Aryana Libris

Author : Maoshing Ni
Title : The yellow emperor's classic of medicine
Year : 1995

Link download : Maoshing_Ni_-_The_yellow_emperor_s_classic_of_medicine.zip

Preface. As the end of the twentieth century nears, humankind can celebrate the triumph of achievements in many fields, most notably science, technology, and medicine. The technological breakthroughs of the last two centuries that helped propel science to its zenith are responsible for raising standards of living, increasing productivity, and saving lives. Most significant is the increase in the communication of knowledge that made the vast application of science and technology possible. Paradoxically, the same accomplishments are also responsible for genocide on a massive scale, the destruction of our planet, and a gradual diminishing of quality in people’s lives. In recent years more and more disenchanted citizens of the West have looked to the East for an “organic” answer to the great imbalance in the technologically advanced “modern world.” Strangely, few realize that the East, specifically China, contributed many discoveries and inventions to the modern world. According to Robert Temple in his book The Genius of China, some of the West’s greatest achievements have turned out to be simple borrowing from the Chinese. These include decimal mathematics, paper and printing, the mechanical clock, guns, multistage rockets, the magnetic compass, a ship’s rudder, manned flight, the steam engine, paper money, and even brandy and whiskey. But the scientific and industrial revolutions did not occur in China, despite many advances prior to those of the West. One of the key reasons is that Chinese science and technology always functioned within a philosophy that recognized the importance of balance and harmony between human beings and the environment. In fact, there is more similarity between this philosophy-science paradigm of China and that of the ancient Greeks. As Joseph Needham, author of the great work Science and Civilization in China, wrote, “The sciences of China … never dreamed of divorcing science from ethics, but when at the Scientific Revolution the final cause of Aristotle was done away with, and ethics chased out of science, things became very different, and more menacing.” Without sensitive regard to the larger scheme of the universal law, modern science and technology will continue to produce disturbance and even destruction to all life on earth. In the modern age the East can indeed offer the West a philosophy of balance and harmony that is not only urgently needed but necessary for the survival of human civilization. No other Chinese source of this wisdom is as complete as the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, or the Neijing. This monumental classic is undoubtedly the most important work representing the crowning achievement of the Chinese prior to the first unification of the country by Emperor Qin Shi in 221 BCE. Its authorship was attributed to the great Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor, who reigned during the middle of the third millennium BCE. The Chinese refer to themselves as the descendants of Huang Di, who is the symbol of the vital spirit of Chinese civilization. The Neijing is actually two works: the Suwen and the Lingshu. The Suwen, “Questions of Organic and Fundamental Nature,” is the subject of this translation, while the Lingshu, once called Zhen Jing, or “Classic of Acupuncture,” is a technical book on acupuncture and moxibustion.1 Historically, Neijing refers to the Suwen alone. ...