KR3eb038_000.txt carries Zhōu’s preface dated Guāngxù guǐsì shàng yuán hòu wǔ rì 光緒癸巳上元后五日 = the fifth day after the Lantern Festival of 1893, signed Wǎnnán Jiàndé Zhōu Xuéhǎi Chéngzhī shū 皖南建德周學海澄之書 (“Anhui southern, Jiàndé [Dōngzhì], Zhōu Xuéhǎi Chéngzhī signs”). The preface engages with the late-Qing dispute over the authenticity of the Biàn mài / Píng mài chapters — earlier commentators including Yú Jiāyán, Zhāng Lùyù, and Huáng Kūnzài having dismissed them as “Wáng Shūhé’s spurious additions” — and Zhōu defends them as genuine to the Shānghán lùn corpus.
Abstract
Zhōu’s defence of the Biàn mài / Píng mài chapters is doctrinally consequential: these chapters provide the pulse-theoretic background to the body of the Shānghán lùn, and if they are dismissed (as Yú Jiāyán et al. dismissed them), the Shānghán’s pulse-clinical decisions become unanchored. Zhōu’s Zhāng jù is the most systematic late-Qing reconstruction of the Shānghán pulse-doctrinal framework and a key contribution of the Zhōu shì yī xué cóng shū second series (1893). For Zhōu’s biographical context and the broader cycle see KR3eb036 and the person note.
Translations and research
- See KR3eb036 and the Zhōu Xuéhǎi yī xué quán shū (1999) for the standard modern critical edition.
Links
- Sister volumes: KR3eb036 Mài yì jiǎn mó, KR3eb037 Mài jiǎn bǔ yì, KR3eb007 Chóng dìng zhěn jiā zhí jué.
- Parent classic: Shānghán lùn 傷寒論 (cf. WYG entry KR3e0005).
- 辨脈平脈章句 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB