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In my childhood, my father passed away, and due to poverty with no means of support, I earned a living by teaching to provide for my mother. When I failed in the imperial examinations (Keju), I subsequently studied the art of Qi and Huang (Traditional Chinese Medicine) under Master Ni.

The books he taught me included *Yao Xing* (Properties of Medicinals), *Quan Sheng Ji*, *Ming Yi Zhi Zhang*, *Shanghan Wufa* (Five Methods for Cold Damage), along with various rhymes for prescriptions, which I believed contained the essence of medicine.

At the age of twenty-three, I began practicing medicine independently. My treatments were quite effective, and I received much praise. However, merely following established formulas did not guarantee timely or certain cures.

In the year Jiachen, when I was twenty-eight years old, in mid-July, I suffered from severe dysentery. Physicians were summoned, and medicines were administered daily, yet the illness worsened day by day. It lasted over a month without improvement, so I stopped taking medication, and the dysentery finally ceased only in mid-winter.

I sighed and said: "Medicine is indeed difficult. If doctors treat me this poorly, how can I expect to treat others effectively? To practice medicine for profit while treating human life as worthless—how does that align with Heavenly Principle?"

At that time, Master Yinan Zhang held lectures on classical theories, so I went to study with him. I was able to thoroughly examine the *Shanghan Lun* (Treatise on Cold Damage), *Jingui Yaolue* (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet), *Shennong Bencao Jing* (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), as well as the *Suwen* (Basic Questions) and *Lingshu* (Spiritual Pivot). Day and night, I pondered and investigated them, finally regretting that my previous studies were not the root source of medical science.

Master Yinan shared a deep rapport with me (like needle and thimble fitting together) and explained every detail clearly.

For ten years thus passed. Although I had not yet fully penetrated the innermost secrets of Qi and Huang's profound truths, my approach to syndrome differentiation and treatment differed significantly from my past habit of treating symptoms blindly or rigidly adhering to theories of wind-phlegm, qi-fire, cold invasion, or food stagnation, mechanically applying formulas.

Therefore, whenever encountering a syndrome, I would investigate its root cause and origin. My prescriptions and drug selections diverged from common trends, leading many to accuse me of being stubborn or biased. Alas! Human life hangs in the balance; could it be that I deliberately act eccentrically or stubbornly?

Merely reading prescription books without understanding the classics means knowing the exterior but not the interior; thus, viewing me as biased is understandable. Using drugs to test diseases without a firm internal conviction, focusing on the branches rather than the root, makes viewing me as stubborn also understandable.

Medical principles are like peeling a banana tree: one must peel until nothing remains to be peeled before reaching the ultimate truth. Applying this ultimate truth to discuss diseases leads to the greatest centrality and correctness, unchanging and firm—how can this be called bias or stubbornness?

During my leisure from studying the classics, I often reviewed categorized prescription books, considering them all dregs of the medical field. Even works such as *Xue Shi Yi An* (Case Records of Dr. Xue), Zhao's *Yi Guan* (Medical Monograph), *Yi Zong Bi Du* (Must-Reads for Medical Practitioners), and *Pei Zi Yan Yi* (Mr. Pei on Medicine), represent only clever adaptations in technical skills, not the great Dao passed down through the lineage of Shennong, Xuanyuan, Qibo, and Zhang Zhongjing.

Prescription books state: "If you do not know the twelve meridians, your diagnosis and treatment will be erroneous from the start; if you do not understand the Five Movements and Six Qi, reading all prescription books will be of no help." It further states: "Diseases have both branch (biao) and root (ben); seek the root, and you will cure thousands without causing harm." This statement is very sound!

Consequently, I discussed these matters with my disciples and wrote *Yixue Zhenchuan* (True Transmission of Medical Learning) to demonstrate the orthodox path, refute heterodox schools, and warn students to exercise caution. How dare I compete for fame with the world? I simply await those who truly understand me, hoping they will not blame me.