Huá Shòu:introduction about his biography and legends,main books and academic thoughts.

TCM Knowledge:Prominent Ancient Herbalists ✵滑壽 (Huá Shòu):a great herbalist in Yuan Dynasty, his contribution is mainly on interpretation of Nei Jing (the Inner Canon), Nan Jing (the Difficult Questions), pulse manifestations, annotations supplements on acupuncture and theory of meridians, he is the author of the books about Shang Han study named Shang Han Li Chao, but the book could not survive till today.

滑壽 (Huá Shòu).

  
Brief Introduction
漢語名 (Chinese Name): 滑壽 (Huá Shòu)Alias: 伯仁 (Bó Rén)
Popular name: 櫻寧生 (Yīngníng Shēng)English Name: Hua Shou, or Shou Hua (Given/Family)
Hometown: Xiangcheng, or YiZhengDates: about 1304~1386 AD.
Main works: 《讀素問鈔》(Du Su Wen Chao)3 volumes,《難經本義》(Nan Jing Ben Yi)2 volumes,《十四經發揮》(Shi Si Jing Fa Hui)3 volumes,《本草韻合》(Ben Cao Yun He)1 volume,《傷寒例鈔》(Shang Han Li Chao)3 volumes,《診家樞要》(Zhen Jia Shu Yao)1 volume,《滑氏脈訣》(Hua Shi Mai Jue)1 volume,《脈理存真》(Mai Li Cun Zhen)1 volume,《櫻寧生要方》(Ying Ning Sheng Yao Fang)1 volume,《醫學引彀》(Yi Xue Yin Gou)1 volume,《櫻寧生補瀉心要》(Ying Ning Sheng Bu Xie Xin Yao)1 volume,《醫學蠢事書》(Yi Xue Chun Shi Shu)5 volumes,《滑氏方脈》(Hua Shi Fang Mai),《滑氏醫韻》(Hua Shi Yi Yun),《麻診全書》(Ma Zhen Quan Shu)4 volumes,《痔瘺篇》(Zhi Lou Pian),《滑伯仁正人明堂圖》(Hua Bo REn Zheng Ren Ming Tang Tu), etc.
Representative works: 《讀素問鈔》(Du Su Wen Chao) 3 volumes,《難經本義》(Nan Jing Ben Yi) 2 volumes, 《十四經發揮》(Shi Si Jing Fa Hui) 3 volumes.

Biography and legends:


 a portrait of 滑壽Huá Shòu 滑壽 (Huá Shòu), his years are approximately 1304~1386 A.D., alias 伯仁 ( Bó Rén), self-titled 櫻寧生 (Ying Ningsheng) in his old age, a great herbalist in Yuan Dynasty, his ancestral hometown is Xiangcheng, his grandfather moved to Yizhen (today's Yizheng county, Jiangsu), then moved to Yuyao (today's Yuyao county), passed away during the Hongwu years of the Ming Dynasty (year 1368~1398), he passed away over 70 years old. He is not only proficient in Su Wen (the Plain Questions) and Nan Jing (the Difficult Classics), but also integrates the three theories of Zhang Zhongjing, Liu Shouzhen, and Li Dongyuan, so he has achieved "miraculous efficacy" in curing people's diseases, and he has also compiled various medical books. "All folks strive to invite him for a diagnosis where he arrives, and no regret if you can get a diagnosis of life and death by him." He was praised by folks for his lofty medical ethics of "regardless of whether the rich and the poor are treated, and not care about the returns or not."

 Huá Shòu has been smart and studious since he was a child, good at poetry and essays, and has a thorough knowledge of the history classics. In his early years, he followed the famous herbalist 王居中 (Wáng Jūzhōng) at Jingkou (today's Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) to study TCM. After studying Su Wen (the Plain Questions) and Nan Jing (the Difficult Classics), he was quite knowledgeable about them, so he wrote two books, Du Su Wen Chao and Nan Jing Ben Yi. Then he went on with the meticulous study of Zhang Zhongjing, Liu Shouzhen, and Li Dongyuan's theories, they are well-versed and highly accomplished. Later, he studied acupuncture with famous herbalist 高洞阳 (Gāo Dòngyáng), and then studied meridian carefully, taking the theory of meridians from Nei Jing (the Inner Canon) and other books, and studied the theory of meridian in acupuncture and moxibustion. Later, he compiled the famous book Shi Si Jing Fa Hui.

 During the period of Huá Shòu, the acupuncture and moxibustion were inapplicable, and the study of meridian has been neglected. He turned the tide, made acupuncture prosperous in the Yuan Dynasty, and set the norms for later generations of acupuncture and moxibustion. Since the Yuan Dynasty, until now, the book Shi Si Jing Fa Hui has been recited endlessly.

