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Cold pathogenic factors are a matter that must be known. This is merely a lapse in Zhu Danxi's (Zhu Zhenheng) late-life thinking. But did he realize the excessiveness of his previous statements?

1. In the Appendix to the Dysentery Chapter, Zhu Danxi states: "For those with accumulation, it can be verified by abdominal heat, entangling pain, and tenderness upon pressure. For those with qi stagnation, it can be verified by abdominal distension resembling crab bubbles. Investigating the source of the disease, one should prescribe remedies targeted at the specific condition. The general principle is to first disperse wind pathogens, move stagnant qi, and open the stomach and spleen. One must not hastily use substances like Nutmeg (Myristicae Semen), Chebula (Terminaliae chebulae Fructus), or Atractylodes Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Baizhu) to tonify and thereby retain cold pathogens. One must not administer substances like Poppy Shell (Papaveris Pericarpium) or Dragon Bone (Os Draconis) to astringe and close the intestines and stomach. If pathogens are aided by tonification, they will become even more vigorous, thus causing transformation syndromes; therefore, the illness lingers day and night without ceasing."

Based on these three methods—dispersing wind pathogens, moving stagnant qi, and opening the stomach and spleen—it only covers the general outline and is indeed incomplete. As for the statement that "tonification retains cold pathogens," this is highly illogical and most misleading, causing significant harm. Since cold pathogens have been contracted, one must differentiate between deficiency and excess. If it is an excess syndrome, there must be signs of excess; tonification is inherently inappropriate. If tonification is applied when inappropriate, the condition will worsen immediately upon tonification, which is obvious. Why wait for transformation syndromes to appear? If the injury is to the viscera's qi, it is essentially a deficiency syndrome, and warm tonification is precisely indicated. Warmth can drive out cold pathogens, and tonification can strengthen the Spleen and Kidney. Once the Spleen and Kidney are robust and cold pathogens eliminated, recovery will be swift. How could there be logic in "retaining cold via tonification"? And how could there be talk of transformation syndromes? Moreover, the method of warm tonification does not belong to substances like Poppy Shell or Dragon Bone. It certainly extends beyond just Nutmeg and Atractylodes Macrocephala. If one rigidly adheres to the notion of "retention" and prohibits tonification, deficiency patients will become increasingly deficient, leading to myriad transformation syndromes. I have witnessed countless harms caused by misusing cold-cooling treatments, resulting in death within days or years. I have never heard of a case where warm tonification caused lingering illness. Now, having passed seventy, with extensive experience, whenever I hear others discuss this, they often fail to distinguish between deficiency and excess, invariably claiming "tonification retains cold pathogens" and "pathogens thrive with tonification." Because many believe this, many suffer. Consequently, sick individuals prefer to die from cold-cooling treatments rather than live through warm tonification. The root cause lies here. Alas! Can a single statement have such profound consequences? I deeply mourn this. I now simply reverse the argument: Using cold-cooling agents against cold pathogens results in retaining them; pathogens becoming worse with cold is logically inevitable. Many have suffered this harm. Therefore, I explicitly clarify this principle to inform the confused.

Summarizing the theories of Liu Hejian (Liu Wansu) and Zhu Danxi, they are biased towards emphasizing "Fire." Thus, whenever they see the character "Fire" in classics, they cite it as evidence. Do any of the previously listed points truly align with the intent of the classics? Having claimed to study the classics, how could they ignore the context and pull out a single sentence to write books and speak recklessly? Do they think later generations are blind? Or that the world can be deceived? Or that their understanding of nature is unclear? Their errors are severe. I cannot excuse them. Since their theories spread, the teachings of Xuanyuan (Yellow Emperor) and Qibo have been slandered for a long time. Why? Because later generations suffering from Yang collapse (Yang exhaustion) blame Xuanyuan and Qibo. If they were alive today, would they not be outraged? The source of current medical errors was actually initiated by Liu Hejian and consolidated by Zhu Danxi. I write this treatise to protect the lives of future generations, to uphold the orthodox lineage of Xuanyuan and Qibo, and to guide young learners with limited knowledge. Those who read their works initially believe them to be canonical truths, often being misled for life. The harm is incalculable. To clear the stream, one must purify the source. Hence, I extract the essence of their two schools' views and correct them here. The remaining details are too numerous to exhaustively list.