Rénshù Biànlǎn 仁術便覽
A Convenient Survey of Humane Arts by 張浩 (Zhāng Hào, fl. late 16th c., 明) — Ming physician of Héngjùn 恆郡 (modern Zhèngdìng, Héběi)
About the work
The Rénshù biànlǎn in 4 juǎn is a Ming-era practical formulary compiled c. 1585 by Zhāng Hào 張浩 of Héngjùn 恆郡 (the modern Zhèngdìng prefecture, Héběi). Its preface by Zhōu Jiǔgāo 周九皋, dated wànlì yǐyǒu dōng (= winter 1585), explicitly aligns Zhāng’s compilation with Chén Shīwén / Péi Zōngyuán’s mid-Northern-Sòng Júfāng tradition (KR3ed011) and with Zhū Zhènhēng (Dānxī)‘s Yuán theoretical revision. The title Rénshù “humane art” plays on the Chinese medical commonplace that bù rén 不仁 (“non-humane / numbness”) names both moral failure and the medical condition of insensible paralysis — making humane arts simultaneously moral cultivation and medical practice.
Prefaces
A single preface by Zhōu Jiǔgāo 周九皋 of Qǐrén 杞人 (modern Qǐxiàn 杞縣, Hénán), dated 萬曆乙酉冬十月朔 (= late autumn 1585). The preface:
- Traces the canonical lineage Chén Shīwén / Péi Zōngyuán → Zhū Zhènhēng → Zhāng Hào.
- Praises Zhāng Hào (himself a kinsman / colleague at Héngjùn) as combining medical and Daoist physiological knowledge.
- Plays at length on the rén / bùrén “humane / non-humane” pun: the yījiā (medical school) calls numbness and paralysis bùrén “non-humane”; readers of this rénshù “humane-art” book may convert their bùrén into rén, achieving both moral cultivation and physical healing simultaneously.
- Frames the work in the dào / shù (Way / Technique) framework: dào zhī zhēn yǐ zhì shēn, dào zhī xùyú yǐ zhì tiānxià guójiā “the truth of the dào governs the body; its surplus governs the world and the state.”
Abstract
Zhāng Hào 張浩 (fl. late 16th c., precise lifedates unrecorded; not in CBDB) was a Ming-era physician of Héngjùn 恆郡 (Zhèngdìng prefecture, central Héběi). His Confucian-Daoist medical synthesis — combining the Sùwèn / Suīshū internal-medicine tradition with Daoist physiological cultivation — places him in the late-Ming Daoist-medical milieu that also produced Yīxué rùmén 醫學入門 (1575, Lǐ Chān 李梃) and Lèijīng 類經 (1624, Zhāng Jièbīn 張介賓). His work circulated in the late-Ming and Qīng popular-medical anthologies but achieved no special canonical status; the hxwd recension is the standard modern access.
The work covers general internal medicine across 4 juǎn, with sections on qìxuè (qi-and-blood) deficiency, fēng (wind / paralysis / stroke), hánshì (cold-damp), huǒ (fire), and standard ailments. The recipes are largely Júfāng and Zhū Zhèn-hēng-derived, with case-by-case modification. Late-Ming Daoist physiological-cultivation material is integrated where relevant (especially in chapters on chronic deficiency and yang-deficiency conditions).
Translations and research
- Hé Shíxī 何時希 (coll.). 1991. Rénshù biànlǎn 仁術便覽 (punctuated edition).
- For the late-Ming Daoist-medical milieu: Despeux, Catherine, and Livia Kohn. 2003. Women in Daoism. Three Pines.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §41.3.2.
Other points of interest
Zhōu Jiǔgāo’s preface — playing on the rén / bùrén pun and integrating Daoist dàoshù framework with Confucian humane-art ethics — is a representative example of late-Ming Confucian-Daoist medical writing that resists the increasing late-Ming professionalisation of medicine. The work’s framing implies that medicine is not a technical specialty but a cultivation practice properly available to any jūnzǐ.
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry.
- Wikipedia (zh): 仁術便覽.
- 仁術便覽 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB