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醫方捷徑指南全書

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Text ID
KR3ed050
Date
1572–1572
Dynasty
明

Yīfāng Jiéjìng Zhǐnán Quánshū 醫方捷徑指南全書

Complete Quick-Path Pointer for Medical Recipes by 王宗顯 (Wáng Zōngxiǎn, fl. late 16th c., 明) — Ming physician

About the work

The Yīfāng jiéjìng zhǐnán quánshū in 8 juǎn is a mid-late-Ming practical clinical handbook compiled c. 1572 by Wáng Zōngxiǎn 王宗顯. The work opens with a substantial introductory essay on medical-pharmaceutical principles (Yīxué rùmén — note this is not the better-known 1575 Yīxué rùmén of Lǐ Chān 李梃, but a separate work with the same descriptive title) that surveys the inherited tradition (Shénnóng, Huángdì, Yùhán jīnguì literature), explicates materia medica with examples of striking pharmaceutical interactions (radish dissolves abdominal fullness, qiānniú purges, máhuáng induces sweat, guādì induces vomiting), and articulates the dāngyòng “appropriate-application” doctrine of differential prescription — recipe-application keyed to age, sex, constitution, regional climate, and social class.

The work then proceeds through standard internal-medicine and external-medicine sections, with strong emphasis on mnemonic recipes suitable for memorisation by junior practitioners. The title’s jiéjìng “quick-path” indicates the work’s pedagogical focus on accessibility.

Prefaces

The opening Yīxué rùmén běncǎo yǐnxù “Medical Studies Introduction bencao Introductory Preface” serves as the principal paratext. It is unsigned and undated but is the editorial preface of the work itself rather than a patronage preface. It develops:

  1. Medical traditional inheritance. From Shénnóng through Huángdì through Sòng-Yuán-Ming physicians, including explicit references to Biǎnquè, Huà Tuó, Sūn Sīmiǎo (Zhìchuān 稚川), and the Yùhán jīnguì literature.
  2. Drug-action examples. A tour de force of pharmaceutical pedagogy: radish dissolves fullness; qiānniú purges; máhuáng sweats; guādì causes vomiting; wūméi causes salivation; zàojiǎo causes sneezing; císhí draws iron; hǔpò picks up small particles; luánjiāo mends broken swords; tǎdǎn divides a wine-cup of contents; xuè doesn’t congeal with lotus; qī dissolves with crab; cōngzhī boils guì to water; chángāo softens jade.
  3. Differential-prescription principles. Region, age, sex, constitution, social class, and seasonal qì must all be considered before prescription.
  4. Editorial method. Jiéjìng “quick-path” pedagogy — concise, mnemonic, accessible to junior practitioners.

Abstract

Wáng Zōngxiǎn 王宗顯 (fl. late 16th c.; not in CBDB; native place uncertain) was a mid-late-Ming physician whose principal work is the present Jiéjìng zhǐnán quánshū. The 1572 date is conventional; the work was reprinted in late-Ming and Qīng popular-medical anthologies.

The work’s significance:

  1. Pedagogical practical-medical pharmacology. The work is one of the clearest mid-late-Ming statements of the case for pedagogical pharmacology — explaining drug actions through striking, memorable examples rather than through dense theoretical apparatus. The introductory essay’s tour-de-force list of pharmaceutical interactions is a particularly clear example.
  2. Quick-reference clinical handbook. Together with the Yībiàn (KR3ed043) and other late-Ming jiéjìng “quick-path” works, the Yīfāng jiéjìng zhǐnán quánshū documents the mid-late-Ming trend toward portable, quick-reference clinical handbooks suitable for non-specialist or junior-practitioner use.

Translations and research

  • Hé Shíxī 何時希 (coll.). 1992. Yīfāng jiéjìng zhǐnán quánshū 醫方捷徑指南全書 (punctuated edition).
  • Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §41.3.2.

Other points of interest

The introductory essay’s list of pharmaceutical-interaction examples (císhí draws iron; hǔpò picks up small particles; luánjiāo mends broken swords; blood doesn’t congeal with lotus; qī lacquer dissolves with crab) draws on a tradition of wonder-pharmacology that goes back to the Bàopǔzǐ of Gě Hóng 葛洪 and is preserved in the Bencao gāngmù of Lǐ Shízhēn (KR3ec025). The work’s incorporation of such material into a practical clinical handbook is characteristic of late-Ming popular-medical literature.

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