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{{Short description|Ancient Chinese medical text}}
{{italic title}}
'''''Lingshu Jing''''' ({{zh|s=灵枢经|t=靈樞經|p=Língshūjīng}}), also known as '''''Divine Pivot''''', '''''Spiritual Pivot''''', or '''''Numinous Pivot''''', is an ancient Chinese medical text whose earliest version was probably compiled in the 1st century BCE on the basis of earlier texts.<ref>{{harvp|Sivin|1993|pp=199-201}}</ref> It is one of two parts of a larger medical work known as the ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]'' ('''Inner Canon of Huangdi''' or '''Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon''').  The other section, which is more commonly used in [[Traditional Chinese Medicine]], is known as the ''[[Suwen]]'' {{lang|zh|素問}} ("Basic Questions").

==History==

No edition of the ''Lingshu'' prior to the 12th century has survived. Most scholars presume that the original title of the ''Lingshu'' was either ''Zhenjing'' ({{lang|zh|鍼經}} "Classic of Acupuncture" or "Needling Canon") or ''Jiujuan'' ({{lang|zh|九卷}} "Nine Fascicles"). They base this conclusion on the following evidence:
* The ''Huangdi neijing'' was listed as a book in 18 juan {{lang|zh|卷}} ("fascicles") in the bibliographical chapter ("Yiwenzhi" {{lang|zh|藝文志}}) of [[Ban Gu]]'s {{lang|zh|班固}} [[Hanshu|Book of Han]] (''Hanshu'' {{lang|zh|漢書}}).<ref>{{harvp|Sivin|1993|p=196}}</ref> That chapter was itself based on the ''Qilue'' ({{lang|zh|七略}} "Seven Summaries"), a bibliography that [[Liu Xiang (scholar)|Liu Xiang]] {{lang|zh|劉向}} (79-8 BCE) and his son [[Liu Xin (scholar)|Liu Xin]] {{lang|zh|劉歆}} (ca. 46 BCE-AD 23) compiled on the basis of a survey they began in 26 BCE.<ref>{{harvp|Csikszentmihalyi|Nylan|2003|loc=68, n. 22}}</ref>
* Zhang Zhongjing's preface to his ''Shanghan zabing lun'' ({{lang|zh|傷寒雜病論}} "Treatise on Cold Injury and Miscellaneous Illnesses", written before 220 CE) mentions that he compiled his work on the basis of books that included the ''Suwen'' and the ''Jiujuan'' ({{lang|zh|九卷}} "Nine fascicles"). In turn, the passages that [[Huangfu Mi]] (215-282) attributed to the ''Jiujuan'' in his ''AB Canon of Acupuncture and [[Moxibustion]]'' (''Zhenjiu jiayi jing'' {{lang|zh|鍼灸甲乙經}}) all have equivalents in the received edition of the ''Lingshu''.
* In the preface to his ''AB Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion'', Huangfu Mi claimed that the book listed as ''Huangdi neijing'' in the "Qilue yiwenzhi" {{lang|zh|七略藝文志}} was composed of two different parts: the ''Suwen'' ("Basic Questions") and the ''Zhenjing'' ("Needling Canon"), each in 9 juan, for a total of 18 juan.
* In the preface to Wang Bing's 762 edition of the ''Suwen'' (762 CE), where he identified ''Lingshu'' as the second of the two texts that comprised the ''Huangdi neijing'' in his time.<ref name="Sivin 1993 203">{{harvp|Sivin|1993|p=203}}</ref> This was the first instance of the title ''Lingshu''.
* Various titles similar to ''Zhenjing'' and ''Lingshu'' appeared in the bibliographies of the ''Old Book of Tang'' (''Jiu Tangshu'' {{lang|zh|舊唐書}}) and the ''New Book of Tang'' (''Xin Tangshu'' {{lang|zh|新唐書}}), suggesting that many different manuscript editions of a similar book were circulating in [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] times.<ref>{{harvp|Okanishi|1974|p=9}}</ref> The titles as seen in the ''Old Book of Tang'' were: ''Huangdi zhenjing'' ({{lang|zh|黃帝鍼經}} "Yellow Emperor's Canon of Acupuncture") (in 9 juan), ''Huangdi zhenjiu jing'' ({{lang|zh|黃帝鍼灸經}} "Yellow Emperor's Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion") (12 juan), ''Huangdi jiuling jing'' ({{lang|zh|黃帝九靈經}} "Yellow Emperor's Nine-Spirit Canon"), and ''Yugui zhenjing'' ({{lang|zh|玉匱針經}} "Canon of Acupuncture of the Golden Casket") (12 juan).
* Early in the 11th century, the ''Huangdi zhenjing'' ("Yellow Emperor's Canon of Acupuncture") was among the medical books the [[Goryeo]] court imported from [[Song dynasty|Song]] China.<ref>{{harvp|Jeon|1974|pp=259-6}}</ref>
* In 1067, the editors of the ''Suwen'' admitted that "since the ''Lingshu'' is no longer complete, we can no longer be sure" whether what Wang Bing called "Lingshu" always referred to the ''Zhenjing''.<ref name="Sivin 1993 203" />
* In 1091, the Song court requested a copy of the ''Zhenjing'' from Goryeo, which delivered the book in 1093.<ref name="Sivin 1993 203" /><ref>{{harvp|Sohn|1959}}, citing Wang Yingling's {{lang|zh|王應臨}} ''Yuhai'' ({{lang|zh|玉海}} "Sea of Jade"; completed before 1296), 63.23b.</ref>
* In 1155, a scholar called Shi Song {{lang|zh|史崧}}, "regretting that ''Lingshu'' has long been out of circulation," presented his 24-juan edition of that book to the imperial court.<ref name="Sivin 1993 203" /> His recension claimed to be based on a copy kept in his family, which he compared with fragments cited in other works. His renaming of the "Zhenjing" to "Lingshu" followed Wang Bing.

