Sūnshì yīàn 孫氏醫案
Medical Case Records of Sūn by 孫一奎 Sūn Yīkuí (Wényuán 文垣, hào Shēngshēng zǐ 生生子, 1522–1619), of Xiūníng 休寧 (Huīzhōu, Ānhuī).
About the work
A five-juǎn late-Míng casebook of the great Xīnān 新安 school physician Sūn Yīkuí (hào Shēngshēng zǐ 生生子, “the Master of Begetting-Begetting”). Sūn was a contemporary of 汪機 Wāng Jī’s later years and the principal Xīn-ān-school theorist of the yì (易, Yìjīng cosmology) approach to medicine.
Prefaces
The hxwd _000.txt opens with a Shēngshēng zǐ yīàn xù 生生子醫案序 (preface to the medical-case-records of the Master of Begetting-Begetting), establishing the cosmological-medical context. The preface argues from the Zhōulǐ (Rites of Zhōu) classification — physicians as fāngjì (technicians) yet placed under the tiānguān zhǒngzǎi (Heaven-Office of the Master Steward) — that medicine is dàitiān zhě yě 代天者也 (“the agent of Heaven”). After invoking Yándì on the Běncǎo, Huángdì and Qíbó on the Língshū and Sùwèn, Yīyǐn on the Tāngyè (decoctions), and Chángsāngjiā (the legendary great physician), the preface develops a sustained Yìjīng-medical-philosophical argument: only those who shàn yú dá tiān 善於達天 (“good at penetrating Heaven”) can practice as Heaven’s agents. The preface explicitly cites Sūn Sīmiǎo’s dictum: “He who does not know the Yìjīng is not adequate to speak of the Grand Medicine” 不知易者不足以言太醫.
The preface goes on to praise Shēngshēng zǐ Sūnshì Wényuán 孫氏文垣 of Xīnān as a profound master of medical-canonical learning, citing Sūn’s other medical works: Yīzhǐ xùyú 醫旨緒餘 (Remaining Gleanings on the Pointing-Path of Medicine) and Chìshuǐ xuánzhū 赤水玄珠 (Mysterious Pearl from the Red River) — both major Xīn-ān-school medical-philosophical works. Sūn is praised especially for his explication of mìngmén (gate-of-life) and yòushèn (right-kidney) theory, the sānjiāo (triple-burner) doctrine, and his clinical mastery of the xiānghuǒ (ministerial-fire) doctrine.
Abstract
Sūn Yīkuí 孫一奎 (1522–1619), zì Wényuán 文垣, hào Shēngshēng zǐ 生生子 (or Dōngsù 東宿), native of Xiūníng 休寧 (Huīzhōu, Ānhuī). One of the three principal late-Míng Xīnān 新安 school physicians (alongside Wāng Jī 汪機 and Wāng Kěntáng 王肯堂 [in the broader sense]). His clinical signature integrates Dānxī (Zhū Zhènhēng) zīyīn doctrine with strong xiānghuǒ (ministerial-fire) and mìngmén (gate-of-life) theorisation — placing him as a principal late-Míng exponent of the fùyáng (right-yang) doctrinal current that flowered in the Qīng with Zhāng Jǐngyuè (Jǐngyuè 景岳) and Zhào Xiànkě 趙獻可.
The Sūnshì yīàn is one of the principal late-Míng casebooks — explicitly named in the Gǔjīn yīàn àn (KR3ep071) preface as the foundational case-record tradition before 葉天士 Yè Tiānshì. The casebook’s clinical-philosophical sophistication makes it a major source for late-Míng medical-cosmological thought.
The composition window 1560–1619 brackets Sūn’s clinical career through to his death at age 97 suì.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located in major European languages for this specific text. Sūn Yī-kuí and the Xīn-ān school are treated in Hinrichs and Barnes 2013, pp. 165–168.
Links
- Sūn’s medical-philosophical works: Yīzhǐ xùyú 醫旨緒餘, Chìshuǐ xuánzhū 赤水玄珠 (Sūn’s principal medical compendium, 30 juan).
- Xīnān school: KR3ep089 Shíshān yīàn (Wāng Jī), KR3ep059 Wáng Zhòngqí yīàn.
- Kanseki DB
- 孫氏醫案