The Drug Poem in the Dunhuang Story of Wu Zixu Revisited
Di Lu
A story of the escape, revenge, and death of Wu Zixu 伍子胥 (?–484 BC) is partially transcribed in the Dunhuang manuscripts Stein nos. 328 and 6331 and Pelliot nos. 2794V and 3213.[1] Arthur Waley (1889–1966) and Victor H. Mair published their English translations of this story in 1960 and 1983 respectively, both under the title of ‘Wu Tzu-hsü’.[2] However, the four Dunhuang fragments of the story all lack original titles. Although there are the characters lie guo zhuan 列國传 (The Tale of Various Countries) written on the back of the manuscript S.328,[3] they were actually added later by Marc Aurel Stein’s (1862–1943) assistant and Chinese teacher Jiang Xiaowan 蔣孝琬.[4] By the mid-twentieth century, these manuscripts had gained at least five different titles.[5] In 1957, a collation of the four manuscripts was published in a collection of Dunhuang bianwen 變文 (transformation texts), under the title of Wu Zixu bianwen 伍子胥變文 (Transformation Text on Wu Zixu, hereafter WZXBW).[6] This title now has been generally adopted by scholars of Dunhuang studies.[7] According to Victor H. Mair, Dunhuang transformation texts are a type of popular text that originated from narratives of Buddhist miraculous transformations illustrated in paintings.[8] He speculates that the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu was initially composed in south-east China around the end of the first quarter of the eighth century, then gradually spread to other regions of China, and meanwhile was repeatedly transcribed and polished during the second half of the eighth century and the first half of the ninth century.[9] Some scholars seldom differentiate between its composition and transcription dates, but still try to date the composition (more accurately, finalisation) of the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu to the late Tang period, or, more specifically, the Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang (786–848).[10]
One of the most interesting sections in WZXBW is a dialogue between Wu Zixu and his wife, which contains dozens of apparent or hidden drug names. Here, hidden drug names refer to the drug names whose constituent characters are entirely or partly substituted by other characters so as to reduce obstacles to comprehension of the dialogue, and/or to engage the audience in the entertaining unveiling of such names. Among the four fragmentary Dunhuang manuscripts, only S.328 and P.2794V include this dialogue.[11] S.328 looks neater than P.2794V in terms of handwriting (Fig. 1). Though constituting merely a fraction of many extant stories of Wu Zixu, the dialogue infused with drug names does not exist elsewhere in pre-modern Chinese literature on Wu Zixu, and thereby adds to its literary value.[12] Some editions of excavated Chinese medical texts include the dialogue as a special piece of non-medical writing,[13] while some others stress its value to literature rather than medicine, and therefore exclude it.[14] A variety of scholars attracted by the drug names as puns have made admirable efforts to improve our understanding of the dialogue,[15] including its entertaining effect.[16] But there remain unsolved issues. For example, none of the collations of WZXBW, published since the 1950s,[17] note the textual difference between jia 家 (family) in Wu Zixu’s reply to his wife in S.328 and its corresponding character qie 茄 (eggplant) in P.2794V. Another example is the character shi 詩 (poem) in the first sentence of the dialogue in P.2794V (absent in S.328). This has caused some scholars to treat the dialogue as a poem,[18] though some others reject such an opinion.[19] This divergence not only concerns the stylistic nature of the dialogue, but also concerns our quest for its historical origins.
This article highlights the value of the dialogue in mediæval Chinese medical culture, popular literature, and forms of transmission of the stories recorded in Dunhuang transformation texts. Central to the dialogue, the drug names bear multiple senses. They at least enable correction of a recent idea that dates the intensive use of drug names as puns within a limited length of words or a poem in vernacular novels only back to the post-Song (960–1279) period.[20] In this article, I first give a new collation of the dialogue, then re-identify the embedded drug names. On this basis, I revisit the significance of the drug names, and trace the historical-philological backgrounds of such dialogue. The hidden drug names themselves testify to written rather than oral transmission of the story, or at least the dialogue, because the transcribers or storytellers would not have needed to hide some names if the text took an oral form. This thereby adds to our understanding of the composition and circulation of Dunhuang transformation texts. Above all, I argue that the dialogue in the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu cannot be considered merely wordplay; to further understand the dialogue and related issues, it must be placed within a larger context of drug culture, literary traditions, Buddhist rhetoric and the geographical position of Dunhuang in early and mediæval Chinese society.
Collation and Translation of the Dialogue Embedded with Drug Names
The following transcript of the dialogue, based on S.328, and collated with P.2794V (Figures 1a & 1b), provides a basis for further discussion. It consists of 321 characters. Meanwhile, a tentative English translation of the dialogue, which tries to overcome linguistic obstacles caused by the embedded drug names, is also given below.
其妻遂作藥名詩問曰,[21] ‘妾是仵茄之婦, 細辛早仕於梁.[22] 就禮未及當歸,[23] 使妾閑居獨活.[24]莨薑芥, 澤瀉無隣.[25] 仰歎檳榔,[26] 何時遠志.[27] 近聞楚王無道, 遂發材狐之心.[28] 誅妾家破芒消, 屈身苜蓫.[29] 葳蕤怯弱,[30] 石膽難當.[31] 夫怕逃人, 茱萸得脫. 潛形菵草,[32] 匿影藜蘆.[33] 狀似被趁野干,[34] 遂使狂夫莨菪.[35] 妾憶淚霑赤石,[36] 結恨青箱. 夜寢難可決明,[37] 日念舌乾卷百.[38] 聞君乞聲厚朴, 不覺躑躅君前. 謂言夫婿麥門,[39] 遂使蓯蓉緩步. 看君龍齒, 似妾狼牙. 桔梗若為, 願陳枳殼.[40]
子胥答曰,[41] ‘余亦不是仵家之子,[42] 亦不是避難逃人.[43] 聽說途之行李. 余乃生於巴蜀,[44] 長在藿鄉.[45] 父是蜈公, 生居貝母.[46] 遂使金牙採寶,[47] 友子遠行.[48] 劉寄奴是余賤朋,[49] 徐長卿為之貴友.[50] 共渡蘘河,[51] 被寒水傷身.[52] 二伴芒消,[53] 唯余獨活. 每日懸腸斷續, 情思飄颻.[54] 獨步恒山, 石膏難渡. 披巖巴戟,[55] 數值柴胡.[56] 乃意款冬,[57] 忽逢鍾乳.[58] 留心半夏,[59] 不見鬱金.[60] 余乃返步當歸, 芎窮至此. 我之羊齒, 非是狼牙. 桔梗之情, 願知其意.[61]
His wife then composed a poem embedded with drug names, and, through the poem, asked, ‘I am a lady married into the Wu family, and my husband began his early career as an official in the state of Liang. Prior to our marriage ceremony, he had to go back, leaving me alone. The fat meat and fine grain at home was about to be exhausted, and the pavilion I chose to live in stood with no neighbours. I raised my head and sighed for my husband as a guest in Liang, ‘when will you come from afar?’ Recently I heard that the tyrannical King of Chu unleashed his jackal- and wolf-like heart. He slaughtered my family, but I escaped and was bent on survival. I was listless and timid, and could hardly bear a fugitive life even if I were endowed with stony courage. My husband also fled in fear, and extricated himself in a moment. He hid among slough grass, and dodged into Veratrum plants. My husband wandered in the wild, like a chased fox-like animal called yegan. When I thought of him, my tears dropped onto red stone, and my bitterness shed on to green boxes. Night-time sleep could not eliminate my sorrow, and murmuring his name in daytime dried my tongue out like spike moss. When I heard your sincere and unpretentious voice begging for food, I unconsciously came to you and loitered in front of you. I told myself that it might be my husband stepping to the door, and thereby kept calm and slowed my pace. Your ‘dragon’ teeth resemble my husband’s teeth. Please tell me straight how you got here to quench my thirst for information about my husband.
Zixu answered, ‘I am neither a son of the Wu family nor a refugee from persecution. Please listen to the story of my journey. I was born in Bashu, and grew up in Huoxiang. My father is Mr Wu, living with humiliation. He sent me to gather treasure in Jinya, and he asked two people to help me along the journey. One of them is Liu Jinu, a humble friend of mine, while the other is Xu Changqing, a noble friend of mine. We crossed the Xiang river together, but the cold water harmed our bodies. Consequently, my two companions died, but I survived. Everyday I was deeply concerned with their deaths, I had uneasy feelings, and my mind was far away. I walked to the Heng Mountains alone, confronted with high rocks and rivers hard to cross. I split the rocks and pulled out the thorns, and encountered jackals and foxes several times. Then I decided to go east, and soon discovered a stalactite cave. After spending half the summer there, I found no jade or gold. Therefore, in due course I returned, and passed by this place fearful and impoverished. I only have ‘goat’ teeth, which are not like your husband’s teeth. I have spoken frankly and hope you can understand.’
The context of this dialogue is Wu Zixu’s escape from the state of Liang 梁, where he served as an official. His family was native to the state of Chu 楚. However, the King of Chu slew his father (a minister of Chu) and elder brother (holding an official position in the state of Zheng 鄭), as his father unfavourably criticised the King of Chu’s marriage with a young lady from the state of Qin 秦, who was betrothed to the Crown Prince — one of the King’s children. Wu Zixu fled from Liang and sought opportunities for revenge. During his fugitive journey, which finally ended in the state of Wu 吳, he was anxious about his survival. When he passed by a house and begged for food, his wife opened the door. They recognised each other but the woman, who escaped the King of Chu’s murder of her family, was not sure of her own judgement of the unexpected visitor. At this time, Wu also pretended not to know her, probably because he did not want to involve her in an unstable and dangerous situation. In this dialogue, Wu disguised his identity, but still communicated some obscure information about his previous experiences.
The Dialogue Embedded with Drug Names in S.328 (A, 12 lines) and P.2794V (B, 20 lines). Images are extracted from The International Dunhuang Project online <http://idp.bl.uk>.
Identification of the Drug Names Embedded in the Dialogue
The word yao ming 藥名 (drug name) obviously indicates the use of drug names in the dialogue between Wu Zixu and his wife. The symmetry between their words conduces to identification of certain drug names. For example, Wu and his wife both use the word jie geng 桔梗, which obviously refers to the medicinal plant jie geng 桔梗 (Platycodon grandiflorus). The word wu jia [MC]/ŋuə̆ʼ kja: [LMC] 仵家 in Wu’s reply, a homonym of the medicinal plant name wu jia [MC]/ŋuə̆ʼ kja: [LMC] 五加 (Eleutherococcus nodiflorus), corresponds to wu qie [MC]/ŋuə̆ʼ kɦia [LMC] 仵茄 in his wife’s account.[62] The correspondence helps to link wu qie 仵茄 with the plant name; the character jia 加 also constitutes a key part of qie 茄, and thereby is indicative of such a link. Moreover, chai hu [MC]/tsɦa:j xɦuə̆ [LMC] 柴胡 in Wu’s reply corresponds to the similarly pronounced cai hu [MC]/tsɦaj xɦuə̆ [LMC] 材狐 (jackals and foxes) in his wife’s words.[63] Literally, chai hu 柴胡 clearly draws our attention to the medicinal plant chai hu 柴胡 (Bupleurum spp.), and thus helps us identify cai hu 材狐 as this plant.
The words that in some cases denoted specific plants and such but had no relationship with any drug in ancient Chinese materia medica, for example, xuan chang 懸腸, will not be considered for identification.[64] Given varied histories of drugs and the composition date of the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu, identification of drugs here will be cautiously based on Tang or pre-Tang medical records rather than late imperial and/or modern medical texts such as the Bencao Gangmu 本草綱目 (Compendium of Materia medica, 1578).[65] This methodology differs from Victor H. Mair’s, which heavily rests on twentieth-century reference books.[66] The identifications given in Table 1 reflect some existing ideas about the hidden or apparent drug names embedded in the dialogue. Here it is noteworthy that the act of hiding drug names did not first occur in this dialogue, but appeared centuries earlier, in, for example, the yao ming shi 藥名詩 (drug name poems) mentioned below.[67] In this sense, the dialogue followed an existing literary tradition.
