Introduction
Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine is a free translation of Huangdi Neijing which is composed of two separate books, namely Suwen and Lingshu which are often translated into Plain Conversation and Spiritual Pivot in English respectively. Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine is the earliest extant medical canon in China that records the achievements of medicine made by Chinese people in ancient times. In the Preface to Explanation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. Plain Conversation, Wang Bing, an important medical scholar in the Tang Dynasty (618~907 A.D.) said," It is simple in description, profound in meaning, and mysterious in theory. It describes the difference between the heavens and the earth, the order of Yin and Yang, the causes of changes and the signs of life and death.
In the past thousands of years, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine guided the development of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine). The so-called various schools of theories in TCM developed in history all originated from the basic theory elucidated in Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. All the doctors in the previous dynasties paid much attention to the study, collation and explanation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine, making it possible for this great classic to be passed on from generation to generation and to have saved millions of lives. Even today, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine still plays an important role in directing the theoretical study and clinical practice of TCM.
Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine not only laid the foundation for the formation and development of TCM, but also influenced the progress of medicine in other countries around China. For example, from the periods of Norther and Southern Dynasties (420 -589 A.D.to the Sui Dynasty (581 -619 A.D. and the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.in China, many Chinese books on medicine were brought to Japan and Korea. For quite a long time in Japan and Korea, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine had served as the theoretical core of medicine. In the 20th century, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine drew attention from many countries in the Westen world and some of its content was translated into Japanese, English, German and French. In recent years, translation of the whole book into European languages has begun to appear.
There are different opinions over the time when Yellow Emperor's Caron of Medicine was compiled. It is generally believed that Plain Conversation was compiled in the period between the Zhou Dynasty (1064-221 B.C. and the Qin Dynasty (221 206 B.C. or the period between the western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D. and the Easter Han Dynasty (25-220A.D.) It was hard to decide, according to historical records, the time when Spiritual Pivot was compiled. Scholars in different dynasties made extensive studies over this issue. But up till now it is still un-known. Textual studies have shown that Spiritual Picot was named
differently in history. For example, the so-called Jiguan, Zhenjing.Jiuxu and Jiulingjing all referred to Spiritual Pivot. Medical. Linguistic and philosophical studies have shown that Spiritual Pivot and Plain Conversation are similar in style and supplement each other in content.
The title of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine appeared first in the book entitled Qilue written by Liu Xin in the Western Han Dynasty and was later on included in the book entitled Han Annals written by Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The reason that Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine was named after Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) is that the compilers in ancient times wanted to show that the theory discussed in it was authentic.
The title of Plain Conversation first appeared in the Preface to Shang Han Lun, a medical book written by Zhang Zhongjing in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There were different explanations about the meaning of Plain Conversation even in ancient times. When explaining the original meaning of the Chinese title of Plain Conversation, Quan Yuangi in the Liang Dynasty (502- 557A.D.said,"Su means the original and Wen means that Yellow Emperor asked Qibo questions. This book discusses the nature of human beings and the origin of Wuxing (Five Elements), that is why it is entitled 'Susen'."Spiritual Pivot is fascicle of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine and its name first appeared in the Preface to Explanation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. Plain Conversation written by Wang Bing in the middle period of the Tang Dynasty.There are different explanations about the meaning of the original Chinese title of Spiritual Picot.
The content of Plain Conversation can be divided into three parts. The first part includes seventy-two chapters which are the basic contents of Plain Conversation when it was first compiled. excluding the seven chapters dealing with Yunqi (Motion of Qi) theory and two appendices. The second part includes the seven chapters dealing with Yungi (Motion of Qi)theory, namely Tianyuanji Dalun (Discussion on the Law of Motions and Changes in Nature).Wuyunxing Dalun (Major Discussion on the Changes of Five-Motions),Liuweizhi Dalun (Major Discussion on the Abstruseness of the Six Kinds of Qi), Qijiaobian Dalun (Major Discussion on the Changes of Qi-Convergence),Wuchangzheng Dalun (Major Discussion on the Administration of Five-Motions).
