Pien Ch'üeh and Ts'ang-kung, Memoir 45¹

Wang Shao (550-610?) is cited in "So-yin" arguing that this chapter belongs near the end of the book adjacent to the chapters on the diviners (chapters 127 and 128) and has been placed between the memoirs on by some later editor erroneously. Chang Shou-chieh ("Cheng-yi") follows this line of thought in his claim that although this collective memoir (lei chuan) may show similaries to chapters 127 and 128, it was placed among the memoirs on early Han figures because Ch'un-yi Yi lived under Emperor Wen of the Han. Li Ching-hsing (1876-1934, Shih chi p'ing-yi> in Ssu shih p'ing-yi, Han Chao-ch'i and Yü Chang-hua, eds. [Changsha: Yüeh-Lu Shu-she, 1986], p. 96) refutes both of these arguments in favor of the idea that as a joint biography of someone from antiquity with someone of (from Ssu-ma Ch'ien's perspective) modern times—similar to chapter 84, "Ch'ü Yüan, Chia Yi lieh-chuan"—this chapter is placed exactly right. His reasons for this evaluation, however, are not stated explicitly. It would seem that Li Ching-hsing is actually following Chang Shou-chieh in his argument that as a parallel biography, like that of Ch'ü Yüan and Chia Yi, this chapter is well placed between chapters 104 and 106 (the biographies of T'ien Shu and Liu P'i, respectively). However, both of the other similar parallel biographies (chapters 83 and 84) are arranged according to the chronology of the ancient biographee (Lu Chung Lien and Ch'ü Yüan, respectively), not according to the dates of the modern counterpart (Tsou Yang and Chia Yi, respectively) as would seem to be the case here.

Pien Ch'üeh is not a name, but what this physician was called in Chao (see text below and Wang Li-ch'i, 105.2213n., and Ts'ao Tung-yi "Pien Ch'üeh [Ch'in Yüeh-jen] li-chi k'ao," Chung-hua yi-shih tsa-chih, 23.1 [1993]: 15-19). Morita Den, Shiki Hen Shaku Sō-kō retsuden yakuchū (Tokyo, 1986, p. 24) speculates that ts'iak (in Chou Fa-kao's reconstruction) was a play on iwan diak, the stone needle or prick (a primitive kind of scalpel) used to treat diseases (see text below) and furthermore that the magpie (ch'üeh) had a call that is very similar to ts'iak or diak (based on arguments he heard in the modern scholar Katō Jōken's lectures). Morita also has a lengthy note (pp. 1-2, n. 1) explaining that in Chinese myth Pien Ch'üeh was said to have lived during the time of the Huang Ti. Morita further argues (based on the preface to the Huang Ti pa-shih-yi nan cited in the "Cheng-yi") that Pien Ch'üeh's name was Ch'in Yüeh-jen (as here), that he lived sometime during the Chou dynasty, and that he became known in the state of Chao as Pien Ch'üeh because his healing powers were similar to those of the mythical figure of the same name. It is more likely that his praenomen was Shao-ch'i (cf. Wang Li-ch'i Jen Piao, p. 425 and Aoki Gorō "Hen Shaku Sō-kō retsuden" in Shiki v. 11 [Tokyo: Meiji Shoten, 2004], 105.144-5n.). He is named Ch'in Shao-ch'i in two subsequent texts: Yin-chi ch'i-ch'ien (56.9a, Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu ed.) and in the section on names in Fang Yi-chih's (d. 1671) T'ung ya (21.8b, Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu ed.). Ts'ao Tung-yi (ibid.) argues that Pien Ch'üeh was a title given him by the people of Chao based on the Chao bird-totem of their ancestral spirit corresponding to early depictions of Pien with a bird's beak and lower body. See also the corresponding Translator's Note on Pien Ch'üeh as a title.

He was also known as the Lü Physician since his home was in Lü, a statelet absorbed by Ch'i. Lü is not on T'an Ch'i-hsiang's maps nor in Ch'en P'an, but R. F. Bridgman ("La médecine dans la Chine antique, d'après les biographies de Pien-ts'io et de Chouen-yu Yi [Chapitre 105 des Mémoires historiques de Sseu-ma Ts'ien]" Mélanges chinois et bouddhique, 10 [1955]) and Aoki locate it south of the modern seat of Ch'ang-ch'ing County in Shantung. The "Cheng-yi" locates Lü at Lü County in what was known as Chi Prefecture under the T'ang about fifty miles southwest of modern Tsinan (T'an Ch'i-hsiang, 5:44).