In Table 1, I have also abandoned some far-fetched or inappropriate ideas.[68] For example, there is an opinion that relates she gan 舌乾 (the tongue becomes dry) to the medicinal plant she [ye] gan 射干 (Belamcanda chinensis (L.) Redouté).[69] But this opinion neglects that the character 射 in the word 射干 is pronounced as ye [MC]/jia [LMC] rather than she [MC]/ʂɦia [LMC].[70] Another example concerns the word piao yao 飄颻. Zhu and Chu identify it as the plant piao yao cao 漂摇草 (alias ye can dou 野蠶豆), and claim that the latter was a drug.[71] However, piao yao cao 漂摇草 appeared in Chinese literature as late as the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279),[72] with its medicinal properties being recorded no earlier than the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).[73] Some contemporary medical publications equate it with piao yao dou 飘摇豆 (Vicia hirsuta (L.) Gray)[74] — a plant first included in the Chinese materia medica in 1220 and cannot be the drug implied in the word piao yao 飄颻.[75] For the word qi yi 其意, Yin thinks that it actually refers to qi yi 芑薏, treating it a synonym for the edible and medicinal plant yi yi 薏苡, but giving no reason for this identification.[76] However, qi yi 芑薏 is a problematic word, which can hardly be found in pre-modern Chinese (medical) texts.[77] It is wise to treat the connection between qi yi 其意 and yi yi 薏苡 with caution.
Drawing on current scholarship on embedding drug names in mediæval drug poems or Dunhuang manuscripts,[78] Table 1 gives 60 drug names embedded in the dialogue. Some names are easy to recognise; the hidden ones are identified on the basis of their pronunciations and character structures, except two — wang wu dao 王無道 and xing li 行李 — mainly identified from their literal meanings. The drug names can be classified into three groups according to levels of consistency between character structures in the dialogue and that of their corresponding names in Tang and pre-Tang Chinese materia medica. The first group contains 39 names, which can be directly found in Tang and earlier medical texts — except the name duan xu 斷續, which is the drug name xu duan 續斷 in reverse order. The second group contains 14 names, which are interspersed with disguised characters — for example, juan bai 卷百. The third group contains seven names, which entirely consist of disguised characters — for example, cai hu 材狐. The art of disguise in some characters lies in one of three areas: pronunciation (for example, the character ye [MC]/jia [LMC] 野 in ye gan 野干 corresponds to ye [MC]/jia [LMC] 射 in ye gan 射干); character structure (for example, the character xiang 箱 in qing xiang 青箱 and the character xiang 葙 in qing xiang zi 青葙子 both share xiang 相);[79] or literal meaning (for example, the characters wu/dao 無/道 [non-existence/road] in wang wu dao 王無道 are literally closely related to the characters bu liu/xing 不留/行 [do not stay/walk] in wang bu liu xing 王不留行). Some of the disguised characters soften expression; they must engage audiences in this word game. For example, the character gong 公 (mister) in wu gong 蜈公, which constitutes part of the character gong 蚣 in wu gong 蜈蚣 (centipede, an animal drug), corresponds to the character fu 父 (father) in fu shi wu gong 父是蜈公 ([my] father is Mr Wu).
Some drug names from pre-Tang medical texts, exemplified by xu chang qing 徐長卿 and liu ji nu 劉寄奴, need not be particularly processed to fit into the dialogue. Xu 徐 is the surname of, for example, Xu Shi 徐市, who had been dispatched by the first emperor of China to search for celestial beings at sea; while Changqing 長卿 is the style name of the Western Han literatus Sima Xiangru 司馬相如.[80] Ge Hong 葛洪 (283–343) believed that xu chang qing as a drug name was originally a human name.[81] Li Shizhen 李時珍 (1518–93) further explained that the drug was named xu chang qing because a man with this name often used the drug to treat evil diseases.[82] As for liu ji nu, a Chinese emperor called Liu Yu 劉裕 (363–422) had the nickname Ji’nu 寄奴.[83] According to Ren Fang 任昉 (460–508), Liu once injured a snake with his arrow. The following day he encountered a few children preparing a herbal drug for the snake (king of the children) at the place where he’d shot it; he then drove them out and collected the drug. Because of this, people named the herb liu ji nu.[84] In the dialogue, Wu Zixu stated that liu ji nu was his friend, and xu chang qing was Liu’s friend. Here the two words aptly play their dual role as human names and drug names.
Some apparent or hidden drug names can be understood literally when trying to make sense of every line of dialogue — for example, xu chang qing; liu ji nu, dang gui 當歸 (return in due time); du huo 獨活 (live alone); wei rui 葳蕤 ([listless like] drooping willow branches and leaves); shi dan 石膽 (stony courage); and tao ren 逃人 (a person who flees). Some other drug names, however, first need to be transformed so we can understand their pronunciation etc. (Table 2) — for example, the literal meaning of xi xin 細辛 (thin and pungent) obscures the real meaning. Mair considers it possibly a pun on xi xin 細心 (prudence), the supposed name of Wu Zixu’s wife.[85] While a philological opinion interprets xi xin as a pun on xu shen 婿身 (a lady’s husband).[86] Another example is jiang jie 薑芥; its metaphorical term, in my opinion, is jiang jie 將竭 ([fine food] is about to be exhausted).
As the author(s) and transcribers of the dialogue did not leave any annotations to the text, some of the drug puns are difficult to determine. For example, the literal meaning of the drug name hou po 厚朴 can be sincere and unpretentious, which matches the sense of qi sheng 乞聲 (begging voices); but it could also be interpreted metaphorically as hou po 喉破 (a hoarse voice) (however, this sense of the term hou po as far as I know, first appeared in the Southern Song dynasty).[87] The term xing li 行李, as another example, can be understood as journey,[88] which would suit the immediate context. However, it is also possible that the term actually refers to xing li 行歷 (experiences).[89] Here it is noteworthy that the dialogue is essentially a piece of literary work, within which some drug names themselves are literarily descriptive and need not necessarily be treated from the perspective of puns. Such examples are long chi 龍齒 and yang chi 羊齒. They literally mean dragon teeth and goat teeth, and both describe Wu Zixu’s teeth. The difference between yang 羊 (goat) in Wu’s words and long 龍 (dragon) in his wife’s words indicates Wu’s intention of confusing his wife’s judgement of his identity.
Significance of the Drug Names
Two literary works feature the use of drug names as puns in Dunhuang manuscripts. One is the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu; the other is an undated short song transcribed in S.4508, which originally lacked a title but is now entitled ‘Lang dang bu gui xiang qian yao ming qu zi’ 莨菪不歸鄉嵌藥名曲子 (The Song Starting with Langdang Buguixiang [A Man Wandering away from Home and Hesitating to Return to His Hometown] and Embedded with Drug Names). It contains several embedded drug names such as lang dang 莨菪 (a pun on lang dang 浪蕩 [wander outside]); ban xia 半夏 (a pun on ban xia 半夏 [half of the summer]); jiang 薑 (pun on jiang 將 [almost]); wu tou 烏頭 (pun on wu tou 無頭 [one’s head being cut off]); fu zi 附子 (pun on fu zi 父子 [father and son]); and gui xin 桂心 (pun on gui xin 歸心 [longing for home]).[90] Although different interpretations of the song exist,[91] there is no controversy about some of its events such as wandering away from home, killing, death, and missing somebody. These events can also be found in the dialogue between Wu Zixu and his wife. Generally speaking, the two literary works both concern life and death. The two subjects are also among the fundamental concerns of materia medica. Given this consideration, the names invented by humans in diverse ways to identify drugs function well within the context of the dialogue between Wu and his wife.
The use of drug names is not instrinsically necessary. Religious terms, for example, can also be employed to embellish the sufferings narrated in the dialogue with implications for life and death. However, drug names intertwine the human and natural worlds. Joseph Needham treated the bencao 本草 (materia medica) genre of Chinese medical texts, which cover many medicinal plants, animals and minerals, as pandects of (pharmaceutical) natural history.[92] In this sense, drug names can help contextualise the escape stories of Wu Zixu and his wife (as narrated in the dialogue) in the natural or wild world, though they are also part of human culture. Drug puns are among the different kinds of wordplay in Dunhuang manuscripts.[93] They make the dialogue unique in extant stories of Wu Zixu. Yet the puns in the dialogue are more than wordplay, as they can serve the plot in which Wu Zixu’s wife prudently attempted to ascertain Wu’s identity, while Wu intended to hide his identity. Wang Chongmin, for example, held such a view but he considered serving the plot as the direct reason for the use of drug names.[94] This is somewhat far-fetched, as many words other than drug names can function as puns as well. And it is even unnecessary to use puns to achieve the effect of hiding identity information.
The dialogue was primarily composed in the context of materia medica and literary traditions. The presence of at least 60 drug names in the dialogue consisting of merely 321 characters indicates the author’s (or authors’) familiarity with the materia medica. In the Tang dynasty, knowledge of drugs had significantly expanded. Even in the early-Tang period, the officially compiled work of the materia medica, namely Xinxiu bencao 新修本草 (Newly Revised Materia Medica, 659), records 850 native and exotic medicinal substances — many more than those recorded in Shennong bencao jing 神農本草經 (The Divine Farmer’s Classic of Materia Medica, c. first century AD).[95] And Dunhuang in the late-Tang period served as a prosperous commercial centre on the Silk Roads, where native and exotic medicinal substances were all present.[96] Some local people also donated medicinal substances to Buddhist monasteries in Dunhuang.[97] Thus, the drug puns could have had an audience in Dunhuang, though the drug names or even the dialogue might have been added to the story of Wu Zixu during its supposed transmission from South-East China to Dunhuang. Although the audience might not have discerned all the puns and their senses, its appetite would be whetted, thereby contributing to the popularity of the story of Wu Zixu in Dunhuang and, perhaps, contributing to the spread of the culture of materia medica.
The dialogue also engages with the tradition of using drug names as puns in Chinese literature, which dates back to the pre-Qin period.[98] The chapter xie yin 諧讔 (humorous and implicit words) of Liu Xie’s 劉勰 (c. 465–c. 532) book Wenxin diaolong 文心雕龍 (Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, c. 501) summarises a category of rhetoric that includes early (drug) puns.[99] In light of this, the use of drug puns in the dialogue cannot be counted as an independent or novel phenomenon, but has its origin in earlier Chinese rhetoric.
Given that the character shi 詩 (poem) appears in P.2794V but is absent from S.328, it was, perhaps, deliberately added by the transcriber for the purpose of relating the dialogue to yao ming shi 藥名詩 (drug poem). Under this title, some literati exemplified by Wang Rong 王融 (467–93), Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513) and Yu Jianwu 庾肩吾 (487–551), and some emperors exemplified by Xiao Gang 蕭綱 (503–51) and Xiao Yi 蕭繹 (508–55), had composed the earliest drug poems in China.[100] This poetic genre persisted in the Tang dynasty, though drug poems composed in the Tang dynasty remained limited.[101] Nevertheless, the dialogue is not laid out in the form of typical pentasyllabic or heptasyllabic Tang (drug) poetry, and does not have consistent rhyming characteristics.[102] It does not belong to the lü shi 律詩 (regulated poems) genre of the Tang dynasty.[103] This is probably why some scholars, as previously mentioned, refuse to treat the dialogue as a poem. Here it is worth noting a mediæval poetic genre called zati shi 雜體詩 (‘poems in miscellaneous styles’). Jiang Yan 江淹 (444–505), for example, had composed 30 such poems under the general title of zati (‘miscellaneous styles’).[104] Although drug poems had been explicitly categorised as a subgroup of the ‘poems in miscellaneous styles’ since the late-Tang period, the dialogue originally alleged to be a drug poem in P.2794V does not match the features of the ‘poems in miscellaneous styles’ or poems of other genres.[105] This article does not see the dialogue as a poem, but would rather, inspired by the idea of suggesting it as a prose,[106] assign it to the category of pianwen 駢文 (parallel prose, see below).
