Yīlùn Shíyí 醫論拾遺
Gleanings from Medical Discourses by 王旭高 (Wáng Xùgāo = Wáng Tàilín, 1798–1862, 清)
About the work
The Yīlùn shíyí is a one-juǎn collection of short medical discourses, mnemonic verses, and clinical aphorisms by Wáng Xùgāo 王旭高 (= Wáng Tàilín 王泰林), a mid-19th-century Wúxī master physician of the post-Yè Tiānshì SūzhōuWúxī orthodoxy. It is part of the larger Wáng Xùgāo yīshū liùzhǒng 王旭高醫書六種, the posthumous collection of Wáng’s six medical works published in 1862 by his disciples after his death. The work opens with a poetic Tuìsī jí tící 退思集題詞 (“inscription for the Tuìsī jí”) — a verse-introduction making clear the work belongs to the Tuìsī jí 退思集 series, named after Wáng’s studio name Tuìsī jūshì 退思居士 (“recluse of reflection-in-retirement”).
Prefaces
The source reproduces the Tuìsī jí tící verse and the body of the work but does not carry a dated formal preface. The opening tící gives a clear statement of Wáng’s pedagogical philosophy:
退有餘閒頗致思，軒岐家秘在於斯。知方然後堪求治，得訣回來好作醫。明理必須遵古訓，見機也要合時宜。莫嫌言淺無深意，下學工夫上達基。
(“In retirement I find leisure for reflection; the Yellow Emperor’s hidden teachings lie in this. Know the formula before you can seek treatment; once you grasp the secret, return and practise. To clarify principle one must follow ancient instructions; to discern opportunity one must match the present occasion. Do not despise plain words for lack of deep meaning — the lower study is the basis of the higher attainment.“)
The work then proceeds through a series of essays — on the ten requirements for clinical practice (skill, discernment, character, fortune, human relations, supporting circumstances, freedom from greed, taciturnity, freedom from amusements, cultivation of mind), on required reading (Nèijīng, Zhòngjǐng, Bencao, Yàoxìng, Màijué, Wú Yòukě’s Wēnyì lùn, Xuē Shēngbái’s Shīrè lùn, the Míngyī fānglùn and Yīfāng jíjiě KR3ed076, Yè Tiānshì’s Wēnrè lùn), on phlegm (tánlùn), and on malaria (nüèbiàn).
Abstract
Within the Wáng Xùgāo yīshū liùzhǒng, the Yīlùn shíyí occupies the position of a post-hoc essay collection — short pieces, cítóu observations, didactic aphorisms — that did not fit into the structured rhymed-formulary works that constitute Wáng’s principal pedagogical project (the Tuìsī jí lèifāng gēzhù KR3ed090, Zēngdìng yīfāng gējué KR3ed089, Yīfāng zhèngzhì huìbiān gējué KR3ed087, and Yīfāng gēkuò KR3ed088). The work is therefore valuable for what it reveals about Wáng’s theoretical commitments and his required-reading list — a window onto the canon as it stood in mid-19th-century Wúxī clinical pedagogy.
Wáng’s required reading is striking for its temperate mix: classical (Nèijīng, Zhòngjǐng, Bencao), JīnYuán (Liú Héjiān, Zhū Dānxī, Lǐ Dōngyuán, Zhāng Zǐhé “may all be flipped through, not necessarily memorized”), and contemporary (Yè Tiānshì’s Wēnrè lùn “must be thoroughly memorized”; Xuē Shēngbái’s Shīrè lùn; Wú Yòukě’s Wēnyì lùn). The post-Sòng tradition is taken as a living one, with the warm-disease school given highest priority — a faithful WúSū wēnbìng posture.
The date window: Wáng died in 1862; the work was printed posthumously the same year. Composition presumably falls in his later working life, c. 1850–1862. The terminus ad quem of 1862 is firm.
Translations and research
- The Wáng Xùgāo yī-shū liù-zhǒng is available in modern punctuated editions (Shanghai: Shànghǎi kēxué jìshù chūbǎnshè, 1956 onward; Beijing: Rénmín wèishēng chūbǎnshè, 1987).
- Volker Scheid, Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626–2006 (Eastland, 2007). Discusses Wáng’s place in the post-Yè Sūzhōu tradition.
- No Western-language monograph dedicated specifically to the Yīlùn shíyí.
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry.
- 醫論拾遺 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB