Zhèngzhì Zhǔnshéng · Lèifāng 證治準繩·類方
Standards of Treatment by Syndrome: Classified Recipes by 王肯堂 (Wáng Kěntáng, 1549–1613, zì Yǔtài 宇泰, hào Sǔnān 損庵 / Niànxī jūshì 念西居士, 明) — late-Ming jìnshì 1589, Hànlín shùjí 翰林庶吉士
About the work
The Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng is the most comprehensive late-Ming systematic medical compendium and arguably the single most important Chinese clinical-systematic medical text between the Yuán JīnYuán four masters and the Qīng Yīzōng jīnjiàn. The full work comprises six “zhǔnshéng standards” — zábìng 雜病 (miscellaneous diseases, 8 juǎn), zábìng lèifāng 雜病類方 (the present text, 8 juǎn, Lèifāng, the “classified recipes” companion to the miscellaneous-diseases section), Shānghán 傷寒 (Cold-Damage, 8 juǎn), yáng 瘍 (external medicine / surgery, 6 juǎn), yòukē 幼科 (paediatrics, 9 juǎn), and nǚkē 女科 (gynaecology, 5 juǎn) — totalling 44 juǎn. The Kanripo catalog assigns the present hxwd recension specifically to the Lèifāng section of 8 juǎn; the broader work is presumably catalogued elsewhere under separate ids.
The Lèifāng section is the recipe-collection companion to the Zábìng (miscellaneous diseases) section. Where Zábìng presents the systematic diagnostic-and-treatment structure, Lèifāng gathers the recipes used in that structure, organised by ailment for easy clinical reference.
Prefaces
The hxwd transmission opens directly with the recipe text (the first section being cùzhōng bàojué 卒中暴厥 “sudden stroke and acute syncope”), prefaced by recipe-by-recipe indications. The full work’s prefaces (Wáng Kěntáng’s autographs of 1602–1607) are in other sub-sections.
Abstract
Wáng Kěntáng 王肯堂 (1549–1613, CBDB 39061), zì Yǔtài 宇泰, hào Sǔnān 損庵 / Niànxī jūshì 念西居士, of Jīntán 金壇 (modern Jiāngsū). Jìnshì of 萬曆 17 (1589); appointed Hànlín shùjí (Hanlin Bachelor); served as Hànlín jiǎntǎo (Hanlin Examining Editor) until his retirement after a few years to devote himself to medical practice, scholarly writing, and Buddhist cultivation.
Wáng’s medical project was vast: in addition to the Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng (44 juǎn), he produced major editions and commentaries — the Gǔjīn yītǒng zhèngmài quánshū 古今醫統正脈全書 (an enormous Ming-era anthology of Chinese medical classics, completed shortly after his death) is largely his editorial achievement.
The Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng is regarded as the principal late-Ming attempt at synthesizing the Jin-Yuán polemic schools into a single integrated clinical framework. Where the Yuán polemic-physicians (Liú Wánsù, Zhāng Cóngzhèng, Lǐ Gǎo, Zhū Zhènhēng) had each developed mutually-irreconcilable theoretical positions, Wáng’s editorial framework treats each as a partial truth applicable to particular clinical situations and incorporates the recipes of all four schools into a single biànzhèng differential-diagnosis structure. This synthetic integrationist programme made the Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng the dominant late-imperial Chinese clinical reference until the Qīng Yīzōng jīnjiàn (KR3ed074) imperial commission supplanted it as the standard.
The 1602–1607 bracket reflects the compilation of the various sub-sections of the larger Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng across Wáng’s retirement years.
Translations and research
- Furth, Charlotte. 1999. A Flourishing Yin. UCP. — uses the Nǚ-kē section extensively for late-Ming gynaecology.
- Hanson, Marta. 2011. Speaking of Epidemics. Routledge. — treats Wáng Kěntáng as a key transitional figure between Yuán polemic theory and Qīng integrative practice.
- Hé Shíxī 何時希 (coll.). 1991. Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng 證治準繩 (complete punctuated edition, multi-volume). Beijing.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §41.3.2.
Other points of interest
Wáng Kěntáng’s Buddhist commitments — explicit in his sobriquet Niànxī jūshì “lay-Buddhist of the Recitation of the West [= Amitābha Pure Land]” — are an important context for understanding his medical synthesis. His integrationist position — that all the Jin-Yuán schools contain partial truth — has affinities with the Pure-Land Buddhist ecumenicism of his time, which integrates Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian moral cultivation into a single salvific path.
Links
- Wikidata Q11077089 (證治準繩).
- Wikipedia (zh): 證治準繩; 王肯堂.
- Sister sections: Zábìng 雜病, Shānghán 傷寒, Yángyī 瘍醫, Yòukē 幼科, Nǚkē 女科.
- 證治準繩·類方 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB