Shānghán lùn lèi fāng 傷寒論類方
The Treatise on Cold Damage Arranged by Prescription-Type by 徐大椿 (Xú Dàchūn, zì Língtāi 靈胎, 1693–1771, 清)
About the work
A four-juan mid-Qiánlóng reorganization of the Shānghán lùn by the Wújiāng polymath physician 徐大椿 Xú Dàchūn (Língtāi). The work is one of the most original and consequential structural interventions in the entire Qīng Shānghán tradition: instead of organizing the canonical material by the standard six-conformation (六經) schema, Xú reorganizes it by fānglèi 方類 (prescription-type) — taking Guìzhī tāng 桂枝湯, Máhuáng tāng 麻黃湯, Xiǎo Cháihú tāng 小柴胡湯, and the other principal Shānghán prescriptions as the organizing units, with all canonical clauses bearing on each prescription gathered together as a single chapter.
Abstract
Composition date 1759 is conventional, based on Xú’s self-preface (the work was completed in his late sixties at Wújiāng). The rationale Xú gives in the preface is pedagogical and clinical: the six-conformation schema is taxonomic but does not directly serve clinical prescription-choice, while the fānglèi arrangement allows the clinician to grasp at once the full canonical evidence for the application of each prescription, including its various modifications and contraindications.
The work’s fānglèi arrangement was a major influence on the late-Edo kohō-ha 古方派 of 吉益東洞 Yoshimasu Tōdō — though Yoshimasu’s own Ruijuhō 類聚方 predates Xú’s work by several decades, the two converged on the same insight independently. Xú’s Lèi fāng and Yoshimasu’s Ruijuhō are now conventionally cited together as the twin canonical instances of the prescription-centric Shānghán reading.
The work is one of the principal Qīng Shānghán commentaries and has been continuously transmitted and reprinted, including in the Sìkù quánshū (《四庫全書》收 with tiyao). It remains a foundational reference for clinical Shānghán education in modern Chinese medicine.
Translations and research
- Wú Yǎbīn 吴雅彬 et al., modern critical editions in the Xú Língtāi yī shū 徐靈胎醫書 collected works.
- 吉益東洞 Yoshimasu Tōdō, Ruijuhō 類聚方 — the parallel Edo development.
- No comprehensive English-language translation located but the work is widely discussed in Chinese-medicine secondary literature.
Other points of interest
The opening chapter on Guìzhī tāng 桂枝湯 — preserved in the Kanripo source — illustrates Xú’s method: the canonical clause “桂枝湯方。桂枝(三兩)芍藥(三兩)甘草(二兩)生薑(三兩)大棗（十二枚）” is followed by Xú’s own commentary on the function of each ingredient (“甘草、大棗補脾精以滋肝血；芍藥清營中之熱；桂枝達營氣之郁也”) and on the practical clinical points of administration. The result is a clinically oriented digest of the canonical prescription material that has been one of the most useful Qīng Shānghán practitioner-references in the modern period.
Links
- See KR3ef001 (parent Shānghán lùn).
- See KR5c0077 (Xú’s parallel Dàodé jīng commentary).
- 傷寒論類方 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB