Research archive
21 essays translated in full. Studies in Sasang Constitutional Medicine by Choi Jang-hyuk.
2026.09.27Constitution-Specific Prescriptions and Temperament-Focused Interviewing Within a Single Course of Care: A Proposed Integrated Procedure for Sasang Simhak Neuropsychiatric Practice and the Design of Its First Validation StudyDrawing together parts 1–3 of the series, this paper proposes a procedure in which Sasang constitution-specific herbal prescriptions and temperament-focused interviewing are delivered in parallel within one course of outpatient care, and specifies the minimum design of a first single-arm pilot (feasibility) study in adults with mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms, with BDI-II at week 12 reserved as the primary outcome for a subsequent comparative study.AUDIO2026.09.27From Bibaktamna to Treatment: After the Description of Personality Pathology, the Scope of Intervention the Classics PermitEarlier papers described 鄙薄貪懦 (bibaktamna), Yi Je-ma's four modes of moral degeneration, as a personality pathology in which self-awareness is sealed off, but left open the question of intervention directed at the person concerned. Collating the Dongui Suse Bowon, the Gyeokchigo and the Chobongwon, this paper shows that the classics never state that bibaktamna is to be treated, yet they do give four distinct corrective directions addressed to the person (謹, 退, 緩, 實), and from this material it constructs a five-item intervention hypothesis (entry, target, direction, relationship, time) together with explicit boundaries on labelling and prognosis.AUDIO2026.09.27The Clinical Method of Taeyul's Sasang Simhak Reconstructed from the Surviving Record: Assessment, Interview, Diary Analysis, and Therapist TrainingCollating *Sasang Simhak* (2010) and the Taeyul lecture collection page by page, this paper reconstructs how the Sasang Simhak approach was operated in the consulting room across four layers (assessment, interview, diary analysis, and therapist training) while marking, for every statement, whether it rests on Taeyul's own record, a transcriber's summary, Kang's commentary, or the author's reconstruction.AUDIO2026.09.27What Do Constitution Prescription and Temperament Analysis Attend to First? The Therapeutic Focus of Sasang Neuropsychiatry as Seen Through Two Clinical TextsA narrative review comparing two clinical texts of Sasang constitutional medicine shows that the constitution-prescription approach treats constitution as a coordinate for selecting formulas and the mind as an observed symptom, whereas the temperament-analysis approach (Sasang Simhak) treats constitution as a framework for reading temperament and relationships, and derives verification questions for integrating the two.AUDIO2026.09.25Where Does Relapse Reside? The Healed-Looking Skin of Atopic Dermatitis and Psoriasis and the Korean Medical Doctrines of Nobok (勞復) and Gojil (痼疾)A narrative review finding that modern dermatology and classical Korean medicine share a similar explanatory structure for relapse: vulnerability persists after the skin appears healed.AUDIO2026.09.22When the Neck Wavers, the World Turns — Reading Craniocervical Instability, Cervicogenic Dizziness, and Cervical Alignment Apart: Rereading 邪中於項 in the Lingshu "Da huo lun" and 上虛則眩 in "Wei qi"Separates craniocervical instability, cervicogenic dizziness, and cervical alignment into three evaluation domains and compares the Lingshu wind-entry and deficiency lineages with modern evidence.AUDIO2026.09.18The Engineering Genealogy of Blunt-Tip Needles — Domestic Patented Percutaneous Instruments and Western Blunt-Tip Pain-Medicine NeedlesA literature-based comparison of domestic patented blunt-tip percutaneous needles and Western blunt-tip nerve-block needles.AUDIO2026.08.06The Hydration of Adipose Tissue — The Circuit Linking Water and Fat, and the Instrument That Cannot Measure ItAdipose tissue holds water. This essay traces the circuit by which that water feeds back into fat accumulation, and the clinical instrument that cannot measure it.2026.07.05A Study on Bibaktamna in Gyeokchigo and Dongui Suse Bowon: Focusing on Active Abandonment and the Epistemic Sealing of the Mind-WillTo clarify the nature of bibaktamna (鄙薄貪懦), the four modes of moral self-abandonment in Yi Je-ma's anthropology, by examining whether it denotes a separate species of inferior person or a latent state of every person, and where its essence lies.2026.07.05A Study on the Contact Membrane and Mutual Constitution of the Hardened Guk: Focusing on the Impossibility of Sang and the Structure of Encroachment in the Dokhaeng-pyeon of GyeokchigoTo clarify the nature of the contact membrane (面) that the hardened guk (局, bibaktamna) forms with the flowing guk (chungsin-yeomhae): whether it is merely a bad relation or the collapse of relation itself.2026.07.05A Study on Gukhoe and the Guk That Does Not Close: Focusing on the Bidirectionality of Deceit in the Banseong-jam of Gyeokchigo and Banseong Rather Than RequitalTo clarify the nature of gukhoe (局回, the single revolution), the third site of the