Clinical Guideline to Medical Cases: Lin Zheng Zhi Nan Yi An 臨證指南醫案

While Ye Tianshi is famous for his development of wen bing (warm disease) theory and four levels theory, in his time he was known as a skilled physician and the doctor who people with complex problems went to. To develop his theories, Ye drew extensively from his understanding of the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage), extraordinary vessel theory, knowledge of the pulse, and a sophisticated understanding of medicinals. Because of his busy practice, Ye didn’t have time to write books, but after he died his students gathered up his clinical cases, categorized them, and published them in this book containing ten volumes. Presented here is volume 1 of the larger text, and this contains sections on wind stroke, liver wind, dizziness, head wind, and taxation. All told, in this first volume are 204 clinical cases, some of which are quite complicated with repeated visits documented and adjustments to medicinals or diagnostic theories as the case progressed. Additionally this text contains commentary by famous scholar-physician Xu Dachun who was a contemporary of Ye Tianshi. Clinical Guideline to Medical Cases has long been considered one of the essential texts to study for all East Asian Medicine clinicians.