Historical-Philological Backgrounds of the Dialogue
A significant feature of the dialogue or WZXBW is the frequent occurrence of lines consisting of four characters. This immediately reminds us of the dialogue’s potential relationship with some well-known early Chinese literary and medical works such as Shijing 詩經 (The Book of Odes); Han poetic expositions grouped under the title of Fu 赋; and Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經 (Huang Di’s Inner Classic). Four-character phrases characterise almost all the poetic lines in The Book of Odes (tenth to seventh centuries BC); The book of odes has many poems with titles that include/are plant or animal names.[107] Such phrases are also characteristic of Han poetic expositions — for example, Sima Xiangru’s 司馬相如 (c.179–117 BC) Shanglin fu 上林賦 (Fu of the Imperial Garden), which describes a variety of animals and plants when describing an emperor’s hunting activities in the Han imperial garden.[108] In Huang Di’s Inner Classic, whose role in Chinese medical history parallels that of the Hippocratic writings in ancient Europe,[109] the characters in the four-character phrases account for a significant portion of the total, and have been researched for more than a decade.[110] These secular works were still available in the Tang dynasty. There are examples in Dunhuang manuscripts of original words or quotations from The Book of Odes and Huang Di’s Inner Classic.[111] Such classics in Chinese literature could not have been unknown to the author(s) of the dialogue or WZXBW, who exhibited good literary ability.
Buddhist scriptures might have an even more direct influence on the wording of the dialogue WZXBW. Stephen F. Teiser points out that ‘four-character phrasing for most prose sections’ is one of the ‘stylistic features typical of Buddhist scriptures’.[112] This can be verified by the Dunhuang manuscript Dasheng sifa jinglun ji guangshi kaijue ji 大乘四法經論及廣釋開決記 (Disclosure of Extensive Commentaries on Catuṣkanirhārasūtra, P.2794), which shares the same scroll with the dialogue in P.2794V.[113] Buddhist scriptures in Chinese constitute a majority of the Dunhuang manuscripts.[114] Furthermore, scholars have shown that from the Eastern Han dynasty onwards four-character phrases became popular in Chinese Buddhist scriptures.[115] Although existing opinion on the causes of this phenomenon are not quite consistent, the native Chinese literary tradition of using four-character phrases, as mentioned above, is generally considered among the important driving factors.[116] The circulation of Chinese Buddhist scriptures also promoted the vitality of four-character phrases in the Chinese language.[117] From a historical-literary perspective, the four-character phrases in the dialogue can be reasonably considered to have been composed under the combined influence of Chinese secular and Buddhist rhetoric.
The use of four-character phrases and the need to embed drug names would, in some cases, restrict expression and, therefore, result in difficulty in understanding the phrases. For example, it remains uncertain whether sheng ju bei mu 生居貝母 is talking about mu 母 (mother), wu 侮 (humiliation), or other possible subjects; and sheng ju 生居 in this phrase can also be understood as reside or living.[118] Probably because of this, there are also some six-character phrases, though less common than four-character ones, being used in the dialogue. For example, the line qie shi wu qie zhi fu 妾是仵茄之婦 (I am a lady married into the Wu family) gives a clear sense which perhaps cannot be properly clarified in a four-character phrase. Of course, six-character phrases are usual in classical Chinese literature as well, for example, Qu Yuan’s 屈原 (c.340–278 BC) Jiuge 九歌 (Nine Songs), one of the songs of Chu,[119] is a group of ‘shamanistic poems’ in the eyes of David Hawkes.[120] As a whole, the four- and six-character (and few seven-character) phrases representing parallel forms make up more than 70 per cent of all the phrases in the dialogue. This stylistic trait calls attention to the literary tradition of pianwen 駢文 (Parallel prose), ‘the metrical pattern of four-syllable and six-syllable lines that is most common in Chinese parallel prose’.[121] Wang Bo’s 王勃 (c.650–c.676) Tengwangge Xu 滕王閣序 (Preface to the Gallery of Prince Teng), a typical example of parallel prose, is composed of four-, six-, and seven-syllable lines.[122]
Conclusion
Neither the story of Wu Zixu nor drug puns were new to the late-Tang period. But a combination of them, which appears in the dialogue between Wu Zixu and his wife during Wu’s escape journey, makes the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu unique in extant pre-modern stories of this revenge hero of the sixth–fifth centuries BC. The re-examination of the text and the contextualisation of the dialogue within early and mediæval Chinese culture and society, as pursued in this article, help to further understand the dialogue, drug names, and related issues. The drug names hidden in the dialogue and tentatively re-identified in this article attest to written rather than oral transmission of the dialogue or even the story — adding to our understanding of how the stories in Dunhuang transformation texts were communicated. The drug names do not merely function as wordplay, but bear multiple senses. They accord with the theme of life and death in the dialogue — even in the whole story. Denoting plants, animals and minerals, they also help situate the escape story narrated in the dialogue in the natural world. Moreover, the drug names as puns meet the need to conceal Wu’s identity in the face of his wife’s prudent enquiry. The wording of the dialogue displays the influence of the culture of materia medica and the literary tradition of using puns, and engages with secular and Buddhist rhetorical traditions. It does not suggest that the dialogue is a poem, but rather it bears a resemblance to parallel prose. From a broad historical perspective, the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu, so far as known, can be considered the earliest Chinese story that involves the use of drug names as puns. This case study is an attempt to seek a balance between the special and general senses of Dunhuang manuscripts in history.
Table 1: Drug Names Embedded in the Dialogue between Wu Zixu and His Wife
Note: The information in the ‘Tentative Identification’ column is mainly based on Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (http://frps.eflora.cn), The Plant List (http://www.theplantlist.org/) and Zhong hua ben cao 中華本草 (Chinese Materia medica, 1999). ● = embedded drug names extracted from medical texts; ○ = interspersed with disguised characters; ★ = totally consisting of disguised characters.
|
Term |
Drug |
Tentative Identification |
Early Medical Record |
|
wu qie (jia) ★ 仵茄(家) |
wu jia 五加 |
Plant: Eleutherococcus nodiflorus (Dunn) S.Y.Hu |
Shen nong ben cao jing 神農本草經 |
|
xi xin ● 細辛 |
xi xin |
Plant: Asarum sieboldii Miq. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[124] |
|
yu liang ★ 於梁 |
yu yu liang 禹餘粮 |
Mineral: Limonite, FeO(OH)·nH2O |
Shen nong ben cao jing[125] |
|
jiu li ★ 就禮 |
jiu li 酒醴 |
Wines |
Bei ji qian jin yao fang |
|
dang gui ● 當歸 |
dang gui 當歸 |
Plant: Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels |
Shen nong ben cao jing[127] |
|
du huo ● 獨活 |
du huo |
Plant: Heracleum hemsleyanum Diels |
Shen nong ben cao jing[128] |
|
gao liang jiang ○ |
gao liang jiang 高良薑 |
Plant: Alpinia officinarum Hance |
Ben cao jing ji zhu |
|
jiang jie ● 薑芥 |
jiang jie |
Plant: Mosla dianthera (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) Maxim. or Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. |
Wu pu ben cao |
|
ze xie ● 澤瀉 |
ze xie |
Plant: Alisma plantago-aquatica L. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[131] |
|
bin lang ● 檳榔 |
bin lang |
Plant: Areca catechu L. |
Ben cao jing ji zhu[132] |
|
yuan zhi ● 遠志 |
yuan zhi |
Plant: Polygala tenuifolia Willd. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[133] |
|
wang wu dao ○ 王無道 |
wang bu liu xing 王不留行 |
Plant: Vaccaria hispanica (Mill.) Rauschert |
Shen nong ben cao jing[134] |
|
cai hu, or chai hu ★材狐, or ● 柴胡 |
chai hu 柴胡 |
Plant: Bupleurum spp. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[135] |
|
mang xiao ● 芒消 |
mang xiao |
Mineral: Mirabilite, Na2SO4·10H2O |
Shen nong ben cao jing[136] |
|
mu zhu ★ 苜蓫 |
gan sui 甘遂 |
Plant: Euphorbia kansui S.L.Liou ex S.B.Ho |
Shen nong ben cao jing[137] |
|
wei rui ●葳蕤 |
wei rui |
Plant: Polygonatum odoratum (Mill.) Druce |
Wu pu ben cao[138] |
|
shi dan ● 石膽 |
shi dan |
Mineral: blue vitriol, mainly CuSO4·5H2O |
Shen nong ben cao jing[139] |
|
tao ren ★ 逃人 |
tao ren 桃仁 |
Plant: kernels of Prunus persica (L.) Batsch or Prunus davidiana (CarriŠre) Franch. |
Ben cao jing ji zhu[140] |
|
zhu yu ● 茱萸 |
zhu yu |
Plants: Evodia spp. |
Wu shi er bing fang |
|
wang cao ● 菵草 |
wang cao |
Plant: Beckmannia syzigachne (Steud.) Fernald |
Zhou hou bei ji fang |
|
li lu ● 藜蘆 |
li lu |
Plants: Veratrum spp. |
Wu shi er bing fang[143] |
|
ye gan ○ 野干 |
ye gan 射干 |
Plant: Belamcanda chinensis (L.) Redouté; or an animal |
Shen nong ben cao jing[144] |
|
lang dang ● 莨菪 |
lang dang zi 莨菪子 |
Plant: Hyoscyamus niger L. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[145] |
|
chi shi ● 赤石 |
chi shi zhi 赤石脂 |
Mineral: Red halloysit, mainly Al4[(OH)8/(Si4O10]·4H2O |
Shen nong ben cao jing[146] |
|
qing xiang ○ 青箱 |
qing xiang zi 青葙子 |
Plant: Celosia argentea L. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[147] |
|
jue ming ● 決明 |
jue ming zi 決明子 |
Plant: Senna obtusifolia (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby or Senna tora (L.) Roxb. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[148] |
