ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some clues found in the Dunhuang medical manuscripts to the status of the lost Han canonical remedy collection, Tangye jingfa. By examining the tradition of ‘Methods for replenishing and draining the Five Viscera‘ 1 (wuzang buxiefa 五臟補瀉法) and the erdan 二旦 and liushen 六神 remedy categories for treating epidemic illnesses that were attributed to the lost book, we can establish that, firstly, the theory at the foundation of techniques to ‘replenish and drain the Five Viscera’ in Tangye jingfa was derived from the Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經 (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor) tradition, but that secondly, these Tangye jingfa remedies were created independently from Neijing theories, with separate criteria for regulating formulae and ingredients.
