移精变气论篇/Yi Jing Bian Qi Lun

(On the Therapy of Transfering Thought and Spirit)

黄帝问日:余闻古之治病，惟其移精变气，可祝由而已。今世治病，毒药治其内，针石治其外，或愈或不愈，何也?

Yellow asked:"I am told that in ancient times, when a physician treated a disease, he only transfered the patient's thought and spirit to sever the source of the disease. In nowadays, the patient is treated with drugs internally and acupuncture externally.  Nevertheless, some of the diseases are cured, but some of them can not be cure and why is it so?"

岐伯对日:往古人[《太素》“人”下有“民”字]居禽兽之间，动作以避寒，阴居以避暑，内无眷慕之累，外无伸官[《太素》“伸官”作“由宦”]之形，此恬愡之世，邪不能[《太素》“不”下无“能”字]深入也。故毒药不能[无“能”字]治其内，针石不能治其

外，故可移精[杨、王两注:“移精”下有“变气”二字]祝由而已。当今之世不然，忧患缘其内，苦形伤其外，又失四时之从，逆寒暑之宜，贼风数至，虚邪朝夕，内至五藏骨髓，外伤空窍肌肤[《医垒元戎》“肤”作“肉”]，所以小病必甚，大病必死，故祝由不能已也。

Qibo answered:"In ancient times, people lived in the cave of the wilderness surrounded with birds and beasts, they drove away the coldness by the motion of themselves, and evaded the hot summer by living in the shade. They had no burden in heart in admiring the fame and gain, and had no fatigue in the body for seeking a high position, thus, one can hardly be invaded by exogenous evil in this calm and plain environment. So, when one contracted disease, both drugs for curing inside and acupuncture for curing outside were not neccessary, but only transferred the patient's emotion and spirit to sever the source of the disease would be enough.

"But the case in nowadays is different, people are often bothered by anxiety in the heart inside, and hurt by the toil of the body outside, together with the careless of the patient to violet the changing rule of the weather sequence of the four seasons, and the coldness and heat of morning and evening, When the thief-evil invades unceasingly, the patient's viscera and bone marrow will be hurt inside, and the orifices and muscle will be hurt outside. If the disease contracted is a slight one, it will surely turn into a serious disease, if the disease contracted is a serious one, the patient will surely die. Therefore, the disease nowadays can not be cured by severing the source of the disease only."

帝日:善。余欲临病人，观死生，决嫌疑，欲知其要，如日月光，可得闻乎?岐伯曰:色脉者，上帝之所贵也，先师之所传也。上古[《太素》“上古”之下有“之时”二字，“使”下无“僦”字]使僦贷季，理色脉而通神明，合之金木水火土四时[《太素》“四时”下有“阴阳”二字]，八风六合，不离其常，变化相移，以观其妙，以知其要[按此四字似衔]，欲知其要，则色脉是矣。色以应日，脉以应月，常求其要，则其要也。夫色[《太素》“色”下有“脉”字]之变化，以应四时之脉，此上帝之所贵，以合于神明也。所以远死而近生，生道以长，命日圣王。中古之治病，至[《太素》“至”上有“病”字]而治之，汤液十日，以去八风五痹之病，十日不已，治以草苏草斐之枝，本末为助[《太素》“助”作“眇”]，标本已得邪气乃服。暮世之治病也则不然，治不本四时，不知日月，不审逆从，病形已成，乃欲微针治其外，汤液治其内，粗工兇兇[《太素》作“凶凶”按“凶”，“兇”之借字，与“匈”通，“匈匈”有“灌谐”之意]，以为可攻，故[《太素》“故”作“旧”]病未已，新病复起。

Yellow Emperor said:"Good, I hope when I diagnose a patient, I can distinguish whether the disease is slight or serious, decide the doubtful point of the disease and master the essentials of the disease clearly as being illuminated by the sun and moon. Can you tell me what shall I do?" Qibo said: "The former kings attached importance to the inspection of the conditon of complexion and the pulse, and it was handed down by teachers in the past.

"In ancient times, there was a physician whose name was Daiji. He studied the principle of complexion and pulse to the degree of communicating with the deity, he could connect them to the five elemients of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, the four seasons, Yin and Yaug, evil-winds of all directions and the three dimenslions, not divorcing from the principle of the regular rule of complexion and pulse, and he can also observe the profoundiesence from their mutual changing. So, it is important for one to observe the, complexion' and pulse conditions to know'the essentials of the disease.

"The complexion is like the sun, which has different conditions in the fine daysand the cloudy days, and the pulse is like the moon, which has different conditions of wax and wane. It is yery important in diagnosis to observe carefully the brightness and darkness of the complexion, and the difference of sthenia and asthenia of the pulse. In a word, the variation of complexion and pulse correspond with the variations of the energies of the four seasons. The former kings attached great importance to the principle, as it is in conformity with the deity. If one can master the diagnosis like this, he can help the patient to avoid death and become surviving. When the life of the patient is prolonged, he will praise you as a king of aages. 

"In middle ancient times, the physician often treated the patient when the disease had occured, he treated with decection for ten days to remove arthralgia end wind-evil; if the patient was not cured in ten days, herbal medicine was applied. It is very important to treat with herbal medicine, and the cooperation of the patient is very important as well. In this case, the evil-energy can be subdued, and the disease can be healed.

"But the physicians in later generations treat the patients in different ways, they do not treat according to the weather variations of the four seasons, they neglect the importance of the complexion and puIse, and do not distinguish the agreeable or adverse condition of the complexion and pulse, but make use of the decoction and acupuncture to treat inside and outside respectively after the disease has already shaped up. He boasts of his curative effect about his treating, supposing that the disease can surely be cured, but finally, the former disease is still remaining , and some new diseases are added."

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