Annotations on the Treatise on Cold Damage

柯琴Qunyan Publishing House · ChinaAug 2024

4.5

Word count: 107K words
Chapters: 54

Summary

It has been said that only one who has read ten thousand volumes and has not a speck of dust in his writing can produce a book; and only one with not a speck of dust in his mind and not a speck in his eye may be permitted to write annotations on ancient texts. Writing a book is hard, but annotation is harder still. The authors of old are long gone; their works have passed through wars, relocations, additions and deletions, and repeated copying and printing. Some characters are corrupted, some passages are interpolated, some are missing, and some bamboo slips are out of order. If the annotator has a discerning eye, the hidden meaning of the ancients is revealed and dusty phrases become new; if the annotator lacks that eye, he either copies mechanically or chases side branches, mistaking fish eyes for pearls and flawed stones for jade.

Editor's review

Shanghan Lun Zhu is one of the representative works in which the Qing physician Ke Qin annotated the Shanghan Lun. Its value lies not only in explaining the text passage by passage, but also in Ke Qin's attitude toward annotation—"ten thousand volumes in the mind, not a speck of dust in the writing"—and his vigilance against textual corruption, interpolation, and loss during transmission, as he sought to recover Zhang Zhongjing's original meaning. Ke Qin's annotation takes the six-channel differentiation as its framework and emphasizes the correspondence between formula and pattern and the analysis of pathogenesis; his prose is concise and orderly, forming a distinctive style among the many annotated editions of the Shanghan Lun. This edition, prepared and published by Qunyan Press, makes Ke Qin's annotated edition convenient for modern readers. The book is suitable for readers who already have some foundation in Chinese medicine and wish to understand the meaning of the Shanghan Lun passages and the logic of pattern differentiation in greater depth, and also as a desk reference for clinical practitioners studying the classics and consulting a master's annotations. It is best read alongside the original text of the Shanghan Lun, attending to where Ke Qin's annotation focuses its eye.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of Chinese medicine who have studied basic theories and wish to study the Shanghan Lun in depth
Physicians in clinical practice who want to deepen their understanding of formula and pattern through a master's annotated edition
Researchers in literature, history, and medicine interested in the tradition of annotation on Chinese medical classics

Not a good fit for

General readers with no foundation in Chinese medicine seeking an accessible introduction
Beginners expecting a modern vernacular translation with sentence-by-sentence comparison
Readers interested only in health preservation who do not intend to study the original text

Reading tips

First read the relevant chapters of the original Shanghan Lun, then compare them with Ke Qin's annotation, noting where his analysis of the passages focuses.
Keep a notebook and extract the key points of pattern differentiation from the annotation, organized by six channel and formula-pattern, for later clinical reference.
Where the annotation is brief, consult other annotated editions such as those of Cheng Wuji and You Yi, and compare their choices.

About the publisher

Qunyan Publishing House China · Founded in 1989

Founded in 1989, Qunyan Publishing House has long been committed to publishing academic and educational books for mid- and high-level readers, and has built up a certain presence in Eastern philosophy, classical literature, and classic works. Representative titles available in the database include Records of the Grand Historian, Dream of the Red Chamber, Selections of Refined Literature, Complete Song Ci, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Record of Daily Knowledge, Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang, and The Collected Works of Wang Yangming, covering common categories such as ancient poetry, medicine, and examinations. Its author resources include Sima Qian, Cao Xueqin, Xiao Tong, Li Shan, Pu Songling, and Gu Yanwu. The press also offers distinctive series such as the Biographical Series of the China Democratic League and the Historical Documents Series of the China Democratic League, and publishes research on historical documents, biographies, memoirs, and textbooks and academic works by League members. Public information is limited, and its overall publishing scale and complete catalogue require further verification.

版权信息
卷一
卷一
卷一
卷一
卷一桂枝汤证下
卷二
卷二
卷二麻黄汤证下
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷二
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷三
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四真武汤证
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四猪肤汤证
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四
卷四

FAQ

Can I read this annotated edition directly without a foundation in Chinese medicine?

It is not really advisable. Ke Qin's annotation centers on six-channel differentiation and formula-pattern analysis, and assumes the reader is already familiar with the Shanghan Lun passages and basic Chinese medical concepts. Without that foundation, one may recognize the words but miss the point. It is better to first read textbooks of basic Chinese medical theory and lecture notes on the Shanghan Lun before turning to the annotated edition.

How does Ke Qin's annotated edition differ from other annotations of the Shanghan Lun?

According to the book's own account, Ke Qin insisted that an annotator must have discernment—neither copying mechanically nor chasing side branches—and focused on identifying corrupted and interpolated passages in the transmitted text, striving to clarify the hidden meaning of the ancients. His annotation is concise and stresses the coherence of formula, pattern, and pathogenesis; its specific features still need to be appreciated by the reader in comparison with the original text.

Is this book suitable for clinical doctors to consult in daily practice?

It can serve as a reference. The annotation revolves around the passages and formula-patterns and is helpful for understanding the logic of pattern differentiation. But this is an annotated edition, not a clinical manual; when consulting it, one should combine it with the original text and one's own clinical experience, and should not treat the annotation as a ready-made basis for prescriptions.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

柯琴 Author

Ke Qin's biographical details are limited in publicly available sources; his dates of birth and death, nationality, and similar information are not clearly recorded. Judging from the works that survive, he was a medical author devoted to the study of the Treatise on Cold Damage (Shanghan Lun). Six of his works are held in the collection, including Annotated Treatise on Cold Damage, Collected Works on Cold Damage Laizhu, Supplementary Wings to Cold Damage, and Wings of the Cold Damage Treatise, as well as a guided-reading edition of Collected Works on Cold Damage Laizhu and an unannotated edition of Annotated Treatise on Cold Damage. These works revolve around Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Cold Damage, covering textual annotation, analysis of formulas and syndromes, and theoretical elaboration, and belong to the traditional literature of Cold Damage studies in Chinese medicine. His writing centers on annotating the classics and expounding medical theory, with a practical style that emphasizes clarity and pattern differentiation, and has exerted a certain influence within the Cold Damage school. His works are commonly classified under medicine and Eastern philosophy, reflecting a content that touches on both medical theory and classical philosophical thinking.