The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing

Description

By Shou-Zhong Yang
Trade paperback book
ISBN 9780936185965
205 pages

The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica Classic) is one of the three foundation books of Chinese medicine. The Nei Jing (Inner Classic) established the theoretical foundations of Chinese medicine and especially acupuncture and moxibustion. The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing laid the foundation for the study of Chinese medicinals. While the Shang Han Lun/ Jin Gui Yao Lue (Treatise on Damage [Due to] Cold / Essentials of the Golden Cabinet) is the locus classicus for Chinese formulas and prescriptions and treatment based on pattern discrimination. Translations of the Nei Jing and Shang Han Lun / Jin Gui Yao Lue have long existed in English. However, until now, no translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing has been available in English.

Published as part of Blue Poppy’s Great Masters Series, now all serious students and practitioners of Chinese medicine can have access to all of the three pillars of Chinese medicine. This is the material medica from which all others have been derived. If you have any interest in the historical roots of Chinese medicine and in particular in the Taoist contribution to Chinese medicine, you must own a copy of the preeminent classic.

About the author:

Tao Hong-jing was a famous Chinese doctor and Daoist practitioner who lived in the first half of the first millennium. Tao is credited with the division of Chinese medicinals into superior, middle, and inferior grade medicinals.