The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao (Blue Poppy's Great Masters Series) [Paperback]

Shou-Zhong Yang (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0936185961 | ISBN-13: 978-0936185965 | Publication Date: January 1998 | Edition: 1

A translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing. One of three foundation books of Chinese medicine, no translation of it has been available - until now. The Nei Jing (Inner Classic) established the theoretical foundations of TCM, especially acupuncture and moxibustion. The Shen Nong Ben Cao jing laid the foundation for the study of Chinese medicinals. And 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 exsisted in English. Now, with this book, all serious students and practitioners of Chinese medicine can have access to all of the three pillars of Chinese medicine.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Publisher's Foreword The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica Classic) is one of the 10 premodern classics of Chinese medicine selected in the People's Republic of China as nationwide research priorities within the Chinese medical literature. Also referred to as the Shen Nong Ben Jing, the Shen Nong Ben Cao, the Ben Cao Jing, and simply the Ben Jing, it is one of the two most important of these 10 preeminent Chinese medical classics. The Huang Di Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperior's Inner Classic) is the locus classicus of Chinese medical theory and especially acupuncture and moxibustion, while the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing is the locus classicus of so-called Chinese herbal medicine. All the rest of the Chinese medical literature, both premodern and contemporary, is built on the foundation of these two seminal texts. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why we have chosen to publish this first English language translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing as part of Blue Poppy Press's Great Masters Series.

Shen Nong is one of the three greatest heroes of Chinese culture, the other two being the Yellow Emperor and Fu Xi, the revealer of the eight trigrams. These three legendary divine beings are credited as being the fountainhead of Chinese lifearts. The name Shen Nong can be translated as Divine Farmer, Divine Peasant, Divine Agriculturist, or Divine Husbandman. Among his numerous discoveries and revelations, Shen Nong is credited with teaching the Chinese people how to farm -- thus his most common name. The first reference to a connection between Shen Nong and Chinese herbal medicine is found in the Huai Nan Zi (The South of the Huai Master) written by Liu An who died in 122 bce.

"Ancient people ate grasses and drank water. They gathered the fruit from trees and ate the meat of clams. They frequently suffered from disease and poisoning. Then Shen Nong taught people for the first time how to sow the five grains, to observe whether the land was dry or wet, fertile or rocky, located in the hills or in the lowlands. He tasted the flavors of all the herbs and springs, [determining] whether they were bitter or sweet. Thus he taught people what to avoid and where they could go. At that time, [Shen Nong] encountered 70 [herbs] in one day, [determining which were] medicines and [which were] poisons."

This is the first surviving recorded instance in the Chinese literature crediting Shen Nong with determining the medicinal properties of things by tasting them himself. This story has then been repeated and embellished upon down through the centuries. Some versions even give Shen Nong a see-through stomach so he could witness the effects of what he ate on his internal organs!

The words ben and cao mean tree roots and grasses or herbs respectively. Therefore, as a compound term, they generically refer to the Chinese materia medica, and materia medica is the most commonly used translation of ben cao used in Engish today. Ben and cao are used in Chinese medicine to refer to materia medica in general because the overwhelming majority of traditional Chinese medicinals are dervied from vegetable sources. However, since the Chinese materia medica also includes mineral and animal medicinals, we have used the words, "so-called Chinese herbal medicine," above.

As mentioned previously, this work is the locus classicus of the ben cao or materia medica literature of Chinese medicine. It is this literature which describes the ingredients of Chinese medicine, their flavors and natures (i.e., temperatures), their functions, and indications. According to this book, medicinals have five basic flavors -- sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and acrid -- and four qi or natures -- cold, hot, warm, and cool. Hot diseases should be treated with cold medicinals and cold diseases should be treated with hot medicinals. This book also introduced the first method of classifying Chinese medicinals. Within this classic, all medicinals are classified into three grades or categories: superior medicinals corresponding to heaven which govern the maintenance of life and are without toxicity, medium medicinals corresponding to humankind which benefit human nature and have some medicinal functions, and inferior medicinals corresponding to earth which cure disease and definitely do have some toxicity. Further, medicinals are also categorized into sovereigns, ministers, assistants, and envoys. Hence, one can find all the most basic and elemental theories of Chinese herbal medicine in seminal form in this classic.

Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: Blue Poppy Press; 1 edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936185961
• ISBN-13: 978-0936185965
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How a translation should NOT be done, December 9, 2004

By 

Reader (Beijing, Taiwan, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao (Blue Poppy's Great Masters Series) (Paperback)

It is true that this is one of the three foundation texts of Chinese traditional medicine. Why, then, would the author find it necessary to add foot notes "correcting" the text. TCM biases were used in order to make these corrections. There were numerous places that footnotes could have been added to explain why characters and groups of characters were translated the way they were. This was completely absent. The original Chinese is not included as it is by serious academics such as Wiseman and Unschuld. Much of the information was combined with more modern information nonexistant at the time of the Ben Cao. This translation is arrogant and dishonest. I use it as an example of how not to interpret the classics in my courses.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good translation, but slightly biased, July 19, 2007

By 

Stuart-Little - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao (Blue Poppy's Great Masters Series) (Paperback)

First off despite its flaws it is still the best English translation available. Below is a list of some of the books strengths and weaknesses.


HISTORY of the <<SHENNONG BENCAO JING>>

The <<Shennong Bencao Jing>> is a reconstructed text giving short descriptions of the properties and uses of 365 substances. It includes many substances that are hardly used today such as various types of jade and other minerals. The substances are classified in an ancient threefold scheme: superior, medium and inferior.

