Biography

Though well known in modern Chinese medicine and considered one of the finest Chinese physicians in history, very little is known about his life. According to later sources, he was born in Nanyang, held an official position in Changsha and lived from approximately 150 to 219 AD. Exact dates regarding his birth, death and works vary, but an upper limit of 220 AD is generally accepted.

It is also speculated that he created jiaozi (餃子 - gyoza/dumplings/potstickers) to help people with frostbitten ears.

During his time, with warlords fighting for their own territories, many people fell victim to infectious diseases. Zhang's family was no exception. He learned medicine by studying from his towns fellow and later teacher Zhang Bozu, assimilating from previous medicinal literature such as Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic

Huangdi Neijing (黄帝内經), and collecting many prescriptions elsewhere, finally writing the medical masterpiece Shanghan Zabing Lun (傷寒雜病論 Shānghán Zábìng Lùn, lit. "Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases"). Shortly after its publication, the book was lost during the wars that ravaged China during the period of the Three Kingdoms. Because of Zhang's contribution to traditional Chinese medicine, he is often regarded as the sage of Chinese medicine.

Zhang's masterpiece, Shanghan Zabing Lun, was collected and organised later by physicians, notably Wang Shuhe (王叔和) from the Jin Dynasty (晋) and various court physicians during the Song Dynasty (宋) into two books, namely for the former, the Shang Han Lun (傷寒論, lit. "On Cold Damage"), which was mainly on a discourse on how to treat epidemic infectious diseases causing fevers prevalent during his era, and the latter, the Jingui Yaolue (金櫃要略, lit. "Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer"), a compendium of various clinical experiences which was regarded as a main discourse on internal diseases. These two texts have been heavily reconstructed several times up to the modern era. Revered for authoring the Shāng Hán Zá Bìng Lùn, Zhang Zhongjing is considered to have founded the Cold Damage or "Cold Disease" school of Chinese medicine and is widely considered the seminal expert to this day.

生平

據張仲景在《傷寒雜病論》中所寫的自序，東漢末年動亂頻繁，疫病流行，人民病死者很多，張仲景自幼目睹的家族中過半人口過早地死于疾病。「建安紀年以來，猶未十稔，其死亡者，三分有二，傷寒十居其七。」這引發了他發憤學習醫學的決心，「乃勤求古訓，博採眾方，撰用《素問》、《九卷》、《八十一難》、《陰陽大論》、《胎臚藥錄》，並《平脈辨証》，為《傷寒雜病論》合十六卷」。

張仲景著《傷寒雜病論》是他一生最大的成就。但除此之外，人們對他所知不多。張仲景在《後漢書》中無傳，最初提及此人的是西晉皇甫謐的著作，張仲景事蹟又見於《宋校傷寒論序》。《宋校傷寒論序》引唐代甘伯宗《名醫錄》，但《名醫錄》此書在宋代之後就已失傳。據此，他為南陽人，師事張伯祖，曾經出任過長沙太守，因此被後世稱為張長沙。但關于仲景任長沙太守之事是否屬實，後世尚有爭議，因為《名醫錄》為唐人著作，南北朝人的著作都未提及此事，考諸史書上也沒有相關的記載。清孫鼎宜認為，張機應為張羨之誤，章太炎反對此說。

逸聞

在晉皇甫謐《針灸甲乙經》序中，記載了張仲景為王粲看病的逸事：「仲景見侍中王仲宣時年二十餘，謂曰：君有病，四十當眉落，眉落半年而死，令服五石湯可免。仲嫌其言忤，受湯而勿服。居三日，見仲宣謂曰：服湯否？仲宣曰：已服。仲景曰：色候固非服湯之診，君何輕命也？仲宣猶不言。後二十年果眉落，後一百八十七日而死，終如其言。此二事雖扁鵲、倉公無以加也。」雖然事近傳奇，但也可以顯示當時人對張仲景醫術的敬服。

醫學成就

張仲景與譙郡華佗、侯官董奉齊名，並稱「建安三醫」，其親著《傷寒雜病論》是中醫史上第一部理、法、方、藥具備的經典，喻嘉言稱此書：「為眾方之宗、群方之祖」。元、明朝以後被奉為「醫聖」，並在其墓地修建醫聖祠。

《漢書藝文志》中，將漢之前的醫學典籍總結為為重視經絡針灸的醫經派，與重視本草湯液的經方派二者；這兩大傳統的發展，形構了漢之前的中醫體系。醫經派的主要代表著作，《黃帝內經》，傳統上認為，是傷寒論成書的主要依據，後世醫者也多援引內經以發明傷寒論微旨。如清朝《醫宗金鑑》〈傷寒論註序〉：「《傷寒論》，後漢張機所著，發明內經奧旨者也，並不引古經一語，皆出心裁，理無不該，法無不備，蓋古經皆有法無方，自此始有法有方，啟萬世之法程，誠醫門之聖書。」

但根據晉皇甫謐序《針灸甲乙經》：「仲景論廣伊尹《湯液》為數十卷，用之多驗。」以及近代從敦煌出土的梁陶宏景《輔行訣臟腑用藥法要》記載：「漢晉以還，諸名醫輩，張機、衛汜 汛、華元化、吳普、皇甫玄晏、支法師、葛稚川、范將軍等，皆當代名賢，咸師式此《湯液經法》，湣救疾苦，造福含靈，其間增減，雖各擅其異，或致新效，似亂舊經，而其旨趣，仍方圓之於規矩也。」「外感天行，經方之治有二旦、六神、大小等湯。昔南陽張機，依此諸方，撰《傷寒論》一部 ，療治明悉，後學咸尊奉之。」《湯液經法》一書，在漢書藝文志的分類中，屬於經方一派。這證明傳統上認為傷寒論「不引古經一語」的看法是錯誤的，傷寒論中所使用的方劑，主要援引自已失傳的《湯液經法》，這也是張仲景著作的主要依據。

因此，張仲景可說是兩漢醫經、經方二派的集大成者，他使用的方劑很多是來自經方派；而六經辨證的手法，則是來自《黃帝內經》；此外，更加上他個人的心得與經驗。將傷寒與雜病共論， 湯液與針灸並用，打破了《素問熱論》中六經只辨傷寒的局限性，因此， 無論傷寒、 雜病和它們互相挾雜的複雜問題， 都能用六經辨證方法概括而無遺。稱仲景為醫中之聖，傷寒論為中醫之魂，實不為過。

張仲景的著作在中醫領域內影響深遠，遠自晉朝王叔和，唐朝孫思邈，下至金元四大家，清朝葉天士、吳鞠通，無不是由鑽研仲景學之後，才能卓然成家。歷代註解傷寒論者，不下數十家，各有見解，這也推動了中醫思想的不斷進步。至明清時，傷寒論中的方劑，被尊為「經方」，影響遠至朝鮮、日本。

著作

撰《傷寒雜病論》。該書面世不久即散失，經後人多次收集整理，成《傷寒論》、《金匱要略》二書，分論外感寒熱與內科雜病。

紀念

長春中醫藥大學附屬醫院與河南中醫學院校園內有張機全身石像。

命名

• 張仲景國醫學院

• 仲景宛西製藥

動漫遊戲

• 《火鳳燎原》 (陳某) :設定於赤壁之戰後登場，為孫權所尋來醫治被新一代「殘兵」所傷的周瑜。