本草綱目

Běncǎo Gāngmù 本草綱目

Compendium of Materia Medica / Outline and Details of Roots and Plants by 李時珍 (Lǐ Shízhēn, zì Dōngbì 東璧, hào Pínhú 瀕湖, 1518–1593, 明)

About the work

The Běncǎo gāngmù is the single most influential work in the history of Chinese pharmacology, and arguably the most important pre-modern work in Chinese natural history. Lǐ Shízhēn worked on it for 27 years (from 1552 to 1578), revising the manuscript three times, drawing on a reading of more than 800 prior works and on his own personal observation and clinical experience. The work catalogues 1,892 substances (374 added by Lǐ to the inherited 1,518) organised into 16 bù 部 (parts: water, fire, earth, metals-and-stones, plants, grains, vegetables, fruits, trees, manufactures, insects, scaly creatures, shelled creatures, birds, hairy quadrupeds, humans) subdivided into 60 lèi 類 (categories), containing 11,096 prescriptions. Each substance entry is organised into standardised sections: 釋名 (name explanation), 集解 (collected commentaries on form and habitat), 辨疑 / 正誤 (discussion of doubts and corrections), 修治 (processing), 氣味 (qìwèi), 主治 (main effects), 發明 (Lǐ’s own discussion), 附方 (prescriptions using the substance). The work was completed in 1578 but only printed in 1593 (Wànlì 21), shortly after Lǐ Shízhēn’s death.

The Gāngmù’s 16-bù category structure is itself a major intellectual innovation, organising substances from jiànzhìguì (from base to noble) and wēizhìjù (from small to large) — beginning with formless qì (water, fire) and proceeding through earth and minerals to plants, then to insects and animals (in order of organisational complexity), and finally to human-derived substances. This taxonomic principle reflects Lǐ’s commitment to gé wù zhī xué 格物之學 — Confucian “investigation of things” — and aligns pharmacology with the broader Míng project of natural philosophy.

Prefaces

The 漢學文典 transmitted text preserves three principal opening pieces:

1. 王世貞 序 by 王世貞 (Wáng Shìzhēn, 1526–1590) — the famous Yǎnzhōu shānrén 弇州山人, late-Míng literary leader, whose preface dates from Wànlì gēngyín 1590 spring at his Bīshān 弇山 garden. Wáng describes Lǐ Shízhēn visiting him to seek a preface; he praises the work in extravagant terms (“the very subtleties of xìnglǐ 性理 (natural philosophy), the Tōngdiǎn 通典 of gé wù 格物 — not merely a medical book!”). This preface secured the work’s reputation among the literati.

2. 進《本草綱目》疏 by Lǐ Shízhēn’s son Lǐ Jiànyuán 李建元, dated Wànlì 24/11 (= late 1596). Lǐ Jiànyuán presents the work to the imperial court after his father’s death, reproducing Lǐ Shízhēn’s own yí biǎo 遺表 (posthumous memorial). The yí biǎo gives a brief autobiographical sketch — “From childhood I had many illnesses, my growth was slow, I was naturally a dull and blocky lad; in adulthood I devoured the classics like sugar-cane and candied dates” — and traces the běncǎo tradition from Shénnóng through Lǐ Dāngzhī, Táo Hóngjǐng 陶弘景, Sū Jìng 蘇敬 / Lǐ Jì 李勣, Liú Hàn 劉翰, Zhǎng Yúxī 掌禹錫, Táng Shènwēi 唐慎微 — listing the errors he has corrected. The presentation memorial concludes that the work is “intended not only as a medical book; it really comprises wùlǐ (the principles of things).”

3. 凡例 (12 editorial principles) — Lǐ’s own statement of his editorial method: (i) the 16-bù structure as gāng (outline) with 60 lèi as mù (sub-headings); (ii) the principle of ordering from water-and-fire downward; (iii) the consolidation of variant names under a single zhèngmíng (proper name) header; (iv) correction of duplicate entries from previous běncǎo; (v) the standard 8-part entry-internal structure (釋名、集解、辨疑、正誤、修治、氣味、主治、發明、附方); (vi) abandonment of the zhūmò (red-black) chromatic distinction; (vii) preservation of attributions to previous běncǎo authorities by name; (viii) addition of 附錄 (附錄) for substances of doubtful function; (ix) recognition of 39 substances first added by Jīn-Yuán-Míng physicians; (x) 374 substances newly added by Lǐ himself; (xi) corrections to earlier entries; (xii) preservation of Shénnóng / Sòng catalog as the foundation.

