Library

The Seventy-Fifth Difficulty states: The Classic says, "The East is excess, the West is deficiency; drain the South, tonify the North." What does this mean? The answer is: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth should balance each other.

The East corresponds to Wood, and the West to Metal. If Wood desires to be excessive, Metal should regulate it; if Fire desires to be excessive, Water should regulate it; if Earth desires to be excessive, Wood should regulate it; if Metal desires to be excessive, Fire should regulate it; if Water desires to be excessive, Earth should regulate it. The East corresponds to the Liver (Gan), indicating Liver excess; the West corresponds to the Lung (Fei), indicating Lung deficiency. The treatment should drain Southern Fire and tonify Northern Water. The South corresponds to Fire, which is the Son of Wood; the North corresponds to Water, which is the Mother of Wood. Water overcomes Fire. The Son can make the Mother full, and the Mother can make the Son empty. Therefore, by draining Fire and tonifying Water, the intention is to prevent Metal from regulating Wood (i.e., to relieve the excessive constraint of Metal on Wood). The Classic states: "If one cannot treat the deficiency, why ask about the rest?" This refers to this principle. Whenever I read this, I cannot help but sigh at Yuèrén's (Qin Yueren) ability to grasp the intent of the Classic, while lamenting that later generations have lost this intent.

Ancient sages said, when studying books, one should not first look at annotations. Instead, repeatedly recite and savor the original text until one has new insights, then cross-reference with annotations. Thus, the meaning of the Classic will become clear, and one will not be obscured by others' theories. If one looks at annotations first, their views will dominate one's mind, leaving no room for new insights. I have always admired this teaching and benefited greatly from it. Moreover, this chapter in the *Nan Jing* (Classic of Difficult Issues) is comprehensive and pure, serving as a model for all ages. Can the numerous discussions of later generations be trusted?

Generally, "excess is treated by draining, deficiency is treated by tonifying" is the standard approach; "drain the Son of an excess pattern, tonify the Mother of a deficiency pattern" is also a standard approach. Everyone knows this. Now, with Liver excess and Lung deficiency, instead of draining the Lung, one drains the Heart. This is known to people. However, instead of tonifying the Lung or the Spleen, one tonifies the Kidney. This is unknown to most, known only to Yuèrén. Regarding "the Son can make the Mother full, and the Mother can make the Son empty," from a common perspective, one might say: Heart Fire excess causes Liver Wood to be excess; this is the Son making the Mother full. Spleen Earth deficiency causes Lung Metal to be deficient; this is the Mother making the Son empty. Heart Fire excess is indeed due to its own hyperactivity; Spleen Earth deficiency is due to being constrained by Liver Wood. The method should be to drain the Heart and tonify the Spleen, so that both Liver and Lung would be balanced. Yuèrén, however, did not do this. When he said "the Son can make the Mother full," the Son is Fire and the Mother is Wood, which aligns with common sense. But when he said "the Mother can make the Son empty," the Mother is Water and the Son is Wood, which differs from common sense. Thus, he stated: Water is the Mother of Wood. The phrase "the Son can make the Mother full" explains the etiology; the phrase "the Mother can make the Son empty" explains the therapeutic method. His meaning is: Fire is the Son of Wood. The Son assists the Mother, causing it to become excessive and diseased. How should this be handled? Only through the treatment of tonifying Water and draining Fire.

