Introduction of Shang Han Lun
<<Shang Han Lun>> is one of the very famous
books in the history of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM),
secondary to the book <<Huang Di Nei Jing>>[1]. <<Shang
Han Lun>> is a very useful clinic guide book that has been used
by many famous TCM doctors. However, for some reasons, it is no
long taught in the current TCM schools in
China
and the school authority leaves it as an option for student to
learn by themselves. This is the same situation in TCM schools
out of China.
<<Shang Han Lun>> was written by Dr. Zhang
ZhongJing, 2000 year ago in
China. It is the first book
that introduced the
practical way for diagnosis and treatment. The diagnosis
system is called “Liu Jing Bianzheng”. The characteristic of the
herbal formula introduced is that the kinds of herbs used is
less but the dose of the herbs, generally speaking, higher
compared with current TCM[2]. We say
that the <<Shang Han Lun>> is the first clinic manual because
the sister books of the <<Huang Di Nei Jing>> has been missing
though we know the names of the missed books.
We say that the <<Shang Han Lun>> is the
most important TCM clinic manual based on the fact that none of
the later TCM books could exceed the achievement of the <<Shang
Hang Lun>> in guide of clinic work.
<<Shang Han Lun>> tells how to assess a
disorder (diagnosis) and how to use herbs for the treatment. It
is very practicable. However, it did not tell why the disease
can be assessed as such and why doctor should use this herb not
that herb. Follow what it tells you to do, you can enjoy the
success in clinic, but to really understand the reason behind
the ways for diagnosis and treatment, different later doctors
have different explanation. Most of the explanation or
interpretations per se were difficult to understand too. This is
one of the major reason that it is difficult to teach <<Shang
Han Lun>>.
<< Shang Han Lun> also has at least two
edits. They are not the same in many aspects. For each edit,
there are mis-spelling, mis-writing, and missed paragraph
(especially in the last chapter). All make the teaching and
study of <<Shang Han Lun>> difficult.
If you are TCM doctor, ask yourself how
much do you know about the <<Shang Han Lun>>?
[1] If we say that the <<Shang Han Lun>>
is the manual of TCM, the <<Huang Di Nei Jing>> is the
spirit of TCM.
[2] For the fact that TCM currently
used in clinic by most TCM doctor is different from the
old TCM, we term the former as current TCM. Current TCM
can be regarded as the textbook TCM, since most doctors
are affected or educated for TCM by the textbook they
used when they are in TCM schools.
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