guk–jang–myeon (局場面) fluid ontology in which the encroachment given and taken at the contact membrane returns through time, and to argue why it points to banseong (反誠, returning to sincerity) rather than bobok (報復, requital).2026.07.05A Study on the Poksang of Bibaktamna and the Clarity and Turbidity of the Mind-Will: Focusing on the Junction of the Dokhaeng-pyeon of Gyeokchigo and the Pathology of Dongui Suse BowonTo clarify the mechanism by which the poksang (暴傷, violent self-wounding) of bibaktamna (鄙薄貪懦) descends, stage by stage, from the clarity and turbidity of the mind-will (心地淸濁) to a body region fixed by constitution, and to read this as the junction of the Dokhaeng-pyeon (獨行篇) of Gyeokchigo (格致藁) with the pathology of Dongui Suse Bowon (東醫壽世保元).2026.06.29Where Does Bibaktamna Come to Rest? — Poksang and the Clarity and Turbidity of the Mind-WillTraces how poksang (暴傷), the closing act of bibaktamna, descends from the clarity and turbidity of the mind-will through a constitution-fixed body region into disease — the junction of the Dokhaeng-pyeon of Gyeokchigo with the pathology of Dongui Suse Bowon.2026.06.28Where Does 鄙薄貪懦 Return? 局回 and the 局 That Does Not CloseReads gukhoe (局回), the third site of the guk·myeon·gukhoe cycle, as the turn where encroachment given and taken at the contact membrane returns — and argues why it calls for banseong (反誠, returning to sincerity) rather than requital.2026.06.26Whom Does 鄙薄貪懦 Strike? The Contact Membrane of the Hardened 局 and Mutual ConstitutionReads the contact membrane (面) that a hardened guk (局, bibaktamna) forms with others, arguing that it is filled with encroachment rather than genuine mutual constitution.2026.06.25Whose Failing Is 鄙薄貪懦? The Hardened 局 and the Sealing of the Mind-WillReads bibaktamna (鄙薄貪懦) not as a separate species of inferior person but as an epistemic sealing-off of the mind-will available to anyone — Part One of the Guk·Myeon·Gukhoe trilogy.2026.06.24Gisetwisang and the Contact Surface: A Reinterpretation of the Eight Trigrams in the Banseongjam of GyeokchigoThis study reinterprets the eight trigrams (*palgwae*, 八卦) of the "Banseongjam" (反誠箴) in the *Gyeokchigo* (格致藁). The dominant *yi-xue* (易學, Book-of-Changes) reading maps these trigrams onto the Fuxi/King-Wen trigram diagrams and the four cardinal virtues (仁義禮智). Against this, the study argues that the trigrams are not divinatory positional symbols but *gisetwisang* (機勢取象)—the image-taking of the momentum (*gise*, 機勢) of *jeongwi* (情僞, false or exploitative relational disposition, of which deception, *gisa* 欺詐, is one representative subtype) arising at the *contact surface* (the *taegeuk*) between the self (*guk*, at the left pole) and others (at the right pole) within a relational field (*jang*).2026.06.23Banseong and Differential Completion: A Reading of Self-Cultivation in the Banseongjam of the Gyeokchigo Compared with Jung and the Cheng–Zhu LearningThis study reexamines the *Banseongjam* (反誠箴) in Volume 2 of Yi Je-ma's *Gyeokchigo* (格致藁), proposing that its model of self-cultivation can be read as a *differential* completion—a moment-by-moment return (*banseong*, 反誠) that posits no terminus—as distinct from the *integral* orientation of C.G. Jung's individuation and of the Cheng–Zhu (程朱) Neo-Confucian learning, both of which posit a reachable endpoint. The terms *differential* and *integral* are used only as metaphor, for the axis of whether an endpoint is posited.2026.06.21The Mind-Ground Confines the Eye: The Metacognitive Structure and Its Circular Limit in the Tae Admonition and Dokhaeng Chapter of GyeokchigoThis study reexamines the concept of *angong* (眼孔, the "eye-aperture") in the *Tae* admonition (兌箴, Volume 2) and the *Dokhaeng* chapter (獨行篇, Volume 3) of Yi Je-ma's *Gyeokchigo* (格致藁). It proposes that Yi reduces the whole of Confucian self-cultivation to a single act of metacognition—the discernment of deception (察乎詭詐, *chal-ho-gwesa*)—whose instrument is the *angong*, and that this metacognition carries a circular limit which Yi himself made explicit.2026.06.19A Field Assigns the Role: The Relational-Dynamic Structure of Palgwaejam in GyeokchigoThis study reexamines the *Palgwaejam* (八卦箴, Eight-Trigrams Admonitions) in Volume 2 of Yi Je-ma's *Gyeokchigo* (格致藁), proposing that the eight trigrams can be read not as a static typology of persons but as a structure in which a relational field assigns the role within a *jeong-wi* (情僞, false/exploitative relational disposition; deception, 欺詐, is its representative species).2026.06.10Adaptive Connective-Tissue Responses by Stimulus Dose and an Integrative External–Internal Model in Korean Medicine — A Literature Review on the Action Coordinates of Acupuncture, the Blade-Needle, Heated Fire-Needling, Bee-Venom Pharmacopuncture, and Herbal MedicineChronic pain that returns after treatment is often blamed on the treatment itself; connective-tissue mechanobiology points instead to an unchanged mechanical environment. Maps acupuncture, the blade-needle, fire-needling, bee-venom pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine onto a single dose–response curve.