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I have read Mr. Xunchen's book *Yilin Gaicuo* (Correcting Errors in the Medical Forest), and I sigh that worldly affairs are accomplished by both human effort and heavenly will. This book of his is indeed a heaven-sent opportunity to correct errors in medicine that have persisted for thousands of years, through Mr. Xunchen! Especially regarding the study of the diaphragm (diaphragm), Mr. Xunchen has paid attention to it for thirty years; truly admirable! As for Mr. Xunchen prescribing formulas to treat diseases, he generally employs simple methods to manage complex conditions. The upper volume records fifty types of blood stasis (blood stasis) syndromes, treated with three formulas; the lower volume discusses hemiplegia (hemiplegia), treated with one formula, and identifies forty pre-disease symptoms and signs of qi deficiency (qi deficiency). If one does not study carefully, how could one reach such a level? Regarding vomiting, diarrhea, and muscle spasms (tetany), treatment methods are divided into two paths: attacking pathogens (attacking pathogenic factors) and tonifying deficiency (tonifying deficiency); the formulas come from clinical trials. Regarding pediatric convulsions (pediatric convulsions) which are not wind-stroke (wind-stroke), they are treated with a formula to greatly tonify primordial qi (primordial qi). For children who cannot speak, identifying twenty types of qi deficiency symptoms requires careful observation, which is impossible without daily attentiveness. Regarding smallpox (smallpox) not being fetal toxin (fetal toxin), and smallpox pus not being transformed blood, sixty types of adverse smallpox cases, considered untreatable by ancients, are treated with six formulas, with considerable efficacy. Mr. Xunchen's book largely supplements what predecessors omitted, particularly regarding qi deficiency and blood stasis syndromes. These chapters are now highlighted at the beginning of the volume.

Written by Zhifeizi (The Man Who Recognized His Errors)

I wrote *Yilin Gaicuo* not as a comprehensive book on treating diseases, but as a record of zang-fu organs (zang-fu organs). There may still be inaccuracies and incompleteness herein. Later generations... [text implies: if you find errors] ...external contraction (external contraction) and internal injury (internal injury), what substances harm the body, and what shapes do excess and deficiency take? Some parts of the text are rudimentary because practitioners' knowledge varies in depth. Repetitive sentences are intended so that careless readers may cross-reference them. For instance, within hemiplegia there are forty types of qi depletion syndromes, and within pediatric convulsions there are twenty types of qi deficiency syndromes. When encountering miscellaneous diseases, one must cross-reference these sixty types to avoid errors. Readers must examine this book with great care.

Written by Wang Qingren of Yutian

The ancients said, "If one cannot become a good prime minister, one wishes to be a good physician." Because becoming a good physician is easier than becoming a good prime minister. I say: Not so. Good prime ministers governing the state exist in every generation. But if treating disease ignores the zang-fu organs, it is like governing the state while losing its foundation. Once the root of the disease is misunderstood, even with literary skills like embroidering tigers and carving dragons, or abilities like cutting clouds and mending the moon, the pathology will never correspond to the zang-fu organs. This is why there are no perfect physicians in the medical way.

