Chapter 46 Section 12 The Four Great Physicians of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties

"The school of Confucianism is divided into the Song Dynasty, and the school of medicine is divided into the Jin and Yuan Dynasties." This is the summary of the development history of Confucianism and medicine in the "Summary of the General Catalog of Siku Quanshu".Indeed, during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, four major medical scientists emerged. They were all proficient in medical classics, but each had their own unique ideas in understanding and application. Medical practice and medical theory influence future generations.The four great physicians are Liu Wansu, Zhang Congzheng, Li Gao, and Zhu Zhenheng.

Liu Wansu, courtesy name Shouzhen, named himself Tongxuan Chushi, and his date of birth and death is unknown. Because he lived in Hejian (now Hejian County, Hebei) for many years, he was called "Mr. Hejian" and "Liu Hejian". The School of Medicine is also known as the "Hejian School".He refused the recruitment of the Jin court, did not want to be an official, and practiced medicine among the people all his life. Liu Wansuzhi is a scholar, "study and think carefully, and expect to be able to understand."He attached great importance to the "Huangdi Neijing", as a "lifelong recitation" classic, from 25 to 60 years old, never stopped studying and researching. The basic content of the Five Movements and Six Qi Theories in the "Internal Classics" is to explain and discuss the mechanism of disease occurrence and growth from the four seasons and climate changes.Liu Wansu elaborated on this, and believed that the changes in nature are closely related to the physiological activities and pathological phenomena of the human body. To understand medicine, one must be familiar with the theory of five movements and six qi. "Su Wen Xuan Ji Yuan Shi Shi Shi Preface").Aiming at the reality of febrile venereal diseases at that time, he started from the 19 articles of "Nei Jing Su Wen" on the pathogenesis of most of them being caused by fiery heat, and used the theory of five movements and six qi to create the theory of fiery pathogenesis.In clinical practice, he put forward the main treatment method of reducing heart fire and nourishing kidney water.Because he is good at using cold and cool medicine, he is also known as the "cold cool school".He is the author of "Suwen Essentials Theory", "Suwen Xuanji Original Disease Formula", "Suwen Pathogenesis Qi Yi Baoming Collection", "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", "Treatise on Specimen and Heart Methods", "Xuanming Lunfang", "Three Elimination Theory" and so on.

Zhang Congzheng, courtesy name Zihe, nicknamed Dairen, was born in Kaocheng, Suizhou (now Lankao County, Henan). The date of birth and death is unknown.He studied under Liu Wansu, inherited Liu Wansu's academic thought, and developed it to some extent. He is an important physician of the Hejian School. In his academic studies, Zhang Congzheng focused on the study of medical classics such as "Nei Jing", "Nan Jing", "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", and had profound attainments.He believes that the reason why people get sick, whether it is due to external reasons or internal reasons, is caused by evil spirits.When the evil goes away, the body will be safe. Therefore, in the treatment, he advocates using three methods of sweating, vomiting, and lowering to attack and eliminate the evil.That is to say, the method of perspiration should be used for those who are suffering from wind and cold for the first time, the method of vomiting should be used for those who have wind-phlegm and persistent food in the upper cavity of the chest and diaphragm [wanwan], and the method of lowering should be used for those with chronic cold or heat in the lower Jiao.Because of his proficiency in the clinical application of this method, he is known as the "Governing School".Its representative is the 15 volumes of "Confucianism and Relationships".

Li Gao (1180-1251 A.D.), courtesy name Mingzhi, called himself Dongyuan [yuanyuan] old man in his later years, and was called Li Dongyuan. He was born in Zhending (now Zhengding, Hebei).He studied under Zhang Yuanyuan.Zhang Yuansu, styled Jiegu, was born in Yizhou (now Yixian, Hebei). He was a medical scientist at the same time as Liu Wansu or later.Zhang Yuanyuan attaches great importance to the deficiency and excess of viscera, and advocates that he has profound attainments in terms of qi and prescriptions, and is a family of his own.Because there is Yishui in Yizhou, the school he created is called "Yishui School", and Li Gao is an important physician of this school.

On the basis of Zhang Yuanyuan's medical thought, Li Gao put forward the medical thought of "internal injury to the spleen and stomach, all diseases can be caused by birth".He believes that there is an extremely close relationship between vitality and spleen and stomach. The spleen and stomach are the foundation of vitality, and vitality is the foundation of health. You Sheng Ye" ("On the Spleen and Stomach Theory on the Transmission of Deficiency and Excess of the Spleen and Stomach").In the clinical treatment, he adopted a set of methods mainly to elevate the Qi in the middle, respectively replenishing the vitality of the triple burners, and mainly to replenish the spleen and stomach.Because he is good at using prescriptions and medicines for warming and nourishing the spleen and stomach, he is called the "warming and tonic school". According to the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine, the spleen belongs to soil, so he is also known as the "tonic soil school".His medical works include "Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach", "On Distinguishing Confusion from Internal and External Injuries", "Secret Collection of the Orchid Chamber" and so on.

Zhu Zhenheng (AD 1282-1358), courtesy name Yanxiu, was born in Yiwu, Wuzhou (now Yiwu, Zhejiang). He lived in Danxi, Yiwu.When he was young, he studied Confucianism in his hometown, and he also studied Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism.Later, he believed that as a Confucian scholar, if he was proficient in medicine, he could benefit the society more directly, so he gave up the imperial examination and took medicine as a profession. Zhu Zhenheng studied medicine under Luo Zhiti (Ti Ti), a famous doctor in Hangzhou.Luo Shi is a redisciple of Liu Wansu, and he bypasses the theories of Zhang Congzheng and Li Gao, so Zhu Zhenheng has deeply studied the theories of the three schools.He also used the principles of Tai Chi in Neo-Confucianism to run through the meaning of the "Nei Jing", and formed his own medical characteristics and theories.The most prominent of its medical theories are "theory of excess of yang and insufficiency of yin" and "theory of relative fire".He believes that the birth and growth of human beings are all related to the Qi of heaven and earth.He also believes that the human body is always in a state of "yang movement", and essence, blood and yin qi are most likely to be consumed, while "phase fire" is yang, and human vitality comes from the movement of "phase fire". "Xianghuo" has constant changes, often due to physiology, and changes due to pathology. "Xianghuo" is easily stimulated by the outside world and "acts rashly", resulting in damage to yin essence and disease.For this reason, he warned people to control food and sex, and maintain "Yin points" ("Ge Zhi Yu Lun"), so people called his theory "Yin Yang Theory".In clinical practice, he advocates "nourishing yin and reducing fire", and is good at using this kind of medicinal prescriptions, so he is also called "Yin nourishing school" and "Yin nourishing school".He wrote many books in his life, among which "Ge Zhi Yu Lun" and "Ju Fang Fa Fa" are his masterpieces.