Library

The *Wuli Lun* (Theory of Things) states: A physician cannot be entrusted with responsibility unless they are a person of benevolence and love; they cannot be appointed unless they are intelligent and understand principles; they cannot be trusted unless they are honest, pure, and kind.

Therefore, in ancient times, when employing physicians, only the wise and virtuous were selected. Their moral character enabled them to be benevolent, tolerant, and universally loving; their intelligence allowed them to communicate clearly and interpret conditions with nuance. They could comprehend the order of Heaven, Earth, and deities, and understand the numbers governing life, death, fortune, and misfortune. They could distinguish between deficiency and excess patterns, determine the appropriate rhythm of treatment progression or regression, assess the severity of diseases, and calculate the dosage of medicinal agents. They could penetrate subtle and profound mysteries without omitting any minor details. Only such individuals can be called excellent physicians; how could ordinary, secular learning achieve this? (From *Chuxue Ji*)

Folk sayings claim: "A skilled physician is inferior to a fashionable physician." This implies that although fashionable physicians may not study books or understand principles, relying on temporal luck and circumstances, they can still occasionally succeed. They often boast: "While I have ten years of good fortune, come to me early if you are ill." They also say: "No matter how well you memorize Wang Shuhe's works, it is not as good as my extensive experience in observing diseases." A local proverb says: "Left Heart, Small Intestine, Liver, and Gallbladder are auspicious; when fortune arrives, one earns a thousand coins daily." The saying that skilled physicians are inferior to fashionable ones is based on this reasoning.

The *Weisheng Baojian* (Precious Mirror of Health) records a case involving a "Fortune Physician": In the past, a patient suffered from fatigue in the four limbs, restlessness, heat, spontaneous sweating, shortness of breath, reduced appetite, coughing with phlegm, chest and diaphragm discomfort, constipation, and emaciation. Despite seeing numerous physicians over a year, the condition did not improve. Someone suggested: "There is a fashionable physician in a certain place. Although he is not proficient in formularies or pulse diagnosis, he has seen many cases and his treatments are invariably effective." The patient believed him and invited him for treatment. Upon arrival, after diagnosis, the physician said: "This disease is caused by food stagnation. I have treated many such cases. I guarantee effectiveness." He then moxaed Feishu (BL13, Lung Shu) and prescribed pills such as Juanyin Wan (Decoction-Dispelling Phlegm Pill) along with digestive-promoting agents. After just a few doses, the patient experienced diarrhea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and eventually died. The Classic states: "When both form and qi are deficient, and pathogenic qi is also deficient, meaning yin and yang are both insufficient, applying purgation will exacerbate the deficiency." Here, both yin and yang are weak, and blood and qi are exhausted. Tonification is feared to be insufficient; instead, using slightly toxic purgative agents causes further deficiency upon deficiency, damage upon damage. How could survival be expected?

Skilled physicians, when treating diseases, first examine whether the annual cosmic movement is excessive or deficient, and observe the differences in patients' physical constitution and the robustness or frailty of their qi. Diseases vary in deficiency/excess, superficiality/depth, and location within zang or fu organs. Treatments differ in urgency and direction (corrective vs. contrary). Sun Simiao stated: "To become a great physician, one must first master Confucian classics, then thoroughly understand the *Neijing Suwen* (Basic Questions of the Inner Canon), *Bencao* (Materia Medica), and the works of Zhang Zhongjing and Li Dongyuan, etc., before one can serve as a great physician managing human life." Just as those who correct the five tones must take Shi Kuang's pitch pipes as their standard, and those who create squares and circles must adopt Gongshu Ban's compass and set square as their rules. The five tones and shapes are merely minor skills, yet one still selects experts for these tasks. How much more so for physicians, who manage human life? If not proficient, they kill. Today's patients do not understand this principle and entrust their lives to fashionable physicians. What difference is there between them and those who give up on themselves and willingly accept death in a ditch? (From this collection)