The Single Idea in the Mind of the Yellow Emperor, based upon the Essential Ideas of The Neijing or Neijing Zhiyao of Li Zhongzi , written in 1642. This work brings together the core texts of the Neijing Suwen and Lingshu, crucial for every student of classical Chinese Medicine. The original Chinese text is printed, along with a fresh translation, introduction and notes. The whole is laid clearly on the page in small sections, easy to read. In the syncretistic tradition of Taoist teachings, this work shows the single thread of the yinyang and wuxing (Five Elements) which runs through Chinese traditional medical science.

There are seven main chapters dealing with preventative aspects in health, the core Yinyang texts, the Five Elemental associations, diagnosis by colour, and by pulse, rules in treatment and, lastly, diagnosis, including diagnosis by dreams and death-signs. All sections display the original Chinese text in parallel with the English translation.

A unique work, that aims to provide an accessible and accurate translation of the fundamental writings of classical Chinese medicine, particularly the Huangdi Neijing or 'Yellow Emperor's Book of Medicine'. This text has been the source and well-spring of Chinese medical thinking for practitioners and students for over two-thousand years.

About the author

Richard Bertschinger is a translator from the classical Chinese of the The Golden Needle, (Churchill Livingstone 1991) also The Secret of Everlasting Life, (Element 1994), early alchemical and medical texts. He taught ten years at Yeovil College - Tai-chi, massage and relaxation. He has been in acupuncture practice twenty-five years with Jane Robinson and Lesley Jenkins in Yeovil. He studied Tai-chi, meditation and translation with Mr Gia-fu Feng, American-Chinese Taoist teacher until his death in 1986, also learning his acupuncture from Jack Worsley at Leamington Spa, and working as a primary school teacher in the UK and in Gestalt Therapy in the USA. A first degree in philosophy, he also worked ten years at Musgrove Park Hospital Taunton, in the NHS Pain Clinic promoting Traditional Acupuncture.