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Other aspects of inquiry. Once this is understood, the mechanism of auspiciousness and misfortune, fortune and disaster, can be fully grasped by seeking within the mind. Speaking of life and death, humans receive the qi (vital energy) of heaven and earth to generate life; when it gathers, there is life, and when it scatters, there is death. Thus, as a substance, qi gathers to form shape; things, as manifestations of qi, scatter and return to formlessness. The Alchemical Classics state: "If even a fraction of yin remains, one cannot become an immortal; if even a fraction of yang remains, one will not die." Therefore, tracing back to the origin belongs to yang; thus, birth must arise from the Fu Hexagram (Return), where yang grows until reaching the Qian Hexagram (Creative); conversely, looking at the end belongs to yin; thus, death must occur in the Kun Hexagram (Receptive), where yang exhausts and returns to earth. Those who obtain yang live, so yang has no ten (symbolizing completion/end), and yang has no end; those who obtain yin die, so yin has no one (symbolizing beginning), and yin has no start. Hence, yang syndromes often involve much speech, while yin syndromes are silent; the silent ones die, the talkative ones live. Those with strong hun (ethereal soul) stay awake more, those with strong po (corporeal soul) sleep more; sleeping more indicates less auspiciousness, staying awake more indicates easier peace. Therefore, those who skillfully grasp this handle, wishing to save the dying, should not harm their life force; wishing to drive away the bandit (pathogen), should not injure the ruler (righteous qi). The gathering and scattering of yin and yang is its principle; the Peeling and Returning, waxing and waning are its mechanism; and the way of life and death is entirely contained within it.

Speaking of diseases, the Tai Hexagram (Peace) represents the communication between above and below, while the Pi Hexagram (Standstill) represents the separation of Qian and Kun (heaven and earth). The Ji Ji Hexagram (After Completion) represents the harmony between heart and kidney, while the Wei Ji Hexagram (Before Completion) represents the separation of yin and yang. In the Da Guo (Great Exceeding) and Xiao Guo (Small Exceeding) hexagrams, entering inward means yin-cold deepens gradually, while exiting outward manifests as stagnation (pi); in the Zhong Fu (Inner Truth) and Yi (Nourishment) hexagrams, the center resembles insufficient spleen-earth organs, while Yi manifests as distension. Peeling and Returning resemble separating from or losing yang, or separating from or losing yin. The Guan Hexagram (Contemplation) shows the gradual decline of yang, while the Dun Hexagram (Retreat) hides the cause of yin growth. I merely symbolize these images, unable to elaborate further. Furthermore, if Li Fire (Fire) meets Qian Metal, the pathology is either in the head or internal organs; if encountering Dui Lake, it connects to the mouth and lungs. Kan Water and Li Fire mutually affect each other's benefits and harms; entering the eastern wood-fire region requires guarding against inflammation. Although Kun Earth and Gen Mountain prefer warmth, excessive heat may fear dryness. Kan Wood Mother generates Zhen Thunder and Xun Wind; if encountering the earth position, it is counter-controlled, which is most detested. Metal and water originally share the same qi; when abnormal, dryness and dampness interfere with each other. Kun and Gen, situated in the center, fear the prosperity of the east; if meeting Qian and Dui, they appear slightly secure. Although this uses hexagram images to predict disease conditions, dividing fire and water via Kan and Li; it is that Kan belongs to water but houses yang in the center, while Li belongs to fire but hides yin within. Thus, in the northern water region, one appears contrary; in the southern fire region, two dwells偏 upper; in the eastern yang wood, eight resides within; in the western yin metal, nine occupies its position. It can be seen that Li yang belongs to fire, half being false heat hard to guess; Kan water is yin, how can it all be true cold easy to recognize? Clouds follow dragons, wind follows tigers, the mechanism of waxing and waning; water flows to wetness, fire goes to dryness, the aperture of life and death. If knowing that reversal and obedience are worrisome, one must recognize the inversion of false and true. Thus, the multitude of changes in events is like human faces; every person's face is different, all faces under heaven are distinct, and faces of ancient and modern times are never alike. The difference in human faces is like the difference in human hearts; the difference in human hearts is why human diseases are also all different. The generation of such ailments is incalculable. Now, I briefly list the general outline. Books cannot fully express words, and words cannot fully express meaning; divine illumination depends on the individual. However, nothing is more divine than the I Ching, and nothing is easier than medicine relative to the I Ching. To encompass both medicine and the I Ching, the principle is solely yin and yang. Thus, all sounds under heaven emerge from one closing and opening; all numbers under heaven emerge from one even and odd; all principles under heaven emerge from one movement and stillness; all