My
family
members
were
initially
numerous.
Before,
they
were
more
than
two
hundred.
Since
the
first
year
of
the
Jian-an
era7,
it
is
only
less
than
ten
years
ago,
two
in
three
died.
Seven
out
of
ten
suffered
from
Shang-han.
Shocked
by
this
downfall
of
the
old
family
members8,
feeling
the
pain
from
being
unable
to
help
dying
young
family
members,
I
collected
classic
teachings
diligently,
and
gathered
folk
medicine
widely.
Adopting
Su-wen9,
Jiu
Quan10,
Ba-shi-yi
Nan11,
Yin-yang
Da-lun12,
Tai-lu
Yao
Lu13,
and
Ping
Mai
Bian-zheng14,
I
edited
a
total
of
sixteen
volumes
of
the
Harmful
Cold
Miscellaneous
Disease
Treatises15.
Still
this
book
does
not
cover
the
curing
all
of
diseases,
but
I
pray
and
hope
that
it
helps
to
examine
diseases,
and
to
find
the
sources
of
diseases.
If
the
reader
refers
to
the
contents
of
this
book,
which
I
collected,
he
or
she
will
be
convinced16.
As
Heaven
spreads the
Five Circulations (Wu-xing)17,
ten
thousand
things
run.
Human
beings
get
the Five
Constancies (Wu-chang)18,
thus
Five
Zang-organs
exist.
Warp-Choroids (jing-luo)19, Fu-organs and
acupuncture points (shu),
Meeting (hui)
and
Communicating (tong)
of
Yin
and
Yang,
all
those
are
subtle
and
profound,
thus
it
is
hard
to
discern
the
changes.
If
one
is
not
highly
gifted,
and
does
not
have
superb
knowledge,
how
could
he/she
obtain
the
truth?
In
ancient
times,
Shen-non,
Huang-di,
Qi
Bo20,
Bo
Gao,
Lei
Gong,
Xiao
Yu,
Xiao
Shi,
and
Zhong
Wen
existed.
In
the
medieval
age,
Zhang
Sang21,
and
Bian
Que
existed.
In
the
Han
era,
Gong-cheng
Yang-qing22,
and
Cang-gong23
existed.
After
that,
until
today,
I
have
not
heard
anyone
superior
to
them.
Today,
when
we
observe
doctors,
we
find
them
not
thinking
the
meanings
of
the
classics
and
to
practice
what
they
find
in
the
classics,
but
practicing
their
family
technique.
Hence,
they
always
follow
old
customs,
asking
about
the
illness
from
the
patient,
and
having
a
glib
tongue.
They
spend
a
blink
of
time
with
a
patient,
and
dispense
a
decoction.
They
palpate
Cun
pulse24,
but
not
Chi
pulse.
They
hold
the
patient’s
hand,
but
not
their
foot.
They
do
not
compare
Ren-ying (St
9)
pulse25,
Fu-yang (St
41)
pulse,
and
three
position
pulses.
When
they
check
movement,
speed,
the
beginning
and
ending
of
the
pulse,
they
do
not
count
50
beats
of
the
pulse.
It
is
too
short
to
decide
diagnosis.
Thus,
the
pulses
of
the
nine
positions
do
not
look
alike.
They
do
not
observe
the
forehead
and
between
the
eyebrows
of
the
patient
at
all.
It
is
as
if
seeing
the
world
through
a
tube.
It
is
very
difficult
to
be
able
to
distinguish
life
from
death
while
examining
death.
Confucius26
once
said, “the
person
who
knows
everything
from
birth
is
superior.
The
person
who
studied
is
the
second.
The
person
who
is
well
informed
and
knows
everything
is
the
last27.”
I
have
been
respecting (and
studying)
medical
techniques
very
much,
and
hope
to
fulfill
these
words
of
Confucius28 (and
become
like
the
last
type
of
person).
Governor
of
Zhang-sha29,
Han
Dynasty30,
at
Nan-yang31,
Zhang
Ji
wrote
this31,32.
