典藏书目

【Background Information】
Book: Chen Youzhi's Medical Cases Chapter: Main Text (5/14) Category: Medical Discussion

The phrase "In the second Qi, Yang energy distributes, people feel comfortable, and plants flourish; severe plagues arrive, and people are prone to sudden death" refers to the period from late February to early April. The climate becomes relatively hot, and people transition from the previous period of continuous rain and high humidity to a warm and humid climate, feeling comfortable. Plants also grow vigorously due to the warming weather. However, because the climate is extremely hot and abnormal, it easily generates epidemic pathogenic factors, latent sources of highly infectious diseases may emerge, leading to plague outbreaks that cause sudden deaths.

"In the third Qi, Heaven's administration spreads, coolness prevails, dryness and heat intersect; when dryness reaches its extreme, moisture appears, and people suffer from alternating chills and fever." This refers to the period from Xiaoman (Grain Buds) to Dashu (Great Heat), approximately from late April to early June in the lunar calendar. The climate is particularly cool, which is severely abnormal. When the third Qi transitions into the fourth Qi, there is abundant rainfall. Between summer and autumn, diseases characterized by alternating chills and fever are likely to occur.

"In the fourth Qi, cold rain descends; people suffer from sudden collapse, tremors, delirium, shortness of breath, dry throat with thirst for drinking, heart pain, carbuncles, sores, ulcers, malaria with chills, bone atrophy, and bloody stools." This refers to the period from late June to early August in the lunar calendar, corresponding to the fourth Qi. The climate is relatively cold, dampness is dominant, and there is abundant rainfall. People may experience sudden fainting, chills, delirious妄语 (delirium), shortness of breath, dry throat and thirst, heart and abdominal pain, skin sores, malaria, joint pain, and bloody stools.

"In the fifth Qi, the spring command returns; grasses flourish, and people's qi is harmonious." This refers to the period after Autumn Equinox to before Minor Snow in 1987, approximately from late August to early October in the lunar calendar. The climate is relatively warm, wind qi is dominant, resembling spring. Spring-like conditions in autumn mean that plants that should be withering continue to grow luxuriantly, and people feel relatively comfortable. Here, "people's qi is harmonious" refers to people's subjective feeling. In fact, the transition between autumn and winter, where cooling and harvesting do not occur as expected, is abnormal and is brewing the occurrence of plagues.

"In the final Qi, Yang energy distributes, the climate is unusually warm; hibernating insects appear, flowing water does not freeze, and people are healthy and peaceful, but they suffer from warm diseases." This refers to the period after Minor Snow to before Major Snow in 1987, approximately from late October to early December in the lunar calendar. The climate is relatively hot; winter should be cold but is not, so hibernating insects do not hide, and water does not freeze. The warm winter climate makes the human body feel comfortable. However, this abnormal climate, having the qi of one season at the wrong time, cannot maintain health, leading to "people suffering from warm diseases."

"Therefore, eat grains of the year to stabilize their qi, and eat intercalary grains to dispel their evil." This means that in terms of health preservation, people should consume higher-quality white grains and red grains to nourish stomach qi. While nourishing stomach qi, they should selectively choose grains with different properties based on the nature of the pathogen acquired, to protect and support the organs that are prone to external pathogenic invasion.

"The year favors salty, bitter, and pungent flavors. Sweat them, clear them, disperse them." This means that in treatment for this year, salty or bitter drugs can be used to clear heat, and pungent drugs can be used to induce sweating and disperse cold, achieving therapeutic goals.

"Stabilize the operating qi, prevent evil from invading; break the stagnant qi, nourish the source of transformation." The intent is that since we already know that the climate in 1987 was first cool and then hot, by adapting daily life and emotional regulation to the climate, we will not contract external pathogens and fall ill. In treatment, use pungent-warm foods and drugs to correct the harmful effects of the cool climate, and use salty-bitter foods and drugs to correct the harmful effects of the hot climate on the body. While expelling evil, fully protect the body's righteous qi. For example, in the three months of autumn, the climate is cool; if coolness is excessive, wind qi becomes stagnant. Therefore, when autumn arrives, first tonify Liver Wood through food, medicine, and spirit, so that Liver Wood is not overacted by Dry Metal, achieving prevention before illness and early treatment if ill.

In short, "Stabilize the operating qi, prevent evil from invading" discusses prevention; "Break the stagnant qi" discusses treatment; "Nourish the source of transformation" discusses prevention within treatment. This is the specific application in clinical practice of the guiding ideology of "Superior physicians treat disease before it arises" from the *Neijing*. "Superior physicians treat disease before it arises" means treating illness early and preventing it early when healthy, combining prevention and treatment.

"The severity, lightness, scarcity, and abundance of their cold and heat determine the regimen. Those similar to heat follow Heavenly transformation; those similar to cold follow Earthly transformation." Based on the treatment principle of "Treat cold with warmth, treat heat with coolness," clinically, if symptoms and climate are both hot, use cold-cool natured drugs; if symptoms and climate are both cold, use warm-hot natured drugs.

What is the prediction of the Theory of Five Movements and Six Qi regarding 1988? The *Da Lun on the Six Origins and Correct Records* states: "In the year of Wuchen... Upper Taiyang Water, Middle Taiying Fire Movement. Lower Taiyin Earth, Cold transformation six..." Translation: In 1988, Taiyang Cold Water governs the sky, and it is a year of excessive Water movement. Taiyin Damp Earth governs the earth. Taiyang governs cold, so the first half of the year has a cold climate.

The *Da Lun on the Six Origins and Correct Records* states: "In all these cases where Taiyang governs the sky, the气化 (qi transformation) operation precedes the natural order. Heaven's qi is solemn, Earth's qi is quiet. Cold approaches the Great Void, Yang qi does not command. Water and Earth combine in virtue, corresponding above to Mercury and Saturn. The grains are black and yellow. Its administration is solemn, its command is slow. Cold administration launches greatly, marshes lack yang flames... In the first Qi, Earth's qi migrates, qi becomes very warm, grasses flourish early, people suffer from plagues, warm diseases arise, with body heat, headache, vomiting, and skin sores. In the second Qi, great coolness returns, people become miserable, grasses encounter cold, fire qi is suppressed, people suffer from qi stagnation and fullness in the middle, cold begins. In the third Qi, Heaven's administration spreads, cold qi prevails, rain descends... Therefore, the year favors bitter to dry and warm. One must break the stagnant qi, first nourish the source of transformation... Avoid empty evil to stabilize righteous qi..." Translation: In 1988, Taiyang Cold Water governs the sky, and the climate comes earlier than the season. The natural climate characteristics of that year are solemn and cold, with growth phenomena on earth being relatively quiet and inactive. Climate changes are believed to be closely related to the movements of celestial bodies Mercury and Saturn, and crop growth is good.

The first half of the year has a relatively cold climate, and the second half has a relatively damp climate. Nature is solemn, and crop growth is generally slow. Because the climate is cold, it seems like there is water without fire...

The first Qi, i.e., from Dayu (Great Cold) in 1987 to Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects) in 1988, approximately from late December to early February in the lunar calendar, the climate is still very hot. "Grasses flourish early" means plant sprouting and growth are earlier than usual, epidemics are still prevalent, and plague diseases are easy to occur. People will present with heat disease symptoms such as body heat, headache, vomiting, and sores.

The second Qi, because Yangming governs coolness and dryness, from Chifen (Spring Equinox) to Xiaoman (Grain Buds), i.e., late February to early April in the lunar calendar, the climate is relatively cool, and grass and trees grow slowly. Due to climate influence, Liver qi fails to diffuse adequately, leading to symptoms of depression and fullness in the middle.

The third Qi, in a year where Taiyang Cold Water governs the sky, the third Qi of the six steps of guest qi is exactly the position of the governing qi. Since Taiyang governs cold, from Xiaoman to Dashu in that year, approximately late April to early June in the lunar calendar, the climate is particularly cold, and rainfall is also relatively abundant. People's diseases are mainly cold diseases.

For the suitable medicines and foods in 1988, based on the differences in climate cold and heat, and the characteristics of human disease nature being biased towards cold/cool or damp/hot, bitter, drying, and warm-natured drugs can be used for differentiated treatment. One must also break the stagnant qi, drain excess, tonify deficiency, avoid the harm of abnormal climates to the human body, pay attention to daily life regulation, and only then can human health be maintained.

The application of the Theory of Five Movements and Six Qi in medicine mainly has two aspects: First, according to the generation and restriction, transformation, prosperity, and decline of the Five Elements combined with luck, predict the general situation of annual climate changes and disease epidemics. Second, provide reference for disease prevention and clinical diagnosis and treatment.

