Shífāng Gēkuò 時方歌括
Rhymed Verses on Contemporary Formulas by 陳念祖 (Chén Niànzǔ, zì Xiūyuán 修園, 1753–1823, 清)
About the work
The Shífāng gēkuò is a 2-juǎn mnemonic-verse formulary by Chén Xiūyuán of Chánglè, comprising 108 shífāng (contemporary formulas — i.e., the major post-Sòng formulary corpus) in rhymed verse for memorization. It is the companion volume to the Shífāng miàoyòng KR3ed053, which Chén Xiūyuán composed shortly afterwards as the prose-explication treatise covering the same 108 formulas. The two works together constitute Chén’s most successful single pedagogical contribution: a tightly coupled verse-and-explanation textbook of the post-Sòng formulary corpus.
Prefaces
The author’s xiǎoyǐn (small preface) at the head of the source:
The classical formulae (jīngfāng) are paramount, but after the Táng and Sòng the shífāng of common practice also became necessary. The ancients summarised the system in ten therapeutic categories (shíjì: xuān, tōng, bǔ, xiè, qīng, zhuó, sè, zào, shī); later scholars added hán and rè, making twelve. Each category corresponds to classical-formula prototypes: xuān (diffusing) to the Zhīzǐ chǐ and Guādì formulas; tōng (unblocking) to Wǔlíng and Shízǎo; xiè (draining) to Xiànxiōng, Chéngqì, and Dǐdāng; huá (slippery) to Dǎndǎo mìjiān and Mìjiān; sè (astringent) to Chì shízhī, Táohuā tāng; bǔ (supplementing) to Fùzǐ tāng, Lǐzhōng wán; zhòng (heavy) to Yǔyúliáng dàizhěshí; rùn (moistening) to Huánglián ējiāo tāng; zào (drying) to Máhuáng liányǎ chìxiǎodòu tāng; qīng (cooling) to Báihǔ, Huánglián xièxīn; rè (warming) to Báitōng, Sìnì.
Chén then describes his own work-method: he had previously compiled a verse-formulary of the jīngfāng (the Zhēnfāng gēkuò 真方歌括) but lacked funds to print it. Later, in xīnyǒu 辛酉 = 1801, while serving in Zhílì 直隸, he was sent on flood-relief duty to Héngshān 恆山 and contracted hánjué (cold-syncope). After self-treatment and recovery, he observed the rampant misprescribing by local physicians during a wēnnüè (warm-malaria) epidemic and set out to write a shífāng verse-formulary covering 108 common-practice formulas. He completed this work and gave it to the publisher. Then, in the Jiāqìng guǐhài 嘉慶癸亥 = 1803 period, he expanded the project with the prose-explication Shífāng miàoyòng of 4 juǎn.
The terminus a quo is therefore 1801 (composition); the terminus ad quem 1803 (first printing as part of the Gōngyú yīlù 公餘醫錄 bound collection).
Abstract
The work’s 108 verses cover the most common formulae of late-imperial clinical practice, organized into the 12-category therapeutic scheme: bǔyǎng, fābiǎo, gōnglǐ, yǒngtù, biǎolǐ shuāngjiě, héjiě, lǐqì, lǐxuè, qūfēng, qūhán, qūshǔ, qūshī, rùnzào, xièhuǒ, chútán, xiāodǎo, shōusè, shāchóng, míngmù, yōngyáng, jīngchǎn. The verses are tighter and more methodologically rigorous than Wāng Áng’s earlier Tāngtóu gējué KR3ed083, which Chén explicitly regards as too loose in its prosodic discipline.
The work circulated bound together with the Shífāng miàoyòng under the umbrella title Gōngyú yīlù 公餘醫錄 and became the principal post-Wāng-Áng pedagogical formulary in 19th-century Chinese-medicine education. Through Chén’s wide pedagogical influence (he taught privately at Fúzhōu for decades after retiring), the Shífāng gēkuò and miàoyòng together became standard reading for the TóngzhìGuāngxù generation of physicians.
Translations and research
- Chén Xiūyuán. Chén Xiūyuán yīxué quánshū 陳修園醫學全書 (Beijing: Zhōngguó Zhōngyīyào chūbǎnshè, 1999), containing both this work and the prose companion Shífāng miàoyòng.
- Volker Scheid, Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626–2006. Discusses Chén’s pedagogical project in late-Qing context.
Links
- Wikidata Q67137059 (Shífāng gēkuò).
- 時方歌括 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB