Lingshu Jing
Lingshu Jing, also known as Divine Pivot, Spiritual Pivot, or Numinous Pivot, is an ancient Chinese medical text whose earliest version was probably compiled in the 1st century BCE on the basis of earlier texts. It is one of two parts of a larger medical work known as the Huangdi Neijing. The other section, which is more commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is known as the Suwen 素問.
History
No edition of the Lingshu prior to the 12th century has survived. Most scholars presume that the original title of the Lingshu was either Zhenjing or Jiujuan. They base this conclusion on the following evidence:- The Huangdi neijing was listed as a book in 18 juan 卷 in the bibliographical chapter of Ban Gu's 班固 Book of Han. That chapter was itself based on the Qilue, a bibliography that Liu Xiang 劉向 and his son Liu Xin 劉歆 compiled on the basis of a survey they began in 26 BCE.
- Zhang Zhongjing's preface to his Shanghan zabing lun mentions that he compiled his work on the basis of books that included the Suwen and the Jiujuan. In turn, the passages that Huangfu Mi attributed to the Jiujuan in his AB Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion all have equivalents in the received edition of the Lingshu.
- In the preface to his AB Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Huangfu Mi claimed that the book listed as Huangdi neijing in the "Qilue yiwenzhi" 七略藝文志 was composed of two different parts: the Suwen and the Zhenjing, each in 9 juan, for a total of 18 juan.
- In the preface to Wang Bing's 762 edition of the Suwen, where he identified Lingshu as the second of the two texts that comprised the Huangdi neijing in his time. This was the first instance of the title Lingshu.
- Various titles similar to Zhenjing and Lingshu appeared in the bibliographies of the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang, suggesting that many different manuscript editions of a similar book were circulating in Tang times. The titles as seen in the Old Book of Tang were: Huangdi zhenjing , Huangdi zhenjiu jing , Huangdi jiuling jing, and Yugui zhenjing .
- Early in the 11th century, the Huangdi zhenjing was among the medical books the Goryeo court imported from Song China.
- In 1067, the editors of the Suwen admitted that "since the Lingshu is no longer complete, we can no longer be sure" whether what Wang Bing called "Lingshu" always referred to the Zhenjing.
- In 1091, the Song court requested a copy of the Zhenjing from Goryeo, which delivered the book in 1093.
- In 1155, a scholar called Shi Song 史崧, "regretting that Lingshu has long been out of circulation," presented his 24-juan edition of that book to the imperial court. His recension claimed to be based on a copy kept in his family, which he compared with fragments cited in other works. His renaming of the "Zhenjing" to "Lingshu" followed Wang Bing.
Editions