Who was LI SHIZHEN? #3

Scholar Worthy of Emulation #3

The bureaucratic surroundings did not suit him. Citing his delicate health as a reason, he left the governmental post after only one year of service, returning to his home where he worked as a medical practitioner. His short stays in the two royal courts provided a distinct advantage for his later work, as they gave him an opportunity to view rare books retained in the medical libraries, broadening his knowledge of medical history, theories, and practices.

Desiring to help his patients by administering effective prescriptions, Shizhen diligently studied all the available books. It became readily apparent to him that there were serious problems with the herbal literature including considerable conflicting information, obvious mistakes, information that was simply being repeated in slightly different phrases, classification of unrelated items under a single heading or multiple listing of a single item under different headings, and omissions of important details. Seeing the disorder that permeated the field of herbal medicine, he decided to undertake a project of collecting the relevant information, sorting it out, correcting mistakes, and filling in missing items. Thus, at around the age 30, he began work on what was to become the Bencao Gangmu.

In order to collect the necessary information, he traveled extensively and consulted experts in each area of interest, finding individuals who worked daily with field plants, water animals, snakes, birds, minerals, and so on. His travels took him to Hunan, Jiangsu, Jianshi, and Anhui (the latter still having one of the largest herb markets today). He collected and consulted 800 medical books, that is, virtually everything available in print at the time. His own book was loosely fashioned after the last Materia Medica guide that he considered reliable: the Jingshi Zhenglei Beiji Bencao (Classified Materia Medica for Emergencies, ca. 1090 A.D., during the Song Dynasty) by Tang Shenwei. Unlike earlier Materia Medicas, this book incorporated formulas, and attached a different recipe under each herb description to show how the herb was used.

The resulting Bencao Gangmu was completed in 1578, when Li Shizhen was 60 years old, though he revised it in 1580, and again in 1587. As part of the 1580 revision, he approached a scholar, Wang Shizhen, to write the preface; Wang, who agreed to provide the preface, reported that Li was emaciated. His condition may have been due to his years of devoted deskwork finishing the book. The final illustrated text was completed with the help of Li Shizhen’s sons, particularly Li Qianyuan, and his grandsons; all together four of Li’s sons and four of his grandsons were mentioned as contributors in the acknowledgements section after the book’s preface.

Li arranged to have the book printed in Nanjing, relying on the resources of the printer, Hu Chenglong. However, his main goal was to have it officially published: for that purpose it was turned over to the Imperial government of the Wanli Emperor, who ruled from 1573 to 1620. The book was delivered by Li Qianyuan, after his father’s death. Eventually, the Emperor added the notation: "Taken notice of; to be kept in the Ministry of Rites." In other words, the book was left to sit unappreciated until many years later when finally given formal recognition by the succeeding Emperor. The lack of interest in bringing the materia medica to official print was not due to any fault with the work itself, but disarray in the Imperial palace (5). The Ming Dynasty already had a poor track record for Imperial publication of medical texts: there was only one Materia Medica ordered during the Ming Dynasty (at the beginning of the 16th Century, just before Li Shizhen’s birth), and that one remained unpublished. In the past, the government sponsored production of Materia Medicas, usually by large committees of doctors; Li Shizhen undertook the task on his own and hoped for Imperial sanction after it was completed.

Continued tomorrow:

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/lishizhen.htm

http://www.depsyl.com/

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