Zhēnjiǔ Sù Nàn yàozhǐ 針灸素難要旨
Essentials of the Sùwèn and Nànjīng on Acupuncture and Moxibustion by 高武 Gāo Wǔ (撰)
About the work
A three-juan topical synthesis of the acupuncture-and-moxibustion doctrine of the Huángdì nèijīng Sùwèn, the Língshū, and the Nànjīng, compiled by 高武 Gāo Wǔ of Sìmíng 四明 and prefaced by 黃易 Huáng Yì of Yìyáng 弋陽 at the Jiǔtán jīngshè 九潭精舍 in Jiājìng dīngyǒu 嘉靖丁酉 (1537). Huáng Yì’s preface explains the editorial conception: Gāo Wǔ had completed the Zhēnjiǔ jùyīng (KR3ee014, 1529) as the comprehensive critical compendium of post-classical acupuncture didactics; the present Yàozhǐ is a stand-alone abridgment of the Sùwèn-Língshū-Nànjīng acupuncture chapters, organized topically (rather than following the original chapter-sequence of the canon), “for the convenience of memorization and recitation” (以便記誦). The Nànjīng portion (juan 1) takes 滑壽 Huá Shòu’s Nànjīng běnyì 難經本義 (KR3e0004) as its base commentary, supplemented by other commentaries on individual nàn questions where they “give wings to the Nànjīng” (羽翼《難經》者). The Sùwèn portion (juan 2) abridges the Sùwèn-Língshū into the standard topical sequence: nine-needles, supplementing-and-draining, the various methods, the syndrome-based needling, the channels and bone-measurements. 王冰 Wáng Bīng’s Táng commentary is “set aside” (今去之) because, as Huáng Yì’s preface remarks, “scholars say [Wáng’s] commentary is over-strained” (議者謂其多所強解); only the bare Sùwèn text is preserved.
Abstract
The Zhēnjiǔ Sù Nàn yàozhǐ completes Gāo Wǔ’s acupuncture-philological trilogy alongside the Zhēnjiǔ jiéyào (KR3ee028) and the Zhēnjiǔ jùyīng (KR3ee014); together these three works are the Míng critical-scholarship base from which 楊繼洲 Yáng Jìzhōu’s Zhēnjiǔ dàchéng (KR3ee027) draws its canonical apparatus. The Yàozhǐ is the most consistently “back-to-source” of Gāo’s three works: it removes the Wáng Bīng Sùwèn commentary entirely, preserves only Huá Shòu’s Nànjīng commentary among post-classical glosses, and uses topical reorganization to make the canonical acupuncture doctrine clinically usable. The work was printed by the Wèijì 未齊 陶師文 Táo Shīwén workshop under the editorial supervision of 戴東石 Dài Dōngshí (the Shàocān Dōngshí Dàigōng of Huáng Yì’s preface). The text is registered in the SKQS proper and in the Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào.
Translations and research
- 黄龍祥 Huáng Lóngxiáng (ed.), Zhōngguó zhēnjiǔ shǐ tújiàn (2003), Gāo Wǔ chapter.
- Catherine Despeux, “Acupuncture”, Cambridge Encyclopedia of Chinese Medicine (2009).
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Yījiā lèi.
- 針灸素難要旨 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB