Zhang Yuansu

Zhang Jiegu (Zhang Yuansu)

"The method of appropriately using herbs in accordance with the symptom and sign presentation of the patient entails determining substances with the correct qi, taste, yin and yang, and thick and thin properties as well as the pathogenic factor involved and the meridian it has entered." - Zhang Jiegu

Zhang Yuansu (aka Zhang Jiegu; ca. 1151-1234) was one of the most historically influential Traditional Chinese medicine physicians in the period of transition from China’s northern Jin dynasty to the Mongolian Yuan dynasty.^[1]

Zhang Jiegu integrated medicinal materials into the five element framework (Wuxing) with both the five shen herbs (spirit herbs) framework and qi meridians. He helped to more clearly define the association of the "tastes" of medicinals and their believed effect on the different organ systems. Zhang asserted that herbs entered into and influenced the meridians. The culmination of Zhang's work was the Bag of Pearls (Zhenzhu Nang, zhenzhu = pearl; nan = bag).

1. ^ THE JIN-YUAN MEDICAL REFORMS, Subhuti Dharmananda, Institute for Traditional Medicine