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Contents of this article

  • 1. Li Shizhen’s introduction and life story
  • 2. What are the books written by Li Shizhen?
  • 3. What are Li Shizhen’s works?
  • 4.What are Li Shizhen’s works?

Li Shizhen's introduction and life story


1. Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518 - 1593), whose courtesy name was Dongbi. In his later years, he called himself a native of Binghushan. He was a native of Qizhou, Huangzhou Prefecture, Huguang (now Qichun County, Hubei Province). He was a famous medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty. It is as famous as "Medical Saint" Wan Mi Zhai. In ancient times, there was a saying that "Wan Mi Zhai's prescriptions are Li Shizhen's medicine". Later, he served as the Prime Minister of the Chu Palace and the Royal Imperial Hospital. After his death, the Ming court granted him the title of "Mr. Wen Lin".

2. Since the 44th year of Jiajing (1565), Li Shizhen has gone to Wudang Mountain, Lushan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, Niushou Mountain, Huguang, South Zhili, Henan, North Zhili and other places to collect drug specimens and He also worshiped fishermen, woodcutters, farmers, cart drivers, pharmacists, and snake catchers as his teachers, and referred to 925 books on medicine and other aspects of the past dynasties. He solved many difficult problems, went through 27 cold and summer days, and revised his manuscript three times. In the 18th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1590), he completed the 1.92 million-word masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica". In addition, he also conducted research on pulse theory and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. His works include "A Study of the Eight Meridians of Qijing" and "Binghu Pulse Study". He was revered as the "Sage of Medicine" by later generations.

3. "Compendium of Materia Medica" Li Shizhen borrowed the name of Zhu Xi's "Compendium of Materia Medica" and named the book "Compendium of Materia Medica". In the 31st year of Jiajing reign (1552), he started writing it. In the sixth year of Wanli reign of Ming Dynasty (1578), the draft was completed after three revisions, which lasted 27 years. Due to the long compilation time and large scale, the "Gangmu" book was written by both his father and his disciple Pang Lumen, with the second son Jianyuan doing the drawings and writing. It can be said to be a collective work led by Li Shizhen.

4. "Binhu Pulseology" Li Shizhen felt that the Chinese medicine pulseology of his time had shortcomings and even many fallacies, so he relied on the essence of "Four Diagnosis Inventions" written by his father Li Yuechi and other pulse theories in history. , compiled into "Pulse Jue" in 1564 (the 43rd year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty), that is, "Binhu Pulseology".

5. "A Study of the Eight Meridians of Qijing", written around 1577, 1 volume. This book examines the literature of the past dynasties, and explains in detail the circulation of strange meridians and main diseases, with appendices.

Li Shizhen’s main works, Li Shizhen’s introduction and life story Figure 1

What are the books written by Li Shizhen?


1. Li Shizhen (1518-1593), whose courtesy name was Dongbi. In his later years, he called himself a native of Binghushan. He was a native of Wachiba (today's Doctor Street), Dongchang Street, Qizhou Town, Qichun County, Hubei Province. He was a famous medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty. Later, he served as the Prime Minister of the Chu Palace and the Royal Imperial Hospital. After his death, the Ming court granted him the title of "Mr. Wen Lin".

2. Li Shizhen’s works include "A Study of the Eight Meridians of Qijing" and "Binghu Pulsology" handed down to the world; there are also "A Study of Mingmen", "Binghu Medical Cases", "Theory of the Five Internal Organs" and "Three Burners Guest Difficulties" ”, “Treatise on Heavenly Puppet”, “The Legend of White Flower Snake”, etc.

Li Shizhen’s main works, Li Shizhen’s introduction and life story Figure 2

What are Li Shizhen’s works?


  "Compendium of Materia Medica"
   This is the fruit of more than 30 years of hard work by Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty. The book has more than 1.9 million words, recording 1892 kinds of medicines, divided into 60 categories. 374 of them were newly added by Li Shizhen Drugs. There are more than 1,100 drawings and more than 11,000 prescriptions. It is a summary of the pharmacology of the motherland for thousands of years. This pharmacopoeia, whether from its strict scientific classification or from the large number and number of drugs it contains, Judging from the fluent and vivid writing style, it far exceeds any ancient herbal book.
  In this book, Li Shizhen pointed out the true effects of many drugs, such as Changshan can cure malaria, Corydalis can Pain relief. He also cited examples of things that are easy to poison in daily life, such as using tin as a wine container, because toxins can be dissolved in the wine. Over time, the drinker will be chronically poisoned. When he encountered difficulties in writing, he also He went to the field to conduct observations. As mentioned in old materia medica, pangolins eat ants by trapping them through their scales. He felt strange and thought that seeing is worth hearing a hundred times. He got a live pangolin and carefully observed its life. After observing the pattern, he found that it eats ants with its tongue. He also dissected the pangolin's stomach pouch and found that there were as many as one liter of ants in it, so he wrote this record.
  Li Shizhen did this He wrote his masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica" carefully and diligently. Because he criticized the "non-toxic" mercury in the book and his long-term use of mercury to "become an immortal" and "immortality", the emperor and ministers at that time believed in the mercury of Taoists. Alchemy , so the major booksellers did not dare to publish this work, and it did not meet readers until his death in 1596 AD. It immediately aroused a huge response after its publication. People spread it everywhere and reprinted it, making it a must-have for doctors. Prepare books. Since the 17th century, "Compendium of Materia Medica" has been translated into five languages: Japanese, German, English, French, and Russian. The "Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China" published in 1953 collected a total of 531 kinds of modern drugs and preparations; among which There are more than 100 kinds of drugs and preparations listed in the "Compendium of Materia Medica".

Li Shizhen’s main works, Li Shizhen’s introduction and life story Figure 3

What are Li Shizhen’s works?


Li Shizhen's book is "Compendium of Materia Medica".


Li Shizhen borrowed the name of Zhu Xi's "Tongjian Gangmu" and named the book "Compendium of Materia Medica". In the 31st year of Jiajing reign (1552), he started writing it. In the sixth year of Wanli reign of Ming Dynasty (1578), the draft was completed after three revisions, which lasted 27 years. Due to the long compilation time and large scale, the "Gangmu" book was written by both his father and his disciple Pang Lumen, with the second son Jianyuan doing the drawings and writing. It can be said to be a collective work led by Li Shizhen.


"Compendium of Materia Medica" has 16 parts, 52 volumes, and about 1.9 million words. The book contains 1,518 kinds of medicines collected by various herbalists, and 374 more kinds of medicines have been added on the basis of previous works, totaling 1,892 kinds, including 1,195 kinds of plants; a total of 11,096 ancient pharmacologists and folk prescriptions have been compiled; more than 1,100 pictures of drug forms are attached at the front of the book. .


This great work absorbs the essence of the herbal medicine works of the past dynasties, corrects the previous mistakes and supplements the deficiencies as much as possible, and has many important discoveries and breakthroughs. It is the most systematic, complete and scientific medical work in China until the 16th century.


Li Shizhen’s main works, Li Shizhen’s introduction and life story Figure 4


Impact assessment:


"Compendium of Materia Medica" not only made a significant contribution to the development of Chinese pharmacology, but also had a profound impact on the development of medicine, botany, zoology, mineralogy, and chemistry in the world. It has been translated into more than ten languages ​​including Japanese, French, German, English, Latin, Russian and Korean and published abroad.


The book is the first to create a system of hierarchical classification of drugs based on their natural properties. This classification method is one of the important methods of modern biological taxonomy, and is a century and a half earlier than Linnaeus's System of Nature, the founder of modern plant taxonomy. It is known as the "Masterpiece of Oriental Medicine". In May 2011, the Jinling edition of "Compendium of Materia Medica" was selected into the Memory of the World Register.


The above is about Li Shizhen's main works, Li Shizhen's introduction and life story, as well as Li Lizhen's related content. I hope it can help you.

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