A Biography of Bianque by Sima Qian

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A BIOGRAPHY OF BIANQUE by SIMA QIAN

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following translation. No reprint from this sight

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Translator: Shinjiro Kanazawa, L.Ac.

acupunsk

SHI JI LIE CHUAN, DI 45 BIANQUE CANG GONG CHUAN

by SIMA QIAN

Bianque was from Zheng of Bohai County. His family

name was Qin, and his given name was Yueren. When he

was young, he was employed as a chief manager of a

hotel.

There was a guest, whose name was Zhang Sangjun, who

used to drop by (the hotel). Bianque, and only

Bianque, regarded Zhang as a special guest and always

treated him discretely. Zhang Sangjun also

recognized that Bianque was a not an ordinary man. He

visited the hotel on and off more than ten years. One

day he called Bianque into his room privately and they

quietly chatted together. Zhang Sangjun said, ÒI know

some secret tricks. IÕm very old now, so I want to

teach you those tricks. Please keep the secrets.Ó

Bianque respectfully agreed. Then Zhang Sangjun took

out some medicine from his pocket and gave it to

Bianque saying, ÒIf you take this with the water from

the upper pond, you will gain the power of knowing

things within thirty days.Ó Also he took out all of

his books on the subject of secret medical techniques

and gave them to Bianque, and then he disappeared

suddenly. It was almost not a human beingÕs manner.

Bianque took the medicine for thirty days as Zhang

Sangjun told him, and then he became able to see a man

passing behind a fence. When he saw a person with an

illness, with this knowledge he could find all lumps

within the five organs. He became known especially for

his knowledge of pulse diagnosis. He became a doctor

and visited sometimes Qi and other times Zhao. He was

called Bianque (magpie) when he was in Zhao.

It was during the era of Majesty Zhao in Jin Dynasty,

when all feudal lords were strong and the royal

families were weak, that Zhao Jianzi became a feudal

lord and governed the country. Once Jianzi suffered

from an illness and lost consciousness for five days.

All the feudal lords were worried for (JianziÕs) life

and they called Bianque. Bianque went into the bedroom

and saw the patient, then came out. Dong Anyu (one of

the feudal lords) asked Bianque (about his diagnosis).

Bianque answered, ÒHis Xue Mai (blood pulses) are

fine. Why do you worry? In ancient times, Majesty Mu

of Qin Dynasty once woke up after sleeping seven days

just like this patient. When he woke up he told Gong

Sunzhi and Zi Yu, ÒI have visited the (Heavenly) Lord

and enjoyed very much. The reason I have stayed there

so long was that there were lots of things to learn.

The Lord told me, ÒThe country of Jin Dynasty shall

have a rough time. Untill the fifth generation, there

will be no peace. After that period, it (the country

of Jin Dynasty) will try to become a conqueror. People

(of Jin) shall die without aging. The children of

conquerors will rape and kill men and women of your

country.Ó Gong Sunzhi wrote this (his masterÕs words)

down as a document. It was the beginning of the

Records of Jin Dynasty. After this, came the revolt of

Lord Xian of Jin Dynasty, the conquest of Lord Wen,

then Lord Xiang defeated the army of Qin and Yao,

raping and killing people before going back to his

country. You all know those things happened. Now, your

lord is in his bed just as in that case. After three

days, he will surely be healed. Then if you ask

questions, he will surely answer you.Ó

Two and a half days later Jianzi woke up. He told all

the lords, ÒI have visited the (Heavenly) Lord and

enjoyed very much. I played with a hundred Gods in the

Palace of the Lord, (where they) played many kinds of

music with many instruments, and (they) danced many

kinds of dances. It cannot be compared with our

ancient music of Three Dynasties. Their melody moved

my heart. There was a brown bear that tried to drag

me. The Lord ordered me to shoot it. I shot the bear.

It died. The Lord was pleased with me and gave me two

boxes. The two (boxes) were paired. I saw a child by

the side of the Lord. The Lord offered me a dog from

Di and told me, ÒWhen your son becomes old, give this

to him.Ó Then the Lord told me, ÒThe country of Jin is

going to decline. It shall fall at its seventh

generation. Your family name, Ying, shall be

widespread. You will defeat the people of Zhou at the

west of Fankui, and not only that, you will keepthem

from ever reclaiming that land again. Dong Anyu

listened to (his masterÕs) words and wrote them down,

then kept them. He told BianqueÕs words to Jianzi.

Jianzi offered Bianque forty thousand mu (seven

million acres) of rice fields.

After this, Bianque passed by Guo. The prince of Guo

had died. Bianque went to the gate of the palace of

Guo and asked an officer who had medical knowledge,

ÒWhat kind of illness did your prince suffer from?

There are out of ordinary treatments and prayers among

the people.Ó The officer answered, ÒThe illness of our

prince was that his Qi and Blood were against the

seasons, confused and clogged. They exploded outward

and caused Zhong Hai (middle hazard). His vigor and

spirit could not stop Evil Qi and Evil Qi accumulated

and could not be expelled. That was when his pulses

were Slow Yang and Rapid Yin. This was the reason why

suddenly his Qi flowed backward and he died.Ó Bianque

asked, ÒWhen did he die?Ó He answered, ÒThis dawn.Ó

Bianque asked, ÒDid they put him in a coffin?Ó He

answered, ÒNot yet. It hasnÕt been more than a half

day yet since he died.Ó Bianque told him, ÒI am Qin

Yueren from Bohai of Zhai. I live in Zhen. I have

never been able to be in front of your lord, but I

heard the prince died unfortunately. I can try to

revive him.Ó The officer said, ÒDoctor, it canÕt be

true. How could you say that you can revive him? I

once heard that, in ancient days, there was a doctor

called Yufu. He didnÕt treat patients with decocted

soups, herb wines, stone needles, Dao Yin, massages

nor plasters, but he glanced at the symptoms of

patients and detected the causes in the Shu points of

the five organs. Then he cut the skin, operated on the

flesh and opened the flow of stagnated meridians and

connected them. He massaged marrows and brains. He

drained the mesenteries. He washed stomachs and

intestines. He rinsed five organs. He refined vigor

and changed the bodies. If your skill is just like

his, maybe you can revive our prince. But if your

skill is far from that and you want to try to revive

our prince, then you should not tell that even to the

babies who just started to laugh.Ó

Bianque, after a while, looked up at the sky and

sighed, ÒYour way of medicine is just like looking at

the sky through a tube or reading a book through a

chink (in a wall). My way of medicine is not waiting

to palpate pulses, nor to look at the complexion, nor

to listen to the voice and describe the appearance. I

point out the locations of the illnesses (at a glance)

and if the illness is Yang then I guess to find the

Yin of it. If the illness is Yin then I guess to find

the Yang of it. The symptom of the illness appears on

the exterior. I can find lots of illnesses without

taking the trouble to examine the patients. I have no

time to argue with you. If you doubt my words, then

you should go in and check your prince by yourself.

You will find his ears ringing and the wings of his

nose swelling. When you rub both of his thighs to his

genital you will feel the warmth there.Ó

The officerÕs eyes were blinking and his tongue was

stiffened and fixed when he heard BianqueÕs story. He

went into the palace and told the Ruler of Guo about

Bianque. The Ruler of Guo was surprised very much by

this and he came out to see Bianque at the middle

gate. ÒI used to listen to your great lectures

secretly in the past. I could never be able to have an

honorable chance of having your acquaintance. What

luck, you passed by our country and are going to take

care of our prince. What a great luck for a vassal of

the remote country. If we have you, then our prince

revives again, but if we do not have you, then we have

to throw and bury his body in a ditch. Then he will

never be able to be back.Ó

While saying so, he started to cry, showing his

sorrow, and his tears fell down on his cheeks. He

couldnÕt stop crying and his visage changed. Bianque

told him, Ò The illness of your prince is a kind of,

so called Shi Gui (a kicking corpse). [KanazawaÕs

Note: It is very difficult to understand BianqueÕs

theory, or what Sima Qian interpreted as BianqueÕs

theory. I do not have confidence in my translation,

hereafter.] When Yang goes into Yin, it moves the

stomach, then it follows along the middle meridians

up, and (goes to) the Wei connecting vessels. Then it

is separated from them and goes down to the bladder of

San Jiao (triple barner). This causes Yang meridians

to fall down and Yin meridians to go up. All Hui Qi

(meeting Qi) will be shut off and stagnated. Yin goes

up and Yang goes inside. The lower body throbs inside

and does not move. The upper body will be shut off

from the exterior and will not function. The upper

body has the vessels of the extinct Yang (jue Yang)

and the lower body has the Blood vessels of the broken

Yin (po Yin). When the symptoms of the broken Yin and

the extinct Yang disappear, the pulse loses order.

