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There are diseases that require urgent treatment, and those that do not. External pathogenic factors are fierce, rapid, and agile; if they invade the internal Zang-Fu organs, they damage the Yuan Qi (Original Qi), leaving insufficient strength to expel the disease outward. Therefore, one must act while the pathogen is just arising, still shallow in its invasion, and disrupting the flow of Qi and Blood. Urgently driving it out from the exterior is both easy and fast. However, if treatment is delayed until the pathogen has penetrated deeply and severely disrupted Qi and Blood, the Yuan Qi will be greatly damaged. This constitutes a situation requiring urgent treatment. Conversely, when the disease mechanism is unsettled and the pathogen has no fixed location, using harsh purgatives hastily will only make the pathogen more rampant. For example, in cases of food stagnation where the food remains in the stomach, one should first use herbs to transform food stagnation, allowing the food to gradually digest, move from the Middle Jiao (Middle Burner) to the Lower Jiao (Lower Burner), and be excreted as dregs and filth, leading to gradual recovery. If one were to immediately administer harsh purgatives such as Mangxiao (Natrii Sulfas) and Huanglian (Coptidis Rhizoma - *Note: Text says Xiaoyao/Jun Yao, usually referring to Da Huang/Mangxiao class*), the food would still be in the Upper Jiao (Upper Burner). Even if expelled with the medicine, it would be undigested matter, causing the fatty membranes of the intestines and stomach to be completely discharged along with it. The patient would become severely exhausted, and the disease would likely change for the worse. This constitutes a situation where urgent treatment is inappropriate. By analogy, the principles for other diseases can be understood. Regarding patients with deficiency constitutions, as well as the elderly and children, care must be taken to differentiate and regulate their condition, allowing their Yuan Qi to gradually recover; once the Healthy Qi (Zheng Qi) is restored, the Pathogenic Factors (Xie Qi) will recede. Physicians who fail to understand this principle and seek quick results may tonify what should not be tonified or purge what should not be purged. When the administered medicine proves ineffective, they may turn to other methods, essentially attacking the righteous Qi which has committed no fault. By the time the disease should have healed, the patient is already injured by the medication and unable to resonate with the vital energy of Heaven and Earth. Thus, even with excellent medicines, if used at the wrong time, they can cause harm. Shouldn't the principles of urgency and delay be thoroughly studied?

For certain diseases, separate treatments are required. For instance, in dysentery accompanied by abdominal pain and distension, one might treat the distension first or the abdominal pain first. Even within distension, causes differ: it may be due to food stagnation or Qi stagnation; thus, one might treat the food first or the Qi first. Similarly, abdominal pain may arise from accumulation or cold; therefore, one might eliminate the accumulation first or dispel the cold first. In all these varying situations, one must carefully examine and weigh their severity. By analogy, the method of separate treatment can be understood. There are also cases requiring combined treatment. For example, when symptoms such as aversion to cold and fever, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, cold limbs with fainting sensation, and chest fullness occur simultaneously, affecting the interior and exterior, upper and lower regions without any part being unaffected, one must investigate the root cause and select the most severe symptom as the primary focus. For the remaining symptoms, add one or two specific herbs targeting each symptom to form a prescription. One dose can then address all conditions. By analogy, the method of combined treatment can be understood. There are also instances combining separation and combination: treating one disease with multiple herbs, the method of ancient sages in prescribing can be understood by reading their works; treating multiple diseases with a single herb, the indications can be understood by reading the Materia Medica (*Bencao*). A physician must exhaustively investigate the etiology of every disease, thoroughly comprehend the rationale of every formula, and master the properties of every herb. Only then can one practice with confidence and avoid causing unjust deaths!