The Theory of Luck predicts step by step from large to small based on the Great Movement, Principal Movement, Guest Movement, Principal Qi, Guest Qi, Governing Sky, Ruling Earth, and the four intermediate Qi, the interaction of Guest Qi, and the combination of Luck and Qi involving Five Element generation/restriction and transformation/prosperity-decline. The natural climate change and disease epidemic situation in 1987 were: In the first half of 1987, the climate was relatively cool; in the second half, it was hot. People were prone to liver diseases. The geographical location prone to disasters was the East Zhen Palace, around Shanghai in eastern China. The climate changed rapidly with a large contrast in 1987; spring should have been warm but was cool; summer was hot; in autumn, winter, and spring, the autumn and winter that should have been cold had non-seasonal qi, making the climate warm like spring. Shellfish and crustaceans (such as hairy clams, shrimp, crabs, etc.) would suffer, and plagues would spread.

The climate characteristic of 1988 was relatively cool in the first half and relatively warm in the second half. Before early February in the lunar calendar, the climate was still relatively hot, and plagues were still spreading. After March (Spring Equinox) in the lunar calendar, the climate turned cool.

Do we verify whether the predictions of the Theory of Luck match the meteorological data provided by the provincial and municipal meteorological bureaus?

Luck theory predicted that the second half of 1987 would be hot. From the data: The average temperature in August 1987 was 31.8°C, while the 30-year average for August was 27.9°C, the former being 3.9°C higher than the latter; the average temperature in September 1987 was 24.9°C, while the 30-year average for September was 23.4°C, the former being 1.5°C higher; the average temperature in October 1987 was 21.3°C, while the 30-year average for October was 18.3°C, the former being 3.0°C higher; the average temperature in November 1987 was 13.4°C, while the 30-year average for November was 12.4°C, the former being 1.0°C higher. The monthly average temperature from August to November 1987 was 22.85°C, while the 30-year average for August to November was 21.0°C, the former being 1.85°C higher over the four months. Everyone clearly remembers that after National Day in 1987, people were still wearing shirts.

The first half of 1988 had a relatively cool climate. From the data: The monthly average temperature in February-March 1988 was 6.85°C, while the 30-year average for February-March was 7.65°C, the former being 0.8°C lower than the latter.

Statistical Table of Average Monthly Temperatures for 1987, 1988, and 1971-2000:

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Year

1987 5.3 7.6 10.2 16.2 21.9 24.9 29 31.8 24.9 21.3 13.4 5.5

1988 5.6 5.0 8.7 17.4 22.3 27.4 36.6 29 24.2 21.1 11.8 7.1

1971~2000 4.3 5.7 9.6 15.8 20.7 24.4 28.4 27.9 23.4 18.3 12.4 6.8

Reviewing the actual climate conditions and the occurrence and spread of plagues in the Shanghai area from 1987 to 1988, they coincide with the predictions of the Theory of Luck.

Based on the predictions of the Theory of Luck and the actual incidence at the time, the author analyzed the etiology and pathogenesis of the Hepatitis A epidemic in Shanghai: Because the first half of the year was relatively cool and summer was hot, with sudden changes between cold and heat, people found it difficult to adapt to the rapid climate changes. Summer itself damages qi due to summer heat, and people's immune resistance had already declined; at the time of autumn harvest and winter storage, when one should seal and consolidate primordial qi, the climate was hot instead of cold, behaving like spring, dissipating the primordial qi in the human body, and further reducing the immunity to resist pathogens.

"When evil gathers, qi must be deficient." When heat evil accompanied by hairy clams carrying the Hepatitis A virus invaded the human body, the Hepatitis A epidemic broke out, causing disaster to people. Due to deficiency of body qi and excess of evil, it spread to surrounding areas (Hangzhou, Ningbo).

Until after the Spring Equinox in 1988, because the climate began to become cold and cool, cold could overcome heat; and people had learned lessons from the plague, stopped eating harmful seafood, "must nourish and harmonize, wait for recovery," paying attention to diet, nutrition, and daily life, allowing the body's righteous qi to gradually recover. Therefore, after the Spring Equinox, the plague began to subside and gradually平息 (calm down).

