Chiwu shenzhen jing Scrutinized: An Early Form of the Ebb-Flow Therapy from Dunhuang in Early Medieval China

Abstract

Written in Dunhuang, Chiwu shenzhen jing (赤烏神針經) is a long lost medical work and its contents remain unknown. Based on Dunhuang manuscripts and Japanese collections of ancient Chinese medical classics, this research argues that Chiwu shenzhen jing concerns temporally sensitive needling treatment, which forms an early practice of the midnight-noon ebb-flow (the commonly-used translation of Ziwu liuzhu 子 午流注) therapy, in fact, as early as the 3rd century CE. At the very end of this article, this research emphasizes the role of Dunhuang as a vehicle for promoting the ebb-flow theory through the Sino-Indian medical exchanges.