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The *Classic* (Huangdi Neijing) states: "If spirit and essence are kept within, how can disease arise?" It also states: "Where pathogenic factors gather, the righteous qi must be deficient." If one does not treat the deficiency, what is there to ask about other matters? Thus, it is evident that deficiency is the origin of all diseases, and treating deficiency is the key to eliminating disease. Therefore, in cases of external contraction of wind-cold, the defensive qi at the exterior must be deficient; in cases of internal injury from diet, the middle qi must be weak. Those easily susceptible to cold have a definite deficiency of true yang; those easily injured by heat have a definite consumption of true yin. When righteous qi is vigorous, even strong pathogens cannot cause disease; if contracted, the condition will necessarily be mild, so most people remain healthy, and if ill, they recover easily. When righteous qi is weak, even slight pathogens can easily attack; once attacked, the condition will necessarily be severe, so illness occurs most frequently and is difficult to cure. The practitioner, understanding the principles of root and branch, severity and lightness, and administering formulas that support the host and expel the guest, will see severe conditions become mild, and mild conditions resolve. One must know that when spirit and essence grow within, pathogenic qi naturally resolves externally; when spirit and essence dissipate internally, the body's fluids, blood, and qi lose their commander, and can transform internally into fire and phlegm, becoming pathogenic. Must one wait for external causes? If one does not understand this, and merely knows to either disperse from the exterior or purge from the interior, without remedying existing deficiencies, but rashly removing future, shadowless pathogens, then for those with disease, the pathology may suffer little harm; but for those without disease, righteous qi becomes further constrained, leading to spiritual exhaustion and life sinking into darkness. If one does not urgently awaken and exert drastic rescue efforts, how can one sustain a single breath on the verge of death! Yet, common practice holds that extreme deficiency cannot be greatly tonified; slight adjustment and benefit are like lightly supporting an arm in deep sea waters, hoping to achieve the merit of rescuing a drowning person. Moreover, adding drastic purging and cooling herbs is like pushing someone into a well and then throwing stones after them. Furthermore, regardless of whether various diseases are excess or deficiency, none do not present with fever. However, this heat does not come from outside, but is the shengsheng (life-generating) minor fire (Shaohuo), provoked into major fire (Zhuanghuo), resulting in high fever. It is like a person's naturally peaceful temperament being triggered into anger. Unbalanced qi is like an object out of balance making a sound; the thing making the sound is the object itself. To harmonize it, one calms the object, one does not necessarily remove the object. Major fire arises when minor fire is injured and vents. Anger arises when the harmonious nature is injured and deviates. Not harmonizing or tonifying, but instead attacking and expelling, leads to the disaster of "making deficiency more deficient," which happens instantly. Thus, major fire is a transformation of minor fire. Minor fire is not ordinary fire, but the true yuan yang qi of life generation in the dantian, relied upon for life through inhalation and exhalation. At conception, this life root is first endowed. The *Classic* states: "If one breath does not move, the mechanism is exhausted." Therefore, this fire and qi are formless, possess spirit and emotion, and are the supreme treasure of the body, the patriarch of true yang, the root of yuan qi, the source of transformation, and the foundation of longevity. The mingmen (Gate of Life) kan palace is its residence. It steams and rots food and drink, transforming them into essence. When balanced, it remains in its position, all phenomena are peaceful, and life generation is endless. When unbalanced, it leaves its position and becomes major fire, turning into a thief of yuan qi, floating through the sanjiao, steaming and scorching the zang-fu organs, and roasting muscles, causing disease. If this fire is not treated, how can disease be removed? But to remove this fire, how can one survive? One must only follow the cause to harmonize it, settle it, accord with it, and soothe it, taking peace as the goal. Then, without removing the fire, safety and health are maintained; since the disease recedes and yuan qi is undamaged, the fire was originally a supreme treasure for our use. If one dislikes the heat and wishes to directly extinguish the fire, this is not extinguishing fire, but extinguishing qi. A fish dies without water for a moment; a person dies without qi for a moment. Can qi be extinguished! Moreover, using tangible, emotionless drugs to rashly attack intangible, emotional qi, hoping to avoid injury, is impossible! But fire flares up in emptiness; if one does not greatly fill the emptiness, how can one resist its momentum of flaming upward? If one waits for the fire to retreat before tonifying, who knows that the harm of fire is very rapid, and it is incompatible with yuan qi. As stated, "Major fire erodes qi"; as fire blazes, qi daily diminishes. And the function of fire often carries the image of wind-wood, stopping only when power is exhausted. When it stops, fire ceases, and symptoms of yang collapse appear. Only then is tonification considered, but there is no vessel left to receive tonification. Moreover, administering dense, sudden-rain-like harsh drugs further incites dragon-thunder fire to blaze wildly, accelerating the harm of burning. If constitutionally robust, or cured by cooling drugs to subdue it, after recovery, true qi gradually declines, and spirit does not grow. Even for those with congenital yuan deficiency, if treated from the root, after the disease leaves, the momentum of generation increases daily, and postnatal nourishment becomes prosperous. Thus it is said: "Recognizing the branch and root, treating only the root in humans, causes no damage." This emphasizes precisely this point. Ancient healers valued seeking the root in treating disease, thus extending human lifespan. Modern people do not examine the source, relying on superficial views, treating heat with cold and cold with heat. They ignore the images of true and false yin and yang, the appropriateness of following and opposing treatments, and the essentials of attending to the root and tracing the source, leaving them unasked. This results in increasing days of harming the heavenly pillar (vital support) and thinning both pre-heaven and post-heaven in the long run. Should those engaged in the art of healing not deeply contemplate and understand its meaning?!