Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon

Author: Wang Bing
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Publishing Date: 2003-11-01
Features: The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is a comprehensive encyclopedia of the ancient Chinese understanding of the laws of nature and life. Centered on explaining the laws of life and medical principles, it systematically outlines the yin-yang laws of celestial movement (cosmological theory) and the five elements laws of the generation of all things on earth (biological evolution theory). Applying these yin-yang and five elements principles to the human body, it recognizes various phenomena and patterns of human structure and function, pathology and etiology. It proposes systematic theories and methods for health preservation and disease treatment, making it the foundational classic of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon adheres to the laws of nature, treating people with the methods of nature, understanding the internal from the external, and discerning the subtle from the apparent. It encompasses the broad principle of similarity, including similarities between (similar kinds), whole and part, macro and micro, and between humans and the universe. The entire book contains approximately 700,000 words, divided into nine volumes of Lingshu and nine volumes of Suwen, totaling eighteen volumes, with an encyclopedic nature. The composition date is believed to be the Han Dynasty, though generally considered to have been written during the Warring States period. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon can be called one of the greatest scientific achievements of ancient times and one of the most significant scientific achievements in human history. It is a typical representative of natural scientific thought and holds an unshakable position and role in life science, where TCM, as a macroscopic medicine, will forever remain. Praising The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon as profound and extensive is entirely justified. Unfortunately, the author can only gaze up at its height and cannot survey its entirety. It is the crystallization of wisdom accumulated over millions of years in the millennia before two thousand years ago! Here, only the essentials are extracted to reveal its important scientific thoughts and achievements. However, let us revisit Leonardo da Vinci's words: Knowledge of ancient authors serves as a beneficial starting point for research but can never be the final conclusion. The value of The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon lies first in guiding us to think or identify problems, rather than proving its glorious past. From The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, one can find how TCM was established as an ancient science. Where there are scientific achievements, there must be scientific activities, and where there are scientific activities, there must be scientific thought. Guided by scientific thought, scientific activities ultimately yield scientific achievements. Some of these are transformed into applied technologies that have been passed down, while others remain in theoretical form—as science—as preserved in The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon (hereafter referred to as Inner Canon). The Treatise on Cold Damage and Jia Yi Jing of Acupuncture and Moxibustion from the Han Dynasty belong to this category of technical works.