|
juan bai ○ 卷百 |
juan bai |
Plant: Selaginella tamariscina (P. Beauv.) Spring |
Shen nong ben cao jing[149] |
|
hou po ● 厚朴 |
hou po |
Plant: Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E.H.Wilson or Magnolia officinalis var. biloba Rehder & E.H.Wilson |
Shen nong ben cao jing[150] |
|
zhi zhu ● 躑躅 |
yang zhi zhu 羊躑躅 |
Plant: Rhododendron molle G.Don |
Shen nong ben cao jing[151] |
|
jun qian ○ 君前 |
jun qian zi 君迁子 |
Plant: Diospyros lotus L. |
Ben cao shi yi |
|
mai men ● 麥門 |
mai men dong 麥門冬 |
Plant: Ophiopogon japonicus (Thunb.) Ker Gawl. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[153] |
|
cong rong ● 蓯蓉 |
rou cong rong 肉蓯蓉 |
Plant: Cistanche deserticola Y.C.Ma |
Shen nong ben cao jing[154] |
|
long chi ● 龍齒 |
long chi |
Animal: Teeth of fossil animals |
Shen nong ben cao jing[155] |
|
lang ya ● 狼牙 |
lang ya |
Plant: Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[156] |
|
jie geng ● 桔梗 |
jie geng |
Plant: Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.) A.DC. |
Yang sheng fang |
|
zhi ke ● 枳殼 |
zhi ke |
Plant: Citrus aurantium L. |
Lei gong pao zhi lun |
|
zhi zi ○ 之子 |
zhi zi 梔子 |
Plant: Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis |
Shen nong ben cao jing[159] |
|
xing li ○ 行李 |
che xia li 車下李 |
Plant: Prunus japonica Thunb. |
Wu pu ben cao[160] |
|
ba shu ○ 巴蜀 |
ba shu 巴菽 |
Plant: Croton tiglium L. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[161] |
|
huo xiang ○ 藿鄉 |
huo xiang 藿香 |
Plant: Agastache rugosa (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Kuntze |
Ben cao jing ji zhu[162] |
|
wu gong ○ 蜈公 |
wu gong 蜈蚣 |
Animal: Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans L. Koch |
Lei gong pao zhi lun[163] |
|
bei mu ● 貝母 |
bei mu |
Plant: Fritillaria spp. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[164] |
|
jin ya ● 金牙 |
jin ya |
Mineral: A kind of mineral |
Ben cao jing ji zh [165] |
|
you zi ○ 友子 |
you zi |
Plant: Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr. |
Ben cao jing ji zh [166] |
|
liu ji nu ● 劉寄奴 |
liu ji nu |
Plant: Artemisia anomala S.Moore |
Lei gong pao zhi lun [167] |
|
xu chang qing ● 徐長卿 |
xu chang qing |
Plant: Cynanchum paniculatum (Bunge) Kitag. ex H.Hara |
Shen nong ben cao jing [168] |
|
xiang he ○ 蘘河 |
xiang he |
Plant: Zingiber mioga (Thunb.) Roscoe |
Ben cao jing ji zhu [169] |
|
han shui ● 寒水 |
han shui shi 寒水石 |
Mineral: A kind of mineral |
Wu pu ben cao [170] |
|
duan xu ● 斷續 |
xu duan 續斷 |
Plant: Dipsacus asper Wall. ex C.B. Clarke |
Shen nong ben cao jing [171] |
|
piao yao ● 飄颻 |
sang piao xiao 桑螵蛸(?) |
Animal: Mantis egg sheaths |
Shen nong ben cao jing [172] |
|
heng shan ● 恒山 |
heng shan |
Plant: Dichroa febrifuga Lour. |
Shen nong ben cao jing [173] |
|
shi gao ● 石膏 |
shi gao |
Mineral: gypsum, mainly CaSO4·2H2O |
Yang sheng fang [174] |
|
ba ji ● 巴戟 |
ba ji tian 巴戟天 |
Plant: Morinda officinalis F.C.How |
Shen nong ben cao jing [175] |
|
kuan dong ● 款冬 |
kuan dong hua 款冬花 |
Plant: Tussilago farfara L. |
Shen nong ben cao jing [176] |
|
zhong ru ● 鍾乳 |
shi zhong ru 石鍾乳 |
Mineral: Stalactite, mainly CaCO3 |
Shen nong ben cao jing [177] |
|
ban xia ● 半夏 |
ban xia |
Plant: Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Makino |
Wu shi er bing fang [178] |
|
yu jin ● 鬱金 |
yu jin |
Plants: Curcuma spp. |
Yao xing lun |
|
xiong qiong ● 芎窮 |
xiong qiong |
Plant: Ligusticum striatum DC. |
Shen nong ben cao jing[180] |
|
yang chi ● 羊齒 |
yang chi |
Animal: goat teeth |
Ben cao jing ji zhu[181] |
Table 2: Drug Names Needing Adaptation to Fit into the Dialogical Context
|
Drug Name |
Possible Metaphorical Term |
Meaning |
|
wu qie (jia) 仵茄(家) |
wu jia 伍家 |
Wu family |
|
xi xin 細辛 |
xu shen 婿身 |
a lady’s husband |
|
gao liang |
gao liang 膏粱 |
fine food |
|
jiang jie 薑芥 |
jiang jie 將竭 |
[fine food] is about to be exhausted |
|
ze xie 澤瀉 |
ze xie 擇榭 |
select a pavilion |
|
bin lang 檳榔 |
bin lang 賓郎 |
a lady’s husband as a guest |
|
yuan zhi 遠志 |
yuan zhi 遠至 |
come from afar |
|
cai hu (chai hu) 材狐 (柴胡) |
chai hu 豺狐 |
jackals and foxes |
|
mang xiao 芒消 |
wang xiao 亡消 |
die out |
|
mu zhu 苜蓫 |
gan sui 甘遂 |
readily |
|
zhu yu 茱萸 |
xu yu 須臾 |
for a moment |
|
lang dang 莨菪 |
lang dang 浪蕩 |
wander outside |
|
jue ming 決明 |
jue min 絕憫 |
eliminate sorrow |
|
juan bai 卷百 |
juan bai 卷柏 |
(like) Selaginella |
|
mai men 麥門 |
mai men 邁門 |
step to the door |
|
cong rong 蓯蓉 |
cong rong 從容 |
keep calm |
|
lang ya 狼牙 |
lang ya 郎牙 |
[my] husband’s teeth |
|
jie geng 桔梗 |
geng jie 鲠讦 |
straightforwardly disclose |
|
zhi ke 枳殼 |
zhi ke 止渴 |
quench [my] thirst [for your information] |
|
wu gong 蜈公 |
wu gong 吳[伍]公 |
Mr Wu |
|
bei mu 貝母 |
bei wu 卑侮 |
being humiliated |
|
duan xu 斷續 |
duan xu 斷緒 |
threads of feeling break |
|
shi gao 石膏 |
shi gao 石高 |
high rocks |
|
ba ji 巴戟 |
ba ji 拔棘 |
pull thorns [from my body] |
|
kuan dong 款冬 |
kuan dong 款東 |
go eastward |
|
yu jin 鬱金 |
yu jin 玉金 |
jade and gold |
|
xiong qiong 芎窮 |
xiong qiong 凶窮 |
fearful and impoverished |
1 For the content of these manuscripts, see Zhou Shaoliang 周紹良, ed. Yingcang Dunhuang wenxian (Hanwen fojing yiwai bufen) 英藏敦煌文獻(漢文佛經以外部份) Vol.1 (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1990), pp.123–29; Song Jiayu 宋家鈺, ed. Ibid., Vol.11, p.14; Shanghai guji chubanshe and Faguo guojia tushuguan 上海古籍出版社, 法國國家圖書館, eds Faguo guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian 法國國家圖書館藏敦煌西域文獻, Vol.18 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2001), pp.246–49; Ibid., Vol.22), Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2002), p.176. S.328, S.6331, P.2794V and P.3213 contain 373, 13, 132 and 28 lines respectively.
2 Arthur Waley, Ballads and Stories from Tun-huang: An Anthology (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1960), pp.25–52; Victor H. Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp.123–65.
3 Zhou Shaoliang, ed. Yingcang Dunhuang wenxian, Vol.1, p.129.
4 Xiang Da 向達, Tangdai Chang’an yu xiyu wenming 唐代長安與西域文明 (Beijing: Shenghuo dushu xinzhi sanlian shudian, 1957), p.247; Zhang Yongquan 張涌泉, Dunhuang xieben wenxianxue 敦煌寫本文獻學 (Lanzhou: Gansu jiaoyu chubanshe), 2013, pp.572–73.
5 They are:
(A) Lie guo zhuan 列國传 (title for S.328), see, for example, Luo Fuchang 羅福萇, ‘Lundun bowuguan Dunhuang shumu’ 倫敦博物館敦煌書目, Guoli Beijing daxue guoxue jikan 國立北京大學國學季刊 1 (1923): 165. See also Chen Bingkun 陳炳堃, Zuijin sanshi nian Zhongguo wenxue shi 最近三十年中國文學史 (Shanghai: Taipingyang shudian, 1930), p.173. Luo did not give the Stein number for Lie guo zhuan, but indicated that the manuscript on the story of Wu Zixu was incomplete. What he referred to was probably S.328, as the characters lie guo zhuan are clearly written on the back of S.328.
(B) Lie guo zhi can juan 列國志殘卷 (title for S.328), see, for example, Zheng Zhenduo 鄭振鐸, ‘Dunhuang de suwenxue’ 敦煌的俗文學, Xiaoshuo Yuebao 小說月報 3 (1929): 492–94. Zheng Zhenduo probably did not examine the original manuscript, and therefore miswrote the character zhuan 传 (tale) as zhi 志 (record). Nevertheless, he considered that it would be more proper if S.328 was entitled Wu zi xu 伍子胥; meanwhile, he also suspected that the characters lie guo zhi [zhuan] 列國志[传] should be added by a modern editor of Dunhuang manuscripts.
(C) Wu zi xu xiao shuo 伍子胥小說 (title for S.328), see, for example, Xiang Da 向達, ‘Lundun suocang dunhuang juanzi jingyan mulu’ 倫敦所藏敦煌卷子經眼目錄, Tushu jikan 圖書季刊 1(4) (1939): 399. See also Xiang Da, Tangdai Chang’an yu xiyu wenming, pp.198, 241.
(D) Wu zi xu 伍子胥 (Wu Zixu, title for P.2794V and P.3213), see, for example, Liu Fu 劉復, Dunhuang duosuo 敦煌掇瑣 (Beiping: Guoli zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1931–32), pp.2, 57–67.
(E) Wu Zi xu bian Wen 伍子胥變文 (title for S.328, P.2794V and P.3213), see, for example, Liu Xiuye 劉修業, ‘Dunhuangben Wu Zixu Bianwen zhi yanjiu’ 敦煌本伍子胥變文之研究, Dagong bao: tushu fukan 大公報: 圖書副刊 (Ta kung pao: bookman), 3 June 1937 (184): 11; Zhou Shaoliang 周紹良, ed. Dunhuang bianwen huilu 敦煌變文彙錄 (Shanghai: Shanghai chuban gongsi) 1954, pp.295–326.
6 Wang Chongmin 王重民 et al., eds Dunhuang bianwen ji 敦煌變文集 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1957), pp.1–31. Li Shiren doubts the propriety of defining this text as bianwen 變文 (transformation text), see Li Shiren 李時人, ed. Quantang wudai xiaoshuo 全唐五代小說, Book 4 (Xi’an: Shan’xi renmin chubanshe), 1998, p.2483.
7 Rong Xinjiang 榮新江, ‘Yingcang Dunhuang wenxian dingming shangbu’ 《英藏敦煌文獻》定名商補, Wenshi 文史 52 (2000): 116–17. Cf. Rong Xinjiang, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang (trans. Imre Galambos) (Leiden: Brill, 2013), p.489. Nevertheless, there are still publications unaware of ‘Lie guo zhuan’ as a modern title and treating it the original title of S.328, see, for example, Yan Tingliang 顏廷亮, ed. Dunhuang wenxue gailun 敦煌文學概論 (Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe, 1993), p.67.
8 Victor H. Mair, T’ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China (Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1989), pp.36–72.
9 Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.12.
10 Wang Chongmin 王重民, Dunhuang guji xulu 敦煌古籍敘錄 (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1958), p.336; Wang Weiqin 王偉琴, Dunhuang bianwen zuoshi zuozhe kaolun 敦煌變文作時作者考論 (PhD diss. Lanzhou: xibei shifan daxue, 2009), pp.44–45.
11 Zhou Shaoliang, ed. Yingcang Dunhuang wenxian (Hanwen fojing yiwai bufen) Vol.1, p.124; Faguo guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian Vol.18, p.247. See also Wang Shumin, ‘Abstracts of the Medical Manuscripts from Dunhuang,’ in eds Vivienne Lo and Christopher Cullen, Medieval Chinese Medicine: The Dunhuang Medical Manuscripts (London: Routledge, 2005), p.431. Wang misrecords the catalogue numbers S.328 and P.2794V as S.3281 and P.2794.
