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Many people now believe that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is merely an empirical medicine. Although it can treat diseases, it cannot explain the principles of treatment and thus requires Western medicine to provide explanations. Some even accuse TCM of being pseudoscience. This view is not only biased but also completely wrong.

In fact, although Western medicine can observe microscopic phenomena, it does not know the true reasons behind them. Often, Western medicine is confused by superficial phenomena and develops erroneous understandings of the essence of diseases. For example, the condensation of Cold Evil (Han Qi, 寒邪) in the meridians causes Qi stagnation and Blood stasis (Qi Zhi Xue Yu, 气滞血瘀), resulting in soreness and pain. Exposure to cold in the head, neck, lower back, legs, and feet all produce such symptoms. Because the cause does not occur within the bodies of Western doctors themselves, they often fail to identify the etiology. Typically, they explain this pain by denying the patients' subjective sensations, attributing the symptoms to the patients' illusions. This attitude, which disregards facts and speaks recklessly, deserves criticism. Alternatively, it may be named neuralgia and treated by anesthetizing the nerves. In reality, it is precisely because the nerves are functioning normally that pain is perceived; anesthetizing the nerves renders them dysfunctional, adding disease to disease. How can this be called treating a disease? If such a method were considered feasible, then all diseases could be treated with euthanasia, bringing everything to an end and eradicating the roots entirely.

For such pain, TCM employs Six Meridian Syndrome Differentiation (Liu Jing Bian Zheng, 六经辨证) to identify the meridian affected by Cold Evil. Based on local conditions and timing, dispersing-cold herbs are administered. Once the cold dissipates, the pain stops immediately. This approach grasps the essence of the etiology. Therefore, if the syndrome differentiation is accurate and the medication is appropriate, the therapeutic effect will be as immediate as striking a drum (Xiao Ru Fu Gu, 效如桴鼓).

In the United States, shoulder and back pain is one of the most difficult diseases to treat, leaving Western medicine helpless. This reflects a serious defect in Western medicine's epistemology of etiology: a lack of understanding of non-organic lesions caused by External Pathogenic Factors (Wai Gan Liu Qi, 外感六气), specifically the six climatic evils (Wind, Cold, Summerheat, Dampness, Dryness, Fire). Consequently, there is no basis for treatment. Thus, Western medicine has had to resort to acupuncture from TCM. Due to acupuncture's ability to unblock the meridians and expel Wind-Cold, effective results are often seen quickly, which explains why acupuncture is so popular abroad. However, Western medicine has still not formed a correct understanding of the principle behind acupuncture's efficacy. Even today, many people remain skeptical of the Meridian Theory (Jing Luo Xue Shuo, 经络学说), upon which acupuncture relies for treating diseases, or even distort and deny it.

If basic TCM theories, namely Yin-Yang Five Elements (Yin Yang Wu Xing, 阴阳五行) and Six Qi (Liu Qi, 六气) theories, along with the Four Diagnostic Methods (Si Zhen, 四诊) and Eight Principles (Ba Gang, 八纲) syndrome differentiation system, are abandoned, physicians will have no way to handle clinical cases, and prescribing medication will lack direction. Furthermore, TCM utilizes the Five Elements nature and Cold-Warm-Hot-Cool attributes inherent in drugs. Through the bias of these drugs, TCM adjusts the imbalance of Yin-Yang and Qi-Blood in the human body to achieve the purpose of treating diseases. The classification of drug properties is not derived solely from experience but also based on flavor, odor, color, shape, formula structure, and place of origin. Western analysis of the chemical composition of drugs cannot explain the principle of their therapeutic action. These are two different modes of thinking and observation methods; Western methods cannot explain the reasons for drug therapy. TCM, however, not only provides explanations but also verifies them through clinical efficacy. This indicates that TCM methods are practical and its theories are correct. From the perspective of withstanding experimentation, this theoretical experience conforms to science.

Although Western medicine can delve into the microscopic realm, what it observes is often content unrelated to the disease. Using such irrelevant content to explain related diseases is like using the principle of an airplane engine to explain the wear of a bicycle crankshaft. While profound, it is impractical. The result is inevitably incorrect, and its inability to withstand practical testing fully demonstrates the pseudoscientific nature of Western medicine.

Because TCM simply uses its own theories to treat diseases and has never claimed scientific status for itself, errors cannot be labeled as "pseudoscience." Conversely, Western medicine positions itself as science everywhere yet fails to justify itself logically and cannot prove the correctness of its theories through efficacy, making it difficult to exclude suspicions of pseudoscience.

