Tangye jingfa (Canonical Methods for Brews and Decoctions): a lost text recorded in the Hanshu bibliography

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 !") and the erdan and liushen 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 ! (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.