People who know something about Chinese medicine are no strangers to Zhang Zhongjing, and his "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" has influenced the Chinese medicine community for more than a thousand years, and has been regarded as a classic by posterity, and he has also been respected by posterity as "medical saint". However, what is strange is that Zhang Zhongjing, who lived at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, did not leave any records in the "Book of later Han" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", while the divine doctor Hua Tuo of the same period "left his name in qing history".
Portrait of Zhang Zhong
The medical saint Zhang Zhongjing in the historical record
Although Zhang Zhongjing was revered by later generations
"Doctor Saint"
But he is one in history
Enigmatic characters
。 The mystery mentioned here does not mean that Zhang Zhongjing is not a real historical figure, but that his relevant records are too few, which will inevitably make people have this illusion.
Although Zhang Zhongjing is not recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, it is mentioned in the private writings of the Two Jin Dynasties. The first to mention Zhang Zhongjing was the Western Jin Dynasty physician Wang Shuhe. He said in the fifth volume of his Book of Pulses
"Zhongjing Ming trial, also waiting for the form of evidence, if there is any doubt, then examine the calibration to verify."
The contemporaneous physician Huang Fumian also mentioned Zhang Zhongjing,
"Han has Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing. There are many other strange remedies, and there are many givers, and they cannot remember their end."
。 It can be seen that Zhang Zhongjing is indeed a real figure in history, and in the eyes of the Western Jin Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing is at least on a par with the divine doctor Hua Tuo.
However, the original manuscript of his classic "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" has long been scattered, and it was not until the Western Jin Dynasty that Wang Shuhe sorted out the "Treatise on Typhoid Fever" from the fragments and passed it on to later generations. And his life deeds are even more simple, Wang Shuhe briefly mentioned at the beginning of the "Treatise on Typhoid Fever"
"Han Changsha Taishou Nanyang Zhang Ji ZhongjingShu"
。 From this, it can be seen that Zhang Zhongjing's name is Zhang Ji, the character Zhongjing, a Nanyang person, who once served as the Taishou of Changsha in the Han Dynasty.
There are also very few things about him. Huang Fumian recorded in the "Acupuncture and Moxibustion A and B Sutra Sequence" that Zhang Zhongjing had been treated by Wang Cang, one of the seven sons of Jian'an. Zhang Zhongjing, who was in his twenties at the time, treated Wang Yue, saying that Wang Yue's eyebrows would fall out when he was in his 40s, and he would die within half a year. Zhang Zhongjing instructed Wang Cang to take the "five-stone soup" he prescribed, so that he would be spared, but Wang Yue thought that Zhang Zhongjing did not speak well, so he did not take five-stone soup.
Three days later, Zhang Zhongjing asked Wang Yue if he had taken Wushi Soup, and Wang Yue lied and persuaded. Zhang Zhongjing knew that Wang Yue was lying when he saw Wang Yue's face, so he sighed why adults despised his own life so much? But Wang Yue still refused to take the medicine. Twenty years later, Wang Cang's eyebrows fell off, and Wang Cang died 187 days later, as Zhang Zhongjing said. Huang Fumi commented on this, Zhang Zhongjing's medical skills were clever
"Although the bian que and the warehouse are incomparable."
Stills from "Doctor Saint Zhang Zhongjing"
Although the historical record of Zhang Zhongjing's life and deeds is only this, his general image can be outlined: Zhang Jizi Zhongjing, a Nanyang man, was a Changsha Taishou during the Jian'an period of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When he was in his 20s, he treated Wang Yue, one of the seven sons of Jian'an, and 20 years later, he fulfilled Zhang Zhongjing's statement that his medical skills were very superb.
However, this also leads to a question, that is, since Zhang Zhongjing is a real figure in history, and his medical skills are so superb, why is Hua Tuo, who only practiced medicine, have a biography in the main history, while Zhang Zhongjing, who was the Taishou of Changsha, has not left any record in the main history?
Why Zhang Zhongjing is not recorded in the main history
In this regard, Liu Zhiji questioned Chen Shou in "Stone"
"When the Three Kingdoms were different, the two Jin Dynasties, Ruo Yuanze and Zhongjing, were heavier than Xu, Luo, He Zhen, and Xu Zhen, and Wen Ya were higher than Yang and Yu; and Chen Shou's "Guozhi" and Wang Yinjin's History were widely listed in various legends, and this was not compiled. This is also a leak, too much of a pedantic. ”
Liu Zhiji believed that Zhang Zhongjing's talents and status were the same as Huan Fan's (Cao Shuang's think tank, Cao Wei Dasi Nong), and that the two should have biographies in Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. However, Chen Shou did not establish a biography for him, and Liu Zhiji thought that chen Shou was too careless and made a very serious mistake.
As for Liu Zhiji's evaluation of Chen Shou on this matter, I do not approve of it.
Chen Shou's ability to write history need not be said much, and there are many people who wrote the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Cao Wei at the same time, but only Chen Shou's writing is listed as a canonical history. For example, the "Book of Wei" written by Xiahou Zhan was basically completed, and when he saw the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" written by Chen Shou, he felt that he had written it in a mess.
"Just break your own book"
。 Wang Shen co-authored the Book of Wei with Ruan, but it was considered to be far inferior to that written by Chen Shou
"Most of them are timely, and they are not recorded as Chen Shou's actual records."
