Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica, Volume 1

...[these practices] are simply the way of the Asura original: "shasuluo dao" (剎脩羅道), referring to a path of violence or cruelty in Buddhist cosmology; here used to critique the use of human parts in medicine.. Alas! Even Sun Simiao Sun Simiao (581–682 AD), the "King of Medicine," a legendary Tang dynasty physician who nevertheless included controversial "ghost" and human-based remedies in his works. misled himself. What can I take from this "Old Immortal"? Thus, I have specifically deleted these entries and appended my reasoning for doing so here.

General Rules

一 Item: At the beginning of compiling this record, I added notes under the headings using the terms "Added Substance" original: "Zengpin" (增品). and "Supplemented Treatment" original: "Buzhi" (補治). to distinguish them. Generally, if the Compendium Referring to Li Shizhen's Bencao Gangmu or Compendium of Materia Medica (1596). did not include the item at all, it was marked as "Added." If the Compendium already included the item but its medicinal applications were incomplete, it was marked as "Supplemented." In the spring of the Gengzi year Likely 1780 AD, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor., I conducted a further revision and removed eighty to ninety percent of these "supplemented treatments." This is because for commonly used herbs, the primary treatments are already diverse and the Compendium records them extensively; there is no need for further supplementation. However, for rare items included in the Compendium that have very few recorded treatments, I have retained my supplements. Since the remaining categories are now few, there is no longer a need to distinguish them with specific labels under the headings, so I have removed those marks entirely.

一 Item: In the Compendium, the major headings are the "Principles" original: "Gang" (綱). and the subheadings are the "Details" original: "Mu" (目).. The structure includes:

• Exegesis of Names original: "Shiming" (釋名). and Collected Commentaries original: "Jiejie" (集解). to verify names and physical appearances.
• Nature, Flavor original: "Qiwei" (氣味). and Primary Indications original: "Zhuzhi" (主治). to distinguish between cold or heat properties and medicinal functions.
• Elaborations original: "Faming" (發明). to clarify and demonstrate the efficacy of the substance.