What does tonifying Water mean? Since Water is the Mother of Wood, if one tonifies the deficiency of Water, enabling its strength to overcome Fire, the Fire qi will retreat, and consequently, the Wood qi will also retreat. This embodies the meaning of "the Mother can make the Son empty," which is referred to as "treating without treating" (indirect treatment). (Note: The character "deficiency" here differs from "deficiency due to loss of essence and Qi" in the *Jing Mai* chapter. In the latter, deficiency refers to depletion of true Yin leading to weakness; here, it refers to suppressing excess to induce a state of relative emptiness/weakness.) If one argues otherwise, to which organ system should "the Mother can make the Son empty" be attributed? To the Spleen and Lung? If so, why not tonify the Spleen? The principle of the Five Elements dictates that what is feared is what overcomes it. Now, Fire is too strong, and Water is too deficient. What does Fire fear? Precisely because it fears nothing, it becomes even stronger and uncontrolled. Unless one nourishes Water to overcome it, who can overcome it? The three characters "Water overcomes Fire" are the key implication of Yuèrén, to be observed carefully, not lightly dismissed. Although both draining Fire and tonifying Water are mentioned, the crux lies in tonifying Water. Later commentators claimed: "Only drain Fire, do not tonify Water." Or they said: "Draining Fire is equivalent to tonifying Water." Is this not a great deviation from the intent of Yuèrén and the Classic? If tonifying Water were truly unnecessary, the Classic would not have said "tonify the North," nor would Yuèrén have said "tonify Water." That said, if Water is not deficient and Fire alone is violently hyperactive, it is indeed possible to proceed without tonifying Water. But if Fire hyperactivity was caused initially by Water deficiency, can one skip tonifying Water? If Water is deficient and Fire is hyperactive, and one does not tonify Water, the medicine may temporarily suppress symptoms, but they will recur after the medicine wears off. This will continue indefinitely year after year. How can the root be eradicated? Even bitter-cold herbs, which generally suppress Yang and support Yin, merely drain Fire pathogenic factors. They are ultimately not the proper herbs for the Kidney and cannot nourish the True Yin of the North. To benefit Yin, herbs such as Dihuang (Rehmanniae Radix) and Huangbai (Phellodendri Cortex) are indispensable.

Furthermore, there are two causes for Liver excess: First, Heart assistance makes Liver excess; second, the Lung's inability to control Liver makes Liver excess. There are also two causes for Lung deficiency: First, Heart overcoming Lung makes Lung deficient; second, the Spleen being controlled by Liver prevents it from generating Lung, making Lung deficient. Now, by tonifying Water and draining Fire, Fire retreats, weakening Wood qi. Additionally, Metal is no longer overcome by Fire and can constrain Wood, so the East (Liver) is no longer in excess. With Metal qi balanced, Earth is no longer overcome by Wood and can generate Metal, so the West (Lung) is no longer deficient. If one speaks according to "tonify the Mother in deficiency patterns," Lung deficiency should be treated by tonifying the Spleen. But how can one ignore that Liver qi is currently vigorous and deeply constrains Earth? Even if one tonifies the Spleen, how can it withstand the vigorous Liver? Even if Earth generates Metal, if Metal is overcome by Fire, the gain will not compensate for the loss. This is why one tonifies Water instead of Earth.

Some suspect that tonifying Water when Wood is hyperactive might cause Water to generate more Wood, making Wood even stronger. Thus, they happily accept the theory of "only draining Fire, not tonifying Water." Little do they know that Wood is already hyperactive; why wait for generation? Moreover, Water is deficient; even with potent tonification, it struggles to restore its original qi, let alone have surplus energy to generate Wood. If it could generate Wood, it would already be able to overcome Fire. Others argue: Tonifying Water aims to prevent Water from consuming its Mother (Metal). If Water does not consume Metal, Metal qi returns. How can they not realize that Fire overcomes Metal, and Earth fails to generate Metal due to Liver constraint? Metal's deficiency is extreme, unable to sustain itself. Even if Water wishes to "consume" Metal (in the generative cycle context, though technically Water is generated by Metal, the argument implies resource competition or lack of support), where is there anything to give? If this were true, Metal's deficiency would not be due to Fire's constraint but due to Water's consumption. Is this logical? Even if Water does not consume Metal, Metal may not necessarily recover. The phrase "Metal does not regulate Wood" contains an extra "not." The reason for draining Fire and tonifying Water is precisely to enable Metal to regulate Wood. The word "not" should be deleted. "If one cannot treat the deficiency, why ask about the rest?" Here, "deficiency" refers to Lung deficiency. Draining Fire and tonifying Water enables Metal to regulate Wood, which is exactly what is meant by "being able to treat the deficiency." Not tonifying Earth or Metal, but rather draining Fire and tonifying Water to allow Metal to self-balance, is the cleverness and subtlety of this method. If one cannot understand this method and cannot treat this deficiency, there is no need to ask about other matters; such a person is undoubtedly incompetent. Hence, "If one cannot treat the deficiency, why ask about the rest?" As for the meaning of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth balancing each other mentioned earlier, it is self-evident and needs no explanation, so it is omitted here. Yuèrén is a near-sage. When his discourse reaches this level, how can one not bow in respect? I only regret that commentators have distorted it, hence this clarification.