Main books and academic thoughts:


 Huá Shòu was smart and studious since he was a child, learned Confucianism, poetry and essays. When Wang Juzhong, a famous herbalist of Jingkou, lived in Yizhen, Huá Shòu studied medicine as his disciple. He had a deep understanding of ancient medical books Su Wen (the Plain Questions) and Nan Jing (the Difficult Classics). So he collected twelve subjects including Zang and Fu-viscera, meridian, pulse syndrome, disease, health regimen, treatment, complexion pulse, acupuncture, Yin and Yang, the root cause and symptoms of a disease, Yun Qi, and gathering into three volumes, titled Du Su Wen Chao. He also wrote Nan Jing Ben Yi in 2 volumes, correcting errors and explain the meanings. Later, he learned acupuncture as disciple of herbalist Gao Dongyang, and learned all his skills. He used the monographs on the meridians and points from ancient works Su Wen (the Plain Questions) and Ling Shu (the Spiritual Pivot or Divine Axis), combined the discussions of the two classics about the Du, Ren meridians and the twelve channels, and compiled the book Shi Si Jing Fa Hui, explaining the names and meanings. The medical diagnosis and treatment of internal department of him are mostly imitated Li Dongyuan. Being good at diagnosis and reviewing prescriptions, he is very good at curing the difficult disease. It is said that "the beginning of medicine is the pulses", so he ever compiled a professional book on pulse named Zhen Jia Shu Yao in 1 volume, which lists 29 pulses with many elaborations. Dozens case of his cases were collected into the book Ying Ning Sheng Zhuan (the Biography of Ying Ning Sheng) by 朱右 (Zhū Yòu).

 The book Du Su Wen Chao, in three volumes, is a works on ancient medical classics, compiled by Huá Shòu of the Yuan dynasty, and it was re-annotated by herbalist 汪机 (Wāng Jī) of the Ming dynasty. The re-annotated version was published in the year 1519 AD. This book selects the important contents of the ancient works Su Wen(the Plain Questions): visceral manifestation, channels, pulse syndrome, diseases, health regimen, treatment discussions, complexion diagnosis, acupuncture, Yin and Yang, the root cause and symptoms of a disease, Yun Qi (the five evolutive phases and six climatic factors), and gathering, totaling 12 categories, which are briefly annotated. A number of supplements were made in the re-annotation part and were named 《續素問鈔》(Xu Su Wen Chao). There are a variety of Ming printed editions, including an edition collected in 《汪氏醫學叢書》(Wang Shi Yi Xue Cong Shu, or the Wang's Medical Series).

 The book Nan Jing Ben Yi (the Genuine Meaning of the Difficult Classics), was compiled and finished in the Zhizheng 1st year of the Yuan dynasty (the year 1341 AD), compiled by Huá Shòu, in two volumes. There are general categories of errors and mistakes after the guide part, which recorded the text's shot, word mistakes, and listed the names of the quoted herbalists in the second list, and the names of the herbalists quoted in the original meaning. The second article is about the names of the origins of the book, the next list of illustrations. The text is about the eighty-one difficult questions, one to thirty is the first volume, and thirty-one to eighty-one is the second volume. Classica entries are listed first, and annotations are listed second. Huá Shòu identified "and referenced Lingshu and Suwen to explore the source, quote discussions from Zhongjing and Shuhe, and deduce the thread. Other fine discussions from other schools are also searched for and widely quoted. For the lost texts, seek them according to varied cases of the previous classic annotation method, first quote "Lingshu" and "Su Wen" to demonstrate, and then combine theories up to over 20 schools to elaborate their meanings, including Zhang Zhongjing, Wang Shuhe, Yang Xuancao, Ding Deyong, Yu Shu, and so on, and then combine his own viewpoints to clarify the meanings of the classics. There are many unique features.

 The book Shi Si Jing Fa Hui, is a book on channels and meridian studies, three volumes, compiled by Huá Shòu, published in the year 1341 AD. The 1st volume discusses the law of meridian circulation; the 2nd volume is about the mechanism, main syndromes, Zang and Fu-viscera of the channels accordingly, the 3rd volume is about the eight extra channels. It gives a systematic discussion about the eight extra channels according to ancient works Nei Jing, Nan Jing, Jia Yi Jing, Shen Ji Zong Lu, attached with illustrations. Hua Shou used the ancient works 《金蘭循經取穴圖解》(Jin Lan Xun Jing Qu Xue Tu Jie) as a blue book for reference, supplemented it with annotations and further interpretations. After the publication of the book Shi Si Jing Fa Hui, the book Jin Lan Xun Jing Qu Xue Tu Jie gradually lost and not survived till today. The main features of the book Shi Si Jing Fa Hui are that it makes annotations on the acupoints according to the flow order of the twelve channels, together with the annotations on the acupoints of the Ren and Du meridians, and named them the fourteen channels, Hua Shou hold a viewpoint that the Ren and Du channels are different from other six channels of the eight extra channels, should be discussed together with the twelve channels as the fourteen channels, so he identified 657 acupoints based on ancient works Su Wen (the Plain Questions) and Ling Shu (the Spiritual Pivot), gave an interpretation in details.

 Huá Shòu had ever compiled other works, except his main works. According to literature, other books are: Shang Han Li Chao 3 volumes, Ben Cao Fa Hui 1 volume, Hua Shi Mai Jue1 volume, Hua Shi Yi Yun, Zhi Lou Pian, these 5 kinds of works are all lost and have not survived till today. There was a serie of illustrations known as Ming Tang Tu, also known as Hua Bo Ren Zheng Ren Ming Tang Tu, attributed their authorship to Hua Shou.

References:
  • 1.Huá Shòu:introduction about his biography and legends,main books and academic thoughts.

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