Library

Dietary irregularities and overexertion both lead to spontaneous sweating (Zihan, spontaneous sweating). This is because the Foot-Yangming Stomach Channel transforms into dryness-fire, preventing the retention of body fluids (Jinye, body fluids), thus causing sweating and frequent urination. Among all pathogenic factors, none is more severe than wind-stroke (Fengzhong, stroke caused by wind). Wind is the chief of a hundred diseases; it moves freely and changes frequently. Nevertheless, without deficiency-evil (Xuxie, pathogenic factors exploiting deficiency), wind, rain, cold, and heat cannot injure the body alone; internal deficiency must first be present before thief-evil (Zeixie, severe pathogens) can enter. Conditions such as flaccidity syndrome (Wei, atrophy syndrome) and reversal (Nijue, cold extremities with yang deficiency) are all contracted following sweating. Moreover, in winter, yang qi hides beneath water and earth. If one does not excessively discharge essence (as in frequent seminal emission), but instead exhausts yang qi, where will the springtime generating force come from? All transformations will lose their foundation. In humans, dietary irregularities, overexertion, frequent sweating, or improper use of purgatives cause various diseases to arise. I urge this repeatedly so that people may know how to exercise caution.

The *Huangdi Zhenjing* states: "Chills and fever, shortness of breath, and blood moving up and down." Qi deficiency cannot resist cold; blood deficiency cannot resist heat; if both qi and blood are deficient, neither cold nor heat can be resisted. When stomach qi is deficient and fails to ascend, lung qi lacks nourishment, resulting in shortness of breath (Shaoqi, insufficient breath); since defensive qi (Weiqi, defensive energy) is also deficient, it cannot resist cold. If fire descends to attack the Kidney and Liver, assisting fire to become toxic, yin qi declines and blood becomes deficient, leading to chills, fever, and shortness of breath. The phrase "blood moving up and down" refers to the decline of the Foot-Yangming Stomach Channel, causing the Chong Mai (Penetrating Vessel) to merge with the Yangming channel, ascending into the yang aspect, reversing through seventy-two cycles. Fire in the pulse becomes vigorous, rebelling within the Yangming channel, driving blood upward until it fills the upper body. If fire temporarily retreats downward, blood descends. Hence, "blood moving up and down," commonly known as fluctuating between obesity and emaciation (Hu Fei Hu Shou, suddenly fat then thin). The classics state: "Heat injures qi." And again: "Vigorous fire consumes qi." Therefore, when spleen and stomach are deficient and fire prevails, shortness of breath inevitably occurs, failing to protect the skin and hair, and obstructing the flow of upper jiao qi, resulting in insufficiency. Yin blood is deficient, yang qi is depleted; throughout the body, qi and blood in both yin and yang aspects are reduced, unable to regulate temperature, hence chills and fever occur. The *Lingshu Jing* states: "The Upper Jiao opens and develops, distributing the flavors of grains and food, steaming the skin, filling the body, and moistening the hair, like mist and dew irrigating." This represents stomach qi being balanced and ascending.