Běncǎo Sībiàn Lù 本草思辨錄
Record of Reflective Discussion on the Materia Medica by 周巖 (Zhōu Yán, zì Bódù 伯度, hào Lùqǐ Shānrén 鹿起山人, 1832 – early 20th c., 清)
About the work
The Běncǎo sībiàn lù is the principal late-Qīng jīngfāng 經方 (classical-formula school) pharmacology, printed in 4 juǎn in 光緒三十年 (1904). Zhōu Yán wrote it as a substance-by-substance critical examination of the drugs used in Zhāng Zhòngjǐng’s Shānghán lùn and Jīnguì yàolüè — the canonical jīngfāng corpus. His method is sī biàn 思辨 (“reflective discussion”): for each substance he canvasses the Běnjīng core text, the major commentarial positions (劉若金 Liú Ruòjīn, Zōu Shù 鄒澍, Zhāng Zhìcōng 張志聰, Chén Niànzǔ 陳念祖 etc.), and then offers his own assessment grounded in Zhòngjǐng’s actual formula usage.
The work covers approximately 130 substances — a deliberately compact selection limited to the ShānghánJīnguì core. This places the Sī biàn lù squarely in the Chángzhōu / Shàoxīng jīngfāng tradition that runs from 喻昌 Yú Chāng through 柯琴 Kē Qín, 徐彬 Xú Bīn, Zōu Shù, Yáng Shítài 楊時泰 (KR3ec052), and culminates in Zhōu Yán in the early 20th century. Its critical engagement with Zōu Shù’s Běnjīng shū zhèng (KR3ec066) is particularly close — Zhōu Yán frequently agrees with Zōu in principle but corrects him on specific clinical readings.
Prefaces
The local repository preserves the substance entries. Standard editions preserve Zhōu Yán’s own preface (光緒甲辰 = 1904) explaining the jīngfāng programme, plus a disciple’s postface.
Abstract
Zhōu Yán (周巖, 1832 – early 20th c., no confident CBDB id), zì Bódù 伯度, hào Lùqǐ Shānrén 鹿起山人, native of Shānyīn 山陰 (Shàoxīng, Zhèjiāng). Jǔrén; held minor county-level posts in Húběi before withdrawing to clinical practice. He came to medicine relatively late, in his forties.
The Sī biàn lù’s significance is as the most theoretically careful late-Qīng jīngfāng-grounded pharmacology and as the principal bridge between the mid-19th-century Chángzhōu pharmacological school (Zōu Shù, Yáng Shítài) and the Republican-era jīngfāng revival led by 曹穎甫 Cáo Yǐngfǔ and Zhāng Shòuyí 張壽頤 (KR3ec063). The work has been continuously in print since 1904 and remains a standard reference in modern jīngfāng teaching curricula.
Translations and research
- Liào Yùqún 廖育群. 2003. Yīxué wǔshí jiā.
- Wáng Yùchuān 王玉川 et al. 2003. Běncǎo sībiàn lù shìjiě 本草思辨錄釋解. Renmin weisheng.
- No Western-language translation.
Links
- Wikidata: not yet assigned.
- 本草思辨錄 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB