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Great indeed is the Way of Medicine, which must be thoroughly understood; cautious indeed is the Way of Medicine, which must be thoroughly understood. If a person does not understand medicine, how can the principles of health preservation (Yang Sheng) be clarified? How can the heart of a good minister to save lives be realized? To know it but not deeply leads to even greater harm. Diseases undergo changes from deficiency to excess and from excess to deficiency. Treatment methods include direct treatment (Zheng Zhi), contrary treatment (Cong Zhi), addressing the root and branch (Biao Ben), and the appropriate sequence of attacking and tonifying. If recognition is unclear, one might treat Dragon and Thunder Fire (Long Lei Huo, referring to deficient fire in the Kidney) as excess fire; treat hollow syndromes (Zhong Kong, referring to deficiency of healthy Qi) as internal excess; treat pain caused by blood deficiency as external constraint by wind pathogens; treat headache caused by flaming-up of fire as Cold invading the Taiyang channel; treat diarrhea caused by Kidney deficiency as internal injury of the Spleen and Stomach; treat dryness, obstruction, and dysphagia as stagnation of Phlegm-Fire; treat upward rushing of rootless and depleted Qi as an excess syndrome treated with digestion-promoting methods; treat running piglet (Ben Tun) and wandering pain caused by Kidney deficiency as blood stasis treated with severe purgation; treat malaria causing fatigue due to Spleen deficiency as Liver excess treated with draining methods; treat slight pathogenic factors invading due to labor injury and deficiency as Cold Damage (Shang Han) treated with heavy sweating; treat slight stagnation causing fatigue due to internal injury as food retention treated with heavy purgation. Furthermore, if there is slight external heat but the interior is harmonious and there is appetite, what harm is there in eating a little? Strictly prohibiting food due to slight heat often leads to unjust deaths from starvation. If exterior Qi is deficient and there is aversion to cold and wind, gently nourishing the Defensive Qi (Wei Qi) is most appropriate; suspecting an external contraction and hastily inducing sweat often leads to sighs of Yang collapse (Wang Yang). Ignoring the root while only attending to the branch results in the root being uprooted before the branch is cleared; even if the branch is cleared, what merit is there? Not taking the pulse but relying solely on inquiry leads to errors in inquiry while the pulse shows no deficiency; if inquiry differs from the pulse, what is the basis? Adhering rigidly to established prescriptions from millennia ago ignores that patients today differ from those of the past; reading diagnostic theories passed down for ten thousand years laments that people's constitutions have changed drastically over time. For those with robust constitutions, it may be acceptable to ignore the root and attack the pathogen; for those with fragile constitutions, it is proper to protect the host and expel the guest. All these cases show that slight deviations in observation and treatment lead to immediate differences between safety and danger. Is this not difficult! Moreover, treatments for men and women differ, and signs vary between the young and old. Ancients said: "Better to treat one man than one woman; better to treat ten women than one child." This refers to the difficulty of diagnosing children. Why? The four diagnostic methods are inspection (Wang), auscultation and olfaction (Wen), inquiry (Wen), and palpation (Qie). For infants, seeing a stranger causes crying and facial changes. Thus, the voice is not calm, and the complexion is not normal, rendering inspection and auscultation useless. They cannot indicate hunger or fullness, nor explain pain or itching. Asking about their suffering and cause yields little information. Their pulse Qi is not yet complete or stable; playing makes the pulse move, while resting makes it still, rendering inquiry and palpation useless. With the four methods abolished, diagnosis and treatment are truly difficult. Only those with profound medical skills who elucidate ultimate truths and perceive the formless can possess a unique mystery in clinical practice, deeply seeing the five zang organs, experiencing the joy of perfect coordination between mind and hand, and achieving ineffable subtleties. Since I began practicing medicine, I have been diligent day and night, constantly reflecting that human life is paramount and my responsibility is heavy. Entrusted with life within the six directions, endowed with the Heaven and Earth's virtue of loving life, how dare I not embody this virtue to help others? Alas, my natural endowment is mediocre and clumsy, my learning like deafness, harboring only sincere intentions to save the world but deeply ashamed of my shallow insight like measuring the sea. Nevertheless, although my insight is shallow, my intention is sincere; I plan only to do my best. Therefore, I have devoted myself to compiling the *Complete Collection of Mixed Syndromes Compared Large and Small including Smallpox*, *Essentials of the Inner Canon*, *Comprehensive Analysis of Drug Properties*, as well as books on Gynecology, Surgery, and Pulse Diagnosis, totaling over twenty volumes, completed after thirty years. Now, the Holy Son of Heaven has innate moral character, all people sing praises of Yao and Shun, his compassionate love is deep, and the common people praise Fuxi. However, I am aged and physically impaired, unable to contribute even the strength of an ant. How dare I not again look up to the will of Heaven, respectfully express the limited view of a rustic person, slightly assist medical prescriptions, and briefly express my humble feelings to verify with the world. You, the enlightened ones, who love me, please point out its flaws and instruct me clearly. This would be great fortune.
Inscribed by the junior learner Feng Zhaozhang, after the full moon in the sixth month of summer, in the year Ji Xu of the Kangxi reign.