Zēngdìng shíyào shénshū 增訂十藥神書
Expanded and Revised Divine Book of Ten Prescriptions originally by 葛乾孫 (Gě Qiánsūn, zì Kějiǔ 可久, 1305–1353) with annotations by 陳念祖 (Chén Niànzǔ, zì Xiūyuán 修園, 1753–1823)
About the work
A famously concise treatise on consumption (láozhài 癆瘵 / pulmonary wasting), in 1 juǎn, built around ten signature prescriptions arranged by the tiāngān 天干 sequence (jiǎ through guǐ): hemostasis (Shíhuī sǎn 十灰散, Huāruǐshí sǎn 花蕊石散); ginseng restoration (Dúshēn tāng 獨參湯); sustaining lung-yīn (Bǎohé tāng 保和湯, Bǎozhēn tāng 保真湯, Tàipíng wán 太平丸); phlegm-heat purgation (Chénxiāng xiāohuà wán 沉香消化丸); lung lubrication (Rùnfèi gāo 潤肺膏, Báifèng gāo 白鳳膏); and final marrow-replenishment (Bǔsuǐ dān 補髓丹). The “expanded” edition adds Chén Niànzǔ’s running commentary aligning each formula with the Jīnguì yàolüè three-gāng framework and refuting the Míng-Qīng over-reliance on 朱震亨 Zhū Zhènhēng-style yīn-supplementing formulas.
Abstract
The transmission of the Shíyào shénshū is heavily layered. Gě Qiánsūn’s autograph preface is dated Zhìzhèng wùzǐ = 1348 at the gūsū chūnxiāntáng 姑蘇春先堂 in Sūzhōu. Subsequent editorial layers include: a 1687 (Kāngxī bǐngyín) preface by 周揚俊 Zhōu Yángjùn; the standard zhù (commentary) by 陳念祖 Chén Niànzǔ (1753–1823), one of the great Qīng medical popularisers; an 1879 (Guāngxù jǐmǎo) expanded edition with notes by 潘霨 Pān Wèi of Wúmén; and an 1857 (Xiánfēng dīngsì) jué / 歌訣 (versified mnemonic) supplement by 林壽萱 Lín Shòuxuān. The catalog meta’s mention of a “Cài Lìzhāi” attribution does not appear in this textual witness — the documented Qing commentators are Chén, Zhōu, Pān, and Lín.
The composition window of 1348–1879 here brackets Gě’s autograph composition through to the latest received expansion. The dating reflects the layered transmission: the core ten-formula text is mid-14th century, but the received recension circulates with substantial Qing-period editorial accretion.
Chén Niànzǔ explicitly states in his postface that pre-Qīng copies were yànběn 贗本 (“forgeries”) and that he reconstructed the “original” only after his retirement. The “expanded” status means the layered editorial voices (Gě / Zhōu / Chén / Pān / Lín) must be disentangled when citing.
Translations and research
- Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, Chinese Medicine and Healing — on fèiláozhèng and the Yuán-Míng consumption discourse.
- Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960–1665. Berkeley: UC Press, 1999, ch. 4–5 — JīnYuán xūsǔn theory.
- Catherine Despeux and Frédéric Obringer, La maladie dans la Chine médiévale: la toux. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1997.
- Marta Hanson’s chapter in Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, on the wēnbìng physicians who cited Gě (esp. 葉桂 Yè Guì).
- No standalone English translation located.