Yào Zhèng Jìyí 藥症忌宜
Drug Use Contraindicated and Appropriate by Syndrome attributed to 陳澈 (Chén Chè, fl. late Míng / early Qīng)
About the work
The Yào zhèng jìyí is a clinical pharmacology cross-index organised by syndrome. For each pathological category (風, 寒, 暑, 濕, 燥, 火 — the six classical yīn of cosmological pathology — plus internal-injury categories) the work lists in parallel columns the drugs that are contraindicated (忌) and those that are appropriate (宜) for that syndrome. Within each category the format is essentially formulaic: pathology stated → contraindicated drug classes named → appropriate drug classes named → specific substances listed.
This is the inverse organisation of an ordinary pharmacopoeia: where Wāng Áng’s Bèiyào tells you “what does this drug do”, the Jìyí tells you “for this syndrome, which drugs should you give and which should you avoid”. The clinical user-case is the practitioner who has identified a syndrome and needs a rapid reminder of the appropriate pharmacological palette. The work covers approximately 80 syndrome categories. It is structurally a counterpart to Líng Huàn 凌奐’s much later Běncǎo hài lì (KR3ec059, 1870s) — both works centre on contraindications — but where Líng organises by drug, Chén organises by syndrome.
The work is sometimes attributed to Miù Xīyōng 繆希雍 (1546–1627) as a sub-section embedded in his Xiānxǐng zhāi yī xué guǎng bǐ jì 先醒齋醫學廣筆記 rather than to a separate Chén Chè. The catalog meta gives Chén Chè and we follow it here while noting that the work may in fact be Miù’s, transmitted under Chén’s name through a redaction tradition. The text’s doctrinal positions are closely aligned with Miù’s yīnyángqìxuè differential diagnosis and qīngrèzīyīn (clearing-heat / nourishing-yīn) therapeutic preference, which supports the Miù-attribution view.
Prefaces
The local repository preserves only the syndrome-by-syndrome body; no preface or compiler’s note survives in the recorded edition.
Abstract
Chén Chè (陳澈, no confident dates or CBDB id) is the conventional attribution. As noted above, the work is likely closely related to or directly excerpted from Miù Xīyōng 繆希雍’s Xiānxǐng zhāi yī xué guǎng bǐ jì. The doctrinal orientation places the work in the late-Míng / early-Qīng Yúzhāng / Sūzhōu yǎngyīn school that descends from 朱震亨 Zhū Zhènhēng’s yǎng yīn pài and that Miù was the leading early-17th-century exponent of.
The work’s significance is as an early example of the syndrome-indexed pharmacology genre. The format anticipates the modern TCM teaching convention of listing, for each canonical disease category, the canonical herbal palette — though the modern textbooks organise this through formulae rather than directly through substances.
Translations and research
- Liào Yùqún 廖育群. 2003. Yīxué wǔshí jiā. — discusses the Miù school.
- No standalone modern critical edition located.
- No Western-language treatment.
Other points of interest
The work is one of the very few Chinese pharmacological texts organised by syndrome rather than by substance or by channel. The reverse-lookup format makes it useful as a teaching tool: a student given a hypothetical syndrome can use the Jìyí to check whether their proposed prescription includes any contraindicated drugs.
Links
- Wikidata: not yet assigned.
- 藥症忌宜 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB