THE HISTORICAL ROOTS AND CLINICAL APPLICATION OF THE NEI JING

Giovanni MaciociaCopyright Giovanni Maciocia

馬 萬 里

CHINESE DYNASTIES

XIA 2200-1600 BC (also called “Yin”)

SHANG 1600-1100 BC

ZHOU 1100-771 BC

SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD 770-476 BC

WARRING STATE PERIOD 475-221 BC

QIN 221-206 BC

HAN 206 BC-AD 220

THREE KINGDOMS AD 200-AD 280

JIN 265-420

NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 420-581

SUI 581-618

Origin of Nei Jing

TANG 618-907

FIVE DYNASTIES 907-960

SONG 960-1279

(LIAO) 906 1125

(JIN) 1115-1234

YUAN 1279-1368

MING 1368-1644

QING 1644-1911

REPUBLIC OF CHINA 1911-1949

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 1949-

Wang Bing, 762 AD

Revision by Song officials, triumph of Neo-Confucianism

475 221 206 220 AD

Zhou Qin Han

Plato 429–347 BC

Socrates 469–399 BC

Aristotle 384–322 BC

Democritus 460-370 BC

Epicurus 341-271 BCChrysippus 280-207 BC

THE NEI JING 黄 帝 内 经 素 问

The exact date of the Nei Jing is impossible to determine: the general opinion is that it was written sometime between 300 and 100 BC. The best discussion of the date of the Nei Jing is in Unschuld’s book Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen. Modern Chinese historians say that because the Nei Jing contains the Five Elements theory it could not be older than Zou Yan’s times (320 BC), the philosopher who developed the theory of the Five Elements. My personal opinion is that the Nei Jing may indeed be older than that and I think this because the knowledge of channels found in the Nei Jing is extremely advanced and one that could only have been developed over centuries.

I therefore think that the origins of the Nei Jing may bevery old and pre-date Zou Yan’s times. For example,chapters 10, 11 and 13 of the Ling Shu describe thepathways of the Main, Divergent and Muscle channels ingreat detail and indeed the pathways are the same as weknow them today. In my opinion it must have takencenturies to develop such a detailed knowledge of thechannels.

Whatever the date of compilation of the original version,the version we have is the one from Wang Bing from AD762 and later revised by Song authors in 1026.

Note that in 1026 (Song dynasty) the Nei Jing was edited several times by imperial committees! Note also that the Song dynasty represented the triumph of Confucianism as the “orthodox” State philosophy. It was during the Song dynasty that Neo-Confucianism triumphed with great thinkers such as Zhou Dun Yi, Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi.

Zhou Dun Yi Cheng YiCheng Hao

Zhang Zai

Zhu Xi

“State committees” editing medical texts, “orthodox philosophy”…sounds familiar? This is the very process that many people attribute to the modern Marxist regime, i.e. a regime imposing an orthodox philosophy onto Chinese medicine and “systematization” of Chinese medicine. In fact, in my opinion, this process was less pronounced than the one that occurred by Neo-Confucianists during the Song dynasty.

HUANG DI NEI JING SU WEN 黄 帝 内 经 素 问

LING SHU 灵 枢 靈

HUANG DI 黄 帝 “Yellow Emperor”

HUANG DI 皇 帝 “Emperor” (ex. Qin Shi Huang Di)

The term “Di” has religious overtones and may be translated as “Lord”. It does not have the meaning of “emperor” as we conceived it in the West (e.g. as a Roman emperor). The Chinese “Di” had god-like attributes and he was said to have received the “mandate of Heaven” and conducted spiritual rituals. Interestingly, Chinese emperors were not military commanders like Roman emperors or Napoleon. When Christian missionaries reached China some used the term “Di” to translate “God” (others used “Shen” 神). Unschuld suggests “thearch” for “Di”.