本草徵要

Běncǎo Zhēngyào 本草徵要

Materia Medica with Verification-of-Essentials by 李中梓 (Lǐ Zhōngzǐ, zì Shìcái 士材, hào Niànémǐ 念莪, 1588–1655, 明)

About the work

The Běncǎo zhēngyào is one of the principal late-Míng pharmacological textbooks, written by Lǐ Zhōngzǐ — a leading clinician of the post-Miù-Xīyōng generation and a major figure in the consolidation of yīnbǔ (yin-tonification) clinical theory. The work, in 2 juǎn, gives concise drug-by-drug entries — abbreviated for clinical use — with each substance presented with its xìngwèiguījīngzhǔzhì (nature, taste, channel-entry, main effect) under a standardised heading. It is part of Lǐ Zhōngzǐ’s larger pedagogical project, which also includes the Yīzōng bì dú 醫宗必讀, Shìcái sān shū 士材三書, and other texts.

The work was widely used in late-Míng / Qīng medical education and is the immediate ancestor of the Qīng-dynasty pocket-format pharmacological texts.

Prefaces

The 漢學文典 transmitted text preserves Lǐ Zhōngzǐ’s autograph preface, dating the composition to the early 1640s.

Abstract

Lǐ Zhōngzǐ (李中梓), zì Shìcái 士材, hào Niànémǐ 念莪, 1588–1655, native of Yúnjiān 雲間 (modern Sōngjiāng 松江, Shànghǎi). He came from a literate Jiāngnán family — his father Lǐ Shàngyàng 李尚陽 was a Wànlì-era jǔrén — and trained in classical Confucian learning before turning to medicine after his elder brother’s death from an iatrogenic error. He practised in Sōngjiāng and built a major reputation through his teaching at the Lóngfū 龍府 (Píngdōng wáng) Princely Court.

He is the master of the Shìcái xuépài 士材學派 — a clinical tradition emphasising bǔ pí shèn 補脾腎 (tonifying spleen and kidney) — and his disciples include the major early-Qīng physicians Shěn Lǎngzhōng 沈朗仲 and Mǎ Yuántái 馬元台. His works in this lineage include:

1. Yīzōng bì dú 醫宗必讀 (1637) — the foundational textbook;
2. Zhěnjiā zhèng yǎn 診家正眼 (on pulse);
3. Běncǎo tōngxuán 本草通玄 (KR3ec032) — a major pharmacology;
4. Běncǎo zhēngyào 本草徵要 (KR3ec027) — the pocket-format pharmacology;
5. Léi gōng páozhì yào xìng jiě 雷公炮製藥性解 (KR3ec029) — a processing-and-properties text;
6. Nèi jīng zhī yào 內經知要 — on the Sùwèn;
7. Shāng hán kuò yào 傷寒括要 — on the Shānghán lùn.

CBDB id for Lǐ Zhōngzǐ is not confidently assigned. The lifedates 1588–1655 are securely attested in Sōngjiāng local gazetteers and in the prefaces to his own works.

The Zhēngyào is significant as a clinically focused pharmacology that abstracted the Gāngmù corpus into a usable bedside reference. Like Wāng Áng’s Běncǎo bèiyào (KR3ec038) two generations later, it served the practical need of clinicians for a shorter and more focused text than Lǐ Shízhēn’s massive encyclopedia.

Translations and research

• Wú Zhōngdōng 武忠東. 2007. Lǐ Zhōngzǐ yīxué quánshū 李中梓醫學全書. Renmin weisheng.
• Cullen, Christopher. 2001. “Yi’an 醫案 (case statements) in the Ming and Qing.” In Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine. CUP. — discusses Lǐ.
• Furth, Charlotte. 1999. A Flourishing Yin. UCP. — chapter on the Shìcái school.
• No Western-language translation.

Links

• Wikidata: not yet assigned.
• 本草徵要 jicheng.tw
• Kanseki DB