phenomena under heaven emerge from one square and circle. Squares and circles, movement and stillness, odd and even, closing and opening, total do not exceed one and two. Hence it is said: Heaven and earth have form, their interaction is via Qian and Kun; when Qian and Kun are not used, their interaction is via Kan and Li; the way of Kan and Li concludes with yin and yang. However, speaking collectively, yin is dominated by yang, and the great virtue of heaven and earth is generation. That which is generated is yang, odd, one, and dan (elixir). The I Ching has myriad phenomena, yet to summarize them with one word, it is 'yang'; life and death are major matters, yet to cover them with one word, it is also 'yang'. Although it is said that yang is paired with yin while Qian moves vigorously, and yin serves as the foundation for yang while Kun is quiet and peaceful; yet why does Kun achieve peace? Is it not all due to Qian yang? Hence, as in the Gen Hexagram (Keeping Still), stillness is quiet, but that which enables stillness is movement. Therefore, although yin nature is cunning, it never fails to obey yang's command, advancing or retreating according to yang's strength. Thus, Yuan (origin) penetrates the four virtues, Spring penetrates the four seasons, and the way of heaven and earth is that yang is always full, yin always deficient, serving as the root for the continuous generation of all things; this is the natural law of innate creation. Only, yang is like a gentleman, yin like a petty person. The gentleman is upright, bright, independent, and unswerving, making him hard to retain; the petty person exploits flaws and waits for opportunities, doing anything, making him easy to advance. How can spring light stay forever, and gentlemen live forever? Alas! When yang is excessive, change inevitably occurs, passing away like this. Thus, the sun reaches its zenith then declines, the moon becomes full then wanes, also symbolizing yang one and yin two, seemingly feeling yin exceeds yang. Hence, times of order are few and chaotic times many, gentlemen few and petty persons many, centenarians few and premature deaths many; this is the daily increase of post-heaven desires. Therefore, holding fullness and pouring overflow, gentlemen fear it. Thus, when the Sage created the I Ching, regarding the moments of waxing and waning, the division of good and evil, he never failed to express the intention of supporting yang and suppressing yin. This is not because he deliberately dislikes yin, but fears it will ruin yang virtue and destroy the generative intent of Qian and Kun. Therefore, the birth of one yin is like a thief; stepping on frost, one knows solid ice is coming; the key lies in caution regarding the subtle. This is truly the guideline of medicine and the pivot of life. Thus, in the book of the I Ching, every word hides the compass of medicine; every image and line contains the mirror of respecting life. Hence, the Sage established images to exhaust meaning, set up hexagrams to exhaust truth and falsehood, attached statements to exhaust words, changed and communicated to exhaust utility, and inspired and danced to exhaust divinity. Although not speaking of medicine, the meaning is entirely within it. Thus, the changes of heaven can be seen by observing the I Ching; the states of humans can be verified through images; the yin and yang of diseases have methods to follow. Attached to form, there must be pairs; applied to color, there must be distinction. Therefore, when a gentleman intends to act, he examines with reason, responding swiftly like an echo; divine knowledge foresees the future, wisdom stores the past; interweaving and changing, intricately arranging numbers, communicating changes, exhausting numbers, silent and unmoving, sensing and instantly connecting with the causes of the world. Unless one is the most refined and divine under heaven, who could achieve this? Those who achieve this, expand their dao to merge with heaven and earth, clear their minds to merge with ultimate truth, fuse their qi to generate all things, harmonize their spirit to connect with the masses. This is called grasping the nettle of heaven and earth, knowing the chamber of yin and yang, seeing the cave of spirit, searching the hidden treasury. However, changing the heaven's I Ching is indeed difficult; I dare not say I can turn the tide of creation. Changing the body-mind's I Ching is still easier; can we not regulate yin and yang? Thus, using the changes of the I Ching to participate in medicine, every image is medicine, and medicine can reverse the creation of heaven and earth; using the application of medicine to assist the I Ching, the whole body is the I Ching, and the I Ching truly concerns my safety and danger. Hence I say: The I Ching possesses the principles of medicine, and medicine obtains the application of the I Ching. Learning medicine without learning the I Ching leads one to believe medicine is not difficult, just so far; but who knows that seeing with eyes leaves some unseen, hearing with ears leaves some unheard, ultimately remaining narrow-minded? Knowing the I Ching but not medicine leads one to believe its principles are profound and obscure, difficult to apply; how is this different from a person fearing cold getting fur but not wearing it, or a person fearing hunger getting soup but not eating it, sadly