Library

A guest, peering through a cracked window, mocked me saying: "You are in a state of isolation and loneliness, yet you examine the *Suwen* (Plain Questions) and *Xuanyu* (Mysterious Discourses); are you truly one who understands the root?" I replied: "The root refers to the body. The branches and leaves refer to one's descendants. Is it wise to desire lush branches and abundant fruit without first cultivating the root? Diseases of the body are numerous; if one tries all hundred herbs yet fails to recover completely, it is because although one has tasted decoctions (Tangye, herbal medicines), one has not yet fully comprehended their principles. Therefore, I suddenly closed my door and offered sacrifices to the four directions (symbolizing focused study), observed ancient and modern formula discussions, selected their essentials, summarized their wording, revealed their hidden meanings, and compiled them into categories with separate annotations, so that people could read them and comprehend them in their hearts, applying them at the bedside with ease, avoiding the bitterness of 'breaking the arm three times to become a good doctor' (implying learning through repeated failure). Through deep immersion, I gained insight into subtle details, preserving life amidst frost and snow, precisely to pray for the flourishing growth of spring. Otherwise, even Sima Qian, in compiling the *Zizhi Tongjian* (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), still claimed to have wasted his spirit; how dare I, who am but an ordinary person, arrogantly claim to have mastered medicine and established my own school!" The guest said: "Indeed. Yet people share the same blood vessels but suffer from different diseases; some due to congenital endowment, others due to acquired infection. One knows that Dahuang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) can guide stagnation but does not know it may chill the middle warmer; one knows that Fuzi (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata) can tonify deficiency but does not know it may leave toxic residue. Can you remedy each of these situations one by one?" I answered: "It is my aspiration! But I lack the ability. I dare not fail to use pungent and dizzying medicines (Medicines causing Mingxuan reaction, i.e., drastic drugs to cure severe illness) to establish the foundation for ten thousand generations, before seeking advice from benevolent scholars." The guest said: "Exert yourself."
Recorded respectfully by Li Ting of Nanfeng on the 4th day of the second month of the Yihai year of the Wanli era.