The Inheritance and Development of the Theory of "Supplementation/Drainage for Bitter-Desire of the Five Viscera" by Representative Physicians of Yishui School / 中医杂志

ABSTRACT

The theory of "supplementation/drainage for bitter-desire of the five viscera" originated from Elementary Questions （《素问》）， which is an important origin of the theory of supplementation and drainage prescription. By exploring the connotation of the theory of "supplementation/drainage for bitter-desire of the five viscera"， and adopting the archaeological method of literature research， we collected the relevant writings on the theory of "supplementation/drainage for bitter-desire of the five viscera" by the representative physicians of Yishui school， such as ZHANG Yuansu， LI Gao， WANG Haogu， LUO Tianyi， LI Zhongzi， etc.， combed through the inheritance and development of this theory， and explored the contribution of Yishui school on this. It was found that all the physicians of Yishui school， on the basis of inheriting the theory of "supplementation/drainage for bitter-desire of the five viscera"， combined with their own clinical practice to develop this theory， and promoted the application and development of this theory in clinic， such as ZHANG Yuansu's theories of cold-heat deficiency-excess in viscera and bowels， and the theory of viscera and bowels prescription， and LI Gao's theory of ascending and descending， floating and sinking， supplementing and draining in visceral qi， and other academic thoughts rooted in the theory of "supplementation/drainage for bitter-desire of the five viscera" of Elementary Questions. By clarifying the inheritance and development of this theory by physicians of Yishui school， we can deeply understand the connotation and the embedded rules of prescription of this theory， which can not only guide the clinical medication in traditional Chinese medicine， but also provide reference value to the research on the academic thoughts of the Yishui school and the theory of fsupplementation/drainage for bitter-desire of the five viscera.