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I privately believe that although medicine may seem a minor art, it entrusts life and death. The most crucial aspect is adaptability; one should not be stubborn. One must understand the principles of drugs, pulse, disease, and treatment; and thoroughly grasp the conditions revealed by observation (Wang), listening/smelling (Wen), inquiry (Wen), and palpation (Qie).

Regarding drugs, one deduces their Qi of cold, heat, warm, cool, and neutral nature; their flavors of pungent, sweet, bland, bitter, sour, and salty; their properties of ascending, descending, floating, and sinking; and their abilities to disperse, unblock, purge, and tonify. Regarding pulses, one investigates forms such as superficial (Fu), deep (Chen), slow (Chi), rapid (Shu), slippery (Hua), and choppy (Se); and their correspondence to exterior/interior (Biao/Li), cold/heat, excess/deficiency (Xu/Shi). One observes the harmonious softness like "A-A-Nen-Liu" and the compliance of string-like (Xian), hook-like (Gou), hair-like (Mao), and stone-like (Shi) pulses in accordance with seasons. Drug usage employs Sovereign (Jun), Minister (Chen), Assistant (Zuo), and Envoy (Shi) roles; pulse diagnosis distinguishes between old, young, thin, and fat constitutions. Drugs are the essence of heaven and earth; drug application must fit the disease. Pulses are the manifestation of Qi and Blood; the pulse values spirit (Shen).

Diseases are categorized into external contraction (Wai Gan) and internal injury (Nei Shang), involving mechanisms of wind, cold, summer-heat, heat, dryness, and fire. Treatments utilize agents of dispersing, unblocking, purging, tonifying, lubricating, astringing, dampening, drying, heavy, and light natures. External contractions differ from internal injuries; cold syndromes differ from heat syndromes. External contractions are suitable for purging, while internal injuries are suitable for tonifying; cold syndromes can be warmed, and heat syndromes can be cleared. If tonification and purging are appropriate, the disease heals in an instant; if clearing and warming are mismanaged, death occurs in a moment. For external contraction of wind-cold, one should differentiate meridians and resolve the pathogen; for internal injury from diet, one should regulate the stomach to digest food. Stomach Yang governs Qi and reception; Yang is often in excess. Spleen Yin governs Blood and transformation; Yin is often deficient. The Stomach is the root of the six Fu organs; the Spleen is the source of the five Zang organs. When Stomach Qi is weak, myriad diseases arise; when Spleen Yin is sufficient, myriad pathogens cease. Regulating the Spleen and Stomach is the kingly way of medicine; dietary restraint is the good prescription for dispelling disease.

Diseases often stem from cold stagnation or Qi stagnation leading to fever, or from the Seven Emotions moving fire, which generates phlegm. Some result from improper activity injuring one to summer-heat pathogens; some from exposure to rain and dampness; some from dietary imbalance generating damp-heat; some from excessive sexual activity stirring ministerial fire. To subdue ministerial fire, one must nourish true Yin; to dispel damp-heat, one must dry dampness and tonify the Spleen and Stomach. Exterior dampness is suitable for diaphoresis; interior dampness is suitable for bland leaching. Yang summer-heat is treated by clearing heat; Yin summer-heat is treated by dispersing cold. Investigating fire and phlegm, treatment varies by quantity; investigating exterior and interior, one applies either diaphoresis or purgation. Phlegm moves due to fire; treating fire is primary. Fire arises from Qi; regulating Qi is fundamental. Treating fire: mild cases use descending; severe cases follow its nature to ascend and dissipate. Regulating Qi: slight cases use harmonizing; severe cases investigate the source and disperse. Excess fire is purged, either from the exterior or interior; deficiency fire is tonified, either Yin or Yang. Sudden illness is termed fire; strange illness is termed phlegm. Cold, heat, damp, dryness, and wind produce five different types of phlegm; warmth, clearing, drying, moistening, and dispersing constitute five different treatments. Fire may generate phlegm; phlegm may generate fire. Prolonged stagnation becomes disease; prolonged disease becomes stagnation. The Five Stagnations (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) must be differentiated; the Five Methods (draining, breaking, reaching, issuing, seizing) must be carefully considered. Stagnation generates fire and phlegm, becoming disease; stagnation consumes Qi and Blood, leading to deficiency.