12 For the image of Wu Zixu in pre-modern Chinese literature, see Nemoto Makoto 根本誠, ‘Chūgoku bungaku no ichitokuchō (Ue): Go Shisho henbun no jinbutsu byōsha no genkaisei’ 中國文学の一特徴(上): 伍子胥變文の人物描寫の限界性, Tōyō bungaku kenkyū 東洋文学研究 14 (1966): 7–16; Nemoto Makoto 根本誠, ‘Chūgoku bungaku no ichitokuchō (shita): Go Shisho henbun no jinbutsu byōsha no genkaisei’ 中國文学の一特徴(下): 伍子胥變文の人物描寫の限界性, Tōyō bungaku kenkyū 東洋文学研究 15 (1967)): 38–49; David Johnson, ‘The Wu Tzu-hsü Pien-wen and Its Sources: Part I’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 40.1 (1980): 93–156; David Johnson, ‘The Wu Tzu-hsü Pien-wen and its Sources: Part II,’ Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 40.2 (1980): 465–505; Zhang Ruifen 張瑞芬, Wu Zixu bianwen jiqi gushi zhi yanjiu 伍子胥變文及其故事之研究 (MA thesis, Taipei: Zhongguo wenhua daxue, 1986); Gu Yongxin 顧永新, ‘Wu Zixu gushi congkao’ 伍子胥故事叢考, Guoxue Yanjiu 國學研究 10 (2002): 237–74; Huang Yaping 黃亞平, ‘Wu Zixu gushi de yanbian—shizhuan xitong yu dunhuang bianwen wei daibiao de minjian xitong de duibi’ 伍子胥故事的演變—史傳系統與敦煌變文爲代表的民間系統的對比, Dunhuang yanjiu 敦煌研究 2 (2003): 93–96; Wu Enpei 吳恩培, ed. Wu Zixu shiliao xinbian 伍子胥史料新編 (Yangzhou: Guangling shushe, 2007).
13 Ma Jixing 馬繼興, ed. Dunhuang guyiji kaoshi 敦煌古醫籍考釋 (Nanchang: Jiangxi kexue jishu chubanshe, 1988), pp.501–503; Cong Chunyu 叢春雨, ed. Dunhuang Zhongyiyao Quanshu 敦煌中醫藥全書 (Beijing: zhongyi guji chubanshe, 1994), pp.716–20; Ma Jixing 馬繼興 et al., eds Dunhuang Yiyao wenxian Jijiao 敦煌醫藥文獻輯校 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1998), pp.772–78; Ma Jixing 馬繼興, Zhongguo chutu guyishu kaoshi yu yanjiu 中國出土古醫書考釋與研究 (Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, 2015), pp.943–44; Yuan Renzhi 袁仁智 and Pan Wen 潘文, eds Dunhuang yiyao wenxian zhenji shilu 敦煌醫藥文獻真跡釋錄 (Beijing: Zhongyi guji chubanshe, 2015), pp.495–96.
14 For example, see Chen Zengyue 陳增岳, Dunhuang guyiji jiaozheng 敦煌古醫籍校證 (Guangdong keji chubanshe, 2008), p.12.
15 For example, see Yu Xiaowen 聿小文, ‘Tantan yaomingshi, jianquan Wu Zixu bianwen zhong de yaomingshi’ 談談藥名詩, 兼詮《伍子胥變文》中的藥名詩, Zhongyi jiaoyu 中醫教育 2 (1985): 66–69; Zhu Hongjie 祝鴻傑 and Chu Liangcai 褚良才, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yao-mingshi yigu’ 《伍子胥變文》藥名詩臆詁, in eds Hangzhou daxue guji yanjiusuo 杭州大學古籍研究所 et al., Dunhuang yuyan wenxue lunwenji 敦煌語言文學論文集 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe, 1988), pp.213–23; Fan Xinjun 範新俊, ‘Dunhuang ‘bianwen’ zhong de yaomingshi’ 敦煌‘變文’中的藥名詩, Yiguwen Zhishi 醫古文知識 3 (2004): 19; Yin Zhanhua 尹占華, Tangsong wenxue yu wenxian conggao 唐宋文學與文獻叢稿 (Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 2013), pp.592–96; Song Shugong 宋書功, Xinlin manlu 杏林漫錄 (Beijing: Zhongyi guji chubanshe, 2014), pp.51–59; Liu Ruiming 劉瑞明, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen de yaoming sanwen xinjiaoshi’ 《伍子胥變文》的藥名散文新校釋, Dunhuang yanjiu 敦煌研究 4 (2016): 70–73.
16 For example, see Wang Chongmin, Dunhuang guji xulu, pp.337–38; Ito Mieko 伊藤美重子, ‘Tonkō shahon go shisho henbun nitsuite: so no gorakusei’ 敦煌写本「伍子胥変文」について: その娯楽性, Ocha Nomizu Joshi daigaku Chūgoku bungaku kaihō お茶の水女子大学中国文学会報31 (2012): 25–40.
17 See, for example, Wang Chongmin et al., eds Dunhuang bianwen ji, p.10; Tangsong xiaozu 唐宋小組, ed. Zhongguo wenxue cankao zuopin: Tang Wudai bufen 中國文學參考作品: 唐五代部分 (Changchun: Dongbei shifan daxue hanshou jiaoyuchu, 1958), pp.114–27; Xiang Chu 項楚, Dunhuang bianwen xuanzhu 敦煌變文選注 (Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 1990), pp.29–30; Pan Chonggui 潘重規, Dunhuang bianwen ji xinshu 敦煌變文集新書 (Taipei: Wenjin chubanshe, 1994), p.840; Huang Zheng 黃徵 and Zhang Yongquan 張涌泉, eds Dunhuang bianwen jiaozhu 敦煌變文校注 (Beijing: Zhong-hua shuju, 1997), p.6; Li Shiren, ed. Quantang Wudai xiaoshuo (Book 4), pp.2461–462. For the story of Wu Zixu in a revised and expanded edition of Xiang Chu’s 1989 book, see Xiang Chu 項楚, Dunhuang bianwen xuanzhu 敦煌變文選注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006), pp.41–42.
18 For example, the dialogue in Victor H. Mair’s 1983 English translation of the Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu had been excerpted in an anthology and entitled ‘Poem of Medicine Puns’, see his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, pp.134–36; Anonymous, Victor H. Mair (trans.) ‘Poem of Medicine Puns,’ in ed. Victor H. Mair, The Shorter Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), pp.281–83.
19 For example, see Liu Ruiming, ‘Wu zixu bianwen de yaoming sanwen xinjiaoshi’, p.70; Xiang Chu, Dunhuang bianwen xuanzhu (2006 revision), p.45.
20 For this idea, see Wang Wei 王偉, Tangsong yaomingshi yanjiu 唐宋藥名詩研究 (MA thesis, Hangzhou: Zhejiang Daxue, 2010, pp.1, 69–75. Cf. Liu Xinyue 劉辛悅 and Zhang Jian 張戩, ‘Yaomingshi shihua’ 藥名詩史話, Zhongyiyao wenhua 中醫藥文化 13.3 (2018): 52–58. Nonetheless, Wang’s thesis well characterises the evolution of Tang and Song drug poems.
21 The character shi 詩 (poem) in P.2794V is absent in S.328.
22 The character shi 仕 (to be an official) in S.328 is written as shi 是 (be/correct) in P.2794V. In existing major collated versions of WZXBW it is common to see punctuation between xi xin 細辛 and zao shi 早仕, see, for example, Wang Chongmin et al., eds Dunhuang bianwen ji, p.10; Pan Chonggui, Dunhuang bianwen ji xin shu, p.840; Huang Zheng and Zhang Yongquan, eds Dunhuang bianwen jiao zhu, p.29; Li Shiren, ed. Quantang Wudai xiaoshuo, p.2461; Xiang Chu, Dunhuang bianwen xuanzhu (2006 revision), p.41. But in this case the following sentence lacks a subject. For this reason there are also some scholars who propose punctuation between zhi fu 之婦 and xi xin 細辛. See, for example, Zheng Zhenduo, ‘Dunhuang De Suwenxue’, p.493; Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, p.214; Yin Zhanhua, Tangsong wenxue yu wenxian conggao, p.592.
23 The character li 禮 (rite) is written as li 礼 (a variant form of li 禮) in both S.328 and P.2794V.
24 The characters shi 使 (make) and xian 閑 (emptily) in S.328 are written as qian 遣 (dispatch) and xian 闲 (emptily, a variant form of xian 閑) in P.2794V.
25 The character lian 憐 (pity) in S.328 is written as 
in P.2794V, which seems to be the character lin 隣, a variant form of lin 鄰 (neighbour). I agree with some scholars who consider lin 隣 more in line with the context, see Guo Zaiyi 郭在貽 et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’ 《伍子胥變文》校補, Wenshi 文史 32 (1990): 232.
26 The character yang 仰 (look up) is missing in P.2794V.
27 The character zhi 志 (ambition) in S.328 is written as chu 處 (place) in P.2794V.
28 The characters cai hu 材狐 (wood and fox) in S.328 are written as chai gu 犲孤 (jackal and solitude) in P.2794V. According to the sense of this sentence, gu 孤 is likely a miswritten character.
29 The character mu 苜 (clover) in S.328 is written as qian 潜 (hide) in P.2794V. Some scholars state that the character zhu 蓫 in S.328 is written as 
in P.2794V, see Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, pp.232–33. My own examination negates this statement.
30 Here the character rui 蕤 (drooping leaves) is originally written as 
in S.328. The latter is a vulgar form of the character rui 蕤. See Huang Zheng 黃徵, Dunhuang suzi Dian 敦煌俗字典 (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe, 2005), p.342. But in P.2794V the characters wei rui 葳蕤 (luxuriant) are unrecognisably written as 
, the structures of which obviously do not resemble that of wei rui 葳蕤.
31 The character dan 膽 (gallbladder) in S.328 is written as the obscure and unidentifiable character 
in P.2794V.
32 The character xing 刑 (punishment) in S.328 is written as xing 形 (shape) in P.2794V. Only xing 形 makes sense in this line. It also corresponds to the character ying 影 in the following line. The character wang 菵 (a kind of grass growing on farmland) is originally written as 
in S.328 and 
in P.2794V, which are actually variant forms of wang 菵, see Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu Bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, p.216; Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.233. Previously it was considered jun 菌 (fungus), yin 茵 (mattress) or mang 莽 (rash), see, for example, Wang Chongmin et al., eds Dunhuang Bianwen Ji, p.10; Jiang Shaoyu 蔣紹愚,‘Dunhuang bianwen ji (Shangce)’ Jiaobu《敦煌變文集》(上冊)校補 [Book 1], in Dunhuang yuyan wenxue lunwenji, p.106; Yuan Renzhi and Pan Wen, eds Dunhuang yiyao wenxian zhenji shilu, p.495.
33 The character li 藜 (goosefoot) in S.328 is written as 
in P.2794V, which is a variant form of li 黎 (multitude).
34 The character chen 趁 (take advantage of) is written as chen 趂 in S.328 and P.2794V, which is a variant form of the former character. The character gan 干 (dry, etc.) in S.328 is written as 
, which resembles the character yu 于.
35 The characters fu lang 夫莨 are originally written as lang fu 莨夫 in S.328, with the mark ‘✓’ made besides the character fu 夫. In Dunhuang manuscripts this mark means changing the sequence of this and the preceding characters, see Li Zhengyu 李正宇, ‘Dunhuang yishu zhong de biaodian fuhao’ 敦煌遺書中的標點符號, Wenshi zhishi 文史知識 8 1988: 98. A few authors claim that there is a lack of the stroke ‘丶’ in the character dang 菪, see Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.233. But after examining the original manuscripts S.328 and P.2794V I find that their comment is incorrect.
36 The characters yi lei 憶淚 (memory and tears) in S.328 are written as lei yi 淚憶 in P.2794V, with the mark ‘✓’ made besides the character yi 憶. This means the transcriber of P.2794V realised the sequence should be yi lei 憶淚.
37 The character ye 夜 (night) in S.328 is written as ye 野 (wild) in P.2794V. In P.2794V there is the character qiong 窮 (poor) between ye 野 and qin 寢 (sleep), with the mark 
(resembling the character bu 卜) made beside qiong 窮. In Dunhuang manuscripts this mark means the neighbouring character is redundant. See Li Zhengyu, ‘Dunhuang yishu zhong de biaodian fuhao’, p.98. The character jue 決 (determine) is written as jue 决 in both S.328 and P.2794V, which is a variant form of ‘jue 決’.