It can be seen that Chen Shou's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was the most authoritative history book at that time, and Chen Shou did not write a biography of Zhang Zhongjing, which had its own reasoning, and it was certainly not a huge mistake like Liu Zhiji said. In simple terms, there are only two reasons. First, Zhang Zhongjing's merits and status were not enough to be passed on, and second, Zhang Zhongjing's retained information was too small to be passed on.
1. Zhang Zhongjing's merits and status are not enough to be neutral in the canonical history
Any person who can leave a name in the history of the canon is not a generalist. Zhang Zhongjing was ignored by Chen Shou because in Chen Shou's view, Zhang Zhongjing was not qualified enough.
The first is that Zhang Zhongjing's political achievements are not qualified enough.
Zhang Zhongjing had been the Taishou of Changsha, and if his political achievements were very prominent, Chen Shou would naturally give him a biography, even if he did not pass it independently, he would mention his name when writing history.
For example, Chen Shou in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of Wei" combined the local county guards of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Cao Wei Zhuo into one volume. Chen Shou wrote a biography of five people in this volume, namely
Ren Jun, Su Ze, Du Qi, Zheng Hun, Cang Ci
。 At the end of the volume, Chen Shou added again
"From Taizu to Xianxi, Wei County's Taishou Chen Guo Wu Wan, Qinghe Taishou Le'an RenXuan, Jingzhao Taishou Jibei Yanfei, Hongnong Taishou Taiyuan Linghu Shao, Jinan Xianglu Guo Kong Qi, or mourning and folding prison, or pushing sincerity and love, or curing his innocence, or committing adultery and ambushing, Xian is a good two thousand stones."
The names of five other people were mentioned.
In Chen Shou's view, in terms of political achievements, from Cao Cao's reign to Cao Wei's demise, there was only one
Ren Jun, Su Ze, Du Qi, Zheng Hun and Cang Ci were 5 people
I can pass on the identity of the local sheriff with outstanding political achievements, and
Wu Wan, Ren Yi, Yan Fei, Ling Hushao, Kong Qi
Waiting for 5 people is just eligible to be nominated. At that time, there were as many as a thousand people before and after the local county guards, which showed how difficult it was to leave a name in the history of Qingshi. Therefore, it is certain that Zhang Zhongjing, as the Taishou of Changsha, must not have outstanding political achievements, and Chen Shou will not establish a biography for him.
The second is that Zhang Zhongjing's medical skills are not qualified enough.
Zhang Zhongjing was famous in later generations, not because he was an official, but because of his superb medical skills. If this is the case, then Chen Shou will definitely include him in the Fang Ji Zhuan, alongside Hua Tuo, but Chen Shou did not do so, and did not even mention his name. Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Zhongjing's medical skills are very poor, but Zhang Zhongjing's fame at that time was not great.
The doctor's profession was at the time
"Dirty Karma"
People with a very low social status and a little ambition will not engage in this profession. Hua Tuo originally wanted to become an official, but he had no choice but to practice medicine, although his medical skills were superb, he did not have a sense of identity with the identity of a doctor, which was the knot of his life, and Zhang Zhongjing at the same time must have been in a similar state of mind.
In addition to his superb medical skills, chen shou was a biography of Hua Tuo, and more reasons were that Hua Tuo had visited many celebrities at that time, which had a certain impact on history, such as Hua Tuo had visited Cao Cao, Chen Deng, General Li and others, and his death was also related to Cao Cao, which was not a small historical event at that time. Looking at Zhang Zhongjing on the other hand, he had only treated Wang Yue, and basically had no impact on history, and Chen Shou really did not need to list a biography for him.
Here is a brief introduction to Zhang Zhongjing's position in the medical community. What is certain is that in the late Han Dynasty, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, although Zhang Zhongjing's medical skills were recognized, his status was not as high as it is now, and he could only be said to be a famous doctor. It was not until the Song and Yuan dynasties that Zhang Zhongjing was called
"Yasant"
, by the Ming Dynasty called it "
Zhongjing Yuesheng"
After that, Zhang Zhongjing was called "medical saint" by posterity.
2. Zhang Zhongjing's retained information is too small to be neutral in the history
To write history, there must be a wealth of information, and if there is too little information left, it is difficult to establish a biography for someone.
Chen Shou mentioned many times when writing the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of Shu" that because there were no historical officials in the Shu Han Dynasty, the deeds of some important figures of the Shu Han Were missing, and there was no way to establish a biography for them, only to mention the names
"If you lose your deeds, you will not pass them on",
"Simple"
。
However, when Liu Song Pei Songzhi annotated the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he came into contact with many relevant documents and supplemented them as materials, which greatly completed the missing content in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Fan Ye was also like this when he wrote the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, especially the history of the Han Xiandi Period, which can be corroborated with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Therefore, if Chen Shou ignored Zhang Zhongjing's deeds because of limited access to information, then pei songzhi and Fan Ye in later generations should have come into contact with many of Zhang Zhongjing's materials, but strangely, neither Pei Zhu nor the Book of Later Han contained only a few words about Zhang Zhongjing. In stark contrast is Hua Tuo, who is not only listed separately by Chen Shou in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Pei Songzhi also completes many materials, and Fan Ye also establishes a biography for him in the Book of Later Han.
This can only show that the information left by Zhang Zhongjing is too small, and even later generations cannot find it at all when writing history, which is completely insufficient to establish a biography for him in the main history.
epilogue
In summary, although Zhang Zhongjing was revered by later generations
However, due to the fact that Zhang Zhongjing is not famous in his historical era and the lack of relevant materials, he has not left any records in the main history, which is in stark contrast to Hua Tuo.