There are two works (no longer extant) attributed to Pien Ch'üeh: Pien Ch'üeh nei-ching (Inner Classic of Pien Ch'üeh) in 9 chüan and a Wai-ching (Outer Classic) in 12 chüan (Han shu, 30.1776).

Hsü ("Chi-chieh") first noted that Cheng should be read Mo and is a county. Wang Li-ch'i (105.2213.) concurs and locates Mo County near modern Mo-chou Chen in Jen-ch'iu County in Hopei. Wang further observes that Po-hai was first made a commandery by Liu Pang under the Han and there was no such commandery in the pre-Ch'in state of Ch'i. Of course there is also no such county at this time. There is the possibility that Pien Ch'üeh's home place has been anachronistically identified (as we also see with Lao Tzu on Shih chi, 63.2139). On the other hand, among the numerous articles written by modern Chinese scholars on this question, Ts'ao Tung-yi "Pien Ch'üeh (Ch'in Yüeh-jen) li-chi k'ao" (Chung-hua yi-shih tsa-chih 23.1 [1993]: 15-19), argues persuasively that Po stands for Po-hsien and hai indicates the regions around Ts'ang just southeast of the modern city of Ts'ang-chou in Hopei near where the Yellow River then flowed into the sea, (T'an Ch'i-hsiang, 1:34). There is a cottage industry among Shantung scholars attempting to prove Pien was from Lü, but there arguments are not convincing (see, for example, Wen Ju-ch'ien and Chang Hsin-mei "Yen Chao ming-yi tsu Pien Ch'üeh te tsai chih-yi" Shan-tung Chung-yi Hsüeh-yüan hsüeh-pao [1994]: 193-4).

The shih here is superfluous and indicates once again Ssu-ma Ch'ien's apparent misunderstanding of the distinction that existed between nomen (shih) and cognomen (hsing) in pre-Ch'in times.

Yüeh-jen may be a title similar to Chen-jen which was often applied to early medical practitioners (cf. the entry on Li Chen-jen curing an eye disease in the Song dynasty Yi-chia lei 3.6a, Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu ed.; this term of address occurs a number of times in Yi-chia lei, although Yüeh-jen admittedly does not).

This line might also be read "he became an innkeeper for someone else." The So-yin edition of the Shih chi reads simply she-chang (without jen; Takigawa, 105.3).

Master Ch'ang-sang is mentioned several times in various early texts: in the Chen kao (chüan 14, fol. 15b, Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu ed.) he is said to be Chuang Tzu's master, in the Taoist collectanea Yin-chi ch'i-ch'ien he is depicted as a recluse who went about with his hair down singing cryptic songs (chüan 110, fol. 1b, Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu ed.), and in the Shen-hsien chuan is said to have been the master of Yü Tzu (chüan 4, fol. 6a, Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu ed.).

On why he has the epithet "mulberry," two explanations seem tenable. The first follows the association of the mulberry with the fecundity of the grove where only women worked (cf. the luxuriance of the mulberry in "Hsi sang" Mao #228 or "Sang jou" Mao #257, of the Shih ching). More likely is the second explanation that the mulberry itself is long-lived and thus symbolizes the "father" or "ancestor"—in this case of medicine—as in "Hsiao pien" (Mao #197).

According to the modern scholar Ch'en Yung-liang (citing Li Ch'üan of the Ming in Ch'en's "P'ien Ch'üeh chuan chu-pu" Ch'eng-tu Chung-yi yao Ta-hsüeh hsüeh-pao 18.4 [December 1995], p. 46n.), she-k'o indicates a person who moves from one temporary residence to another.

Most commentators read chien as secretly (cf. Wang Li-ch'i, 110.2213n.); the "Cheng-yi" reads it as hsien, suggesting a reading of "familiarly" or "leisurely" which seems also possible.

The "So-yin" cites an "old theory" that shang ch'ih shui, literally "water on the top of a pond," indicates water than has not yet reached the ground such as dew that collects on plants. The "Cheng-yi" (Takigawa, 105.3, not found in the Chung-hua edition) suggests it might refer to dew collected in special containers. But the literal meaning or water from the top of a pool or pond may also obtain here. Nakai Riken (1732-1817; cited by Takigawa, 105.3) explains that such pure water would be used to take the herbs.

