Lingshu Jing 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. 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

Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...

, is known as the Suwen 素問 ("Basic Questions").

Textual history

No version of the Lingshu prior to the 12th century has survived. Most scholars presume that the original title of the Lingshu was either Zhenjing 鍼經 ["Classic of Acupuncture" or "Needling Canon"] or Jiujuan 九卷 ["Nine Fascicles"]. They base this conclusion on the following evidence:

• The Huangdi neijing was listed as a book in 18 juan 卷 ("fascicles") in the bibliographical chapter ("Yiwenzhi" 藝文志) of Ban Gu
  Ban Gu
  Ban Gu , courtesy name Mengjian , was a 1st century Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han. He also wrote in the main poetic genre of the Han era, a kind of poetry interspersed with prose called fu. Some are anthologized by Xiao Tong in his Selections of...
  
  's 班固 Book of Han (Hanshu 漢書). That chapter was itself based on the Qilue 七略 ["Seven Summaries"], a bibliography that Liu Xiang
  Liu Xiang
  Liu Xiang is a Chinese 110 meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China....
  
   劉向 (79-8 BCE) and his son Liu Xin
  Liu Xin
  Liu Xin , later changed name to Liu Xiu , courtesy name Zijun , was a Chinese astronomer, historian, and editor during the Xin Dynasty . He was the son of Confucian scholar Liu Xiang and an associate of other prominent thinkers such as the philosopher Huan Tan...
  
   劉歆 (ca. 46 BCE-AD 23) compiled on the basis of a survey they began in 26 BCE.
• Zhang Zhongjing's preface to his Shanghan zabing lun 傷寒雜病論 ["Treatise on Cold Injury and Miscellaneous Illnesses"] (before 220 CE) mentions that he compiled his work on the basis of books that included the Suwen and the Jiujuan 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
  Moxibustion
  Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy using moxa, or mugwort herb. It plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff; practitioners burn the fluff or...
  
  (Zhenjiu jiayi jing 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" 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. 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 舊唐書) and the New Book of Tang (Xin Tangshu 新唐書), suggesting that many different manuscript editions of a similar book were circulating in Tang
  Tang Dynasty
  The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
  
   times. The titles as seen in the Old Book of Tang were: Huangdi zhenjing 黃帝鍼經 ["Yellow Emperor's Canon of Acupuncture"] (in 9 juan), Huangdi zhenjiu jing 黃帝鍼灸經 ["Yellow Emperor's Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion"] (12 juan), Huangdi jiuling jing 黃帝九靈經 [Yellow Emperor's Nine-Spirit Canon], and Yugui zhenjing 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
  Goryeo
  The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. Korea gets its name from this kingdom which came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
  
   court imported from Song
  Song Dynasty
  The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
  
   China.
• 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.
• In 1091, the Song court requested a copy of the Zhenjing from Goryeo, which delivered the book in 1093.
• In 1155, a scholar called Shi Song 史崧, "regretting that Lingshu has long been out of circulation," presented his 24-juan edition of that book to the imperial court. 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

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

, by a publishing house called the Gulin shutang 古林書堂. One copy of this edition is still preserved at the National Library of China

National Library of China

The National Library of China or NLC in Beijing is the largest library in Asia, and one of the largest in the world with a collection of over 23 million volumes...

 (Guojia tushuguan 国家图书馆) in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. 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.