When Huangdi Neijing was written, the ancients mainly had three views:
pre-Qin period
The person who holds this view is Huangfu Mi in Jin Dynasty [1 1]? Lin Bu and Gao Baoheng in Song Dynasty [12]? Wait a minute. They think that a scientific masterpiece like Huangdi Neijing can't be completed by a wise man, so it must have been written by Huangdi.
Warring States period
The person who holds this view is Shao Yong of the Song Dynasty [13]? Hao Cheng [14]? , Sima Guang [15]? , Zhu [16]? Sang Yue and Fang Yizhi in Ming Dynasty [17]? Fang Xiaoru [18]? Wei Litong in Qing Dynasty [19]? Wait a minute. The main reasons are as follows: first, comparing Su Wen of Huangdi Neijing with Zhou Li, who was also in the Warring States period, there are many similarities, which fully proves that the two books are works of the same era and the same ideological system; Secondly, the medical theory in Bian Que Historical Records is similar to that in Huangdi Neijing, but simpler and more primitive, while the medical theory in Cang Gong Historical Records is better than that in Huangdi Neijing, so it can be inferred that Huangdi Neijing should be a work after Bian Que and before Cang Gong. Finally, taking the style of Huangdi Neijing as an example, we can also illustrate this point: most of the pre-Qin classics are rhymes, but Su Wen has many rhymes. [20]?
The Concise Catalogue of Si Ku Quan Shu in Qing Dynasty further affirmed this statement [2 1]? This view was accepted by many people because Sikuquanshu had a high position in ancient academic circles in China.
Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25AD)
In the Ming Dynasty, Lang Ying inferred from the legend of Yidi brewing and the evidence that Luo appeared in the Han Dynasty that it was produced in the Western Han Dynasty. [22]?
Modern Chinese medicine expert Liu Changlin [23]? Wu [24]? Others also hold this opinion. The main reasons are as follows: First, Huangdi Neijing has about 200,000 words, which can be said to be a masterpiece more than 2,000 years ago. Compiling such medical books requires a stable social environment and huge human and material resources, which is impossible in the Warring States period, which was characterized by years of war and seven chivalrous men and eight righteous men. Only in the Western Han Dynasty, with the political stability and economic development, it provided realistic conditions for doctors to compile medical books. Secondly, Liu An, the king of Huainan in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, wrote "Huai Nan Zi Xiu Wu Xun": "Secular people respect the ancient more than the present, so they must remember Shennong Huangdi before they can speak." The close relationship between Huangdi Neijing and Huanglao School in the title and ideological content also provides evidence that can only be written in the heyday of Huanglao School in the Western Han Dynasty. Thirdly, Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty recorded in Biography of Historical Records of Cang Gong that Chunyu Kun, a famous doctor in the early Western Han Dynasty, did not have Huangdi Neijing among the ten kinds of medical books taught to him by his teacher Yang Qing, which is enough to show that Huangdi Neijing could not be a work before the Western Han Dynasty. [20]?
From the above point of view, it can be seen that the ancients believed that Huangdi Neijing was written in the Warring States Period. But we can't think that all the chapters in Su Wen and Ling Shu came from the Warring States Period. Lv Fu, a medical scientist at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, gave a pertinent opinion, saying that Neijing was neither a temporary theory nor a one-handed one [10]? . Yao Jiheng's Textual Research on Ancient and Modern Fake Books, Su Wen's Collation, Cheng's Xin 'an Documentary Collection, Luck Theory, Huang Shengzeng's Wuyue Mountain People Collection, and Neijing Annotation also agree. [25]?
The scientific point of view is that Huangdi Neijing was not completed by one author in a short time, but was assembled by several authors after a long time:
First, there are many rhymes in the pre-Qin dynasty, and some chapters in Huangdi Neijing also have many rhymes, which may be works in the pre-Qin period.
2. By comparing 1973 silk script of Moxibustion Sutra of Eleven Veins on the Foot in Mawangdui, Changsha, 1972 pressed slips unearthed from Han Tomb in Wuwei, Gansu, 1977 Pan Bin of Six Kings unearthed from Ruyin Hou Tomb in Shuangyudui, Anhui, and Zhanpan of Taiyi Jiugong, we can see [6].
Thirdly, some documents cited in Huangdi Neijing, such as Shangxiajing and Gongdu, were even earlier works in the Warring States Period.
Fourthly, the word "thousand hands" used in Su Wen Bao Quan Ming Xing Lun is the name of people in the Warring States and Qin Dynasties, while "the official of the prime minister" and "the official of the state government" in Su Wen Ling Lan Mi Dian Lun are the official names that appeared in Cao Wei Dynasty.
5. Some chapters of Lingshu came out late. For example, there is a saying in "Yin Yang Sun Moon" that "those who give birth to Yang in the first month are Yin", which can be concluded that it was written after the promulgation of taichu calendar in the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (BC 100). [6]?
6. Some chapters in Su Wen were dated by official departments, and the adoption of official departments was in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The seventh volume of Su Wen has been lost for a long time. According to its secret edition, Tang added Tianyuan Ji Da Lun, Wu Lun, Liu Weizhi Da Lun, Qi Alternate Da Lun, Zheng Wuchang Da Lun, Liu Ji Da Lun and Zhi Zhen Da Lun, which is actually a medical book. According to the date of Jiazi, it can be concluded that it must be after the promulgation of the seasonal calendar in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the second year (085); Because it was quoted by Zhang Zhongjing when he wrote Treatise on Febrile Diseases, it must be before Zhang Zhongjing. [6]?
Seven, the seventy-second article "Acupuncture" and the seventy-third article "Disease" were aimless when they were written, but when Song and Liu wrote the theory of luck, they were displayed as their last works. It can be considered that these two works are pseudographs between Tang and Song Dynasties. [6]?
Generally speaking, Huangdi Neijing was not written in a short time, and the author was not alone. His writing should be from the Warring States period, and some chapters were written in the Han Dynasty. As for Wang Bu and Liu Fu, they should not be regarded as the main body of Huangdi Neijing, but they don't have to be regarded as the Neijing by convention. [6]?