Gǔjīn Míngyī Fānglùn 古今名醫方論
Recipe Discourses of Famous Physicians of Antiquity and the Present by 羅美 (Luó Měi, zì Dànshēng 澹生, hào Dōngyì 東逸, fl. late 17th c., 清)
About the work
The Gǔjīn míngyī fānglùn is the early-Qīng formulary-commentary masterwork of Luó Měi 羅美 of Wújiāng 吳江, completed in 1675 (Kāngxī 14, yǐmǎo 乙卯). The work — 4 juǎn with a Bǔyí 補遺 (supplement) section — selects the most influential formulas of the HànSòngYuánMíng tradition and presents for each (a) the formula proper, (b) its classical attribution and indication, and (c) a substantial collected discussion drawing on the most penetrating commentaries from the post-Zhòngjǐng-through-Míng exegetical tradition, particularly Yè Zhòngjiān 葉仲堅 of the Míng (one of Luó’s principal authorities) and the great YuánMíng formulary commentators.
Prefaces
The source begins immediately with the supplement (bǔyí — Cānsū yǐn, Xiāngrú yǐn, etc.) rather than with the original 4-juǎn main body. The full Kāngxī printing carries a dated preface of 1675, but this is not preserved in the visible portion.
A characteristic jízhù commentary example from the supplement: on Cānsū yǐn 參蘇飲 (《Júfāng》, KR3ed011):
葉仲堅曰：此少陽中風，而寒濕內著之證也。仲景於表劑不用人參，惟少陽寒熱往來，雖有口苦、咽乾、目眩之相火，亦用人參以固中氣…
(“Yè Zhòngjiān says: this is a shàoyáng wind-strike with cold-damp adhering internally. Zhòngjǐng does not use rénshēn in his surface-clearing formulas, but only in the shàoyáng fever-and-chills oscillation, where even though there is the prime-minister-fire of bitter mouth, dry throat, and dim eyes, he still uses rénshēn to consolidate the central qì…“)
The commentary continues through several pages, weighing each constituent’s contribution against the syndrome’s pathomechanism. This is the jízhù (collected commentary) format at its most developed.
Abstract
Luó Měi’s work is one of the most important formulary commentaries of the early Qīng and was foundational for the Yīzōng jīnjiàn · Shānbǔ míngyī fānglùn KR3ed074 of Wú Qiān 吳謙 et al. (1742), which adopts Luó’s jízhù method on a larger imperially-funded scale and extends it through a wider corpus. Luó’s contemporaneous influence was great: he was praised as the leading formula-commentator of the Kāngxī generation and his work circulates widely in late-Qīng formulary anthologies.
Luó Měi’s clinical orientation is jīngfāng (Zhòngjǐng-centred) with substantial sympathy for the JīnYuán synthetic tradition (Lǐ Dōngyuán’s Píwèi lùn, Zhū Dānxī’s jiéyīnyǐnyáng doctrine). He is one of the principal early-Qīng exponents of bǔyǎng (supplementing) prescribing, particularly in chronic deficiency states.
The 1675 date is firm.
Translations and research
- Luó Měi yīxué quánshū 羅美醫學全書 / Gǔ-jīn míng-yī fāng-lùn (modern punctuated editions: Beijing: Rénmín wèishēng chūbǎnshè, multiple printings).
- No major Western-language monograph dedicated to this work specifically. Treated in Marta Hanson’s study of the Yīzōng jīnjiàn (2003) as a principal source for the imperial compilation.
Other points of interest
The work’s deep engagement with Yè Zhòngjiān (Yè Yuánzhāo 葉元昭 of the Míng), a relatively obscure but highly intelligent late-Míng formulary commentator, is one of the most distinctive features of Luó’s editorial method. Yè’s fānglùn — through Luó’s quoting of them in this work — became the principal channel through which Yè’s commentary survived into the Qīng and subsequently into the Yīzōng jīnjiàn.
Links
- Wikidata Q67116554 (Gǔjīn míngyī fānglùn).
- 古今名醫方論 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB