Library

The state incorporates individuals skilled in literature, martial arts, and medicine into the official bureaucracy, a system established for the nourishment and care of the people. No physician has ever attained this status without first studying ancient classics. The path of learning from antiquity may vary in method but shares the same essence.

A Confucian scholar must study the *Five Classics* (Wujing) and the *Three Histories* (Sanshi), as well as the works of the Hundred Schools of Thought, to be considered learned. For physicians, their "Classics" are the *Suwen* (Plain Questions) and *Lingshu* (Spiritual Pivot); their "Histories" are the various Materia Medica texts; their "Sub-schools" include the *Nanjing* (Classic of Difficult Issues), *Jia Yi Jing* (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), *Tai Su* (Great Simplicity), and *Zhong Zang Jing* (Inner Organs Classic); their "Hundred Schools" include the *Gui Yi Fang*, *Long Shu* (Dragon Tree) treatises, *Jin Zu Ci Yao*, *Tong Ren* (Bronze Man) manuals, *Ming Tang* (Bright Hall) charts, *You You Xin Shu*, and *Chan Ke Bao Qing*, among others.

How can a Confucian understand morality, life nature, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and music without reading the Five Classics? How can a physician comprehend the transformations of Yin and Yang and the influence of virtuous governance on health without reading the *Lingshu* and *Suwen*?

How can a Confucian discern the worthiness of talents, gains and losses, and the rise and fall of states without reading historical records? How can a physician know the names, virtues, properties, and flavors of herbs, and how to nurture life and prolong longevity, without reading the Materia Medica?

How can a Confucian uphold orthodoxy, safeguard teaching, and distinguish between pure and flawed scholarship without reading the Sub-schools? How can a physician master the four skills of the Divine, Profound, Skillful, and Ingenious diagnostic methods, and understand their profound principles, without reading the *Nanjing* and *Suwen*?

How can a Confucian understand legal calendars, institutions, and omens of good or ill fortune without reading the eclectic writings? How can a physician understand pulse diagnosis, acupoints, bone voids, and rare diseases without studying miscellaneous medical disciplines?

Nevertheless, even with such knowledge, one is not yet truly erudite. Furthermore, beyond the Classics and Histories, there are vast collections of literature, such as those by Ban Gu and Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty, and Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan of the Tang Dynasty. In our Great Song Dynasty, culture flourished more than ever, making it impossible to list them all. In the field of medicine, there were Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo of the Han Dynasty, and Sun Simiao and Wang Bing of the Tang Dynasty, whose works amounted to thousands of volumes. As for our own dynasty's *Taiping Shenghui Fang*, *Chengjian Jixiao Fang*, *Shengong Wanquan Fang*, *Beijian Chongwen Ji*, and *Mingyi Bie Lu*, they are not merely numerous enough to fill barns and overload oxen?

If a learner could read everything at a glance, they would indeed be erudite. However, if they fail to distill the essence from the breadth of knowledge (fan yue), how can they find direction? What I have compiled here is the extraction of the marrow and essence from various classics, which represents the method of distilling the essential from the extensive. Those who study medical prescriptions should reflect on the intent of the ancient sages who established medicine to nourish the people and educate society, thereby not failing the insights of the awakened predecessors.