12/09/2025
Some notes on the Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao from Li Shizhen
This is a continuation of some posts I made before on some other platforms, which raised an intense discussion, for folks interested in Neidan, and have also interested in East Asian medicine , the following remarks might be useful.
I recently posted a comment on Li Shizhen’s Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao, on my own page, this leaded to a lot of comments, some diverting from my initial intention to emphasise the importance of this work. Some of the reactions were that Li Shizhen’s work was merely a philosophical overload , obscuring the clinical value as displayed in older works. My whole point was that Li Shizhen’s attempt was to bring different perspectives, partially derived from Neidan and that it contributed to a much wider and profound understanding of the Ba Mai.
It also was my intention to show that several concepts like the Ba Mai or Ming Men were only relatively late developed.
It’s definitely not my intention to open up a whole polemic, but my point is that I think that the work of Li Shizhen is still not clearly understood. I would also suggest that the Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao is a starting point, since Li Shizhen left many points open, he puts us to thinking by raising questions, pointing to different directions . Part of the reasons why many people discard his book and ideas is maybe the lack of understanding of Neidan. Since Li Shizhen was clearly well versed in this material, but up today many people are still not familiar with Neidan. He also packed these ideas pretty subtlety, so for the not informed reader it’s not always that clear. Charles Chace and Miki Shima did a good job in explaining these aspects, but I think many of these points are still missed out.
I had the opportunity to work closely together with Chip (Charles) and we developed treatment strategies partially based on Li Shizhen’s approach regarding the Ba Mai. And those can be very effective and helped at least myself in clinical practice to become more effective when the Ba Mai are involved in a certain pathology .
An interesting aspect of this work is that it combines Acupuncture , Herbal medicine and Alchemy.
In terms of acupuncture, it’s interesting since he doesn’t focus on the master couple points, which were already in use that time (we know from other literature) but to consider the trajectory.
Our own experience in Engaging Vitality (an approach to TEAM based on palpatory techniques, developed by Dan Bensky and Charles Chace) is that we have ways to check which points are the most effective at that point in time, so you can transcend protocol driven treatments with fixed points.
Another interesting notion in Li Shizhen’s work is the concept that the Ba Mai are Jing, Mai and (overlapping ) Fields, the last clearly imported from Neidan.
Another innovative idea is that the Ba Mai are not only reservoirs of excess qi of the primary vessels, but there is a reciprocal relation . This is marking an important shift in thinking with great consequences in treatment strategies. So the Ba Mai are not only reservoirs, but also sources . So one can tap in that source when needed . We see at this time also a shift from only excess pathologies to deficiency pathologies in regard to the Ba Mai.
Li Shizhen clearly points out the relation between the Ba Mai and the Pre Heaven (Yuan Qi), a notion also very important in Neidan.
In terms of herbal medicine, I can imagine that many people struggle with his text, being a collector of ideas, we see a great sum up of different formulas. It would be later physicians like Shen Jin Ao, Ye Tianshi and Luo D**g Yi to elaborate on this. Especially Ye Tianshi’s case records give a great insight how Ba Mai strategies could be implemented in clinical cases.
There is much more to say, but my main point here is that we need to realise that ideas on the Ba Mai , but also other concepts like Ming Men , were developed only relatively late in the history of Chinese Medicine. Although these concepts are mentioned in the classics and earlier works, only from Song onwards and especially in the Ming and Qing dynasty these ideas were worked out in much more detail and to my opinion these ideas have definitely their clinical relevance and are not just added layers of philosophical pondering.
I have been reading the Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao now for many times, had long discussions with Chip and even now I still read new things, gain new insights. I think that to understand the Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao properly one needs a decent understanding of Neidan. My interest and research in Neidan is almost a lifetime project , but Chip definitely endorsed me to delve way more deeply in this topic. So I would recommend anyone studying the Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao to consider this aspect and delve into it and not discard it as another layer of obscuring philosophy.
Chinese Medicine (or maybe better phrased, at least more inclusive, Traditional East Asian Medicine) is an extremely rich tradition, the importance of ideas from Neidan, (Neo) Confucianism , Daoism, Buddhism and the influences of foreign ideas from the Middle East, Tibet and South Asia should all be taken in account, I think we only start to appreciate this importance.
It’s not my intention to open a whole polemic, so I can’t promise to react on all reactions on this post, my only intention is that people realize the importance and value of Li Shizhen’s work and would encourage people to study the background ideas he used, like Neidan. As to Neidan again there are many streams and ideas, from reading Li Shizhen it’s clear he was well versed and read different documents from different schools and as far as we know he didn’t belong to a certain school or lineage, but there is evidence that he really practiced Neidan, so not only a scholarly interest like some of his contemporaries.
Li Shizhen is definitely not the end point, it’s more a starting point, a challenge to think different on the Qi Jing Ba Mai than previous generations, it’s up to us to work and build further, using all the sources we have available and combine it with our own clinical practice and maybe our own inner cultivation.
For a more thorough discussion see: An Expositiom on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels - Acupuncture, Alchemy and Herbal Medicine.
Charles Chace , Miki Shima - Eastland Press
