Bian Que

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Bian Que
扁鵲
Born
Chinese: 秦緩; pinyin: Qín Huǎn

c. 407 BC
Chinese: 勃海郡; pinyin: Bóhǎi Jùn
(Present-day Cangzhou city)
Diedc. 310 BC (0408) (aged 97)
MonumentsTomb of Bian Que (Jinan)
Notable workThe Yellow Emperor's Canon of 81 Difficult Issues
(Chinese: 黄帝八十一難經; pinyin: Huángdì Bāshíyī Nán Jīng)
Bian Que
Hanyu Pinyin
Biǎn Què
Wade–GilesPien3 Ch'üeh4
IPA[pjɛ̀n tɕʰɥê]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationBín Cheuk
JyutpingBin2 Coek3
IPA[piːn˧˥ tsʰœːk̚˧]

Bian Que (

State of Qi.[1]

Life and legend

According to the legend recorded in the

physicians
claimed to have studied his works, which have since been lost. Tales state that he was a doctor of many disciplines, conforming to the local needs wherever he went. For example, in one city he was a children's doctor, and in another a female physician.

One famous legend tells of how once when Bian Que was in the

State of Cai
, he saw the lord of the state at the time and told him that he had a disease, which Bian Que claimed was only in his skin. The lord brushed this aside as at that time he felt no symptoms, and told his attendants that Bian Que was just trying to profit from the fears of others. Bian Que is said to have visited the lord many times thereafter, telling him each time how this sickness was becoming progressively worse, each time spreading into more of his body, from his skin to his blood and to his organs. The last time Bian Que went to see the lord, he looked in from afar, and rushed out of the palace. When an attendant of the lord asked him why he had done this, he replied that the disease was in the marrow and was incurable. The lord was said to have died soon after.

Another legend stated that once, while visiting the state of Guo, he saw people mourning on the streets. Upon inquiring what their grievances were, he got the reply that the heir apparent of the lord had died, and the lord was in mourning. Sensing something afoot, he is said to have gone to the palace to inquire about the circumstances of the death. After hearing of how the prince "died", he concluded that the prince had not really died, but was rather in a coma-like state. He set a single acupuncture needle in the Baihui point on the head, helping the prince to regain consciousness. Herbal medicine was boiled to help the prince sit up, and after Bian Que prescribed the prince with more herbal medicine, the prince healed fully within twenty days.

Bian Que advocated the four-step diagnoses of "Looking (at their tongues and their outside appearances), Listening (to their voice and breathing patterns), Inquiring (about their symptoms), and Taking (their pulse)."

The Daoist Liezi has a legend (tr. Giles 1912:81-83) that Bian Que used anesthesia to perform a double heart transplantation, with the xin 心 "heart; mind" as the seat of consciousness. Gong Hu 公扈 from Lu and Qi Ying 齊嬰 from Zhao had opposite imbalances of qi 氣 "breath; life-force" and zhi 志 "will; intention". Gong had a qi "mental power" deficiency while Qi had a zhi "willpower" deficiency.

Bian Que suggests exchanging the hearts of the two to attain balance. Upon hearing his opinion, the patients agree to the procedure. Bian Que then gives the men an intoxicating wine that makes them "feign death" for three days. While they are under the anesthetic effects of this concoction, Bian Que "cut open their breasts, removed their hearts, exchanged and replaced them, and applied a numinous medicine, and when they awoke they were as good as new." Salguero (2009:203)

Some texts in bamboo slips unearthed in Chengdu may be composed by him.[2]

See also

Further reading

  • 《史记·扁鹊仓公列传》

References

  1. ^ "Bian Qiao". Britannica. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. ^ 成都扁鹊学派医书遭质疑 专家："敝昔"通假"扁鹊"--文化--人民网

Further reading

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