Sun Simiao on the order of moxibustion, the size and number of cones, and aftercare.
Qian Jin Yao Fang (备急千金要方)Moxibustion
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
The English is translated from the Chinese vernacular. The original text and its pinyin sit beneath each sentence in smaller type; hide them whenever you prefer to read the translation alone.
In moxibustion, yang comes first and yin after: begin at the head and work gradually down the left, then from the head down the right; above before below.
To needle without moxa, or to moxa without needling, is not to be a good physician; to use needle and moxa without herbs, or herbs without needle and moxa, is likewise not to be a good physician.
ORIGINAL若针而不灸，灸而不针，皆非良医也；针灸而不药，药不针灸，亦非良医也。
ruò zhēn ér bù jiǔ，jiǔ ér bù zhēn，jiē fēi liáng yī yě；zhēn jiǔ ér bù yào，yào bù zhēn jiǔ，yì fēi liáng yī yě。
To know the needle and to know the herb — this indeed is the good physician.
ORIGINAL知针知药，固是良医。
zhī zhēn zhī yào，gù shì liáng yī。
—— 《备急千金要方·卷二十九·灸例》
Sun Simiao devotes a section of his thousand-gold formulary to the practical conduct of moxibustion: the order in which points should be treated, usually from above downward and from the back to the front; the size of cones according to the region and the patient; and the care required afterwards.
He also insists that a good physician understands both needle and medication, a remark often quoted to show that the division between acupuncture and herbal practice is later than the classics. The section is the most detailed early guide to moxibustion as a procedure rather than a principle.
ANNOTATION
Yang first, yin after (先阳后阴): moxa the yang channels first — back, upper, outer — then the yin channels — abdomen, lower, inner.
Touch the flesh (著肉): to press close against the skin.
Sun Simiao (孙思邈): Tang physician, known as the king of medicine, author of the Qianjin Yaofang and its supplement.
COMMENTARY
Sun Simiao’s writing on medicine is above all generous and clear-sighted. “To know the needle and to know the herb — this is the good physician” remains a fitting self-expectation. His advice to moxa once every ten days as health care anticipates the periodic check-up of modern preventive medicine by more than a thousand years.