Liuyuan Zhengji Dalun (Major Discussion on the Progress of the Six Climatic Changes)and Zhizhenyao Dalun (Major Discussion on the Most Important and Abstruse Theory).The third part is the so-called appendices which refer to the seventy-two and seven-ty-three chapters that were lost in history even before Wang Bing's time. When Lin Yi in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D. was collating Plain Conversation, he found the content of the two chapters but regarded it as fake. However, the content discovered is related to the system of Yungi (Motion of Qi) theory and supplements what the seven chapters on Yungi theory lacks. That is why the content of these two chapters is considered as the appendices of Suwen.
Spiritual Pitot, based on the theory of Yin and Yang and Wuxing (Five Elements), describes physiology. pathology, diagnosis and treatment of the human body as well as how to cultivate health. It discusses the physiological functions and pathological changes of Zangfu (Viscera), Jing (Essence).Shen (Spirit or Mind).Qi, blood and body fluid, emphasizing the importance of harmonic relationship between man and nature, fully and accurately elucidating the theory of Jingluo (Channels and Colla-terals)and the techniques of acupuncture. In fact about four-fifths of the content is related to acupuncture. For this
reason. Spiritual Picos is regarded as the most important classic that has summarized the theory of Jingluo (Channels and Collaterals) and the techniques of acupuncture before the Han Dynasty.
Apart from medicine, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine has also recorded knowledge of many other fields in ancient times, such as astrology. Meteorology and phenology, preserving important historical data of these sciences in ancient times.
The translation of TCM is difficult and the translation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine is even more difficult. The first problem that the translator has encountered is how to understand classical Chinese. Though Yellow Emperor's Caron of Medicine was repeatedly collated and annotated in different dynasties. There are still many errors due to private copying made in history.
In recent thirty years, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine has been translated into modem Chinese by many scholars for the convenience of reading. We have consulted several such modem Chinese editions of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine when making preparation for English translation. We feel that the modern Chinese editions are indeed easy to read and understand but are mingled with personal ideas of the translators.
When translating Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine into English, we have consulted some modern Chinese editions, but our translation is mainly based on the structure of the sentences and expressions in the original text, avoiding making personal explanation and paraphrase in translation. In translating the seven chapters concerning the theory of Yunqi (Motion of Qi), we have adopted the methods used by Collation and Translation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine Plain Conversation and Translation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. Plain Conversation published by People's Health Publishing House as well as Translation of Plain Conversation published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press. The original text was selected according to some of the popularly used editions in China. In translating Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. We have also consulted some other editions collated by scholars in different dynasties.
The principle that we have followed in translating Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine is to translate the ancient text as what the ancients might read. We have mainly used transliteration combined with additional explanation to translate the basic concepts and literal translation combined with free translation to render texts in order to preserve the original style, thinking and ideas of this great book.
Ethine linguistics believes that the majority of words in the vocabulary of any one language can certainly find their equivalences in any other languages in the world. This part of the vocabulary is called the "common core “of all human languages, reflecting the things and phenomena shared by all nations in the world. For example, the physiological phenomena and pathological changes occurring in Chinese people will also be observed in the people of other nations.So the expressions of certain physiological phenomena and pathological changes in the Chinese language will also be found in other nations’ languages. However. ethnic linguistics also holds that, in a certain language, there must be some words reflecting each nation's unique possessions.
These words usually bear implications of a national cultural background, and therefore cannot find equivalences in other nations' languages. For example, the concepts of Yin and Yang, Wuxing. Jing. Qi and Shen cannot find their equivalences in English language. Currently Jing is generally translated into essence and Shen is often translated into Spirit or Mind. Actually, such a translation is not accurate. In our translation of Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine, such concepts are all transliterated and the current translations are put into brackets after transliteration as a kind of explanation. For instance, “Jing" is translated into “Jing (Essence)",“Shen” is translated into “Shen(Spirit)" and "Wuxing" is translated into "Wuxing (Five Elements)".
