Sun Simiao孙思邈

Style & Daoist names

Sun Zhenren (the Perfected Sun), King of Medicine (Sun Simiao), Miaoying Zhenren (Perfected of Wondrous Response)

Period

Sui–Tang

Dates

c. 581 — 682

Role

Physician and PharmacologistDaoshi (Daoist Priest)Health-Preservation Specialist

Birthplace

Huayuan, Jingzhao (present-day Yaozhou, Tongchuan, Shaanxi)

Places of activity

Zhongnan Mountains

Life

Sun Simiao was a Tang-dynasty physician and Daoist priest from Huayuan in the Jingzhao region, revered by later generations as the “King of Medicine.” His birth year is variously given as 541 or 581, with 581 the commonly accepted date; he died in the first year of the Yongchun era (682). In his youth he mastered the hundred schools of thought and was skilled at discoursing on Laozi and Zhuangzi; he lived in reclusion on Mount Taibai and in the Zhongnan Mountains, repeatedly summoned but declining office under Emperor Wen of Sui, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Gaozong (under Gaozong he once responded to a summons and was offered the post of Remonstrance Counselor, which he declined). His writings — the thirty-scroll Beiji Qianjin Yaofang (备急千金要方, Essential Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies) and the thirty-scroll Qianjin Yifang (千金翼方, Supplementary Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold) — summarized the medicine of the periods before the Tang; the opening chapter, “On the Absolute Sincerity of Great Physicians,” discusses medical ethics, and the works also incorporate extensive material on Daoyin, ingesting herbs and minerals, the Bedchamber Arts, and Nourishing Nature, fusing Daoist regimen practice with medicine. He also wrote the Pillowbook Methods for Preserving Health, the Taiqing Danjing Yaojue (太清丹经要诀, Essential Instructions from the Elixir Scriptures of Great Clarity), and the Fulu Lun (福禄论, Treatise on Fortune and Emolument), among other works touching on alchemy and Daoist self-cultivation. He associated with Daoists such as Meng Shen and the poet Lu Zhaolin, and was honored by later Daoism as “Perfected Miaoying” (a title conferred in the second year of the Chongning era of Emperor Huizong of Song); temples to the King of Medicine were built for his worship throughout the country, with Yaowang Shan (King of Medicine Mountain) at Yaozhou serving as the center of his cult.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Qianjin Yaofang and Qianjin Yifang, the summa of Tang-dynasty medicine
• Formulated the medical-ethical standard of “On the Absolute Sincerity of Great Physicians”
• Systematically incorporated Daoist methods of regimen, ingestion, and alchemy into medical writing
• Was honored as “King of Medicine,” becoming a god of medicine worshiped jointly by Daoism and popular religion

Works

• Beiji Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies)
• Qianjin Yifang (Supplement to the Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold)
• Pillowbook Methods for Preserving Health
• Taiqing Danjing Yaojue (Essential Instructions from the Elixir Scriptures of Great Clarity)
• Cunshen Lianqi Ming (Inscription on Visualizing the Spirit and Refining the Qi)
• Fushou Lun (Treatise on Blessings and Longevity)

Legends

Legend holds that he cured the son of the Dragon King and received in return a divine formula from the Dragon Palace; that he sat upon a tiger and administered acupuncture to a dragon; that he lived to over one hundred and forty years of age; and that his features remained unchanged a month after his liberation from the corpse.