Chinese scholars for ages have attempted various reconstructions of this work. This is possible because it was quoted in later texts and sometimes in different colored ink or in different sized characters. The original text is believed to have been composed around the time of the Han dynasty approximately eighteen to nineteen hundred years ago. It is the first materia medica in the sense that it is the one all subsequent materia medicas were based on.

While earlier materia medica type works existed they have all been lost or only recently rediscovered. For example, there is the Mawangdui silk text <<Wushier Bing Fang Prescriptions for Fifty Two Diseases>> which predates the <<Shennong Bencao Jing>> by two to three hundred years, but this work was lost and unknown until the silk text was discovered at the Mawangdui archaeological site circa 1973.

(Likely the earliest still extant fragment of the <<Shennong Bencao Jing>> dates to around the early Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). It is stored at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung and is part of a fragment of the Turfan edition of the << Bencao Jizhu >> , with the <<Shennong bencao Jing>> text written in different colored ink within the text.)

Lastly, the <<Shennong Bencao Jing>> is Daoist text and permeated with Daoist terms and philosophy. Daoism reached its peak during the Tang dynasty and began a gradual and uneven decline thereafter. The current widely used TCM system of classifying herbs and related terminology has lost much of its ancient Daoist influence. However, from reading other Daoists works and histories I get the distinct impression that despite the <<Shennong Bencao Jing>> being mainly viewed as a historical curiosity in modern TCM circles, many traditional Daoists, on the other hand, still consider it useful and relevant nineteen hundred years later.


STENGTHS and WEAKNESSES of CURRENT TRANSLATION

1) It follows Wiseman's and Boss' terminology <<Glossary of Chinese Medical Terms and Acupuncture Points>> for English equivalents of Chinese medical terms. The good part is this is a published standard. The not so good part is sometimes another English word would be closer in meaning in certain contexts and unless one refers to <<Glossary of Chinese Medical Terms and Acupuncture Points>> and learns the full meaning of the Chinese term, one will may not understand the true intent of the passage.

2) This book was first published in 1998 and since then Wiseman has updated his terminology and clarified his choices.

3) The original Chinese has not been included. This is a major drawback as there are several versions of the <<Shennong Bencao Jing>> available.

4) No effort has been made to attempt to understand the references to "ghosts" and "flying in the sky" and so on. These are Daoist stock terms and set phrases and no effort was made to explain what they meant from a Daoist point of view 1800 hundred years ago, they are just translated literally, same goes for ethereal and corporeal souls (hun-po) and essence-spirit (jing-shen).

5) Biased translation. For example, many entries are translated as "may prolong life" or "may sharpen the ears and eyes" whereas in the original Chinese it doesn't say "may."

6) Footnotes include later corrections. For example, Tian Men Dong (Tuber Asparagi Cochinensis) is described as being "bitter and balanced." Whereas it is now (as stated in the footnote) (unequivocally) considered cold. Note, ping2 is translated as "balanced," a better translation would be "neutral" (literally: level or even) which means the tuber is neither hot nor cold.

7) Interesting footnotes containing translated commentary and related explanations by both ancient and more recent Qing dynasty Chinese scholars. It would have been helpful if the scholars were identified as to being Daoist or Confucius and so on as this is a Daoist text and any commentary by a Confucist, Neo-Confucist, or non Daoist in general may be prone to bias.

8) Footnotes for some entries explaining doubtful species identification and alternate possibilities.

9) Footnotes containing comments that are unattributed so one doesn't know from what time period or perspective the comments are written from. Is it a classical view, a modern TCM view or the author's opinion?


EXAMPLE TRANSLATION

Ren Shen (Radix Panacis Ginseng) is sweet and a little cold. It mainly supplements the five viscera. It quiets the essence spirit, settles the ethereal and corporeal souls, checks fright palpitations, eliminates evil qi, brightens the eyes, opens the heart, and sharpens the wits. Protacted taking may make the body light and prolong life. ...

My translation for comparison purposes.

Renshen [Panax ginseng Meyer], taste: sweet, slightly cold. Mainly for supplementing-mending the five internal-viscera, quiets the essence-spirit, settles the superior [and] inferior souls, stops fright palpitations, does away with evil qi [and] brightens the eyes [set phrase meaning: sharpens the eyes]. Opens the heart [and] increases wisdom [alternate translation: increases intelligence]. Long term consumption [makes] the body light [and] delays aging. ...

Note, the last sentence is written jiu3 fu2 qing1 shen1 yan2 nian2 which glosses as 'Long-time consumption light body delay person's-age.' There is no "may" or "makes" for that matter.

Unfortunately, no explanations are given in this book as to what the set phrases "superior [and] inferior souls" (aka ethereal and corporeal souls) and essence-spirit means. In truth these are very ancient and technical Daoist terms with deep and detailed meanings and would require lengthy commentary to fully understand.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Root of Chinese Herbal Medicine, June 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao (Blue Poppy's Great Masters Series) (Paperback)

The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica Classic,the first English translation of Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, provides the perfect historical foundation for my study of Chinese herbal medicine. The book is written clearly and concisely; it removes the veil that has been covering the root of Chinese herbal medicine. The book is organized logically, and it includes a table of contents, insertions within the text, and a commentary that makes the meaning clear. Additionally,the book has a general index and medicinal indices in both Latin and pinyin, which makes it easy to find a specific herb, in the text. I am very pleased to make this book a permanent part of my personal library.