Diseases have severity; treatments have counteraction (Ni) and following (Cong). Mild cases use counteraction; severe cases use following attack. Diseases have root (Ben) and branch (Biao); urgent cases treat the branch, chronic cases treat the root. Methods divide into attacking and tonifying: deficiency uses tonification, excess uses attack. Young and strong with new pathogens focus on attacking; old and frail with long-standing disease combine tonification. Long-standing disease combines tonifying deficiency and resolving stagnation; chronic conditions may involve purging accumulation or digesting stagnation. Accumulation in the intestines and stomach can be cured by purgation; masses in the meridians are healed by resolution. Women: Qi stagnation in Blood requires activating Blood to move Qi. Men: Yang exceeds Yin, requiring tonifying Yin to match Yang. Cong Rong (Cistanche Herba) and Shan Yao (Dioscoreae Rhizoma) are fine treasures for men; Xiang Fu (Cyperi Rhizoma) and Suo Sha (Amomi Fructus Rotundus) are supreme treasures for women. Qi disease and Blood disease must be distinguished; Yang deficiency and Yin deficiency must not be confused. Yang deficiency Qi disease is heavier by day and lighter by night; Blood disease Yin deficiency is lighter by day and heavier by night. Yang deficiency generates cold, cold generates dampness, dampness generates heat. Yin deficiency generates fire, fire generates dryness, dryness generates wind. Yang excess and Yin deficiency generate fire; fire forces blood causing irregular menstruation. Yin excess and Yang deficiency generate cold; cold stagnates Qi causing generalized edema. Yang deficiency fears exterior cold; Yin deficiency generates interior heat. Tonifying Yang and Qi uses sweet-warm substances; nourishing Yin and Blood uses bitter-cold substances. Regulating Qi values pungent-cool; harmonizing Blood requires pungent-hot. Yang Qi guides Yin Blood; Yin Blood is the foundation of Yang Qi. Yang deficiency tonifies Yang; Yin deficiency tonifies Yin. Qi disease regulates Qi; Blood disease harmonizes Blood. Both Yin and Yang deficiency: only tonify Yang, as Yang generation leads to Yin growth. Both Qi and Blood diseased: only regulate Qi, as Qi movement leads to Blood flow. Store ice and emit ice to control the blazing of Yang Qi; nourish water to restrain the hyperactivity of Heart Fire. When fire descends and water rises, the person is free of disease; when Yin is peaceful and Yang is secret, the body remains youthful.

Children are purely Yang without Yin; the elderly have much Qi but little Blood. Fat people have Qi deficiency with phlegm; resolve phlegm and tonify Qi. Thin people have Blood deficiency with fire; purge fire and nourish Yin. Indulgence in rich foods causes carbuncles and sores due to heat-dryness; inability to endure bland food causes swelling due to cold-dampness. Northern regions are high; clear heat and moisten dryness. Southern regions are low; disperse dampness and warm cold. Once the disease mechanism is clear, do not err in medication. Formula modifications depend on the physician; examine the disease for appropriateness. Drug tonification and purging depend on flavors; adapt to seasonal changes. Know the Seven Formulas (Odd, Even, Compound); observe the Three Treatments (Initial, Middle, Terminal). Treat cold with hot methods, treat hot with cold methods; treat obstruction with unblocking, treat retention with astringing; suppress what is high, elevate what is low; release what is exterior, seize what is interior. Cold causes coagulation; heat causes movement. Wind overcomes dampness; dampness moistens dryness. Pungency disperses knots; sweetness moderates the center; blandness opens orifices; bitterness drains rebellion; sourness collects depletion; saltiness softens hardness. Ascending, descending, floating, and sinking should follow their nature; cold, heat, warm, and cool should oppose their nature. Diseases have depth; treatments have difficulty. Initial wind-cold or sudden dietary injury may be cured by one drug; old accumulations or long-standing consumptive disease are hard to cure with myriad methods. Urgent illnesses require immediate treatment; reckless drugs should not be tried. If disease involves deficiency, half-attack and half-tonify. Medicine has many techniques: moxibustion and acupuncture. Acupuncture has the merit of劫病 (robbing/removing disease); moxibustion has the verification of reviving life. Acupuncture removes Qi disease and stops pain; moxibustion eliminates blood stasis to form structure. Visceral cold and collapse are treated with moxibustion; pulse-related spasms and bi-syndrome are treated with needle insertion. Blood excess with accumulation, swelling, and heat is suitable for Bian Shi (stone lancet); Qi congestion with flaccidity, syncope, cold, and heat should imitate Dao Yin (guiding and pulling). Meridian blockage causing numbness requires wine preparations; Qi and Blood stagnation affecting sinews and vessels allows for herbal compresses. Fierce diseases are controlled by pressing; Gan Huo Luan (dry cholera) is treated by scraping. Medicine divides into thirteen departments; master one school. Disease conditions change thousands of ways; analyze carefully. I briefly collect these fragmented words to present my limited view, hoping future learners may navigate the maze.