To practice medicine and diagnose illness, one must first understand the zang-fu organs. Having read ancient discussions on zang-fu organs and their diagrams, I found their statements self-contradictory everywhere. For example, regarding the spleen and stomach (spleen and stomach): the stomach grinds food, and if the spleen does not move, food is not digested? Discussing the movement and stillness of the spleen, the error is thus. Regarding the lungs (lungs): they are described as hollow like beecombs, with no openings below; inhalation fills them, exhalation empties them. If there are no openings below, how can it also be said that the lungs have twenty-four pores arranged in rows to distribute qi to other organs? Discussing lung pores, the error is thus. Regarding the kidneys (kidneys): there are two, i.e., loins; the two kidneys are called kidneys, and the moving qi in the middle is called the Gate of Life (Gate of Life/Mingmen). If the moving qi in the middle is the Gate of Life, why is the left kidney called the kidney and the right kidney called the Gate of Life? How can two names stand for one organ? What is the evidence? If the moving qi in the middle is the Gate of Life, what substance houses this moving qi? Discussing the kidneys, the error is thus. Regarding the liver (liver): there are two meridians on the left and right, i.e., blood vessels, starting from the hypochondrium, passing up to the head and eyes, going down through the lower abdomen around the genitalia, ending at the big toe. If there are two meridians on the left and right, why is it also said that the liver resides on the left and the left hypochondrium belongs to the liver? Discussing the division of the liver into left and right, the error is thus. Regarding the heart (heart): it is the monarch official, from where spirit-mind (spirit-mind/Shen) emerges. Thought (thought/Yi) resides in the heart; thought is the mechanism of the heart; focused thought is called will (will/Zhi); the movement/change of will is called reflection (reflection/Si); using reflection to plan far ahead is called deliberation (deliberation/Lü); using deliberation to handle matters is called wisdom (wisdom/Zhi). All five reside in the heart. If they all reside in the heart, why is it also said that the spleen houses thought and wisdom, the kidneys govern skillfulness, the liver governs deliberation, and the gallbladder governs decision-making? According to the discussion, everywhere there is spiritual agency. Who ultimately helps generate this spiritual agency? Where is it housed? If spiritual agency is used, what external expressions appear? Discussing the heart, the error is thus.

[Text gap inferred] ...Stomach upper port transports to spleen and lungs, spreading through various vessels. This argument is irrational. The lower port of the stomach is named Youmen (Youmen/H pylorus), which is the upper port of the small intestine (small intestine). Its discussion on the small intestine... [text gap] ...exits via the anus, water returns to the bladder as urine. Such a discussion implies urine seeps out from feces, and thus should smell foul. I have tested child's urine (child's urine) and asked those who drink their own urine; they only say it tastes salty, not that it smells foul. Furthermore, food and water combine to form feces; feces must be loose and cause diarrhea. In chickens and ducks, having no urine is acceptable; in horses and cattle, having urine is necessary. How much more so for humans? Reading the section "Small intestine transforms food, water exits via Lanmen," it is truly a laughable topic for millennia. Discussing the pericardium (pericardium): fine fibers like silk, connected to the heart and lungs, is the pericardium. It also says yellow fat outside the heart is the pericardium. It also says above the transverse membrane below the heart, and below the vertical membrane, yellow fat is the pericardium. It also says what exists in name but not form in Danzhong (Danzhong/Chest center) is the pericardium. If it exists in name but not form, why is it also said that the meridian of the middle finger is the meridian of the Hand Jueyin Pericardium? Discussing the pericardium yields so many contradictions. What exactly is the pericardium, and how can there be so many definitions? Discussing the Sanjiao (Sanjiao/Triple Burner) is even more ridiculous. *Lingshu* (Spiritual Pivot) says: Hand Shaoyin Sanjiao dominates the upper, Foot Taiyang Sanjiao dominates the lower; this is already two Sanjiaos. *Nanjing* (Classic of Difficult Issues) Chapter 31 discusses Sanjiao: Upper Jiao is above the stomach, governing intake without exit; Middle Jiao is at Zhongwan, governing the rotting and ripening of food and drink; Lower Jiao is below the navel, governing the separation of clear and turbid. It also says: Sanjiao is the pathway of food and drink. This discussion treats Sanjiao as a tangible object. It also says: The moving qi between the two kidneys is the root of Sanjiao. This discussion treats Sanjiao as intangible qi. In *Nanjing*, one is tangible and one is intangible, creating yet another two Sanjiaos. Wang Shuhe's concept of Sanjiao having name but no shape likely stems from this. Later, Chen Wuyue identified the fatty membrane below the navel as Sanjiao; Yuan Chunfu identified the innermost layer of the body, reddest in color, as Sanjiao; Yu Tianmin pointed to the empty cavity as Sanjiao; Jin Yilong proposed anterior and posterior Sanjiaos. Those discussing Sanjiao are too numerous to count. Whether tangible or intangible, experts have no consensus. How can one say the meridian of the ring finger is the meridian of the Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao? Among these, some are self-contradictory, some... [text gap] ...

