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Among the books of the Song Dynasty, those capable of elucidating the essence of *Shanghan Lun* (Treatise on Cold Damage), providing people with a guide that is easy to understand, and making the greatest contribution to Zhang Zhongjing, is *Huoren Shu* (Book for Saving People) ranked first.

This is because *Shanghan Lun* merely lists symptoms manifested in the Six Channels (Taiyang, Yangming, Shaoyang, Taiyin, Shaoyin, Jueyin) to apply treatment. When one symptom may appear in any of the six channels, or when the same symptom requires radically different treatments, readers would feel at a loss. This book takes meridians and etiology as its foundation, systematically analyzing ambiguous and difficult-to-distinguish conditions, and then attaches various prescription methods, making everything clear at a glance. Is this not a bridge for beginners? The book stands out with its unique ingenuity and faithfully preserves the original text without arbitrarily mixing in personal opinions. Is this not an example of loving learning and deep thinking, expounding upon previous teachings without creating anew, thereby sufficient to inherit the past and open up the future? Later commentaries on *Shanghan Lun*, since the Tang and Song dynasties, have already deleted, altered, and rearranged the original text, resulting in obscurity and lack of coherence. In recent times, books such as *Shanghan Lun Tiaobian* (Analysis of Treatise on Cold Damage) and *Shanglun Bian* (Discussion on Shanglun) have further caused confusion and disorder, each asserting their own views and refuting one another. This stems entirely from unclear differentiation of syndromes and forced harmonization, leading to increasing fragmentation day by day. If one could study and investigate this book, then regardless of how complex and recurrent the disease conditions are, the treatment methods would become fixed and certain. Why engage in endless disputes, causing the ancient texts to become more obscure the more they are discussed?

Diagnosing diseases through pulse taking allows one to verify and know the flourishing or declining state of Qi and Blood, as well as the invasion of Wind, Cold, Summer-heat, and Dampness pathogens into the human body. Consequently, there passed down the theory of *Taisu Mai* (Grand Ultimate Pulse Diagnosis), which predicts a person's longevity or premature death, fortune or adversity, intelligence or stupidity, and goodness or wickedness, covering every detail. The pulse is the manifestation of Qi and Blood; a long and moderate pulse is a sign of longevity; a short and weak pulse is a sign of premature death; a clear and spirited pulse is a sign of intelligence; a turbid and lifeless pulse is a sign of stupidity. Theoretically, this might be plausible. However, if goodness and wickedness are unknowable, what relevance do poverty and prominence have to the pulse? Yet, sometimes one obtains a pulse indicating longevity, but the person dies from illness due to failing to guard against Wind-Cold and overexertion; conversely, one obtains a pulse indicating premature death, but the person protects themselves and maintains proper regimen, thus living a long life. There are also cases where Qi and Blood are very clear, yet the spirit and mind are confused and turbid; or where the physical constitution is very turbid, yet the spirit and mind are clear and bright. Even regarding longevity and intelligence, not all can be verified, let alone other matters. Furthermore, the book mystifies its claims even further, asserting that it can predict what official position one will obtain in a certain year, how much wealth one will gain, who one's parents are, and what one's descendants will be like; this is even more absurd! Perhaps there are some in the world who practice this art and claim many accurate results, but this must rely on other divination techniques, guessing and getting lucky, using these to mystify their claims. If relying solely on what is seen in the pulse, there is absolutely no truth to this.