"So-yin" argues that wu here refers to ghosts or immortals. Another possibility might be material phenomena.

I.e., heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys. Ts'ui Shih (1852-1924) points out that the "Cheng-yi" glosses both wu tsang (five viscera) and liu fu (six bowels) suggesting that the original text read: "he could completely see the concretions and knots in the five viscera and the six bowels" ( Shih chi t'an-yüan [Peking: Pei-ching Ta-hsüeh Ch'u-pan-she], 1986 [original preface 1909], p. 205). Cf. also the translation and discussion in Elisabeth Hsu, The Transmission of Chinese Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 85.

In other words, although he could see through people, he hid this power and pretended to be merely a pulse diagnostician. Another reading for this sentence would be "[but] he solely made his name through diagnosing pulses."

See n. 2 above.

Morita (p. 30n.) suspects that this should be Duke Ting from 476-475 B.C. (cf. Shih chi, 39.1685) since his dates correspond better to those of Viscount Chien (see also the following note). Although we have very little information on Duke Shao in the Shih chi (cf. 39.1684 and 14.651-4), the comments at the end of the accounts of his rein in the Shih chi (see the following note) suggest rather than Duke Chao is intended (if possibly anachronistic) here.

Shih chi, 39.1684 reads: "Duke Chao expired in his sixth year. The Six Excellencies [the heads of the Han, Chao, Wei, Fan, Chung-hang and Chih clans] were mighty and the ducal house was brought low" (cf. the similar passage on Shih chi, 14.654-5 and the very similar comments of Tzu-fu Hui's recorded in the Tso chuan (Yang, Tso, Chao 16, 526 B.C., p. 1382).

He was the son of Viscount Ch'eng of Chao; his nomen was Chao and his praenomen was Yang (after turning against Chin openly, he changed his praenomen to Chih-fu; see Fang Hsüan-ch'en, pp. 571-2, #1965). For further details see Shih chi, 43.1786 and 15.687-8). Considered the founder of the state of Chao, he ruled the area that became Chao (originally a part of Chin) for the sixty-year period from 517-458 B.C. Given the length of his rule, it is unlikely he could have been more than a young boy during the reign of Duke Chao of Chin.

According to "Chao shih-chia" (Shih chi, 43.1787), this illness occurred in 501 B.C. ("Cheng-yi" claims that the chronological tables also record this, but they do not in the extant version included in the Chung-hua edition).

A parallel passage on Pien Ch'üeh's treatment of Viscount Chien's illness, virtually identical to the text here with one exception (see text and notes below), appears in the "Chao shih-chia" (Shih chi, 43.1786-7; see also Chavannes [5:25-31] translation. It is followed in the "Chao shih-chia" by a complete interpretation of the dream which is not cited here.

This refers to those grand masters who were serving the Viscount (see Morita, p. 30n.).

One of the Viscount's vassals.

T'ung Pin (1510-1595, cited in Takigawa, 105.4) glosses chih as "chih huan" (to bring order to a chaotic situation) and our translation follows this reading. T'ang Yao ("Pien Ch'üeh, Ts'ang-kung lieh-chuan" in Yi ku wen hsüan Tuan Yi-shan ed, [Rpt. Peking: Jen-min Wei-sheng Ch'u-pan-she, 1994 (1986)], p. 41, n. 14) also reads chih as an ting.

See the brief account of this dream on Shih chi, 28.1360.

Both apparently were grand masters of Ch'in. Noble Scion Chih (Chih in the Tso chuan, agnomen Tzu-sang) was an advisor to Duke Mu (cf. Yang, Tso, Hsi 9 and 13, pp. 331 and 349; Fang Hsüan-ch'en, p. 184, #349). Aoki (p. 147n.) argues that Tzu-yü refers to the Tzu-ch'e Clan of Ch'in (see also Shih chi, 5.194, Grand Scribe's Records, 1:102 and the commentary on Yang, Tso, Wen 6, pp. 546-7), but this still does not make clear who this particular member of the clan was. Chavannes (5:25) believes Tzu-yü was the father of the three Tzu-yü clansmen buried with Duke Mu, but it seems safest to note that Tzu-yü (or Tzu-ch'e) was a Ch'in clan and that, as Takigawa (105.4) notes, the exact person referred to here can not be determined.

Chavannes (5:25) translates: "et m'y suis fort plu."