Huangdi Neijing, the Classic Text of Chinese Medicine
While the Huangdi Neijing is an old book, it is not necessarily the oldest written text about Chinese medicine. The Neijing is special because not only is it old, but it’s quite complete. There are other books that didn’t survive through time, and we only know of their existence because they’re mentioned in other ancient texts that have survived. For instance, Han Dynasty Book (《汉书》) talks about seven “books” (collections of bamboo rolls) totaling 216 rolls. Of the seven collections, only the collection called Huangdi Neijing survived.
The title Huangdi Neijing is often translated as “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic”. Many people mistakenly believe that the title of the book means that it was written by an emperor or that it was authored by someone named Huangdi, neither of which is the case. Like the Shakespeare debate, people argue whether the Neijing was written by one great mastermind or whether several doctors and philosophers contributed their wisdom over the course of many years.
One theory is that the actual writing of the Huangdi Neijing began during the Spring-Autumn period (春秋战国, 2700 yrs ago) and was finished in the Western Han Dynasty (西汉, 2000 yrs ago), which means that the book was written and compiled over a span of 700 years and contains the wisdom and experience of many medical practitioners. That’s quite a powerful compilation. The book was heavily influenced by philosophies that developed during the Warring States period (战国, 2500 yrs ago) , specifically by Confucius’ school of thought (孔子) and the Daoism of LaoZi (老子) and ZhuangZi (庄子). It is often said that great achievement, art, and philosophy spring from struggle and war, which was true during the Warring States period. During this time, people were looking for leadership and stability and therefore willingly accepted and integrated these new philosophies into daily life. Without these three iconic philosophers, Chinese medicine would be very different today, because so much of Chinese medicine theory and philosophy is rooted in these ancient schools of thought.
The original authors of the Huangdi Neijing are believed to be from northeast China, north of the Yangtze River (长江). The term Huangdi (黄帝) in this context actually refers to another geographic region, the Shan Dong/ He Bei area next to Beijing, where a certain family clan was respected and renown for their medical knowledge and skills. So, these authors from northeast China quite cleverly decided to “borrow” the good medical reputation of the name Huangdi and use it as the name of their book, basically using the term like a trusted brand. People reading the book would then feel that the information was more reliable and trustworthy because it bore the name Huangdi--a perfect example of branding and advertising in the old days.
The Huangdi Neijing was compiled with the specific aim of preserving and passing on medical knowledge and was meant to be used as a comprehensive medical reference. As such, the book is formatted into question and answer sessions between the Yellow Emperor and his advisors. This made the information more accessible and easier to understand. The book we know as Huangdi Neijing today is split into two parts: the Su Wen (素问）and the Ling Shu (灵枢）. “Su Wen” translates roughly as commonly asked questions and talks about a lot of philosophy and theory. The “Ling Shu” is also known as Jiu Juan (九卷，nine rolls）or Zhen Jing (针经，acupuncture treatise), which are both appropriate names because this section is made of nine bamboo rolls dealing mostly with acupuncture. The name “Ling Shu” was bestowed in the Tang Dynasty (唐代）by Wang Bing (王冰), who re-organized the text and is one of the pivotal figures who helped to preserve the book. “Ling” can mean lively or effective, and “Shu” in this case refers to the joint of a door or the hinge that allows you to turn the door and open it. We can therefore interpret the title to mean that this book is a lively and effective portal into knowledge for the person who decides to read it. During the Tang Dynasty, books that contained the two words Ling and Shu often had to do with Daoist thought and theory, so Wang Bing chose this name out of his love and admiration for Daoism.
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The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine: A New Translation of the Neijing Suwen with Commentary by Maoshing Ni, PhD For understanding concepts and ideas, I personally prefer this English translation over any others currently available. It presents information in an accessible and readable form. There are many translations out there that approach the text in a more verbatim manner, but what you end up with is a lot of confusing technical terms and awkward phrases, especially if you’re not familiar with Chinese medicine. Dr. Ni does not use footnotes but instead incorporates background information into the body of the text so that everything reads smoothly as one narrative. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine by Ilza Veith If you prefer a more direct translation with notes and references about the Chinese words used in the original text, you can try this version. There are also illustrations taken from ancient texts that are interesting to peruse while you work through the text. Be forewarned that the system of romanization of Chinese words used in this book is not the modern pinyin system used in China today, and some say that the interpretation of some words is inaccurate.
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