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Li stated: Diseases affecting the Yin and Yang meridians belong to deficiency patterns, while those not affected belong to excess patterns. When the exterior is diseased but the interior is harmonious, the pathogenic factor emerges outward, manifesting as Yang deficiency and Yin abundance. Therefore, releasing the exterior should not avoid heat, utilizing acrid and sweet agents to support Yang. When the interior is diseased but the exterior is harmonious, the pathogenic factor enters inward, manifesting as Yin deficiency and Yang abundance. Therefore, purging the interior should not avoid cold, utilizing acrid and bitter drugs to support Yin. If the Yin meridians directly contract cold pathogens, it results in Zang organ disease. If Qi of Yin and Yang is on the verge of collapse, urgent use of acrid-hot drugs is required to restore Yang and suppress Yin. Thus it is said: "If Guizhi Tang (Cinnamon Twig Decoction) is swallowed when Yang is abundant, death ensues; if Chengqi Tang (Gut-Purging Decoction) enters the stomach when Yin is abundant, demise follows." This constitutes making the excess more excessive and the deficiency more deficient, damaging what is insufficient and benefiting what is redundant; this is a physician killing the patient. This is the pivotal mechanism for employing sweating and purging methods.

The five methods—sweating, vomiting, purging, warming, and harmonizing—each have distinct characteristics. Sweating includes profuse sweating to release the exterior and mild sweating to resolve the muscle layer, distinguishing severity. Purging includes urgent purging, small doses for mild harmonization, and diuresis to separate clear from turbid. Vomiting includes promoting surging and probing extraction, or merely widening the chest without daring to induce vomiting. Warming includes methods that combine tonification. Harmonizing consists of only one approach.

Some say: For transmitted cold, there is no tonification method; heat qi, upon receiving tonification, will flourish again, and subsequent purging would further distress the condition. Only cases of empty irritability, interior cold, and Yin patterns are excluded from this rule. Those who grasp the mean establish laws hitting the vital points; those who are excessive act like crude craftsmen advancing aggressively; those who fall short act like average craftsmen proceeding slowly and mildly. In treating Taiyang disease with sweating and purging methods, stop after one dose if the illness responds; do not finish the entire prescription, which differs from treating miscellaneous diseases. Taiyang disease involves only sweating, vomiting, and purging symptoms; if applied correctly, what transmission could occur? It entirely depends on the physician's precise and prudent handling.

There is also a temporary tonification method. Whenever the Cun, Guan, and Chi pulses are slow and weak, indicating blood deficiency, regardless of whether it is an initial Wind-Cold syndrome or a miscellaneous disease, sweating, vomiting, and purging are contraindicated. One should first use Xiaojianzhong Tang (Minor Construct the Middle Decoction) or Huangqi Jianzhong Tang (Astragalus Decoction to Minor Construct the Middle) to rescue the condition. If the pulse resembles its usual robust state, Xiaochaihu Tang (Minor Bupleurum Decoction) may also be applicable. Wait until the pulse is no longer slow before applying other treatments. When the diagnosis of Taiyang disease is undetermined, and it is unknown whether Wind-Dampness, labor injury, phlegm, or food stagnation are concurrent, presenting as similar yet different, careful differentiation is essential. Therefore, ignorance warrants abstaining from treatment. As Ban Gu stated: "Not treating a disease can earn the rating of an average physician." If a single herb causes error, how can regret suffice?

There are conditions where vomiting is contraindicated: Cold fluid retention above the diaphragm causing dry heaving indicates Shaoyin disease; cold limbs indicate Stomach deficiency; a faint pulse indicates lower deficiency. Erroneous vomiting leads to internal irritability, damaging Yuan Qi, potentially leading to untreatable states. Conversely, if vomiting is indicated but warming is used instead, toxic factors stagnate in the Stomach, resulting in mania and other symptoms.

Shen Jin'ao notes: Lou's warming method and Li's tonification method must be precise, prudent, detailed, and accurate. Only if the disease belongs to the Three Yin meridians and truly requires warming, and if indeed the pulse is weak at onset, indicating potential for tonification, should these methods be followed. Otherwise, erroneous warming or tonification causes significant harm. Thus, they are specifically highlighted for readers to contemplate deeply, avoiding simplistic application as fixed formulas.