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Zhu Danxi said: For women who have just given birth, the method of care must not be inappropriate. Meat broth can stimulate fire in the Yin meridians, easily leading to internal injury. Former sages have issued warnings; why then consume porridge made from rich broths of mutton and chicken? If a child has just been born and the mother's abdomen suddenly feels loose, eating eggs and consuming salted food without considering that eggs are hard to digest and salted food generates heat is unwise. One must eliminate salted meats, nourish with white rice gruel, and eat bland dried fish. After half a month, small amounts of meat may be introduced. Eggs should be cracked and boiled plainly, which greatly benefits the stomach and dispels disease.

Sun Simiao (Sun Qianjin) said: Generally, after childbirth, one may resume sexual intercourse only after one hundred days have passed. Otherwise, it may lead to death, with the body becoming weak and emaciated, and various diseases proliferating. This must be handled with caution. Any woman suffering from wind disorders or cold deficiency in the lower abdomen invariably does so because of engaging in sexual activity too early.

Shenzhai commented: The above five points outline the prohibitions regarding diet and daily life after childbirth. The regulation for postpartum recovery has already been recorded in one section of *Daquan* [Complete Essentials]. However, since immoderate diet and imprudent daily habits are still easily committed, these five points are reiterated to demonstrate the intent of warning and restraint.

Zhu Danxi said: All conditions occurring after childbirth must not be treated with methods that induce sweating to release the exterior. Postpartum conditions are mostly due to blood deficiency; therefore, acrid-warm herbs that disperse wind and induce sweating should not be used.

Zhang Zihe said: Diseases remaining after childbirth in women are all caused by retained evil blood and foul matter. These manifest as alternating chills and fever, cramping pain in the umbilical and abdominal regions, and slightly reduced appetite. Physicians, failing to examine carefully, assume that both qi and blood are deficient after childbirth. They then use warm-tonic formulas to nourish blood and tonify deficiency, treating the condition solely as a cold pattern. This is common throughout the world. Do they not know that a woman's pregnancy is like heaven and earth nurturing things? Things are born only after the harmonization of yin and yang; humans conceive only after the harmonization of yin and yang. How can conception occur if there is an excess of either yin or yang? What difference is there between this and grains such as millet or fruits? When water and drought occur out of season, both flowers and fruits wither and fall. Is this not similar to pregnancy that fails to result in viable offspring? On the eighteenth day after the Start of Autumn in the seventh lunar month, no grass bears fruit because the weather is cold. A woman carries a fetus for ten full months and gives birth without difficulty, yet this is mistakenly labeled as a "cold" condition. How profound is the failure to investigate reason! I privately compare this to brickmakers: with intense fire below and water poured on top of the kiln, bricks are formed. Once the bricks leave the kiln, does the kiln instantly become cold? The secular world blindly spreads the notion that Heishen San (Black Divine Powder) treats eighteen postpartum syndromes. Not only does it fail to cure, but it also causes the meridians to close and dry up, leading to strangury and urinary retention, vomiting, phlegm, and coughing, generating all sorts of heat patterns. The number of deaths resulting from such errors is countless. It would be better to combine Siwu Tang (Four Substance Decoction) with Liangge San (Cool the Upper Jiao Powder), prepare them as a large decoction, and administer them to induce defecation several times until all the foul matter is expelled. Subsequently, administering sweet-and-bland formulas will lead to natural recovery.

Shenzhai commented: Zhang Zihe argues against taking hot medicines after childbirth and uses the analogy of brickmaking. Before leaving the kiln, the heat of the brick is excess heat (shi re); once out of the kiln, the heat becomes deficiency heat (xu re). While the fetus is in the abdomen, clearing heat and nourishing blood is appropriate. After delivery, when lochia flows and qi and blood become deficient, deficiency generates cold. While Heishen San (Black Divine Powder) certainly should not be taken in large doses or for long periods, allowing physicians to arbitrarily use the bitter-cold herbs Dahuang (Rhubarb Rhizome) and Lianqiao (Forsythia Fruit) from Liangge San (Cool the Upper Jiao Powder) is also a mistake. Such arguments aimed at correcting extremes are not entirely sound.