Some diseases in TCM appear similar to that of modern medicine, but are different in nature. For example, "Xiaokebing" in TCM is usually translated into diabetes. In fact diabetes is just part of "Xiaokebing”, so it cannot cover all the diseases that are included in the concept of "Xiaokebing". The names of such diseases are all transliterated with brief explanation in the bracket.
Some of the concepts in TCM have popular translations. For example, Wuxing is commonly translated into Five Elements or Five Phases, and Sanjiao is often translated into Three Warmers, or Three Burners.or Three Heaters, or Triple Energizer. Though such translations are popular, they are not quite accurate. In order to maintain the original meaning and style of these concepts, they are all transliterated in our translation with brief explanation in the brackets.
Some terms related to acupuncture and moxibustion were already internationally standardized by WHO(World Health Organization）·According to WHO's standardization,“Jingmai” is translated into Meridian,"Renmai" into Conception Vessel and "Dumai" into Governor Vessel, which, in fact, are different from the meaning of these terms in Chinese. In order to preserve the original meaning of these terms,we have transliterated terms like “Renmai” and “Dumai",and changed Meridian into Channel because people in ancient times regarded "Jingmai" as the Channels inside the human body.
Classical Chinese is quite concise in syntax. In our translation. We have tried to use as fewer words as possible to translate sentences and expressions in order to maintain the structural style of the original text. But sometimes we have to add extra words to make the meaning clear or to make the related sentences sound logical. In this case the added words are put into square brackets [ ] to make it clear what is the translation of the original text and what is the explanation made by the translator.
In history, Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine was repeatedly collated, annotated and compiled by many scholars. For this reason, some of their explanations were mingled with the original text. That is why we frequently find redundancy due to misprinting or miscopying in Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. In order to make it clear what is the original text and what is redundancy have put redundancy into {}, another kind of brackets.
In the past thousands of years, many scholars and doctors tried to study and collate Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine.
However, they sometimes explained a certain term or a certain sentence quite differently or even oppositely. To deal with such different or opposite explanations about one certain term or sentence, we have adopted transliteration and made detailed explanation in the "Notes" following each chapter. In the "Notes", we have explained the meaning of each character involved in the related terms or sentences, and then provided the readers with some representative explanations.
One part in Chapter 54 in Plain Conversation is still unpunctuated because of the disorders of characters and sentences made in history. In the past thousands of years, many scholars and doctors tried to punctuate and collate this part.But their trial was not so successful. Up till now it is still very hard to read and understand this part. In many Chinese books, this part is reserved without any explanation. In our translation. this part is reserved without translation.
How to translate the name of "Huangdi Neijing" is always a problem. There is much debate over how to translate "Huangdi" and "Neijing”. To solve this problem, we have adopted transliteration and free translation. Our translation is Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine). The transliterated one is the way to preserve the meaning and style of the original Chinese title and the translated one is a trial to explain the basic meaning of the original Chinese title to the readers. "Suwen" and” Lingshu" are translated in the same way. The’” former is Plain Conversation and the latter is. Accordingly, the title of each chapter is rendered this way, for example, Chapter 1 Shanggu Tianzhen Lunpian: Ancient Ideas on How to Preserve Natural Healthy Energy.
To translate Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine is a challenge. It is as hard as climbing the sheer precipice and the overhanging rocks. After ten years of arduous work, we have primarily finished the translation of this great work. Undoubtedly there must be some errors and biases in this translation. We will continue our study and try to improve the translation in the future.
The translation of Spiritual Pivot was sponsored by Post doctorate Project of Shanghai International Studies University.
Li Zhaoguo
Liu Xiru
March,2004 Shanghai
