Complete Compendium of Zhang Jingyue Vol. 50-51 Part 1: The Eight Battle Arrays of New Formulae with Commentaries and Supplementary Case Studies

The Jingyue Quanshu 景岳全書 (Complete Compendium of Zhang Jingyue) is the culmination of the life work by the great Ming dynasty master, Zhang Jingyue (1563-1640 CE), an influential commentator of the Inner Canon, a vocal medical critic at his time, and a prominent figure of the Mingmen (Life Gate) School of Thought.This translation covers first half of Zhang Jingyue’s fabled Eight Battle Arrays of New Formulae, including an overview on the eight formulary strategies and seventy-one formulae from the first four battle arrays (supplementing, harmonizing, attacking, and dispersing). In addition to Zhang Jingyue’s original writing for his formula entries, this installment further includes Zhang Jingyue’s case studies, critiques by Shanghan Lun icon Chen Xiuyuan, and supplementary commentaries from more than sixty historical writings, in order to provide the reader a wider breadth of information without being confined to the view of just one single author. These volumes have been meticulously translated and annotated with comprehensive cultural references and context.This is the second installment of Purple Cloud Press Zhang Jingyue series, which aims to bring to non-Chinese readers one of the brightest minds in the history of Chinese medicine.Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this translation is that Tsaur had the brilliant idea of including commentaries of later physicians, including those of the iconoclastic Chen Xiuyuan. These commentaries not only complement the translation of the main text but also give it a context and allow readers to have a more three-dimensional appreciation of this material and its place in the history of Chinese medicine.Dan Bensky, Co-author of Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica and Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and StrategiesTsaur’s work gives us insight into the minds of several clinical scholars, taking us directly into their conversations. By making these conversations available to the English-reading world of Chinese medicine we gain a better understanding of the conflicts and struggles that occurred during a period of great change in the practice of Chinese medicine. The work is so carefully translated and presented that it is a gift for which I am eternally grateful.Marnae Ergil, MA, DACM, L.Ac, Co-author of the Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine and Translator of Practical Diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine by Deng Tietao Read more