Sun Simiao on Yangxing
Now, it is difficult for humans to nurture but easy to imperil, as it is difficult for Qì to be clear but easy to be turbid. Only when we are able to fully know our awe-inspiring virtue-power in order to protect the spirits of the earth and of the grain, and when we are able to sever our desires in order to secure the blood and Qì, only then will the True One be preserved therein, will the Three Ones[2] be safeguarded therein, will the hundred diseases turned back therein, and will longevity be extended therein…
A Heart Full of Great Compassion
Known in China and abroad as the “King of Medicinals,” Sun Simiao 孫思邈 is one of the most celebrated figures in the long history of Chinese medicine. He is also the author of China’s first – and still relevant – essay on medical ethics and professional cultivation, which is included in countless oaths of TCM schools worldwide. Despite Master Sun’s elevated status in both China and the West as one of its greatest practitioners, however, an official biography composed several centuries after his death and other historical documents offer not a single hard fact about his professional practice as a physician. To appreciate the significance of this fact, we need to look both at the context of medical practice in early China and the content of Sun Simiao’s teachings. With this understanding, we shall be prepared to read his famous essay “On the Sublime Sincerity of the Eminent Physician,” which I have translated below.
Sun Simiao on Fertility
The following is an excerpt from the 75-page historical introduction to my newest publication Channeling the Moon, a translation and discussion of the first fourteen questions of Qí Zhòngfǔ’s 齊仲甫 Nǚ Kē Bǎi Wèn 女科百問 (“Hundred Questions of Gynecology,” published in 1220 CE). This excerpt includes a brief introduction to the Bèi Jí Qiān Jīn Yào Fāng 備急千金要方 (composed by Sūn Sīmiǎo 孫思邈 in 652) and a survey of Sūn Sīmiǎo’s ideas on fertility. For more on early Chinese gynecology and fertility, see the information page for my book Channeling the Moon in my ONLINE BOOKSTORE HERE. The photographs below, most of which have also made it into the book, are from around my home on Whidbey Island, but here you get the colored version.
Misogyny in Chinese Medicine
As a scholar who has closely studied and translated the works of Sun Simiao and early Chinese gynecological literature for several decades, the time has finally come for me to clear up mistaken views about this important figure and his work that I encountered some years ago. Given Sun Simiao’s significant contributions to Chinese medicine and to gynecology, he deserves to have someone speak up for him.
Julian Scott Review of Venerating the Root
Julian Scott’s Review of Venerating the Root Part One