Science is constantly developing, and there will always be phenomena that current scientific common sense cannot explain. Regarding such phenomena, one should adopt a humble attitude, acknowledge their objective reality, continuously explore to break through the limitations of human cognition, and use various methods to approach the true face of things. Strictly speaking, the term "pseudoscience" itself carries a somewhat pseudoscientific flavor.

The epistemology and methodology of TCM provide a reasonable reference for modern humanity to break through its own cognitive limitations.

Is the effect of Chinese herbal medicine derived from the whole or from specific active ingredients?

Researching the active ingredients of Chinese herbs is like researching the active ingredients of food. If the active ingredient of food were vitamins, why do humans not extract vitamins to replace food? The reason is simple: although food contains vitamins, vitamins cannot replace food. The Spleen and Stomach (Pi Wei, 脾胃) not only extract vitamins from food but, more importantly, absorb the Essence-Qi of Grain and Water (Shui Gu Jing Wei, 水谷精微) inherited from Heaven and Earth contained in the food. Vitamins cannot satisfy hunger, and eating them as a meal would be fatal. Food is bestowed by Heaven and cannot be replaced by any other substance. Medicines are the same.

The blade of the Green Dragon Blade (Qing Long Dao, 青龙刀) can kill people, but seeking the function of the blade apart from the sword body is impossible. Similarly, although the Green Dragon Blade is invincible, if taken away from Guan Yu and used by Han Zhang, it would not stand a chance against the old general Huang Zhong. Guan Yu, his Red Hare horse, and the Green Dragon Blade form a trinity. Charging into battle together, they awe China. If the merit of slaying Yan Liang and Wen Chou were attributed solely to the blade of the Green Dragon Blade, the loss would be far greater than just a thousand miles.

Similarly, the effect of Chinese herbal medicine lies in the holistic medicinal properties and the compatibility (Pei Wu, 配伍) between drugs, not merely in certain active ingredients. Obtaining a single active ingredient necessarily means losing the wholeness, just like the blade of the Green Dragon Blade separated from Guan Yu.

Would an active ingredient detached from the whole still be effective? If so, how does it compare to the effect of the whole? Could the Green Dragon Blade separated from Guan Yu still pass through five passes and slay six generals?

The Significance and Consequences of Medical Statistics

Like other tools, statistics was certainly not invented by modern medicine, but it indeed plays a very important role in modern medicine, which must first be acknowledged.

Statistics is a mathematical method, essentially calculating results. Some matters cannot be known without statistics, such as the total population of the Earth. Without counting one by one, it is impossible to know exactly how many people are on Earth. Because there are too many people, and there are too many objective factors affecting statistical accuracy, and time factors must also be considered, establishing a reasonable statistical method is necessary. Other aspects, ranging from Gross National Product to individual annual average income, require statistics to determine results. Even small business owners who do not frequently calculate capital, profit, and inventory find it difficult to manage clearly. Thus, statistics is an important matter for nations, collectives, and individuals alike.

A prerequisite for statistics is that the object of statistics must be an unknown variable before implementation. If the result is already known, the statistical process loses practical significance. Who would endlessly count a stack of banknotes whose exact amount is already known? Unless one is a miser or suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, but such endless counting is no longer statistics in the statistical sense; it is a manifestation of greed or pathology. Statistics must also have a clear purpose: the process aims to discover an unknown result. For example, to investigate the average passenger flow of a public toilet, one must accurately count the number of people entering and exiting within a certain period, then divide by a unit of time to obtain the average number of people per unit time.

Modern medicine introduced statistics with clear purposes. For instance, when a newly developed drug is prepared for clinical application, the efficacy rate and potential side effects are unknown variables for modern medicine, requiring clinical statistical work.

In fact, clinical application is merely the final stage of drug experimentation, with only the subjects and levels changing: mice become humans. Of course, we do not intend to accuse modern medicine of violating human rights. Since the ultimate effect of drugs is unknown to modern medicine, this unknown variable can never be understood without direct clinical verification. Modern medicine does this to cure diseases, and we have no reason to doubt its good intentions. However, at this stage, modern medicine requires patients facing a drug that is essentially an unknown variable to adopt an attitude of accepting things as they are without deep inquiry; otherwise, the experiment cannot proceed normally, as few patients are willing to become experimental subjects, except for those noble individuals willing to sacrifice themselves for the happiness of others.