38 The character bai 百 (hundred) in S.328 is written as bai 栢 (cypress) in P.2794V.
39 The character xu 婿 (husband) is originally written as xu 𦕓 in S.328 and xu 聟 in P.2794V, which are variant forms of xu 婿. The character mai 麥 (wheat) is originally written as mai 麦 in both S.328 and P.2794V, which is a variant form of mai 麥.
40 The character yuan 願 (willing) in P.2794V is written as yuan 𩔊 in S.328, which is a variant form of yuan 願. The character ke 殼 (hull) is originally written as 
in S.328 and 
in P.2794V; the latter two characters, though difficult to identify as existing characters, generally treated as ke 殼 in current collated editions of WZXBW without giving reasons.
41 The character xu 胥 is originally written as xu 𦙃 in both S.328 and P.2794V, which is a variant form of xu 胥.
42 The character jia 家 (family) in S.328 is written as qie 茄 (eggplant) in P.2794V.
43 The character yi 亦 (also) in S.328 is absent in P.2794V.
44 The character sheng 生 (born) in S.328, which is absent in P.2794V, is written between but near the middle of the characters nai 乃 (be) and yu 於 (in). Clearly it was added later, after transcription.
45 The character huo 藿 (Agastache) in S.328 is written as huo 霍 (suddenly) in P.2794V.
46 The characters sheng ju 生居 are originally written as ju sheng 居生 in S.328, with the mark ‘✓’ made besides the character sheng 生.
47 The character bao 寶 (treasure) in S.328 is written as bin 賓 (guest) in P.2794V.
48 The character you 友 (friend) is originally written as 
in S.328 and zhi 之 in P.2794V. The character is generally identified as zhi 支 (branch). See, for example, Wang Chongmin et al., eds Dunhuang bianwen ji, p.10; Xiang Chu 項楚, Xiangchu Dunhuang yuyan wenxue lunji 項楚敦煌語言文學論集 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2011), p.162. Compared with the vulgar forms of zhi 支, it is more like a vulgar form of you 友, see Huang Zheng, Dunhuang suzi dian, p.511. Cf. Huang Zheng, Dunhuang suzi dian, p.551. As a result, you zi 友子 means ‘support [his] son’ (here, you means support or help), or can be understood as a pun on you zi 柚子 (pomelo).
49 The characters ji 寄 (post/entrust) and yu 余 (I) in S.328 are written as yi 以 (by means of) and yu 餘 (surplus) in P.2794V. The character peng 朋 is written as 
in S.328 and 
in P.2794V, which are not yong 用 (use) but variant forms of peng 朋.
50 The character zhi 之 in S.328 is absent in P.2794V. The character you 友 (friend) is originally written as 
in S.328 and 
in P.2794V, which resemble the vulgar forms of you 友 (see above).
51 The character gong 共 (together) in P.2794V is absent in S.328.
52 The character bei 被 (by) in S.328 is written as bi 彼 (there) in P.2794V. The character ni 
(silt, a variant form of ni 泥) in S.328, following bei 被 (by) and preceding han 寒 (cold), is absent in P.2794V. Some scholars consider ni 泥 is a character the transcriber forgot to delete. See Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.233.
53 The character er 二 (two) in P.2794V is written as san 三 (three) in S.328. According to the meaning of the sentence, it should be er 二, see Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.233.
54 The character yao 颻 (drift in the air) in S.328 is written as piao 飄 (wave in the air) in P.2794V.
55 The characters pi 披 (split) and ba 巴 in S.328 are written as bi 彼 (there) and yi 已 (already) in P.2794V.
56 The character chai 柴 (firewood) in P.2794V is written as lang 狼 (wolf) in S.328. The former character is more consistent with the meaning of the sentence, see Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.234.
57 The character yi 意 (intention) in S.328 is written as yi 憶 (recall) in P.2794V. I disagree with a few scholars who think that the character yi 憶 is more probable, see Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.234. The character kuan 款 is written as kuan 欵 in both S.328 and P.2794V, which is a variant form of kuan 款.
58 The character feng 逢 (encounter) is written as feng 逄 in both S.328 and P.2794V, which is a variant form of feng 逢.
59 The character liu 留 (stay; originally written in its variant form liu 㽞) in S.328 is written as liu 流 (flow) in P.2794V.
60 The character yu 鬱 is originally written as 
in S.328 and 
in P.2794V, which are vulgar forms of yu 鬱. See Huang Zheng, Dunhuang suzi dian, p.520.
61 The character yuan 願 (would like) in P.2794V is written as yuan 𩔊 in S.328, which is a variant form of yuan 願.
62 MC refers to modern Chinese pronunciation, and LMC refers to Late Middle Chinese pronunciation. For the LMC pronunciations, see Edwin G. Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1991), pp.143, 253, 325.
63 For the LMC pronunciations, see ibid., pp.44, 47, 126.
64 The literatus Ren Fang 任昉 (460–508) recorded a plant called xuan chang cao 懸腸草 (also known as si zi man 思子蔓 or li bie cao 离别草), which seems to match xuan chang 懸腸 but unfortunately was not a medicinal plant. See Ren Fang 任昉, Shuyi Ji 述異記 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1985), p.23. Yin Zhanhua considers that xuan chang 懸腸 in the dialogue refers to duan chang cao 斷腸草. See Yin Zhanhua, Tangsong Wenxue Yu wenxian Conggao, p.595. But the pronunciation, structures and senses of the characters xuan [MC]/xɦjyan [LMC] 懸 and duan [MC]/tɦuan [LMC] 斷 are not the same or similar. For the LMC pronunciations of the two characters, see Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.83, 350.
65 For examples of referring to Bencao gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) as evidence of drug use, see Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, p.222; Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.233.
66 Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.275.
67 Cf. Wang Wei, Tangsong Yaomingshi Yanjiu, pp.19–22.
68 Victor H. Mair contributes much to identi-fying the drug names in this Dunhuang story of Wu Zixu. But his identifications of, for example, jian peng 賤朋, gui you 貴友 and qi yi 其意 are somewhat far-fetched. See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, pp.278–79.
69 Zhao Kuifu 趙逵夫, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen bujiao shiyi’ 《伍子胥變文》補校拾遺, Tangdai wenxue yanjiu 唐代文學研究 4 (1993): 44.
70 For Middle Chinese pronunciation of the character 射 in 射干, see, for example, Tao Hongjing 陶弘景, ‘Caomu Xiapin’ 草木下品, in eds Shang Zhijun 尚志鈞 and Shang Yuansheng 尚元勝, Bencao jing jizhu 本草經集注 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1994), p.347; Su Song 蘇頌, ‘Caobu Xiapin’ 草部下品, in ed. Shang Zhijun 尚志鈞, Bencao Tujing 本草圖經 (Hefei: Anhui kexue jishu chubanshe, 1994), p.263. There are also contemporary publications that misrecord the pronunciation of 射干 as she gan. See, for example, Song Liren 宋立人, ed. Zhonghua bencao 中華本草 Book 8 (Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, 1999), p.256. Cf. Ma Jixing, ed. Dunhuang guyiji kaoshi, p.502. For the LMC pronunciations, see Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.279, 363–64.
71 Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, p.221.
72 For example, see Chen Jingyi 陳景沂, ‘Shu Bu’ 蔬部, in eds Cheng Jie 程傑 and Wang Sanmao 王三毛, Quanfang beizu 全芳備祖 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe, 2014), p.1191.
73 For example, see Li Shizhen 李時珍, Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1979), pp.1670–671. I have reservations about Li’s idea which equates piao yao cao 漂摇草 with qiao yao 翘摇, an edible plant having entered Chinese materia medica no later than the Tang dynasty. See, for example, Chen Cangqi 陳藏器, ‘Guo Cai Mi Bu’ 果菜米部, in ed. Shang Zhijun 尚志鈞, Bencao shiyi jishi 《本草拾遺》輯釋 (Hefei: Anhui kexue jishu chubanshe, 2002), p.295.
74 For example, see Song Liren 宋立人, ed. Zhong-hua bencao 中華本草, (Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, 1999), pp.686–87. The scientific identification of this plant is also given in this book but it miswrites the character piao 飘 as piao 漂.
75 Wang Jie 王介, Lü Chanyan bencao 履巉岩本草 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 2007), p.37.
76 Yin Zhanhua, tangsong wenxue yu wenxian conggao, p.595. For an early medical record of yi yi 薏苡, see Ma Jixing 馬繼興, ed. Shennong bencao Jing Jizhu 神農本草經輯注 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1995), pp.69–70. In this book there is an entry for yi yi ren 薏苡仁.
77 As far as I know, the word most similar to qi yi 芑薏 is yi qi 薏
, which first appeared in Huangdi Neijing Taisu 黃帝內經太素, but is rarely found in pre-modern Chinese literature. See Yang Shangshan 楊上善, ‘Zhenzang mai xing’ 真藏脈形, in eds Li Keguang 李克光 and Zheng Xiaochang 鄭孝昌, Huangdi neijing taisu jiaozhu 黃帝內經太素校注 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe), 2003, p.434. In this book, the original note to qi 
(a variant form of qi 芑) says the sense of this character is the same as yi 苡.
78 For example, see Yan Huazhi 鄢化志, Zhongguo gudai zatishi tonglun 中國古代雜體詩通論 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2001), pp.61–108; Wang Wei, Tangsong yao-mingshi yanjiu, pp.14–48; Hu Tongqing 胡同慶, ‘Dunhuang Tangsong Shiqi de wenzi youxi jiqi yishu tedian’ 敦煌唐宋時期的文字遊戲及其藝術特點, Shiwu Luntan 史物論壇 12 (2011): 5–21.
79 However, I disagree with Xiang Chu’s 項楚 idea that xiang [MC]/siaŋ [LMC] 箱 and shuang [MC]/ʂaːŋ [LMC] 霜 share a similar pronunciation, so qing xiang 青箱 (green box, often referring to the box used to preserve books, calligraphy works and paintings) is a pun on qing shuang 青霜 (grizzled hair/autumn frost/sword/a kind of gown), see Xiang Chu, Xiangchu Dunhuang yuyan wenxue lunji, pp.161–62. For the LMC pronunciation of the two characters, see Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.290, 337.
80 Sima Qian 司馬遷, Shiji 史記 (Beijing: Zhong-hua shuju, 1999), pp.176, 2287.
81Ge Hong 葛洪, Baopuzi neipian 抱朴子內篇 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1996), p.288.
82 Li Shizhen, Ben cao gang mu, p.822.
83 Shen Yue 沈約, Songshu 宋書 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), p.1.
84 Ren Fang, Shu yi ji, pp.11–12. A fifth-century text also contains a similar record, see Liu Jingshu 劉敬叔, Yiyuan 異苑 (Beijing: Zhong-hua shuju, 1996), p.29.
85 Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276.
86 Zhao Jiadong 趙家棟, ‘Dunhuang bianwen yinan yiyi zici kaoshi 敦煌變文疑難疑義字詞考釋, Liyun yuyan xuekan 勵耘語言學刊 2 (2008): 94–95.
87 Chen Yan 陳言, Sanyin jiyi bingzheng fang-lun 三因極一病症方論 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1957), p.230.
88 For a Tang example of this sense of xing li 行李, see Du Fu 杜甫, ‘Zeng Su Sixi’ 贈蘇四徯, in ed. Qiu Zhao’ao 仇兆鰲, Dushi xiangzhu 杜詩詳注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1999), p.1547.
89 For a Tang example of this sense of xing li 行歷, see Liu Zhiji 劉知幾, ‘Zashuo’ 雜說, in ed. Pu Qilong 浦起龍, Shitong tongshi 史通通釋 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978), p.469.
