Why Study the Shang Han Lun Starting with Xu Shuwei? — The Founder of the Classical Formula School, Who Made Zhang Zhongjing’s Prescriptions Crystal Clear

Opening: We Have Told His Story — Now We Tell His Cases

Earlier, Doctor Luo Dalun told everyone the story of Xu Shuwei. Now we are about to enter the story of how Xu Shuwei treated patients — because we study case histories (yi an), and inside the ancient case records lies the logic of Chinese medicine.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: So how exactly should we study Xu Shuwei’s cases? What is there worth learning? Everyone, this has to do with the man himself — Xu Shuwei was a master of febrile disease (shang han) and should be regarded as one of the founders of the classical formula (jing fang) school. Why do I say that? We have to start with the fate of the Shang Han Lun.

How Was the Shang Han Lun Lost? — Even Sun Simiao Could Not See It

After the Shang Han Lun was completed, later generations kept losing parts of it. By the time of Sun Simiao in the Tang dynasty — think about it — Sun Simiao spent the first half of his life without ever seeing the Shang Han Lun.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Sun Simiao said, “The masters of the Jiangnan region keep Zhongjing’s formulas secret and will not pass them on” — what does that mean? There were famous masters in Jiangnan whose families owned Zhang Zhongjing’s Shang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases), but they would copy out the formulas, use them on patients, and never let the book itself circulate. So even Sun Simiao never saw it. Think about it: if such a great physician could not see it, that tells you the Shang Han Za Bing Lun had already lost a great deal by then.

In the Song dynasty, the government reprinted it. Once it was printed, how was the book actually used? At that point some masters appeared — Xu Shuwei, Zhu Gong, and others — who began to apply the Shang Han Lun and its formulas.

The Song Dynasty Fashion: Twenty-Plus Formulas for a Headache, Tried One by One

In the Song dynasty and before, what everyone did was collect formulas — they were intensely enthusiastic about collecting prescriptions. It was a whole culture: whatever the ailment — say a headache — however many formulas exist, the ones that ordinary people found effective, we’ll compile them and publish a book.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Sometimes having many formulas is good, right? A headache — look, there are twenty-odd formulas, so I’ll try one, and if that doesn’t work, try another; eventually one of them is bound to work. So everyone published these formula books. The Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang (Formulary of the Pharmacy Service) that Song-dynasty people consulted was produced that way — treating disease with formulas. During this period, Chinese medical theory was somewhat neglected.

The First Thing Xu Shuwei Did: Put the Formulas Back into the System of Pattern Differentiation

From the Song dynasty on, many people realized the problem. Xu Shuwei, for example, explained the reasoning inside Zhang Zhongjing’s Shang Han Lun: why did he use it this way? How are his formulas applied?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The formulas Zhang Zhongjing used are extremely rigorous — each has its pattern (fang zheng), and he explains the whole logic clearly. Zhang Zhongjing’s formulas are especially “refined.” Once you understand the thinking inside a formula, later generations can add or adjust along those directions. Take Ling Gui Zhu Gan Tang (Poria, Cinnamon Twig, Atractylodes and Licorice Decoction): fu ling drains dampness — later you can add a few more dampness-draining herbs; gui zhi (cinnamon twig) warms yang — you can add other warming herbs; bai zhu tonifies the spleen — you can add more; gan cao harmonizes the middle. You need these directions — draining dampness, tonifying the spleen, warming yang. Zhang Zhongjing uses a single herb to represent a single direction and writes out the whole formula — that is truly remarkable.

At the time, everyone used ready-made formulas too much and rarely explained the reasoning, which caused many problems. Physicians like Xu Shuwei began to teach: how should this formula be used, in which situations, and what is actually going on inside?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: He essentially elevated pattern differentiation and treatment (bian zheng lun zhi) to a very high level — a formula must be used under the guidance of its pattern (tang zheng), within the system of pattern differentiation; only when the indications are present do you use it. You can’t just grab a formula and try it at random.

Famous Doctors Do Not Mince Words: “Not Something a Bookless Man Could Understand”

In Xu Shuwei’s case records, you often run into scenes like this — he could be blunt. Famous doctors are never polite; they would say outright, “That quack failed to cure the patient.” Xu Shuwei would explain the principle and say “fei ru suo zhi” — “not something a bookless man could understand.”

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What does that mean? You don’t understand the reasoning, so you can’t use the formulas properly. This kind of reasoning is not something you can grasp — if you don’t read books, how can you understand? Why did he say this? Because that other doctor didn’t read, didn’t understand theory, and slapped formulas on at random. Xu Shuwei was exactly the opposite: he explained pattern differentiation with total clarity — which symptoms belong to which pattern, which formula should be used, and why — spelled out for everyone.

A Master of Pattern Differentiation: Escaping the Single Formula

Xu Shuwei’s contribution to the development of Chinese medicine was escaping the single formula — he put formulas into patterns, into the system of pattern differentiation, into the framework of Chinese medical theory: when to use which formula, explained with perfect clarity.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: So Xu Shuwei should be called a master of pattern differentiation. And he used the formulas of the Shang Han Lun superbly — after all, he is a founder of the classical formula school. How Zhang Zhongjing’s formulas cure disease, how patterns correspond to formulas, how a single application makes a patient well — his patients recovered extremely quickly. Spreading the Shang Han Lun, spreading the classical formulas, spreading the shang han pattern-differentiation system — this was Xu Shuwei’s very special contribution.

How to Study? — Learn the Reasoning, Formula by Formula

So how do we study Xu Shuwei’s system? Doctor Luo says: just learn the reasoning, one formula at a time.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Take a famous classical formula — Xiao Chai Hu Tang (Minor Bupleurum Decoction), right? Today there is even Xiao Chai Hu Granules, a ready-made patent medicine — during the epidemic-fighting period we saw that buying it required registration, which shows it works. Everyone can get familiar with it. But some formulas are quite powerful, and we must be cautious — these are not for self-prescription. Understanding the reasoning, however, helps everyone get closer to Chinese medicine — in the future, when you regulate your body, you may be able to do it better.

Why Study the Shang Han Lun? — Thousands of Years of Wisdom from Fighting Epidemics

In times like these, epidemics keep striking; across the whole world these past years there has been no let-up — humanity faces an unprecedented challenge. But Chinese medicine — the ancient medicine — truly possesses this wisdom.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The Chinese people have fought epidemics for thousands of years. The reason Zhang Zhongjing wrote the Shang Han Za Bing Lun was that his own family was hit hard by epidemic disease — two-thirds of his family members died. With so many dead in his own clan, and the common people dying by the thousands too, Zhang Zhongjing devoted himself to medicine and produced the Shang Han Za Bing Lun — it is the crystallized wisdom of humanity’s battles with plague. If we don’t learn this content, it’s a terrible waste.

In Japan, Zhang Zhongjing’s classical formulas need no approval — as long as it’s a Zhang Zhongjing classical formula, you can manufacture it freely; they recognize the book. That’s why Japan produces kampo classical formulas. On our side, by contrast, there is little preparation — when an epidemic hits, we’re caught off guard, in disarray, not knowing what to take.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I remember when I was studying for my master’s degree, in the shang han class, after class I said to my teacher — a famous authority — “The Shang Han Lun is so useful, so why does our city have a big influenza outbreak every year, with people coughing, children getting pneumonia, and hospitals packed? Why can’t we organize ourselves and use the formulas of the Shang Han Lun to solve this for everyone?” The teacher just smiled: “Ah, nobody organizes that.” As a student I couldn’t understand it at all — this is exactly what should be done: thousands of years of accumulated experience, so many formulas — yet every flu season, the children’s hospital is guaranteed to be overflowing. Even now, that question still sits in my heart. The road to popularizing Chinese medicine is truly still long.

Treating People for Free? — First Understand Xu Shuwei’s Era

As mentioned earlier, Xu Shuwei treated ordinary people without charging. Some Chinese medicine practitioners have objected: “You’re always praising Xu Shuwei for treating people free of charge, as if he occupied the moral high ground — but how can Chinese medicine survive without charging?”

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Objectively speaking, you have to look at the era. What era did Xu Shuwei live in? When Cai Jing was in power, the Northern Song was collapsing and heading toward the Southern Song. Xu Shuwei’s home was south of Yizheng in Jiangsu — bandits and deserters from the defeated Song army turned bandit would show up constantly, everywhere. In such a chaotic time, the common people were poor — you couldn’t collect fees even if you tried. Xu Shuwei at that time simply saved lives — when plague came, he went door to door rescuing people. He chose his own way to save the people.

But we are no longer in that era — this is a peaceful time, and society is doing very well. If we make Chinese medicine free, we would limit its development.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Western medicine charges tens of thousands for one illness, thousands for a single examination; once you’re hospitalized, you can’t get out for less than ten or twenty thousand. The whole medical system operates that way. If you make Chinese medicine free, it simply cannot develop — practitioners would go hungry. Why did Wang Mengying go hungry? Because of his era — during the Taiping Rebellion, after the people had eaten, Wang Mengying went hungry. Now, making Chinese medicine practitioners go hungry again — on what grounds? So everyone should understand the true meaning: wholehearted devotion to the patient. Now that Chinese medicine charges fees, please don’t finish listening to the Xu Shuwei story and say, “Xu Shuwei treated people for free, so why do today’s practitioners charge?” and then attack other practitioners — that is wrong, incorrect, and immoral. Why? Because the times are different. Now that living conditions are good, everyone should raise the quality of medical care; the fees due to Chinese medicine should still be paid. I really must say this to everyone.

A Fine Writer and an Honest Man: He Even Wrote About Curing His Own Illness

Xu Shuwei was an interesting man — he wrote beautifully and left many stories, including the little tales in his Pu Ji Ben Shi Fang (Effective Formulas Collected by a Layman).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The Pu Ji Ben Shi Fang deals with miscellaneous diseases, and its stories are very entertaining too. I really enjoy reading what Xu Shuwei wrote — he was an honest man. Many of us, when we have our own ailments, never write about them — as if people who study Chinese medicine are all in perfect health. Objectively speaking, Xu Shuwei wrote about himself: “I once had a problem with my lower back — back pain, with heavy dampness. How bad was the pain? I couldn’t even bend over to wash my face.” How did he cure it? He cured himself. He also noticed that when he drank water, it seemed to go down one side — as a child he used to read while lying crooked, so his water seemed not to take the proper path. He eliminated the phlegm-dampness and cured that too. He told many stories of healing himself. How he obtained his formulas, how he begged people for them — he wrote it all down. I think he was a very kind, very honest physician — and extremely accomplished, needless to say. In the history of Chinese medicine, Xu Shuwei stands as a school of his own for later generations.

Even the Most Arrogant Never Attacked Xu Shuwei — “Only Scholar Xu Truly Understands”

Xu Shuwei’s position in the history of Chinese medicine is very high.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: You can criticize anyone you like — even the most arrogant people have never raised any objection to Xu Shuwei. This is a characteristic of the medical world: today I criticize this one, tomorrow that one — people attack Zhu Danxi; the Four Great Masters of the Jin-Yuan dynasties get criticized one by one. But nobody attacks Xu Shuwei. People often say: “Xu Shuwei, Scholar Xu, understands — that’s all.” Only Scholar Xu alone understood. Do you see? His standing is extremely high. In the history of Chinese medicine, he is a figure of great stature.

Epilogue: Tomorrow We Begin with the Shang Han Jiu Shi Lun

Today we’ve chatted a little about how to study Xu Shuwei. We will learn formula by formula.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Starting tomorrow, I’ll tell you about Xu Shuwei’s Shang Han Jiu Shi Lun (Ninety Treatises on Cold Damage), and after that the formulas in the Pu Ji Ben Shi Fang. From now on, we begin a journey of studying the Shang Han Lun and understanding it. I hope we can all gain a great deal here, learn more, and protect the health of ourselves and our families. Dear friends, at this time tomorrow we begin studying the Shang Han Lun — see you then.

Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s lecture series on Xu Shuwei’s case histories.