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What kind of book is ‘Shang Han Lun’? Understanding this question will directly influence your comprehension of its reading. Below, we will discuss this issue from different perspectives.
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A Book from the Late Han Dynasty
It is correct to say that ‘Shang Han Lun’ is a book from the Late Han Dynasty, authored by Zhang Zhongjing. However, the issue is that we cannot see the original text; what we have is the published version edited during the Northern Song Dynasty. Even the original from the Northern Song is not available; we only have the text reprinted by Zhao Kaimei in the Ming Dynasty, of which only five copies are said to exist. The clinical diagnosis and treatment of diseases occurred in the Late Han, while the textual expression was finalized in the Northern Song, passing down to the present day. In simple terms, it primarily concerns events from the Late Han, recorded in writing, transmitted to the Song Dynasty, edited and adapted, and ultimately finalized. The changes from Han to Song must have been significant, but it cannot be said that there is no connection between the two.
The Qin and Han Dynasties were an era of bamboo slips and silk manuscripts, while the Song Dynasty was a time when books were printed and widely disseminated. The transmission of bamboo slips and silk manuscripts had the potential for continuous modification and supplementation. At that time, information circulation was difficult, and there was little exchange of reading; it is hard to estimate how much information an individual could possess. The final form that was transmitted could not have been a personal monograph unless there was an underground excavation. The finalization in the Song Dynasty was influenced by the context and needs of that era, which inevitably colored the text.
A Clinical Book
‘Shang Han Lun’ is a book that discusses clinical treatment, but it does not cover all diseases; it has a specific focus on certain diseases. Although it is difficult to reach a definitive conclusion today, we can still make certain inferences based on the textual records. Judging from a disease perspective, determining what diseases this book primarily discusses is quite challenging. Based on the scattered narratives in the original text, we can make inferences from fragmentary language descriptions, much like a detective solving a case. Fortunately, with the advancement of the times, things that were previously unrecognized now have the potential for understanding, and we can say that we have more methods than the ancients.
As a clinical book, the most valuable content is the text directly related to clinical diagnosis and treatment, rather than theoretical narratives. From the overall symptom descriptions and the general course of the disease, we need to patiently piece together the puzzle. Before piecing together, we must have a hypothesis. A clinical book is not a literary work; it cannot be completed through imagination. Clinical practice is objective reality, and even personal experience may be limited. Therefore, even if an individual has extraordinary abilities, it is impossible to write a comprehensive clinical record in one go, especially during the Late Han.
A Classic Book
‘Shang Han Lun’ is one of the four great classics of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Classics have universal value; what is the universal value of ‘Shang Han Lun’? As a classic, many people may just follow along and say that ‘Shang Han Lun’ laid the foundation for clinical differentiation and treatment in TCM. However, the underlying principles are not always clear, such as what the six meridian patterns of differentiation and treatment are. Why must we discuss the six meridian patterns in the context of ‘Shang Han’? Why has it been marginalized today in favor of organ differentiation? Why did the concepts of warm diseases and the differentiation of wei, qi, ying, and xue emerge later? These questions are closely related to understanding the classic nature of ‘Shang Han Lun.’
‘Shang Han Lun’ is a starting point; its background is the specific clinical diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In this process, a set of regularities was formed, containing basic principles, which is the framework of the six meridian patterns of differentiation and treatment. This framework can guide the diagnosis and treatment of other diseases in clinical practice and can accommodate the expansion and supplementation of later treatment methods and prescriptions.
A Practical Book
‘Shang Han Lun’ is a simple and practical book. Even if you do not fully understand the principles and regularities provided by ‘Shang Han Lun’, you can still achieve certain clinical effectiveness by following the prescriptions and patterns. The basic formulas provided by ‘Shang Han Lun’, as long as you understand the clinical application scope and specific techniques, can generally get you started. The initial treatment methods and prescriptions may have emphasized what can and cannot be done, making them simpler and clearer; now the focus has shifted to the six meridian patterns, with increasing clarity of regularities.
The relationship between prescriptions and patterns is at the level of techniques, solving practical skills. The above is at the level of principles; the so-called usefulness of the useless is the principle that runs through things. Understanding the principle allows for a comprehensive understanding, and later methods can find their starting point from the classic formulas. With such insight, the origins and developments of things become clearer.
A Difficult Book
The original text of ‘Shang Han Lun’ has a certain level of difficulty in reading comprehension. A considerable portion of the original text is obscure and difficult to understand. Even the direct clinical descriptions are not hard to read, but without the context of the clinical diseases at that time, they remain unclear. Furthermore, grasping the overall understanding of the entire book is not an easy task. One issue is the problems arising from the transmission and evolution of the text, and another is the understanding of the disease context, namely, what is ‘Shang Han’?
Because it is difficult to understand, it requires explanation, resulting in a plethora of annotations and related articles throughout history, numbering in the hundreds or thousands, and new ones continue to emerge daily. Readers may still find these texts confusing; people are often left in the fog, unable to see the true face of Mount Lu. They may think that reading the original text is incomprehensible, and that annotations can help, but they find that reading the annotations does not clarify their confusion, leaving them bewildered.
A Fragmented Book
‘Shang Han Lun’ is incomplete, which has several implications. As for the diagnosis and treatment of specific diseases at that time, one is that the original text is not fully recorded and must be referenced with other medical texts; another is that the overall narrative is incomplete and must refer to the miscellaneous diseases section of ‘Jin Kui Yao Lue’. To understand ‘Shang Han Lun’, one must look at the contents of ‘Shang Han’ and ‘Jin Kui’ together, and also refer to related records in other classics. Furthermore, if we consider ‘Shang Han’ as a general term for all febrile diseases and as the foundation of clinical practice, we must supplement it with the later concepts of warm diseases and the corresponding treatment methods and prescriptions.
Incompleteness implies limitations; recognizing the limitations and shortcomings of ‘Shang Han Lun’ is not an easy task. However, as a scholarly pursuit, it is essential to have this awareness. One can delve into the reasons behind it; a disease, a book, and a specialty—this historical process determines what ‘Shang Han Lun’ carries and everything that has occurred around it.
These various discussions, viewed from different angles, may provoke more thoughts about the book ‘Shang Han Lun’.
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