Zhēnjiǔ zīshēng jīng 針灸資生經
Life-Nourishing Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion by 王執中 Wáng Zhízhōng (撰)
About the work
A seven-juan Southern-Sòng acupuncture treatise by 王執中 Wáng Zhízhōng (zì Shūquán 叔權, fl. 1220, of Dōngjiā 東嘉 = Wēnzhōu 溫州, Zhèjiāng), first printed by 徐正卿 Xú Zhèngqīng in Jiādìng gēngchén 嘉定庚辰 (1220). The work treats all 360 acupoints in the standard head-to-foot sequence (juan 1) and devotes juans 2–7 to clinical-syndrome chapters: fevers, headaches, eye-diseases, eunuchoidism, dysentery, leg-and-foot pain, gynecology, paediatrics, etc. — each syndrome with point-selection, needling depth, moxibustion dose, the relevant Língshū-Sùwèn citations, the relevant later authorities (孫思邈 Sūn Sīmiǎo, 王惟一 Wáng Wéiyī of KR3ee056, 王燾 Wáng Tāo), and Wáng’s own clinical experience marked with “yú yún 予云” (“I say…”) inserts. The preface is by Xú Zhèngqīng (Jiādìng 1220) and remarks on the work as a corrective to the late-Sòng decline of acupuncture practice: “Recently 朱肱 Zhū Gōng, 龐安時 Páng Āncháng (Páng Ānshí), and 許叔微 Xǔ Zhīkě (Xǔ Shūwēi) each spoke of needle-method; 鄒握虎 Zōu Wòhǔ of Sānqú 三衢 codified a treatment-method in poetic mnemonic — the ancient sages’ life-saving intent began to be recovered. Now this man of Dōngjiā Wáng Shūquán has taken the 360 acupoints — back and front, top and toe — and classified them in syndrome-units, fixing each syndrome to its acupoint.” (近世朱肱龐安常俱為針法，許知可亦謂病當以刺愈… 今東嘉王叔權又取三百六十穴，背面巔末，行分類別，以穴對病).
Abstract
The Zhēnjiǔ zīshēng jīng is the most influential Southern-Sòng acupuncture treatise and the work that defines the post-Sòng “syndrome-and-point” (病-對-穴) clinical pedagogy. Wáng Zhízhōng was a literatus-physician — he served as Erudite (博士) at the Lǐyáng 澧陽 commandery academy — and the work is intellectually ambitious: it integrates the Língshū-Sùwèn-Nànjīng canon, the late-Sòng formulary tradition (Zhū Gōng’s Lèizhèng huórén shū), the Tóngrén tújīng (KR3ee056) acupoint catalog, and Wáng’s own clinical experience into a single reference. The Zīshēng jīng was reprinted by 趙綸 Zhào Lún in Shàodìng 4 (1231); the SKQS recension follows the Yèshì Guǎngqíntáng 葉氏廣勤堂 commercial print (a Máshā 麻沙 reprint). The work is among the most-cited late-Sòng acupuncture treatises in the Míng Pǔjì fāng zhēnjiǔ mén (KR3ee013) and in 高武 Gāo Wǔ’s Jùyīng (KR3ee014). The composition window 1209–1220 followed here reflects Wáng’s likely period of clinical practice culminating in the 1220 first printing.
Translations and research
- Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China vol. 6 part 6 (Medicine), Cambridge, 2000 — discusses the Zīshēng jīng as the principal Southern-Sòng acupuncture-syndrome treatise.
- Catherine Despeux, “Acupuncture”, in Cambridge Encyclopedia of Chinese Medicine, 2009.
- 黄龍祥 Huáng Lóngxiáng (ed.), Zhēnjiǔ zīshēng jīng jiàozhù 針灸資生經校註, Beijing: Rénmín wèishēng, 2007 — definitive modern critical edition.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Yījiā lèi.
- Wikipedia: 針灸資生經
- Wikidata Q11107598
- 針灸資生經 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB