Huangfu Mi said in "A-B Classic": "The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine has eighteen volumes, the acupuncture classics have nine volumes, and now Su Wen's nine volumes belong to the Canon of Medicine." However, some people think that these three books, Su Wen, Zhen Jing and Tang Ming, are not the works of the Yellow Emperor, but they seem to have originated in the Warring States period. Can the works of the Warring States period be like this? In Song Dynasty, Gao Baoheng and others refuted his theory in Su Wen Zhuan. This is probably an unfounded subjective guess, which is not worth exploring. But medicine is still regarded as a road, and even Neijing has been discarded as useless. Is this a man of great wisdom and vision? I read Su Dongpo's Shurangama Sutra, and the postscript said: "There are difficult sutras in the (medical) sutra, and every sentence is profound and every word is well-defined."
I didn't know that difficult classics came from Neijing, and only one tenth of them were made up! It is conceivable that the classics are so important. Neijing enables people's lives to survive and preserve. Is it worse than the Thirteen Classics in inspiring and cultivating people's hearts? Therefore, Huangfu Mi said: People inherit their parents' bodies, and they are eight feet tall and ignorant of medical treatment. This is the so-called wandering soul! Even if he has filial piety and kindness, once your father is in danger and the people are caught in the mire of charcoal fire, there is no way to help them. This is the reason why the previous generation of sages thought carefully, explored deeply and exhausted medicine. From this perspective, can a Confucian who knows books and etiquette not study this book wholeheartedly? It's a pity that people who engage in medicine now also ignore Ling Shu and Su Wen and don't understand the profound principles of life science. Diagnosis and treatment of diseases will make prosperity more prosperous, make the weak weaker, leave a disaster for people, lead to illness and injustice, and ruin people's lives. Those so-called people with good medical skills are actually like this! The reason for this is that Neijing has profound meaning and it is really difficult to learn. It is absolutely impossible to understand profound medical theories, but only by understanding God and using them in detail can we admire and catch up with the Great Sage.
Since the Tang Dynasty, although Bing Wang's annotations have been relied on to clarify the contents of the unsolved mysteries in the Neijing as much as possible, there are still many omissions. Generally speaking, some people are silent when they encounter difficulties, some people are inconsistent with the original understanding, and some people are scattered in each article, which is not convenient for reference. In short, it is a pity that his explanation is not complete enough, and there is no annotation on Lingshu. In modern times, it is just a story with essays, so the difficulties are still unexplained and the nuances are still unclear. What are the benefits?
At first, I devoted myself to the study of this book and made some summaries for my own research. Then I explored for a long time. Over time, I feel that the original sentence of Neijing is like a stone, and the words are like pearls. I can't tell which ones can be extracted and which ones can be discarded. Therefore, I made up my mind hard, hoping that some secrets can be close to the obvious, become relaxed, and inspire their secrets as much as possible and make them public. It is necessary for later scholars to be easy to understand, feel convenient, grasp the gist, step by step, get deeper and deeper, and know its origin, so as not to mislead others and achieve perfection. Therefore, this paper discusses its methods in detail, and holds that only by completely changing the original system of Neijing, adjusting it upside down, distinguishing categories according to content, and then explaining it according to meaning, can its meaning be clear and obvious. However, I dare not change the classics of sages without authorization, and I dare not start.
In the past, Qin Yueren excerpted Eighty-one Difficulties in the Zhou Dynasty, Classic by Huangfu Mi in the Western Jin Dynasty, deletion and supplement by Bing Wang in the Tang Dynasty, and Reading Banknotes by Hua Shou in the Yuan Dynasty. After seeing the actions of these four sages, they made up their minds. Moreover, the book Neijing is not like the Thirteen Classics, because it does not need to be classified, and this book needs to awaken unknown doctors and point out the way for the lost, so it is not allowed to be classified for convenience. Therefore, I have generally explored the two classics, Su Wen and Ling Shu, and first deduced their difficulty. After several years, I gradually grasped their clues. Then the two were combined into one and named Jing Lei. The meaning of "class" refers to the profound and subtle theories of spiritual pivot and mutual inspiration, which are both external and internal and penetrate its essence.