90 The original text reads: 莨菪不歸鄉, 經今半夏薑. 去他烏頭了, 血傍傍. 他家附子亳[毫]強, 父母依意美. 長短桂心, 日夜思量.’ See Zhang Gong 張弓, ed. Yingcang Dunhuang wenxian (hanwen fojing yiwai bufen) 英藏敦煌文獻(漢文佛經以外部份, Vol.6 (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1992), p.119. The character dang 菪 is originally written as 
, which is probably a variant form of dang 菪. The character tou 頭 is originally written as 
, which is a vulgar form of the character tou 頭. See Huang Zheng, Dunhuang suzi dian, pp.407–408. The character liao 了 is originally written between tou 頭 and xie 血. The second bang 傍 is originally written as 
, which is presumably a repeat mark. See Wang Jingbo 王晶波 et al., ‘Dunhuang wenxian shuxie fuhao de pucha yu fenlei yanjiu’ 敦煌文獻書寫符號的普查與分類研究, Dunhuang yanjiu 敦煌研究 5 (2014): 78. Bo 亳 is probably a miswritten character, which should be the structurally similar character hao 毫. Because the pronunciation of hao [MC]/xɦaw [LMC] 毫 can draw forth the character hao [MC]/xɦaw [LMC] 豪 which, together with the next character qiang 强, means outrageous powers. For the LMC pronunciation of the two characters, see Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.120–21.
91 For example, see Gao Guofan 高國藩, Dunhuang quzici xinshang 敦煌曲子詞欣賞 (Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 1989), pp.78–84; Xiang Chu 項楚, Dunhuang geci zongbian kuangbu 敦煌歌辭總編匡補 (Cheng-du: Bashu shushe, 2000), pp.27–28.
92 Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-Djen, Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1: Botany (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp.220–24.
93 Hu Tongqing 胡同慶, ‘Dunhuang Tangsong shiqi de wenzi youxi jiqi yishu tedian’ 敦煌唐宋時期的文字遊戲及其藝術特, Shiwu luntan 史物論壇 12 (2011): 5–21.
94 For example, see Wang Chongmin, Dunhuang guji xulu, p.338.
95 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.465–84; Su Jing 蘇敬 et al., ‘Jifu Qianji’ 輯復前記, in ed. Shang Zhijun 尚志鈞, Xinxiu Bencao 新修本草 (Hefei: Anhui kexue jishu chubanshe, 1981), pp.8–11. Shennong Bencao Jing records 365 medicinal substances. This number corresponds to the days of a year.
96 Zheng Binglin 鄭炳林, ‘Wantang Wudai Dunhuang maoyi shichang de wailai shangpin jikao’ 晚唐五代敦煌貿易市場的外來商品輯考, Zhonghua wenshi luncong 中華文史論叢 63 (2001): 55–91; Zheng Binglin 鄭炳林, ‘Wantang Wudai Dunhuang shangye maoyi shichang yanjiu’ 晚唐五代敦煌商業貿易市場研究, Dunhuangxue jikan 敦煌學輯刊 1 (2004): 103–118.
97 The record on the Dunhuang manuscript P.2583V is an example. See Shanghai guji chubanshe and Faguo guojia tushuguan, eds Faguo guojia tushuguan cang dunhuang xiyu wenxian, Vol.16 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2001), p.119.
98 For a pre-Qin example of drug puns, see Zuoqiu Ming 左丘明, ‘Xuangong shier nian’ 宣公十二年, in eds Du Yu 杜預 and Kong Yingda 孔穎達, Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhengyi 春秋左傳正義 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1999), pp.656–57. Cf. Liao Xiaoming 廖曉明, ‘Zuozhuan yize yinyu fenxi’ 《左傳》一則隱語分析, Xiuci xuexi 修辭學習 1 (1995): 32.
99 Liu Xie 劉勰, ‘Xieyin’ 諧隱, in eds Huang Shulin 黄叔琳 et al., Zengding Wenxin Diaolong jiaozhu 增訂文心雕龍校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), pp.194–204.
100 Lu Qinli 逯欽立, ed. Xianqin Hanweijin Nanbeichao shi 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), pp.1403, 1643, 1950, 1995, 2043.
101 Wang Wei, Tangsong yaomingshi yanjiu, pp.14–33, 79–80.
102 For an example of Tang drug poems, see Peng Dingqiu 彭定求 et al., eds Quan Tangshi 全唐詩 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1999, p.3670.
103 For Tang regulated poetry, see Kao Yu-kung, ‘The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse,’ in eds Shuen-fu Lin and Stephen Owen, The Vitality of the Lyric Voice: Shih Poetry from the Late Han to the T’ang (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp.332–86.
104 Jiang Yan 江淹, Jiang Wentong ji huizhu 江文通集彙注 Hu Zhiji 胡之驥, ed. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), pp.136–65.
105 Yan Huazhi, Zhongguo gudai zatishi tonglun, pp.33–48, 220.
106 Liu Ruiming, ‘Wu zixu bianwen de yaoming sanwen xinjiaoshi’, p.70.
107 For example, see Anonymous, ‘Juaner’ 卷耳, in eds Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 et al., Maoshi zhengyi 毛詩正義 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1999), pp.36–41. Cf. Arthur Waley and Joseph R. Allen, The Book of Songs (New York: Grove Press, 1996), p.7.
108 Fei Zhengang 費振剛 et al., eds Quan Hanfu jiaozhu 全漢賦校注 (Guangzhou: Guangdong jiaoyu chubanshe, 2005), pp.87–116.
109 Paul U. Unschuld, Huang Di nei jing su wen: Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Text, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), p.ix.
110 Ji Zhe 吉哲, Huangdi Neijing Suwen sizi cizu yingyi yanjiu: jiyu yuliaoku de yanjiu 《黃帝內經·素問》四字词組英譯研究——基於語料庫的研究 (Nanjing: Nanjing zhongyiyao daxue, 2007), pp.4–6, 12. For example, see Anonymous, Huangdi Neijing Suwen jiaozhu, pp.2–7. Cf. Paul U. Unschuld and Hermann Tessenow, Huang Di nei jing su wen: An Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic — Basic Questions (Vol.1) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), pp.29–36.
111 Xu Jianping 許建平, ‘Qunjinglei Shijing Zhishu 群經類詩經之屬, in ed. Zhang Yongquan 張湧泉, Dunhuang jingbu wenxian Heji 敦煌經部文獻合集 (Book 2) (Beijing: Zhong-hua Shuju, 2008), pp.421–968; Ma Jixing, Zhongguo chutu guyishu kaoshi yu yanjiu (Book 2), pp.7–12; Li Yingcun 李應存 et al., Eluosi Cang Dunhuang yiyao wenxian shiyao 俄羅斯藏敦煌醫藥文獻釋要 (Lanzhou: Gansu kexue jishu chubanshe, 2008), pp.16–32. See also Xu Jianping 許建平, ‘Dunhuang Shijing xiejuan yanjiu zongshu’ 敦煌《詩經》寫卷研究綜述, Dunhuang yanjiu 敦煌研究 1 (2014): 68–77; Wang Xinglin 王杏林, ‘Guanyu ecang Dunhuang wenxian Дx.2683, Дx.11074 canpian de dingming’ 關於俄藏敦煌文獻Дx.2683, Дx.11074殘片的定名, Dunhuangxue jikan 敦煌學輯刊4 (2010): 105–108.
112 Stephen F. Teiser, ‘Perspective on Readings of the Heart Sūtra: The Perfection of Wisdom and the Fear of Buddhism,’ in eds Pauline Yu et al., Ways with Words: Writing about Reading Texts from Early China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), p.139. See also Stephen F. Teiser, The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003), p.167.
113 Shanghai guji chubanshe and Faguo guojia tushuguan, eds Faguo guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian, Vol.18, pp.242–46.
114 Neil Schmid, ‘Tun-huang Literature,’ in Victor H. Mair, ed. The Columbia History of Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp.964–88.
115 Jan Nattier, A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods (Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka Univesity, 2008), pp.4, 17, 51–52, 95, 119, 128–32, 151. See also Wang Jihong 王繼紅, ‘Xuanzang yijing siyan wenti de goucheng fangfa——yi api damo jushe lun fanhan duikan weili’ 玄奘譯經四言文體的構成方法——以《阿毗達磨俱舍論》梵漢對勘爲例, Zhongguo wenhua yanjiu 中國文化研究 2 (2006): 88–95.
116 Wu Haiyong 吳海勇, ‘Hanyi Fojing Sizi Wenti Chengyin Chuyi’ 漢譯佛經四字文體成因芻議, Qinghai Shehui Kexue 青海社會科學 4 (1999): 77–81; Yan Qiamao 顏洽茂 and 荊亞玲 Jing Yaling, ‘Shilun Hanyi Fodian Siyange Wenti De Xingcheng Ji Yingxiang’ 試論漢譯佛典四言格文體的形成及影響, Zhejiang Daxue Xuebao (Renwen Shehui Kexueban) 浙江大學學報(人文社會科學版) 5 (2008): 177–85.
117 Sun Yan 孫豔, ‘Fojing Fanyi Yu Hanyu Sizige De Fazhan’ 佛經翻譯與漢語四字格的發展, Zhongyang Minzu Daxue Xuebao (Zhexue Shehui Kexueban) 中央民族大學學報(哲學社會科學版) 1 (2005): 120–25.
118 The former sense (reside) of sheng ju 生居 is easy to understand. For Tang and earlier examples of the latter sense (living) of sheng ju, see Sima Qian, Shi ji, p.1986; Ouyang Xun 歐陽詢, ‘Pin’ 貧, in ed Wang Shaoying 汪紹楹, Yiwen Leiju 藝文類聚 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982), p.627.
119 Hong Xingzu 洪興祖, Chuci Buzhu 楚辭補注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), pp.54–84.
120 David Hawkes, ‘The Quest of the Goddess,’ in eds John Minford and Siu-kit Wong, Classical, Modern, and Humane: Essays in Chinese Literature (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1989), p.127.
121 David R. Knechtges and Taiping Chang, eds Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide Part One (Leiden: Brill, 2010), pp.720–21.
122 Wang Bo 王勃, ‘Qiuri Deng Hongfu Tengwangge Jianbie Xue’ 秋日登洪府滕王閣餞別序, in ed. Jiang Qingyi 蔣清翊, Wang Zi’an Ji Zhu 王子安集注 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995), pp.229–35. Cf. Kang-i Sun Chang and Stephen Owen, eds The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Vol.1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p.300. For an English translation of the Preface, see Timothy Wai Keung Chan, ‘Dedication and Identification in Wang Bo’s Compositions on The Gallery of Prince Teng,’ Monumenta Serica 50.1 (2002): 215–55.
123 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing Jizhu, pp.130–31.
124 Ibid., pp.74–75.
125 Ibid., pp.161–62. I disagree with Mair, who separates the characters yu liang 於梁 and identifies them as yu 榆 (elm) and liang 粱 (Setaria italica, or spiked millet) respectively. See Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276. In my opinion yu yu liang 禹餘粮 is more probable than yu 榆 and liang 粱.
126 Sun Simiao 孫思邈, ‘Jiuli’ 酒醴, in eds Li Jingrong 李景榮 et al., Beiji Qianjin Yaofang Jiaoshi 備急千金要方校釋 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1998), p.176. For an earlier record of wines in Chinese medical texts, though using the word lao li 醪醴 (wines) rather than jiu li 酒醴 (wines). See Anonymous, ‘Tangye Laoli Lunpian’ 湯液醪醴論篇, in ed. Guo Aichun 郭靄春Huangdi Neijing Suwen Jiaozhu 黃帝內經素問校注 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1992), pp.187–89. Cf. Paul U. Unschuld and Hermann Tessenow, Huang Di nei jing su wen: An Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic — Basic Questions, Vol.1, pp.233–34.
127 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing Jizhu, pp.199–200.
