Yīnzhèng lüèlì 陰證略例
A Brief Compendium of Yin-Syndromes by 王好古 (Wáng Hǎogǔ, zì Jìnzhī 進之, hào Hǎizàng 海藏, c. 1200–1264)
About the work
A focused monograph in 1 juǎn on the yīn-syndromes of cold-damage (shānghán 傷寒 yīnzhèng), in some thirty-plus tiáo 條 (entries) of yīn-syndrome cases with ancient-author excerpts and Wáng’s own commentary. The work argues against the prevailing Sòng-period over-use of warming and aromatic prescriptions for all febrile presentations, systematises 張機 Zhāng Jī’s sānyīn 三陰 schema, and distinguishes “external cold-damage with internal yīn” (wàishāng nèiyīn 外傷內陰) from true yáng-syndromes — warning particularly against Guìzhī tāng 桂枝湯 vs. Chéngqì tāng 承氣湯 mis-application. A cornerstone JīnYuán Shānghán-tradition / bǔtǔ-school transitional text.
Abstract
Wáng Hǎogǔ — disciple of both 張元素 Zhāng Yuánsù (Jiégǔ 潔古) and 李杲 Lǐ Gǎo (Dōngyuán 東垣) — is the principal carrier of the YìshuǐDōngyuán bǔtǔ tradition into the YuánMíng transition, and the Yīnzhèng lüèlì is one of his most original contributions, applying the spleen-and-stomach school’s diagnostic discrimination to the cold-damage canon.
The composition date is firmly fixed by the preface of 麻革 Má Gé (信之 Xìnzhī) of Wángguān 王官, dated guǐmǎo 癸卯 in his eleventh-month middle-decade — guǐmǎo in Wáng’s lifetime = 1243, not 1232 as sometimes given. The narrow dating bracket of 1243 here reflects this firm fixing.
The CBDB has two homonymous Wáng Hǎogǔ records (1811 and 10041), both with no usable lifedates; the standard scholarly bracket from the secondary literature is c. 1200–1264, with Wáng’s jìnshì under the Jīn (date uncertain) and his subsequent discipleship under Zhāng Yuánsù and Lǐ Gǎo.
The catalog dynasty marker 元 is defensible since the work was composed under Mongol Yuán rule (post-1234 Jīn collapse), although Wáng was educated in the Jīn jìnshì system; no contradiction.
Translations and research
- Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, Chinese Medicine and Healing — the JīnYuán Four Masters context.
- Asaf Goldschmidt, The Evolution of Chinese Medicine: Song Dynasty 960–1200. London: Routledge, 2009, ch. 7 — the Shānghán revival framing Wáng’s intervention.
- Volker Scheid, Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine, 1626–2006. Seattle: Eastland, 2007 — the Yìshuǐ / Dōngyuán lineage.
- 盛增秀 Shèng Zēngxiù 主編, Wáng Hǎogǔ yīxué quánshū 王好古醫學全書. Beijing: Zhōngyī yào, 2005 — critical edition.
- No standalone English translation located.
Links
- See 王好古 person note.
- 陰證略例 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB