Shíjì Biǎo 十劑表
Tabulation of the Ten Formula-Categories by 包誠 (Bāo Chéng, zì Xīngyán 興言, fl. mid-late 19th c., 清)
About the work
The Shíjì biǎo is a one-juǎn tabular reference work that re-presents the classical doctrine of the “ten formula-categories” (shíjì 十劑) — the canonical scheme attributed to Xú Zhīcái 徐之才 (Northern Qí, 6th c.) and codified in the Sòng-edited Bencao gāngmù and downstream pharmacopoeias. The ten categories are conventionally: xuān 宣 (diffusing), tōng 通 (unblocking), bǔ 補 (supplementing), xiè 瀉 (draining), qīng 清 (cooling/clearing), huá 滑 (slippery, lubricating), sè 澀 (astringent), zào 燥 (drying), shī 濕 (moistening), and zhòng 重 (heavy/settling). The work tabulates representative formulas under each category with concise indications and prescribing notes.
Prefaces
No dated authorial preface survives in the source, making firm chronology difficult.
Abstract
Bāo Chéng was a late-Qing literatus-physician of the Jiāngnán wēnbǔ tradition, active in the orbit of the post-Yè Tiānshì pedagogical synthesis represented by Wáng Xùgāo 王旭高 and others. The Shíjì biǎo is a teaching aid: where Wāng Áng’s Yīfāng jíjiě KR3ed076 and Wú Yílù’s Chéngfāng qièyòng KR3ed052 organized their formulary corpus under 21–25 thematic divisions, the Shíjì biǎo reverts to the much older 10-category scheme of Xú Zhīcái, but updates the representative formulas with post-Sòng shífāng. The dating window is mid-late 19th century (notBefore conservatively set to 1810 as a terminus a quo given Bāo’s stylistic affinity with the post-Jiāqìng generation; notAfter to 1880 by reception evidence). The work was reprinted in the Zhōngguó yīxué dàchéng 中國醫學大成 (Shanghai, 1936) and the Qīngdài yīshū yī jù 清代醫書一具 collectaneum.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The work is recognized in modern Chinese-language formulary handbooks but has not received a Western-language study.
Other points of interest
The doctrine of shíjì 十劑 is the most enduring single Chinese pharmaco-therapeutic typology, traceable to a single line in Xú Zhīcái that was elaborated by Sòng commentators and re-instantiated in every subsequent pharmacopoeia. The Shíjì biǎo’s decision to return to this archaic-canonical scheme rather than continue the post-Sòng disease-category schemes is symptomatic of a late-Qing classicizing impulse parallel to the kǎozhèng movement in classical philology.
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry.
- 十劑表 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB