Língshū jīngmài yì 靈樞經脈翼
Wings to the Língshū Channel-Vessel Chapters by 夏英 Xià Yīng (撰)
About the work
A three-juan early-Míng exposition of the channel-vessel doctrine of the Língshū jīngmài 靈樞經脈 chapter, by 夏英 Xià Yīng (zì Shíyàn 時彥) of Rénhé 仁和 (Hángzhōu). Xià, a hereditary literatus-physician, set out to provide a “Wings” (翼) — a paraliterary expansion — to the Língshū jīngmài chapter, which he found difficult to follow because of its compressed style and textual confusion (“the language is old and deep, with intermixed and transposed lines, lacking commentary; later transmitters have not failed to lose the original meaning”). The work follows the structure of 滑壽 Huá Shòu’s Shísì jīng fāhuī 十四經發揮 (KR3ee026), treating each of the fourteen channels (twelve regular + rèn-dū) in turn. For each channel Xià gives (1) Huá Shòu’s mnemonic verse from the Shísì jīng fāhuī with an expanded prose paraphrase; (2) the Língshū jīngmài original text below; (3) Huá’s commentary; (4) Xià’s own zǒngkuò 總括 (“overall summary”) synthesizing the doctrine into clinical-application form. A concluding chapter on the eight extraordinary vessels (Qíjīng bāmài), with full-body diagrams, follows.
Abstract
The Língshū jīngmài yì is an early-Míng “fāhuī-style” companion to Huá Shòu’s seminal Yuán treatise; the preface by 知予 Zhī Yǔ (“the one who knows me”, likely a literary pseudonym of the printer) frames the work as an accessible introduction-to-channels for students who find Huá’s terse style too compressed. Xià’s contribution is the systematic re-versification and prose-paraphrase apparatus, which made the Língshū jīngmài doctrine clinically usable. The work was printed in the mid-15th century and reprinted multiple times in the Míng; it is not in the SKQS but is registered in the Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào Zǐbù cúnmù. The composition bracket 1456–1500 followed here corresponds to Xià’s active period in Rénhé.
Translations and research
- 嚴世芸 Yán Shìyún, Zhōngyī rénwù cídiǎn, “Xià Yīng” entry.
- 黄龍祥 Huáng Lóngxiáng, Zhōngguó zhēnjiǔ shǐ tújiàn (2003), Míng channel-doctrine chapter.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Yījiā lèi cúnmù.
- 靈樞經脈翼 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB