Zhang Zhong Jing 張仲景's work aims to reverse damage to life. His contributions, more than 2000 years later, continue to tremendously improve the lives of patients. Please join Genevieve Le Goff, Shang Han Za Bing Lun and Fire Spirit School practitioner, in this year-long exegetic study of the entire Jin Gui Yao Lue 金匱要略. It is her sincere hope you will love it as much as she does!
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          The Jin Gui Yao Lue 金匱要略 , or Essential Remedies from the Golden Cabinet, presents the final attainment of Zhang Zhong Jing 張仲景’s theories on Cold Damage and 6 conformations.

​          Originally written as a companion to the Shang Han Lun 傷寒論 , and including much discussion of theory and pulses, something mostly absent from the latter work, this masterpiece takes a cross-sectional look at disease, dissecting each in terms of disease category, etiology, progression and treatment. While the Shang Han Lun teaches simple transmutations from one conformation to others, the Jin Gui Yao Lue offers a study of complex diseases, which involve several conformations and transmutations over time. As such, it is a treasure of solutions for the complicated or chronic clinical pictures we commonly see in the clinic. It also represents the perfect application and achievement of 6 conformation theory.

          This online course, in the wake of Secret Passages: the Language of the Shang Han Lun, proposes to undertake the exegesis of  the Jin Gui Yao Lue, chapter by chapter, clause by clause. The clauses and formulae will be illustrated by many case studies. (Please note, although previous exposure to the Shang Han Lun is encouraged, it is not required as we will cover theory at length!)


          As a primer, in the first 3 sessions will study the theory of classical physiology and formula architecture as transmitted by the Nei Jing內經, Zhang Zhong Jing, Wang Shuhe 王叔和, Tao Hong Jing 陶弘景, and later Fire Spirit 火神派 School physician Zheng Qinan 郑钦安.  This introduction will include a study of the entire Tang Ye Jing Fa 湯液經法, as transmitted by Tao Hong Jing in the Fu Xing Jue 辅行诀 . As one of the seminal texts of canonical formula architecture, understanding its contents, in the context of the Su Wen 黃帝內經素問, offers many insights into Zhang Zhong Jing’s use of flavors as agents of change and repair, externally versus internally contracted disease, the use of a system based on 5 versus a system based on 6, and a general understanding of medicine as a cosmologically based practice.

          After these sessions, we will continue with the main body of the course: reading of the Jin Gui Yao Lue, exploring each clause in detail with analysis and supporting case studies. Discussing the causes, etiology, symptoms and treatments of all the patterns in each disease category will constitute the bulk of our study. For a detailed syllabus of each chapter, please see here.
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The aim of this course is to cultivate clinical acumen rooted in lineage old efficacy, while fostering an appreciation of the more arcane aspects of Chinese medicine theory. We propose:

• impeccable knowledge of Jin Gui Yao Lue formulae

• the ability to inscribe this knowledge into precise and accurate differential diagnosis

• treatment strategies for a great many diseases, from mundane to complex

• to let natural philosophies of the pre-Han eras, ancient astronomy and history inform our understanding of physiology, so as to obtain a clearer understanding of 6 conformation  and 5 flavor theory
Gua Lou Xie Bai Ban Xia Tang, Gua Lou Xie Bai Bai Jiu Tang and Ren Shen Tang in a 1601 AD edition of the Jin Gui Yao Lue, written in the Han dynasty by Zhang Hong Jing (150-219 AD)