That is why his body looks very quiet as if he died.

He is still alive. When Yang goes into Yin meridian

organs, the patient will survive but when Yin goes

into Yang meridian organs, the patient will die. These

cases all occur suddenly when Yin and Yang flow

backward inside five organs. The good doctor will

find this and the bad doctor will wonder about it.Ó

Bianque made his disciple, Ziyang, to hone needles and

inserted them on the exterior three Yang and five Hui

points of the prince. After a while, the prince

revived. Then Bianque made (his disciple) Zibao make

five plasters, mixing the eight sedations and decocted

them. Then he lets (Zibao) apply the poultice to the

both armpits, one at a time alternately. The prince

sat up and his Yin and Yang started to balance. After

only two dosages of a decoction (not specified), the

prince recovered his health. This is why people all

over the world say Bianque can revive even the dead.

Bianque said, ÒI, Yueren, did not revive the dead.

Yueren just helped to get up the person who can

survive.Ó

When Bianque passed by Qi, Sir Huan of Qi treated him

as a guest. When Bianque went in the palace and was

received in audience by Sir Huan, he (Bianque) said

to Sir Huan, ÒSir, you are ill. It is in the Cou Li

(skin. If you donÕt treat now, it shall go deeper.Ó

Sir Huan answered, ÒI do not have any illness.Ó

Bianque left there. Sir Huan told the people to his

left and right, ÒThe doctor who loves profit wants to

treat a healthy person and make money.Ó Five days

later, Bianque visited Sir Huan again and told him,

ÒSir, you are ill. It is in your Xue Mai (blood

vessel) now. If you donÕt treat now, it might go

deeper.Ó Sir Huan answered him, ÒI do not have any

illness.Ó Bianque left there. Sir Huan was not pleased

at him. Five days later, Bianque visited again and

told him, ÒSir, you are ill. It is between your

stomach and intestines. If you donÕt treat now, it is

going deeper.Ó Sir Huan did not answer him. Bianque

left there. Sir Huan was not pleased at him. Another

five days passed, Bianque visited again but when he

saw Sir Huan from afar he ran away from there. Sir

Huan let his man go (get Bianque and) ask him why.

Bianque answered, ÒWhen the disease is in the skin,

the decocted herbs and plasters can reach it. When it

is in the Blood vessel, needles can reach it. When it

is between the stomach and intestines, herbal liquors

can reach it. But when it goes into the bone marrow,

even God cannot do anything about it. Now his illness

is in his bone marrow, that is why I do not have

anything to say to him.Ó Five days later, Sir HuanÕs

body fell ill and he sent his man to find Bianque, but

Bianque had left the country already to run away. Sir

Huan died at last.

When the sage could realize a small change (in your

health) beforehand and (you let) the good doctor treat

(you) fast enough, then that illness could be healed

and the body could survive. People complain that

there are so many diseases, but the doctors complain

that there are so little ways to treat. Thus, there

are six incurable illnesses. The first incurable

illness is arrogance, not discussing (health)

logically. The second incurable illness is negligence

of health, attaching importance to wealth. The third

incurable illness is insufficient food and clothing.

The fourth incurable illness is when Yin conjugates

with Yang and the organÕs Qi becomes unstable. The

fifth incurable illness is the body being too tired to

take medication. The sixth incurable illness is to

believe the psychic medium and not believing the

doctors. If any one of them exists, then it is serious

and hard to cure.

Bianque is known all over the world. When he passed

Handan, he became a gynecologist, because he heard

that they admire ladies in this country. When he

passed Luoyang, he heard that the people of Zhou love

older people, and he became a specialist of eyes, ears

and Bi syndromes. When he came to Xianyang, he heard

that the people of Qin love children, so he became a

pediatrician. He followed the habits of the places and

changed his specialties. The Minister of Health of

Qin, Li Xi, realized his skills were inferior to

BianqueÕs and sent a man to assassinate Bianque. Even

today, when people all over the world talk about the

pulses, it is because of BianqueÕs distinguished

services.

[End of Bianque]