Now these two classics have been compiled and divided into twelve categories: there is no such thing as life and death in the world, and caring for the truth is in line with the laws of nature, so the first category is "taking life". The law of evolution and growth of all things is dominated by yin and yang. Yin and yang have been established, and heaven, earth and man are in their respective positions, so the second category is "Yin and Yang". People have life, dirty qi is fundamental, the five internal organs are unobstructed, and the triple energizer is stable, so the third is "hiding the elephant". To know the internal situation of the human body, it is necessary to examine its external performance, but also to examine the color and pulse-taking, so as to judge whether it is good or bad, so the fourth category is "pulse color." Zang-fu organs govern the interior and meridians govern the exterior. If you can understand the starting point and ending point of the meridian circulation, your body will be safe, so the fifth category is "meridians". Everything is different, there must be a beginning and an end. If you understand the principle of treating diseases first, you will master the essentials, so the sixth is "specimens". Life depends on medicine and food, and the five internal organs are strong with proper smell, so the seventh is "smell". Although a hundred years of life is like a blink of an eye, who can guarantee that there will be no patients? If there are no mistakes in treatment, you can turn the corner, so the eighth is "treatment". Disease invades the human body, which is abnormal and unpredictable. It can be observed if the pathology is clear, and there is nowhere to escape and hide, so it belongs to the ninth category of "diseases". Cai's can't reach the affected area, and there was acupuncture in ancient times. The method of nine needles can search for deep diseases, and medical research can be outstanding, so it belongs to the tenth category of acupuncture. As boundless as the sky, there are operations in ancient and modern times, including infinity. It is easy to study with the theory of five movements and six qi, so eleven belongs to the "luck category", such as scripture running through it, which is difficult to divide, and some of them are attached to other categories. What you want but can't get easily, in order to hide, should be listed in the article and run through like blood, so Article 12 belongs to the "general category". Merge into a book, divided into 32 volumes. In addition, fifteen volumes of Figure Wing are attached. Because some meanings of Neijing are profound and cannot be summarized in words, its essence cannot be summarized without image; Although the image is obvious, the meaning is still not smooth, and it is difficult to see the mystery without the help of explanation. From then on, the organization is clear, the outline is obvious, the obscure places are clear, and the subtle truth is revealed. No matter how big or small, the ambiguity is completely clarified. Once the book is opened, it is like a heavy portal, and the most subtle meaning is also vivid. It is not only beneficial to future study, but also convenient for anyone who is eager to keep fit to explore the mystery.
For the compilation of Jing Lei this time, it is indeed due to the incompleteness, similarity or mistakes of the previous generations, which covered up and buried the essence of Neijing, making this most wonderful medical method not fully known to the world and imprisoned for more than 4,000 years. So I took the liberty to ignore my knowledge and try my best to stir up the burden of incompetence like a mosquito, but it is not worth relying on others along the street. Therefore, whenever we encounter the problem of distinguishing right from wrong and correcting mistakes, we often call a spade a spade, knowing that it is not elegant. It is only because people are used to it for a long time that they will be misinformed. Even if the dike is opened, it will attract long waves, and they are worried that it will be difficult to get rid of it. If the discrimination is invalid, there will never be a day of recovery and correction. This is the reason why I think twice and dare not avoid it.
Ah! What kind of person am I? How dare you change the exegesis of the previous generation? Before I finished my speech, I knew it would be wrong to peek at me and then criticize me behind my back. Right or wrong, this judgment does not lie in me, but in the later wise men. Even so, using stones from other mountains can help carve Baoyu, and stagnant water can be used as a mirror to see the shape; Even the light and shadow through the hole in the wall and the fluorescence reflected from the training bag can help those who study hard; Bamboo scraps are seemingly useless waste, which is also beneficial to military commanders. If my compilation has any merit, it will be adopted by saints. What could be more gratifying than this? It's just that there are many problems to be solved, and I'm the only one who writes simply, and I write every word with a pen. A total of 30 years have passed, and the manuscript has been revised many times to complete the editing work. The so-called rivers and seas don't choose trickle, and Taishan doesn't care about soil, because it is also to help it reach height and depth. There will be a learned man like Yang Ziyun in the future, who may sympathize with my hard work and correct me. Aren't you lucky? And those virtuous people who have helped me can say who is not my teacher who came from behind.