典藏书目

The Classics state: "Usually, use the healthy (physician) to measure the patient." This is because when the physician is free from disease, with calm and even breath, using one's own respiratory rhythm to synchronize with the patient's pulse beats, the manifestations of excess or deficiency in the pulse will become apparent. At this moment, one must be like a general facing an enemy, or a boatman at the helm; the mind should be as alert as a rolling bead, the body as still as a wooden chicken. One must not talk excessively or laugh, nor casually comment on skill proficiency. Even if precious treasures are displayed before one, do not look around; even if stringed and wind instruments play nearby, act as if hearing nothing. Are all these requirements merely for pretentiousness to seek reputation? The gentleman's engagement in arts, just like relying on virtue and benevolence, constitutes solid learning. Although pulse diagnosis has been debased into a lowly craft by common prejudice, it is certainly not something that can be done perfunctorily for quick gain. Therefore, the Classics further state: "Pulse diagnosis does not follow fixed rules of treatment quantity; the key lies in maintaining composure and inner stability. Sitting quietly while holding the Cun Kou (Inch Gate) pulse, if the diagnosis fails to align with the five organ pulses, the origins of myriad diseases remain unknown. One begins only with self-reproach, which is failing the teacher's instruction." These earnest teachings aim solely to urge diagnosticians to gather their minds, cultivate stability amidst busyness, so that the spirits of doctor and patient may interconnect, achieving responsiveness between heart and hand.

For us who have profound scholarly roots and unconfused paths, under the three fingers, we can naturally grasp five out of ten cases correctly. However, if there are too many patients seeking diagnosis, leading to complex social engagements, combined with extreme heat or cold, and exhaustion from travel by boat or carriage, the physician's breath will first become disordered. How then can it accurately synchronize with the patient's pulse beats?

Moreover, in wealthy households, when one person falls ill, relatives fill the door. Some, barely understanding prescriptions and pulse reading, babble away; some, biased by their own views, form cliques to attack dissenters; some, harboring past grievances, act arrogantly and offensively, causing noble-minded physicians to wish to brush off their robes and leave; some feign concern with tedious nagging, making open-minded individuals want to cover their ears; some are duplicitous, striking indirectly; some focus on branches while forgetting the root, confusing cold and heat patterns; some seek only safety, combining purgatives with tonics; some are inconsistent, sometimes right, sometimes wrong; some, due to minor gains or losses, experience multiple shifts of joy, fear, and anxiety in a single day; some are half-believing and half-doubting, hesitating indefinitely on every matter.

Or, when the physician explains the pathogenesis, citing classics to ensure clarity, they are accused of reciting charlatan formulas; or when prescribing ordinary medicines, which the patient actually does not understand, they are mocked for having eccentric family traditions; or when maintaining a serene mind and quiet breath without unnecessary answers, they are called arrogant and dismissive; or when being straightforward and sincere without flattery, they are laughed at for being crude and careless.

Alas! In the past, people feared illness and sought doctors, thus respecting them more than teachers and guardians; today, physicians display themselves to sell skills, thus being regarded as lower than carters and porters. Therefore, upon entering a sickroom, aside from bowing and exchanging pleasantries about temperature, one immediately falls into disputes of preference and correctness. Before the Nine Pulses are clear, the mind is already in chaos. Who is the branch and who is the root? It is impossible to skillfully apply finger techniques. As for refined scholars, who originally hoped to benefit the times broadly, would they stoop to please others for acceptance, thereby earning ridicule from the knowledgeable?

The sentiments of mediocre people are indeed such that there are things they have no time to explain fully, things they cannot explain fully, and things they disdain to explain fully. When facing such situations, if one prioritizes the Way of the Sages, disregarding praise or blame, remaining neither submissive nor arrogant, keeping the mind detached regarding staying or leaving, and letting go of thoughts of gain or loss, with calm intent and steady finger placement, regulated breathing, and distinct pulse beats, then even if the pulse is subtle and obscure, one can directly penetrate the true nature and tricks of the "Two Vermin" (a metaphor for disease spirits).