The ''Yinshu'' () is an ancient Chinese medical text from the

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

discovered in 1983 as part of the

Zhangjiashan Han bamboo texts The Zhangjiashan Han bamboo texts are ancient Han Dynasty Chinese written works dated 196–186 BC. They were discovered in 1983 by archaeologists excavating tomb no. 247 at Mount Zhangjia () of Jiangling County, Hubei Province (near modern Jing ...

History and content

The ''Yinshu'' was one of the two medical texts (the other being the '' Maishu'' or the ''Book on Vessels'') that were part of the

discovered in 1983. According to translator Vivienne Lo, it dates back to around 186 BCE, during the Western Han dynasty, although Ori Tavor suggests that the text "(reflects) a textual corpus that was already circulating as early as the

3rd century BC In the Mediterranean Basin, the first few decades of this century were characterized by a balance of power between the Greek Hellenistic kingdoms in the east, and the great mercantile power of Carthage in the west. This balance was shattered ...

." A transcript of the ''Yinshu'', titled ''Zhangjiashan Hanjian Yinshu shiwen'' (), and an accompanying commentary by Peng Hao () were published in 1990. Lo writes that it is "the earliest extant treatise on the Chinese tradition of ''

daoyin Daoyin is a series of cognitive body and mind unity exercises practiced as a form of Taoist neigong, meditation and mindfulness to cultivate '' jing'' (essence) and direct and refine '' qi'', the internal energy of the body according to Traditio ...

''", which she defines as "a regimen which adjusted personal hygiene, grooming, exercise, diet, sleep and sexual behaviour to the changing qualities of the four

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

s." Written in

clerical script The clerical script (; Japanese: 隷書体, ''reishotai''; Korean: 예서 (old spelling 례서); Vietnamese: lệ thư), sometimes also chancery script, is a style of Chinese writing which evolved from the late Warring States period to the Qi ...

, the ''Yinshu'' is 3,235 words long and comprises some 113 bamboo slips, some of which had already been damaged prior to their excavation. The text, presented as the "way of Ancestor Peng" () discusses the causes of sickness and introduces gymnastic exercises and sexual practices that are named after either animals or the specific ailments that they are thought to target. The exercises—which Livia Kohn likens to

asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

s in

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

—and their benefits are summarised in twenty-four

mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...

statements. The ''Yinshu'' concludes by surmising that unlike "noble people", members of the lower social classes were more prone to "(having) many illnesses and (dying) easily" because they were ignorant of ''daoyin'' and regulating their '' qi''. The ''Yinshu'' echoes content found in the ''

Huangdi Neijing ''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 ...

'', while a range of exercises listed in the former text are illustrated in the '' Daoyin Tu'' discovered at

Mawangdui Mawangdui () is an archaeological site located in Changsha, China. The site consists of two saddle-shaped hills and contained the tombs of three people from the Changsha Kingdom during the western Han dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD): the Chancellor Li ...

; Charles Buck writes that the ''Yinshu'' "clarifies" the ''Daoyin Tu'', citing an example of the former text explaining a "leading and declining" exercise illustrated in the latter work.

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{History of medicine in China Ancient Chinese philosophical literature 2nd-century BC books Han dynasty literature Chinese medical texts Medical manuals Chinese classic texts History of ancient medicine History of ancient China Bamboo and wooden slips Archaeological artifacts of China