薛軒Xuē Xuān:introduction about his biography and legends,main books and academic thoughts.
✵薛軒(Xuē Xuān):a famous herbalist and gynecologist of the Southern Song Dynasty, native to Kunshan county, the ancestor of Zheng's gynecology, he is the author of a famous gynecological works, Kun Yuan Shi Bao(the Kun Essence is guaranteed).
薛軒(Xuē Xuān).
Brief Introduction
漢語名(Chinese Name):
薛軒(Xuē Xuān)
Alias:
仲昂(Zhòng áng)
Popular name:
薛軒(Xuē Xuān)
English Name:
Xue Xuan, or Xuan Xue(Given/Family).
Hometown:
Kunshan county of South Song
Dates:
Unknown,during 12th century.
Main works:
《坤元是保》(Kun Yuan Shi Bao, or the Kun Essence is Guaranteed).
Representative works:
《坤元是保》(Kun Yuan Shi Bao, or the Kun Essence is Guaranteed).
Biography and legends:
薛軒(Xuē Xuān), herbalist of the Song Dynasty. His alias is 仲昂(Zhòng áng), the native town is unknown, ever wrote the famous book Kun Yuan Shi Bao(the Kun Essence is guaranteed), the hand-written copy survived till today. The book was compiled and finished in about the year 1165 AD. According to related biographies, Xue Xuan was a native of Kunshan county of the Southern Song Dynasty(the Yushan town of today). He is skilled in medicine and treatment, especially good at gynecology. Those who seek treatment for gynecological diseases, menstruation syndromes, morbid leucorrhea, pregnancy, and birth, can all get an effective treatment, so he got great fame in the Eastern Wu (the lower reaches area of the Yangtze River). The treatment is effective in most cases, and he is called "Xue Yi Chan Jia(Herbalist Xue is a professional in gynecology)" by folks at that time. According to his records, he studied medicine when he was young, the effective recipes from ancient till today are all carefully read and studied, he was struggling for more than forty years before writing a book, an heirloom treasure not easy to get after repeated trials and repeated efficacy. Xue Xuan had no children and passed on medical skills to his son-in-law Zheng Gongxian (in other records, Xue Xuan passed skills to his son-in-law Qian, Qian also had no children, and re-transmitted skills to his son-in-law Zheng Gongxian). Zheng Gongxian was the fifth grandson of Zheng Yinian. At this point, the Zheng family specializes in gynecology or women's disease, passed down from generation to generation, without interruption, and has been for twenty-nine generations, forming the rarely "Zheng's gynecology" in the history of TCM. Xue Xuan is the ancestor of Zheng's gynecology.
Main books and academic thoughts:
The book Kun Yuan Shi Bao (the Kun Essence is Guaranteed) is a monograph book on gynecology. It has two volumes, and one volume of the sequel, the book was compiled and finished in the Qian Dao 1st year(the year 1165 AD, Qian Dao is the reign title of Xiao Zong emperor of Song), by Xue Xuan of the Song Dynasty. The survived copy is a handwritten transcript of modern times. The first volume briefly discusses the diagnosis and treatment of pulse-taking methods, gynecological diseases, etiology, syndromes, treatment of menstrual and birth-related. The second volume recorded 100 prescriptions for gynecological syndromes. The names of the prescriptions are cataloged in turn according to the rhymes in the "Jiangduchun" (tune names), for reference.
The book Kun Yuan Shi Bao (the Kun Essence is Guaranteed) has been continuously revised and improved by Xue Xuan's successor, those generation members of the Zheng's gynecology. Till today, the present survived transcript is not completely the same as the original version of Xue Xuan's book, the survived book also quotes the discussions and prescriptions of later herbalists including Zhu Danxi and Li Dongyuan, etc.
References:
1.薛軒Xuē Xuān:introduction about his biography and legends,main books and academic thoughts.