Therefore, the best outcome is that patients believe the medication they receive is truly treating their disease, harboring no doubts, allowing the experiment to proceed smoothly. Meanwhile, medical statistics are conducted through group allocation and comparison, observing differences in outcomes between placebo groups (pretending to administer medication using non-drug substances to deceive patients) and medication groups, and determining the efficacy rate. Only then can it be judged whether the drug is effective for a certain disease and what the efficacy rate is. Of course, this statistical process requires a premise: it is indeed unknown how the drug will affect patients, including side effects. There is also a larger premise: the disease itself is an unknown variable to modern medicine. Otherwise, the statistics lose their meaning.

An unavoidable premise in the statistical process is the issue of individual cases: individual cases hold no significance in statistics. This is logical for statistics because it is a process of calculation and comparison, requiring at least two objects for contrast. The larger the sample size, the more precise the comparative result and the smaller the error. For an unknown drug, efficacy cannot be observed from a single patient, because modern medicine understands that the human body has a self-healing mechanism. Modern medicine cannot determine whether the drug or the self-healing mechanism acted upon the patient. Essentially, this is determined by the nature of modern medicine and its drugs. The essence of modern medicine is constantly using patients for medical experiments, where countless patients serve as test subjects. The frequent declaration of terminal illnesses by modern medicine reveals another meaning: countless patients have become victims of these experiments. The meaning of "terminal illness" is actually: the experiment has not yet succeeded; the patient must strive harder.

Why did modern medicine introduce statistics? As discussed above, it is primarily for two unknown variables: the drug and the disease, and consequently, the drug's effect on the disease. Because they are unknown, statistics are required. This spirit of seeking knowledge is commendable. However, it must be pointed out that if this method is adopted due to ignorance (not just uncertainty), its practical significance must be questioned.

As mentioned earlier, statistics is a method necessitated by the quest for unknown variables. If the variable is known, statistics lose their meaning. For example, hitting glass with a hammer breaks it; one does not need to smash all glasses to conclude that a hammer can break glass. Similarly, shooting a gun can kill a person; one does not need to kill everyone to prove this result. Clearly, some results can be proven by experience, and statistics are essentially a repetition of experience. If all facts required proof by statistics, humanity could not even prove its own existence.

Returning to medicine, the essence of modern medical statistics is accumulating experience. Because it cannot be as precise as a hammer breaking glass, the hit rate must be calculated. Actually, modern medical treatment resembles a shooting drill, with modern medicine acting largely as a poor marksman, having a very low hit rate for most diseases. Returning to the hammer-and-glass metaphor: although the hammer of modern medicine hits the glass, the glass never breaks because it is a paper hammer. Even if this hammer strikes a thousand times, the glass will not break. Of course, switching to an iron hammer would be different, but that is not the tool of modern medicine.

Earlier, the importance of experience was discussed. TCM has consistently been viewed by modern medicine as empirical medicine. Since it is called empirical (including theory), does this mean that within the scope of TCM experience, TCM theory withstands verification? Let us temporarily understand theory as a theoretical method. Since this theoretical method can be repeatedly verified in the process of treating diseases, does it mean that the "iron hammer" of TCM has transcended the significance of statistics? Because uncertainty is the premise of statistics, statistics are meaningless for known things. For TCM, the question is how to better utilize the iron hammer, rather than statistically calculating its efficacy rate.

Why is the injury rate of fire to humans not statistically analyzed? Because it is meaningless. Why is the importance of food to humans not statistically analyzed? Because it is meaningless. Why is the harm of explosions to humans not statistically analyzed? Because it is meaningless. Because these are human experiences.

Why does TCM not statistically analyze the efficacy rate of Chinese herbs for diseases? Also because it is meaningless. Why? Because the efficacy rate of Chinese herbs is premised on correct usage. It is like analyzing the efficacy of substances for hunger: food is 100%, while stones are 0%. But if used for repairing roads, the situation would be entirely different.

Turning back to the previous question: Why does modern medicine need statistics? Answer: Because of the ignorance of modern medicine. What consequences does ignorant medicine cause? Answer: Treating patients as experimental subjects.

Thus, the following reality becomes inevitable: the majority of patients become victims of modern medicine.

Differences Between TCM and Western Medicine Theories Seen from the Understanding of Diabetes