Abstract

Lǐ Shízhēn (李時珍, 1518–1593), zì Dōngbì 東璧, hào Pínhú 瀕湖, native of Qízhōu 蘄州 (modern Qíchūn 蘄春, Húběi). His father Lǐ Yánwén 李言聞 was a respected local physician (himself author of several specialised works). Lǐ Shízhēn took the jǔrén exam twice unsuccessfully (1531, 1534, 1537 all failures) and then devoted himself to medicine. He served briefly at the Princely Court of Chǔ 楚府 as 奉祠 and was promoted to 文林郎 Péngxī 蓬溪 magistrate (Sìchuān) — he memorialised back to private medical practice rather than serving. He served briefly at the imperial Tàiyīyuàn 太醫院 in Beijing in the 1550s but soon returned to Qízhōu.

The Gāngmù was the first work to reach the imperial collection (presented 1596, three years after Lǐ’s death). It was first printed in Nánjīng in 1593 (Wànlì 21) under the Jīnlíng běn 金陵本 imprint — generally regarded as the best of the early editions — and was reprinted dozens of times in the late Míng and Qīng. It became the dominant Chinese pharmacopoeia and was rapidly translated abroad: a partial Latin translation by Michał Boym SJ (1612–1659) appeared in Europe; the work was printed in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the 17th century.

Lǐ’s other works: Pínhú mài xué 瀕湖脈學 (1564, on pulse diagnosis), Qí jīng bā mài kǎo 奇經八脈考 (on the extraordinary channels), Bīnhú jí jiǎn fāng 瀕湖集簡方, Sān jiǎo kè yī 三焦客難 (lost). CBDB id (none assigned in 26373-and-related range to Lǐ Shízhēn confidently); lifedates 1518–1593 are securely attested in 《明史》 j.299.

Translations and research

The English-language scholarship and translation of the Gāngmù is enormous; the most important pieces are listed in Wilkinson, CH:NM §41.3.2:

• Li Shizhen / Unschuld (tr.). 2021–2024. Ben cao gang mu: 16th century Chinese encyclopedia of materia medica and natural history. 9 vols. UCP. — the complete, annotated, definitive English translation.
• Li Shizhen / Luo Xiwen (tr.). 2023. Compendium of Materia Medica. 6 vols. FLP.
• Unschuld, Paul U. 2024. A catalog of benevolent items: Li Shizhen’s Compendium of classical Chinese knowledge. UCP. — thematic reader.
• Unschuld et al. 2018. Dictionary of the Ben cao gang mu. UCP. — 3 vols: terminology / geography / authors-and-titles.
• Métailié, Georges, with Hsu, Elisabeth. 2001. “The Bencao gangmu of Li Shizhen: An innovation in Chinese natural history?” In Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (CUP), 221–261.
• Nappi, Carla. 2009. The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China. HUP. — a major monograph on the Gāngmù’s natural-historical and cultural significance.
• Hanson, Marta. 2003. “The Golden Mirror in the Imperial Court of the Qianlong Emperor, 1739–1742.” — discusses the Gāngmù’s afterlife.
• Wilkinson, CH:NM §41.3.2 — sustained discussion with [Box 236] on the Gāngmù classification.

Other points of interest

The Gāngmù’s 16-bù taxonomic structure was used as the principal model for Chinese natural history into the 20th century. It enabled the work to function as more than a pharmacology — it became an encyclopaedic zoological-botanical-mineralogical reference, the principal Chinese source for natural-history information for over three centuries. UNESCO inscribed the Běncǎo gāngmù on its Memory of the World Register in 2011.

Links

• Wikidata: Q47554.
• UNESCO Memory of the World: portal.unesco.org for the Bencao Gangmu.
• Digital editions at ctext.org and UCP open-access for portions of the Unschuld translation.
• 本草綱目 jicheng.tw
• Kanseki DB