Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Collected Commentaries (Full Two Volumes)

Author: Long Bojian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Generations of medical scholars have devoted great effort to studying and compiling the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, conducting numerous collations and interpretations, yet no one has compiled them all. This book accomplishes just such a compilation. First, it stabilizes the collated text of the Inner Canon based on the achievements of previous scholars, and second, it interprets the text based on their lexicographical work. These details are elaborated in the preface. In addition to focusing on collation and lexicography, this book places special emphasis on cross-referencing between related passages within the Inner Canon and corroborating evidence from contemporary works. For cross-referencing within the Inner Canon, the Ming Dynasty scholar Ma Shi made significant contributions. For corroborating evidence from contemporary works, the Japanese scholars Danpo Genshun and his son also made substantial contributions. The present work builds upon their existing foundations with some additional additions. This book particularly emphasizes interpreting the Inner Canon through the Inner Canon itself—for example, for concepts like Renying (the throat), Cifu (the skin of the forearm), and the pulses of the five viscera, explanations are derived based on the relevant passages within the Inner Canon. The selected collations adhere to this principle. Annotations based on the Difficult Issues or Wang Shuhe's Pulse Classic, which conflict with the main purpose of the Inner Canon, are excluded. At the end of each chapter, a modern-language translation is provided, which is merely a tentative interpretation. Despite great efforts, there are still many unsatisfactory aspects. The Collected Interpretations of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon is one of China's early medical compendia, comprehensively summarizing medical achievements before the Qin and Han dynasties, providing theoretical guidance and basis for the development of traditional Chinese medicine.