The Medical Tradition Of The Legendary Physician Bian Que

Researching the legendary physician Bian Que is important for understanding the origins and development of medicine in China during the Qin and Han Periods. The salient features of the medical practice associated with Bian Que are palpation of the "vessel(s)" and observation of the "color" of the patient. It is apparent from the Record of the Court Scribe, the Pulse Classic, and the Classic of Difficulties that the development of the concept of the vessels was intimately related to the theory and practice of palpating the vessels, both at the wrist pulse and other sites on the body. Excavated materials also reveal the relationship between "pulse images" obtained though palpation, and the signs and symptoms associated with each vessel. Bian que and his followers were pioneers in the development of pulse diagnosis, according to the classical literature, and this methodology, in turn, led to the discovery of the bipartite division of the vessels of the body into "arm" and "leg." The use of bian stones or primitive stone needles on these vessels sites led to the further development of the effective use of what we now call "acupuncture points" and their indications. Vessel palpation was the essential link between observation of the pulsations of the vessels and their effective use in healing.Archeological evidence and the extant literature show that "Bian Que Medicine" has strong features of the regional culture of which it is a product. The best examples of this are the tomb carvings that depict Bian Que as a bird with a human head holding what appear to be needles or stones, and poised to puncture the arm of a person standing in front of him. The same area in which these are found, the Wei Mountain Twin-city area, was once the center of the Dong-yi people, who took the bird as their totem. The historical record, including oracle bone records, also attests to the bird totem culture of the Shang people residing in this area. All of these point to an association between worship involving the sun, wind, the four directions, mantic arts based on the calendar, and early medical practice.Many historical persons and cultural artifacts point to the development of vessel therapy in Shandong province. The successor to Bian Que, Chun yu-yi, was a native of Linzi in Shandong Province (present-day northwest Zibo). Archeological findings from the Neolithic Dawenkou culture in Shandong include many examples of the bian stones used for healing. Many researchers now believe that nearby Si County was the primary source for Bian stones. This seems to accord with the following Su Wen ascription,"the city in the East [has]...ailments of sores and abcesses, which are treated with bian stones. This is why bian stones come from the East." The confluence of archeological, anthropological and textual evidence points to the development of Bian Que medicine in the Shandong coastal region. This regional medicine later became absorbed into the larger stream of "Chinese medicine.’The above paragraphs are a summary of the argument behind this dissertation. I reached these conclusions through both reflection and analysis of the materials available to me. My works draws from and is based on the work of many others before me. I draw from the methodologies of bibliographic studies, annotative studies, anthropology, aesthetics and art history, among others. This multi-disciplinary approach is required in order to adequately treat this subject. I referenced scholarship in English and Chinese, as well as some preliminary fieldwork. A number of other scholars have noted that the Han tomb carvings depicting Bian Que as half-bird half-human are a remnant of the local bird totem culture from ancient times. It is notable that these images have only been found in Shandong province, and that the Yan-Qi state stands out for its bird totem culture and the later development of the mantic arts or "shu-shu" culture. Since we know that a form of medicine emphasizing vessel palpation and puncturing developed in the same cultural sprere, it behooves us to find the links between the two.Research on excavated texts over the last few decades has given us a fuller understanding of the complex, plural origins of the medicine canonized in the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon. The conclusion that regional streams developed rather independently prior to the Han should not strike us as surprising. The difficulties of travel and communication, among other factors, allowed isolated practices to develop independent of the influence of other streams of medicine. Due to the paucity of written records, we can only surmise the feature of the medical practice of Bian Que and his followers from scarce early records, later commentators and pieces that seem to have already been incorporated in the Inner Canon by the Han Dynasty.Record of the Court Scribe states that,"The physician Bian Que was revered by all of the Fang. He was brilliant in keeping the calculations. Later generations cannot dispute this."It states further,"Everyone in the world who not speaks of [utilizes] the pulse derived it from Bian Que." These two statements orient us for our studies of Bian Que. They reveal that he is a master of the mantic arts, occult arts and the pulse. The Book of Han lists seven medical classics:the Yellow Emperor’s Inner and Outer Canon, Bian Que’s Inner and Outer Canon, Master Bai’s Inner and Outer Canon and the Additional Treatise. This is an important indicator of the status of Bian Que Medicine during the Han, as it mentions it alongside the later canonized "Yellow Emperor." Since the Yellow Emporer’s Inner Canon is the only on eof the seven stil extant, we have to use the Record of the Court Scribe, the Pulse Classic, the Classic of Difficulties and other works to reconstruct Bian Que’s thought.The Record of the Court Scribe predates the Book of Han by approximately two hundred years. The former mentions several different medical books ascribed to the Yellow Emperor or to Bian Que. This is in line with what we know about the practice of naming books with the epitaph of a "sage." However, it is difficult to ascertain for certain whether the books the Record of the Court Scribe records as part of the transmission to Chun yu-yi are in fact related to the books of the same or similar name listed in the Book of Han. However, it is significant that the Record states that the "secret" books given to Chun yu-yi by his teacher Yang Qing were attributed to "Bian Que" rather than the physician in the same chapter, Qin Yue-ren who was given the honorary title of "Bian Que." This would seem to suggest that the books were of a more ancient origin that the events related to Qin Yue-ren recorded by Si Ma-qian. This is consistent with other records that delineate "two" Bain Que", one contemporary with Haung Di and one living closer to Si Ma-qian’s own times.We now know that the extant Yellow Emperor’s Canon was compiled from multiple, sometimes contradictory sources, over a two to four-hundred year period. Moreover, this plurality makes it impossible to posit a linear "progression" from the vessel theory found in excavated materials and the vessel theory found in multiple parts of the received Yellow Emperor’s Canon. The value and significance of this work lies precisely in its multiplicity. It is important to read it as such and not as a complete "theory" free from contradictions and forming a single set of ideas that can be applied directly to medical practice. Although we cannot completely reconstruct the medicine of Bian Que and his followers, the traces and records that remain reveal that this was once a highly revered, perhaps even effective, form of medicine.