The ''Shanghan Lun'' (; variously known in English as the ''Treatise on Cold Damage Diseases'''','' ''Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders'' or the ''Treatise on Cold Injury'') is a part of ''Shanghan Zabing Lun'' (. It is a

Traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

treatise that was compiled by

Zhang Zhongjing Zhang Zhongjing (; 150–219), formal name Zhang Ji (), was a Chinese pharmacologist, physician, inventor, and writer of the Eastern Han dynasty and one of the most eminent Chinese physicians during the later years of the Han dynasty. He estab ...

sometime before 220 AD, at the end of the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. It is amongst the oldest complete clinical textbooks in the world (cf. Carakasaṃhitā and the

Hippocratic Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of ...

Corpus). It is considered one of the four canonical works of Traditional Chinese medicine, along with ''

Huang Di Nei Jing ''Huangdi Neijing'' (), literally the ''Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor'' or ''Esoteric Scripture of the Yellow Emperor'', is an ancient Chinese medical text or group of texts that has been treated as a fundamental doctrinal source for Chines ...

'', '' Jin Gui Yao Lue'', and ''Wen Bing Xue''.

Surviving editions

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

edition. Collated by scholastic ministers Gao Baohen, Lin Yi, and Sun Qi under the order of the emperor and published in 1065 AD. Reprinted in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

.Shang Han Lun Translated and Edited by Hong-Yen Hsu and William G. Peacher, Oriental Healing Arts Institute; Los Angeles, 1981 # Cheng Wuji's Annotated Treatise on Cold Damage. Extensively read in Japan and China, was widely circulated in Cheng's time. However, many transcriptions and re-transcriptions have stirred up disagreement as to whether it is true to the original. # Classic of the Golden Chamber and Jade Sheath. This book has the same content as the Song edition with other minor variations in context. # Kang Ping edition. Kang Ping is the name of the period from 1058 to 1068 AD in the

Kōhei was a after '' Tengi'' and before ''Jiryaku.'' This period spanned the years from August 1058 through August 1065. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1058 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The pre ...

era in Japan. It is indispensable for study because it retained the ancient style of typesetting dated back to the era at the end of the

. The Song edition is organized into ten volumes including the first two chapters on pulse diagnosis; Cheng's edition is also organized into ten volumes but simplified; Classic of the Golden Chamber and Jade Sheath is organized into eight volumes.

The ''Shanghan Lun'' has 398 sections with 113 herbal prescriptions, organised into the Six Divisions corresponding to the six stages of disease: *Tai Yang (, greater yang): a milder stage with external symptoms of chills, fevers, stiffness, and headache. Therapy: sweating. *Yang ming (, yang brightness): a more severe internal excess yang condition with fever without chills, distended abdomen, and constipation. Therapy: cooling and eliminating. *Shao yang (, lesser yang): half exterior, half interior half excess and half deficiency with chest discomfort, alternating chills, and fever. Therapy: harmonizing. *Tai yin (, greater yin): chills, distended abdomen with occasional pain. Therapy: warming with supplementing. *Shao yin (, lesser yin): weak pulse, anxiety, drowsiness, diarrhea, chills, cold extremities. Therapy: warming with supplementing. *Jue yin (, reverting yin/absolute yin): thirst, difficult urination, physical collapse. Therapy: warming with supplementing.Shang Han Lun (On Cold Damage), Translation & Commentaries by Zhongjing Zhang, Feng Ye, Nigel Wiseman, Craig Mitchell, Ye Feng. Paradigm Press 2000

References

{{History of medicine in China Chinese medical texts Han dynasty texts 3rd-century books

Surviving editions

Contents

See also

References