After entering autumn in 1987, the author discovered that the plague began to spread. According to the treatment principle of "cold can overcome heat" provided by the Theory of Luck, and the specific symptoms of the disease, he formulated "Fang Gan No. 1" (Preventive Liver Formula No. 1). The medicinal ingredients included Da Qing Ye (Isatidis Folium), Shan Zhi (Gardeniae Fructus), Huang Qin (Scutellariae Radix), Gou Lan (Gynostemma Herba) and other bitter-cold substances. At that time, the author served as the Director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, directing the preparation room to produce "Fang Gan No. 1." Because "Fang Gan" had good efficacy in treating liver diseases, people competed to buy it. Despite working day and night, supply still failed to meet demand, achieving both social and economic benefits. On the day of the Spring Equinox, I ordered the cessation of production of "Fang Gan No. 1." Facts proved that the plague had begun to subside. However, many units continued blind production, causing drug accumulation and waste.

Fourteen years have passed since the Shanghai Hepatitis A epidemic. Calming down to think, what should we reflect upon? Spring warms, summer heats, autumn dries, winter colds; the alternation of heat and cold in the four seasons is an objective law. Ancients, through long-term life and production practices, knew from the periodic changes in celestial body movements that climate changes, phenology, and the occurrence of human diseases all follow certain laws. For example, the sixty-year cycle of Jiazi is calculated based on the least common multiple of the orbits of the five major planets. "All these regular cycles," "regular cycle" means a fixed time, such as the sixty-year cycle of Jiazi. Meteorologists have also confirmed that the meteorological changes in a Jiazi cycle have periodic laws. Ancients noticed the close relationship between various epidemic diseases and seasonal changes, noted the commonalities in climate among different years, and also noted the differences in climate among different years, thereby summarizing a set of regular prediction methods. The prediction of the Theory of Luck regarding the Shanghai Hepatitis A epidemic is a corroboration. If, in 1987, departments such as meteorology, medicine, environmental protection, and epidemic prevention had warned people to "be careful with daily life and regulate diet" to preserve their own righteous qi and avoid the harm of abnormal climates that are excessive, insufficient, or non-seasonal, and warned people not to eat seafood like hairy clams contaminated with the Hepatitis A virus due to water pollution, then the losses caused by the plague could have been reduced to the minimum, people's health could have been effectively protected, and the technology of Chinese medicine could have become a driving force for productivity development.

The sixty-year cycle of Jiazi implies that the climate changes and disease occurrences every year and every season are periodic, but certainly not simple repetitions; rather, they are dynamic changes. For example, some diseases spread widely and have severe clinical manifestations in certain years, while in other years, they spread less and have milder clinical manifestations. Therefore, one cannot mechanically understand the Theory of Luck, but must apply it objectively, dialectically, and dynamically. The *Da Lun on the Five Constants and Proper Administration* says: "Earth has heights and depths, qi has warmth and coolness. High places have cold qi, low places have hot qi." The *Da Lun on the Supreme Essentials* more explicitly states: "Times have fixed positions, but qi does not necessarily follow." We cannot view and apply the Theory of Luck rigidly. Admittedly, natural disasters and man-made calamities may be unavoidable, but we can achieve prevention before illness and early treatment if ill. Because climate changes and disease epidemics can be influenced by humans. Under certain conditions and to a certain extent, humans can control natural changes and disease epidemics. The motherland is currently emphasizing environmental protection, afforestation, returning farmland to forests, preventing desertification, treating sewage, purifying air, strengthening food hygiene supervision, etc. These are measures to improve the ecological environment and a great cause benefiting future generations.

Researching the Theory of Luck is to make full use of it to serve humanity. The *Da Lun on the Heavenly Origin* says: "I wish to hear it and store it, to treat the people above, and to treat the self below,使百姓昭著 (making the people clear/bright),上下和亲 (harmony between superiors and inferiors),德泽下流 (virtue and grace flow downward),子孙无忧 (descendants have no worries),传之后世 (passed down to future generations),无有终时 (without end)... The mechanism of the supreme numbers is tight and subtle; its coming can be seen, its going can be pursued. Respect it and prosper; ignore it and perish. Acting selfishly without Dao leads to premature disaster." To better safeguard people's health, there is an urgent need for us to seriously and meticulously study and explore the laws of natural climate changes. We can predict upcoming climate changes; we can probe and explain past phenomena, master their laws of change, and seriously act according to natural laws. If we subjectively violate them, we will inevitably incur serious consequences and disasters (such as the 1987 Hepatitis A epidemic). Therefore, the Theory of Luck must not only be mastered but also popularized, so that everyone understands it, ensuring it forever benefits humanity and is passed down from generation to generation.

Let the ancient Chinese medicine continue to shine more brilliantly, safeguarding people's healthier and happier lives. This is the responsibility history has endowed us with.

Part Four

Chinese Materia Medica

I. Ginseng