What is the Huangdi Neijing and why is it relevant today?

The Huangdi Neijing, also known as the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, has been the definitive source text for East Asian medicine for over two thousand years.

Its importance is such that whether a medical practice exists as part of the East Asian medicine tradition is determined solely by whether its practices and theories can be traced back to these original writings.

Rather than being a traditional medical textbook, the Neijing is a collection of medical writings contained within a literary tradition developed by anonymous authors during China’s Warring States Period and Han Dynasties (475 BCE-220 CE). At this time, an avant-garde naturalist philosophy arose, based on detailed examinations of the primary patterns of nature and the secondary phenomena they create. As a result of these groundbreaking scientific discoveries, a comprehensive healthcare system was established that remains unequaled in its insight, breadth, and grace.

Despite its paramount importance, due to the complexities of the classical Chinese language and an early fragmentation of its writings, these principles were difficult to fully understand and put into clinical practice. The inclusion of these texts into searchable databases in the late 1980s allowed a critical shift in text research. Through the innovative methods of Classical Text Archaeology (CTA), the full hidden meanings of these influential texts are finally being revealed. These findings serve as the basis for the groundbreaking new healthcare system of Neijing Nature-Based Medicine.

夫血脈之藏於身也猶江河之流地夫血脈之藏於身也猶江河之流地江河之流濁而不清血脈之動亦擾不安

The blood rivers of the body are held within the body like the rivers that flow through the earth. When their stirrings are obstructed by impediments to flow, they become unsettled.

The Way of Emptiness
Warring States