==Editions==

All current editions of the ''Lingshu'' are based on Shi Song's edition from 1155. The earliest extant edition was made in 1339 and 1340, under the [[Yuan dynasty]], by a publishing house called the Gulin shutang {{lang|zh|古林書堂}}.<ref>{{harvp|Sivin|1993|p=206}}</ref> One copy of this edition is still preserved at the [[National Library of China]] (Guojia tushuguan {{lang|zh|国家图书馆}}) in [[Beijing]].<ref>{{harvp|Zhongguo Zhongyi yanjiu yuan tushuguan|1991|loc=1, item 4}}</ref> The Gulin shutang edition was the earliest known joint edition of ''Lingshu'' and ''Suwen''.

==Historical significance==

Many practitioners through the ages have believed that the name "Lingshu" reflected the complex esoteric nature of the writings. It has been suggested that only someone of sufficient spiritual advancement (i.e. "Ling") could fully understand its true messages.

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==

* {{cite journal |last1=Csikszentmihalyi |first1=Mark |first2=Michael |last2=Nylan |year=2003 |title=Constructing Lineages and Inventing Traditions Through Exemplary Figures in Early China |journal=T'oung Pao |volume=LXXXIX |pages=59–99 |doi=10.1163/156853203322691329 }}
* {{cite book |last=Jeon |first=Sang-Woon |year=1974 |title=Science and Technology in Korea: Traditional Instruments and Techniques |series=The MIT East Asia Science Series |volume=4 |location=Cambridge, MA  |publisher=MIT Press }}
* {{cite book |last=Okanishi |first=Tameto |year=1974 |title=Chūgoku isho honzō kō |script-title=ja:中國醫書本草考 |trans-title=A Study of Chinese Medical Books and Materia Medica |location=Osaka |publisher=Minami Osaka }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Sivin |first=Nathan |year=1993 |title=Huang ti nei ching |script-title=zh:黃帝內經 |encyclopedia=Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide |editor-first1=Michael |editor-last1=Loewe |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |publisher=University of California Press |pages=196–215 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Sohn |first=Pow-key |year=1959 |title=Early Korean Printing |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=79 |number=2 |pages=99–103 |doi=10.2307/595851 |jstor=595851 }}
* {{cite book |author=Zhongguo Zhongyi yanjiu yuan tushuguan {{lang|zh|中国中医研究院图书馆}} [Library of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine] |year=1991 |title=Quanguo Zhongyi tushu lianhe mulu |script-title=zh:全國中醫圖書聯合目錄 |trans-title=National Union Catalog of Chinese Medical Books and Illustrations |location=Beijing |publisher=Zhongyi guji chubanshe {{lang|zh|中医古籍出版社}} |ref={{harvid|Zhongguo Zhongyi yanjiu yuan tushuguan|1991}}}}

==External links==
* [http://ctext.org/huangdi-neijing/ling-shu-jing Full text of the Lingshu Jing]
{{History of medicine in China}}

[[Category:Chinese classic texts]]
[[Category:History of ancient medicine]]
[[Category:Medical manuals]]
[[Category:Chinese medical texts]]