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When physicians treat diseases using moxibustion, it is like cooking vegetables requiring firewood. The reason why people nowadays cannot cure major illnesses is precisely because they do not understand acupuncture and moxa therapy. There are over a hundred types of major diseases in the world; without using moxibustion, moxa, and elixirs (Dan Yao), how can one save life and reverse the disease? Such as cold damage (Shanghan), carbuncles and sores, consumptive disease (Lao Zhai), stroke, edema, diarrhea, chronic dysentery, throat obstruction (Hou Bi), infantile acute and chronic convulsions, and smallpox with blackening and sinking, etc. If moxibustion is delayed until true Qi (Zhen Qi) has already collapsed, even if moxibustion is performed, it will be useless; however, if moxibustion is applied early, Yang Qi will naturally remain uninterrupted, and life will be secure and firm. Furthermore, laypeople use moxibustion for only thirty to fifty moxa cones (Zhuang), not realizing that while this may cure minor ailments, it is difficult to sustain the root of life. Therefore, *The Copper Man Acupuncture and Moxibustion Illustrated Classic* states: "For all major diseases, it is appropriate to apply five hundred moxa cones below the navel." This method supplements and reconnects true Qi. For dispelling wind pathogens or treating minor ailments of the limbs, three, five, or seven moxa cones suffice. Zhang Zhongjing criticized moxibustion, saying: "Although the fire energy is slight, its internal attack is powerful; it can scorch bones and injure sinews, making blood difficult to restore." I have observed from ancient times to the present, when has anyone died from moxibustion injuring bones and sinews! This is merely due to ignorance of the subtleties of moxibustion. (*Ling Shu* discusses cases where deficiency leads to sunken pulse positions; when warm tonification fails, one borrows Artemisia argyi (Ice Platform) to raise the sunken Yang. Regarding Zhang Zhongjing's statement about the fine and rapid pulse being unsuitable for moxibustion: when the pulse becomes faint, appearing and disappearing, true Yang is depleted; if it also becomes rapid, true Yin is exhausted. With Yin and Yang depleted, moxibustion is of no benefit. It produces flame without warmth and nourishment; would it not scorch bones and injure sinews, making blood hard to restore? This is not a condemnation of moxibustion.)

Sun Simiao also criticized moxibustion in his early years but believed in it only in his later years, stating: "Moxibustion has great miraculous effects." In the past, Cao Cao suffered from head wind; Hua Tuo treated him with acupuncture, and he recovered instantly. Later, after Hua Tuo's death, the condition recurred. If fifty moxa cones had been applied at the acupuncture sites, it would never have recurred. Some might ask: Human skin and flesh are most tender; would five hundred moxa cones not scorch and dry up the flesh? The answer is: No. On a dead person, applying twenty or thirty moxa cones causes the flesh to scorch because there is no blood to nourish it. However, in a person whose true Qi has not yet collapsed, Qi and Blood flow naturally, and Ying and Wei (Defensive and Nutritive Qi) surround the body; even if one thousand moxa cones are applied, how could there be scorching and rotting? Therefore, when treating diseases, one must first distinguish between life and death. If true Qi has already collapsed, moxibustion is useless. It is only those who live in luxury and cannot endure pain who should take Shuisheng San (Sleeping Sage Powder); they will fall into a deep sleep and feel no pain. I myself use Shuisheng San for moxibustion on the knees with excellent results; take it with confidence, and it will certainly not harm anyone. (Using the heart that saves oneself to extend to saving others. This is what is meant by 'teaching by example'; their words are truly sincere, their hearts earnest, and their arguments are indeed immortal theories for eternity. What can be done if the world does not believe?)