I once had the desire to correct errors, but without visible zang-fu organs, I hated that writing books without understanding zang-fu organs is like a fool talking about dreams. Treating disease without understanding zang-fu organs... [text gap] ...In early April, I traveled to Daodi Town in Luanzhou. At that time, children there were infected with epidemic rash and dysentery (epidemic rash and dysentery), nine out of ten dying. Poor families mostly wrapped them in mats meant for coffins and buried them. Local custom did not bury deeply, intending for dogs to eat the bodies, believing this prevented the fetus from dying in the womb. Thus, in public cemeteries, there were over a hundred children with exposed viscera daily. I passed by on horseback daily. Initially, I covered my nose, but later thinking that ancients erred in describing zang-fu organs because they never saw them personally, I did not shun the filth. Every morning, I went to the cemeteries to closely examine the exposed viscera of the children. After dogs had eaten, intestines and stomachs were common, but hearts and livers were rare. Comparing them, among ten bodies, fewer than three were complete. After observing continuously for ten days, seeing over thirty complete bodies, I realized that the zang-fu diagrams in medical books did not match human anatomy at all, nor did the number of organs. Only the diaphragm in the chest, thin as paper and most critical, was observed broken during my examination, preventing me from verifying if it was above or below the heart, or slanted or straight. This was my greatest regret.

In June of the fourth year of Jiaqing, I was in Fengtian Prefecture. A woman from Liaoyang Prefecture, aged twenty-six, had killed her husband and father-in-law due to madness and was sent to the provincial capital for execution by lingchi (death by a thousand cuts). Following her to the West Gate, she suddenly regained consciousness, realizing she was not a man and feeling unable to approach. Moments later, as executioners carried her heart, liver, and lungs past me, I examined them closely and found them identical to previous observations. Later in Beijing, in the Gengchen year of Jiaqing, a criminal who killed her mother was executed by lingchi south of the吊桥 (hanging bridge) outside Chongwen Gate. I managed to get close. Although I saw the viscera, the diaphragm was broken, and I still failed to see it clearly. On May 14th of the eighth year of Daoguang, the rebel Zhang Ge'er was executed by lingchi, but I could not get close. Thinking that one basket of earth remains unfinished, I could not stop. Unexpectedly, on the night of December 13th in the ninth year of Daoguang, the Heng residence in Banchang Hutong, Andingmen Street, invited me to treat an illness. Discussing the diaphragm, I had paid attention to it for forty years without clear verification. Among them was Heng Jinggong, Provincial Administration Commissioner of Jiangning, who stated he had guarded Hami and led troops in Kashgar, witnessing the most executions of rebels, and thus knew the diaphragm best. Hearing this, I was overjoyed, bowed, and asked. Heng Gong, appreciating my hardship, helped describe the shape in detail. After forty-two years of investigating and verifying zang-fu organs, I finally obtained accurate results and drew a complete diagram. I wished to publish it, fearing later generations would criticize me for contradicting classics without having seen the organs. Yet, if I did not publish, I worried future physicians would suffer from inherited errors for thousands of years. Reflecting on the Yellow Emperor's concern for people's suffering, who asked Qibo and Guiyuzhou questions based on *Lingshu*, naming the work *Suwen* (Basic Questions). If they knew accurately, they could tell the ruler; if not sure, they should refer to references. How could they answer recklessly and harm future generations? Later, Qin Yueren wrote *Nanjing*. Zhang Shixian cut apart *Hetu Luoshu* to create diagrams, stating heart, liver, and lungs are weighed, intestines measured, stomach capacity quantified. His words seemed true, but since he hadn't seen the organs, he engaged in deceptive talk for vanity, causing real harm to others. Stealing property is called theft; stealing reputation is not robbery? Thousands of years later, surely there will be those who know. Now I engrave this diagram not to claim originality or critique ancients, nor to seek fame or fear blame. I only wish that those in the medical forest, upon seeing this diagram, will have clear minds and bright eyes, follow guidelines in diagnosis, avoid going astray, speak precisely, and reduce patient loss. This is my earnest hope. I hope benevolent gentlemen will appreciate and forgive me.

Written by Wang Qingren of Yutian, Zhili, at Zhiyi Hall in Beijing, in the first month of winter in the Gengyin year of Daoguang.