missing this life? Since then, medicine cannot exist without the I Ching, and the I Ching cannot exist without medicine. If one can possess both, then the changes of the I Ching come from heaven, and the applications of medicine depend on oneself. Wielding a one-xun piece of wood, turning a boat of ten thousand hu;拨动 an inch of mechanism, firing a弩 of one thousand jun. Making void real and real void is Yi; making cold hot and hot cold is Yi; making rigid soft and soft rigid is Yi; making dynamic static and static dynamic is Yi; high and low are adjusted by Yi's ascending and descending; exterior and interior are adjusted by Yi's floating and sinking; slow and fast are adjusted by Yi's priority; reversal and obedience are adjusted by Yi's false and true. One who knows the way of mechanism, when mechanism touches the eye, spirit responds in the heart; seeing the non-existent as existent, seeing the existent as void, knowing the direction ahead, knowing the dwelling behind. Thus, one can change danger to safety, chaos to order, death to survival, disaster to fortune. Bringing the mind to the profound realm, bringing the body to the domain of longevity, fate can be reversed, heaven and earth can be turned over. Indeed, nowhere is there not medicine, and nowhere is there not Yi. Are Yi and Medicine really two? However, the user of Yi applies it in change; the user of medicine applies it in suitability. Within suitability there is change, change is suitability; within change there is suitability, suitability is change. The fear is seeking suitability in change, then among thousands of changes, which is suitable? Seeking change in suitability, then this suitable and that suitable, instead breeding more changes. There are those who seek well, able to know the destination alone amidst chaos, and grasp the one alone amidst millions; these are truly those who know the essence of medicine and Yi. However, knowing the destination and the one, is it easy to speak of? I suddenly derived this from Confucius's words: "Knowing where to rest brings stability." Rest is the root of destination, the extreme of one. The rest of disease rests on life; the rest of merit rests on achievement; the rest of evil rests on removal; the rest of good rests on accumulation. The gain and loss of affairs must have boundaries, boundary is rest; the sharpness and dullness of numbers must have limits, limit is rest. As for movement and stillness, speech and silence, all have their rest. Where rest lies is the cave of principle, the base of transformation, the gate of non-duality. Knowing the place of rest, can one lack stability? Having stabilized, can one lack tranquility? Having tranquilized, can one lack peace? Having pacified, can one lack deliberation? Having deliberated, can one lack attainment? What is attained? Attaining from Yi is attaining its change; attaining from medicine is attaining its suitability. Thus, attainment comes from deliberation, and deliberation comes from rest. The so-called rest, meaning is present but words fail to reach; I tentatively approximate it saying: The I Ching has the Unchanging Yi, Suitability has the Undoubting Suitability, this is the place of rest. I also approximate it saying: First, establish one's footing firmly in the unshakable and unmoving place; then, in the place of no two and no three, recognize this true one; this is also the place of rest. Rest is the root of attainment, attainment is the end of rest; the life-generating intent of attainment sprouts from rest, the practical effect of rest returns to attainment. Observing Mencius say: "Unmoved mind." Shao Yaofu's silent Chan says: "Please observe the night of fierce wind and cold sky, who is the person standing firm at the door?" These two men's cultivation, is it not derived from rest? The meaning of rest is divine and supreme! This is truly the path of medicine and Yi. Those who understand this, what disaster born from fortune cannot be eliminated? What danger born from safety cannot be repelled? This is called regulating the master of life, what is impossible? This is called a master of treating the state, what is impossible? And how can it be said that the aid of a single spoonful of medicine suffices to explain the meaning of medicine and Yi?! Alas! The hearts of sages are consistent across millennia; rejoicing in this Dao, benevolence is infinite. Secretly inspiring ghosts and gods, how can the Two Malignancies (disease spirits) escape? Mystically merging with heaven and earth, how can the Six Palaces have west and east? Drunk on creation in emptiness and spirituality, praising the days and months in the gourd; manipulating yin and yang in the palm, dripping spring warmth from fingertips. Most refined and subtle, receiving the teachings of the Sage; gaining or losing, depending on one's own laziness or diligence. Learning the I Ching at fifty, is it too late? Hearing the Dao in one morning, immediately proving the ways of Fuxi and Yellow Emperor. Dao is mind, who lacks prior awakening? Though I am not smart, I still aspire to be the King of Medicine. Therefore, I reiterate its meaning: Not knowing the I Ching is insufficient to speak of Great Medicine; I also hope to support the gates and walls of this Dao. Respectfully recording the year and month of writing this treatise: The Wanli era of the Great Ming Dynasty, the first yang of Renzi year.