128 Ibid., pp.64–65.
129 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing Jizhu, p.313. Mair mentions such an identification, though he thinks that gao liang 
莨 more probably stands for shu liang 薯莨 (a dark brown dye for silk). See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276.
130 Wu Pu 吳普, ‘Cailei’ 菜類, in ed. Shang Zhijun 尚志鈞, Wu Pu Bencao 吳普本草 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1987), p.80. In Wu’s book jiang jie 薑芥 is another name of jia su 假蘇. Mair separates the characters jiang jie 薑芥, and identifies jie 芥 as mustard. See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276. I do not object to this identification, but I am inclined to avoid separating characters and treating individual characters as (abbreviated) drug names, otherwise identifications would be too casual.
131 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.70–72.
132 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.303–304.
133 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.72–73.
134 Ibid., pp.114–15. This identification is made by Yin Zhanhua in Tangsong wenxue yu wen-xian conggao, p.593. Yin does not give a specific explanation, but it is not difficult to find that literally wu 無 (non-existence/not) corresponds to bu liu 不留 (leave nothing/do not stay), and dao 道 (way/road) is closely related to xing 行 (walk/proceed). Earlier than Yin, Fan Xinjun proposed a very similar identification, which related wang wu 王無 (rather than wang wu dao 王無道) to wang bu liu xing 王不留行. See Fan Xinjun, ‘Dunhuang ‘bianwen’ zhong de yaomingshi’, p.19. Zhu and Chu consider that wu dao [MC]/ʋjyə tɦaw [LMC] 無道 refers to hu tao [MC]/xɦuə tɦaw [LMC] 胡桃. See Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, p.215. But the pronunciation and structure of wu [MC]/ʋjyə [LMC] 無 is not close to hu [MC]/xɦuə [LMC] 胡. See Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.126, 325. deems that wu dao [MC]/ʋjyə tɦaw [LMC] 無道 stands for wu tou [MC]/ʔuə tɦəw [LMC] 烏頭 (Chinese aconite). See Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276. See also Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.73, 311, 325. This is another possible identification of wu dao 無道, entirely based on pronunciation.
135 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.61–62.
136 Ibid., pp.156–57. In this book, mang xiao 芒消 is another name for xiao shi 消石.
137 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, p.350. There are two different identifications of mu zhu 苜蓫: mu xu 苜蓿 (Medicago sativa L.) or gan sui 甘遂 (Euphorbia kansui S.L.Liou ex S.B.Ho). See, for example, Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, p.215; Yin Zhanhua, Tangsong wenxue yu wenxian conggao, p.593; Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276; Xiang Chu, Xiangchu Dunhuang Yuyan Wenxue Lunji, p.161. Here I adopt gan sui 甘遂, whose character structure resemble those of mu zhu 苜蓫. I abandon mu xu 苜蓿 because there is no pronounced or structural similarity between the characters zhu 蓫 and xu 蓿. A few scholars also doubt the suitability of xu 蓿 for zhu 蓫. See Guo Zaiyi et al., ‘Wu Zixu bianwen jiaobu’, p.233.
138 Wu Pu , Wu Pu Bencao, p.15. In this book wei rui 葳蕤 is another name of wei wei 委萎.
139 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.404–405.
140 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, p.51. In this collated version of the book, the character ren 仁 in tao ren 桃仁 is written as ren 人, though the collators also know of it being written as ren 仁 in some other historical versions of the book. In the earlier book Shennong Bencao Jing, there is an entry of tao he ren 桃核仁 (kernel of the peach stone). See Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing Jizhu, p.396.
141 In the excavated Han medical text Wushier bingfang, the word zhu yu 朱臾 is considered to refer to zhu yu 茱萸. See Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu 馬王堆漢墓帛書整理小組, ed. Wushier bingfang 五十二病方 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1979), p.71. In Shennong Bencao Jing, there are entries for wu zhu yu 吳茱萸 and shan zhu yu 山茱萸. See Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao jing jizhu, pp.263–64, 273–74.
142 Ge Hong 葛洪, Zhouhou beijifang 肘後備急方 (Changsha: Yuelu shushe, 1994), p.96. I disagree with Mair, who identifies it as yin [chen] cao 茵[蔯]草 (Artemisia capillaris, or absinthin), as Mair bases his identification on the misrecognised word jun cao 菌草. See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.276.
143 In Wushier bingfang, the word li lu 黎卢 is considered to refer to li lu 藜. See Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu, ed. Wushier bingfang, 1979, p.109. In Shennong Bencao Jing, there is an entry of li lu 藜蘆, see Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing Jizhu, pp.342–43.
144 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.345–46. The word ye gan 野干 often appears as a kind of beast in Buddhist Sutras. See, for example, Nāgārjuna; Kumārajīva (trans.), ‘Da Zhidu Lun’ 大智度論, in ed. Zhonghua dazangjing bianjiju 中華大藏經編輯局 Zhonghua dazangjing (hanwen bufen) 中華大藏經(漢文部分), Book 25 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987), p.352. Some scholars think that ye gan 野干 here does not refer to the medicinal plant ye gan 射干 but should be the beast ye gan 射干 (in the Buddhist context). See Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, pp.216–17. Understanding ye gan 野干 as a beast helps to make sense of the sentence, but ye gan 射干 in some ancient Chinese texts also refers to a beast. See, for example, Sima Xiangru 司馬相如, ‘Zixu Fu’ 子虛賦, in ed. Xiao Tong 蕭統, Wenxuan 文選 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), p.120. Xuan Ying related the beast ye gan 野干 in Buddhist sutras to the beast ye gan 射干 in ancient Chinese texts. See Xuan Ying 玄應, ‘Yegan’ 野干, in ed. Xu Shiyi 徐時儀, Yiqie Jing Yinyi 一切經音義 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2008), p.133. As a beast, however, either ye gan 野干 or ye gan 射干 has not been treated as a medicinal substance in Buddhist sutras or ancient Chinese texts. Yin contextualises ye gan 野干 in Chinese materia medica and natural history, suggesting that it should be understood as ye gan 射干, which was intentionally used by the author of the drug poem to denote both a medicinal plant and a beast. See Yin Zhanhua, Tangsong Wenxue Yu wenxian Conggao, p.593.
145 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.252–53. The word lang dang 莨菪 (without the character ‘zi 子’) can be found in Bencao Jing jizhu. See Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, p.248.
146 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.168–69.
147 Ibid., pp.352–53.
148 Ibid., pp.102–104.
149 Ibid., pp.88–89.
150 Ibid., pp.270–71. The word hou fu 厚柎 in Wushier Bingfang is considered to refer to hou po 厚朴. See Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu, ed. Wushier Bingfang, p.100.
151 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.361–62.
152 Chen Cangqi, Bencao Shiyi jishi, pp.284–85.
153 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.62–64. In light of the word fu xu 夫婿 preceding mai men 麥門, Mair identifies it as fu xu 夫須, alias xiang fu zi 香附子 (Cyperus rotundus, or nutgrass flatsedge). See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.277. I cannot find Tang or pre-Tang records that treat fu xu 夫須 a medicinal plant or another name of xiang fu zi 香附子.
154 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.95–96.
155 Ibid., pp.174–75.
156 Ibid., pp.360–61. In this book, lang ya 狼牙 is another name of ya zi 牙子. Mair identifies it another plant, that is, lang zi 狼子 (Potentilla cryptotaeniae). See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.277.
157 Ma Jixing 馬繼興, ed. Mawangdui guyishu kaoshi 馬王堆古醫書考釋 (Changsha: Hunan kexue jishu chubanshe, 1992), p.722.
158 Lei Xiao 雷斅, ‘Zhike’ 枳殼, in ed. Wang Xingfa 王興法, Leigong Paozhi Lun 雷公炮炙論, (Shanghai: Shanghai zhongyi xueyuan chubanshe, 1986), p.76.
159 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.259–60. See also Zhao Kuifu, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen bujiao shiyi’, p.44.
160 Wu Pu, Wu Pu Bencao, p.66. In this book, che xia li 車下李 is also called yu he 鬱核, que li 雀李 and di 棣. This identification is based on Yin’s opinion. See Yin Zhanhua, Tangsong wenxue yu wenxian conggao, p.594. The sense of che xia 車下 (under a vehicle) has a close relationship with that of xing 行 (walk/go). The Tang physician Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (c.581–682) equated che xia li 車下李 with the yu li ren 鬱李仁 (alias jue li 爵李) in Shennong Bencao Jing. See Sun Simiao 孫思邈, ‘Mubu Xiapin’ 木部下品, in eds Li Jingrong 李景榮 et al., Qianjin Yifang Jiaoshi 千金翼方校釋, (Beijing: renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1998), p.57; Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, p.57. Another opinion suggests identifying xing li 行李 as the plants xing 杏 (Armeniaca vulgaris Lam.) and li 李 (Prunus salicina Lindl.). See Zhu Hongjie and Chu Liangcai, ‘Wu Zixu bianwen yaomingshi yigu’, pp.216–17; Mair, Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.277. This is an acceptable identification, but if so, it will be an exception that different characters in a word refer to different medicinal substances.
161 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.383–85. In this book ba shu 巴菽 is another name of ba dou 巴豆.
162 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, p.256.
163 Lei Xiao, Leigong Paozhi Lun, p.119.
164 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.211–12.
165 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, p.179. I disagree with Mair, who considers cai bao 採寶, the word that follows jin ya 金牙, probably stands for cai bo 菜伯 (Chinese small onion or ciboule). See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.278.
166 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, p.230. This book mentions you zi pi 柚子皮 (pomelo peel). While in Shennong Bencao Jing, there is an entry of ju you 橘柚 which, however, does not mention the word you zi 柚子. See Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.134–35.
167 Lei Xiao, Leigong Paozhi Lun, p.107.
168 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.112–13.
169 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing jizhu, p.489.
170 Wu Pu, Wu Pu Bencao, p.9.
171 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.99–100. Wushier bingfang records xu duan 續
, which is considered to refer to xu duan 續斷. See Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu, ed. Wushier bingfang, p.31.
172 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.328–29. This identification is based on Yin’s opinion. See Yin Zhanhua, Tangsong wenxue yu wenxian conggao, p.595. But there is still a certain distance between the pronunciation and structure of yao [MC]/jiaw [LMC] 颻 and that of xiao [MC]/siaw [LMC] 蛸. See. Pulleyblank, Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation …, pp.339, 362.
173 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.347–48.
174 Ma Jixing, ed. Mawangdui guyishu kaoshi, p.720.
175 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, p.77.
176 Ibid., pp.240–41. Wu Pu Bencao records kuan dong 欵冬 (the character kuan 欵 is a variant form of kuan 款). See Wu Pu, Wu Pu Bencao, p.43.
177 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.152–53.
178 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu, ed. Wushier bingfang, p.115.
179 Zhen Quan 甄權, Yaoxing Lun 藥性論 (Hefei: Anhui kexue jishu chubanshe, 2006), p.50. The drug yu jin 鬱金 also appears in Sun Simiao’s Qianjin Yifang (c.660 AD). See Sun Simiao, Qian jin yi fang jiao shi, p.9.
180 Ma Jixing, ed. Shennong Bencao Jing jizhu, pp.198–99.
181 Tao Hongjing, Bencao Jing Jizhu, p.411. In this book, yang chi 羊齒 refers to goat teeth. But yang chi 羊齒 may also refer to a kind of (medicinal) plant. See, for example, Guo Pu 郭璞 and Xing Bing 邢昺, eds Erya Zhushu 爾雅注疏 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1999), p.262; Tang Shenwei 唐慎微, ‘Huangqi’ 黃芪, in eds Shang Zhijun 尚志鈞 et al., Zhenglei Bencao 政類本草 (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1993), p.192. In Tang and pre-Tang medical texts yang chi 羊齒 generally refers to goat teeth. Mair identifies yang chi 羊齒 as a plant. See his Tun-Huang Popular Narratives, p.277. Such an identification neglects the context.
