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The *Jia Zhi* records: In the third month of the 19th year of Shaoxing, the monk Xi HT from Yingchuan went to sweep a pagoda at a mountain pass thirty li south of the prefecture. A passenger boat arrived from Panyu, carrying a scholar and his servant. The servant suffered from weak legs and could not walk. The boatman, pitying him, said, "I have a herb that cures this disease with miraculous efficacy; countless people have recovered after taking it." After completing the temple sacrifice and consuming the sacrificial meat, the boatman became somewhat drunk, entered the mountains to find the herb, soaked it in wine, and gave it to the patient, instructing him to take it before dawn. The patient followed instructions, but as soon as the medicine entered his mouth, he groaned, saying, "My intestines and stomach feel as if cut by knives." By dawn, he had died. The scholar blamed the boatman, who indignantly replied, "How can this be!" He then took the remaining medicine from the previous night, soaked it in wine, and drank it himself. Within less than an hour, he also died. It turned out that this mountain was abundant with *Gelsemium elegans* (Duan Chang Cao, 断肠草), which is fatal if ingested by mistake. The herb the boatman collected was entangled with roots and vines; due to intoxication, he failed to select carefully and threw it directly into the wine, causing this disaster. Thus, we know that herbs should not be used recklessly.

People in Sichuan often cultivate chrysanthemums, as their seedlings can be eaten as vegetables and flowers used as medicine, making them suitable for garden cultivation. Nowadays, many people gather wild chrysanthemums to supply pharmacies, which is a significant error. True chrysanthemum (*Ju Hua*, 菊花) prolongs life, whereas wild chrysanthemum kills. As Zhang Hua stated, *Polygonatum sibiricum* (Huang Jing, 黄精) extends longevity, while *Gelsemium elegans* (Gou Wen, 钩吻) causes death. Errors caused by similar appearances can be so severe.

Those practicing medicinal ingestion must avoid eating sheep blood. Even if one has taken medicines for decades, a single consumption of sheep blood will nullify all previous efforts, as it can neutralize the efficacy of medicines to such an extent.

Sun Simiao stated, "It is better to treat ten men than one woman." This is because women have more desires and attachments than men, and thus are twice as susceptible to illness. Generally, their emotions of love, attachment, hatred, jealousy, worry, and distress are deeply rooted and difficult to control, leading to disease. Such illnesses are not caused by external pathogenic factors (Six Excesses, Liu Qi, 六气) but are necessarily induced by internal emotional injuries (Seven Emotions, Qi Qing, 七情). Diseases arising from the seven emotions are difficult to cure because emotional knots form internally, creating phenomena from nothing. Overthinking often leads to exhaustion and damage. Therefore, Buddhism teaches that merely imagining eating sour plums causes saliva to flow in the mouth; imagining stepping off a cliff causes soreness and pain in the soles of the feet. Most cases are like this. Unless one relaxes emotions and changes one's mindset, even potent elixirs cannot cure the disease. Since diseases originate within the five zang organs, they have no definite end, and medicinal power cannot reach them. The treatment method should involve guiding the patient to focus the mind through visualization and restraining emotions to nourish nature.

Ge Hong (Ge Xian Weng, 葛仙翁) said, "For any disease in women, treating their sorrow and resentment simultaneously, and helping them broaden their thoughts, ensures recovery."

When people are ill, all worldly concerns become cold and ash-like. Even if wealthy, they desire enjoyment but cannot attain it, instead envying the poor who are healthy. If people can entertain such thoughts when they are healthy, where would illness come from? Consequently, they will naturally remain indifferent to fame, profit, gain, loss, gratitude, and resentment.