I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 239 - 108: The Young Man Is Interested in Acupuncture?

Under the guidance of Wu Dingzhong, Lu Xuan arrived at Consultation Room 249.

"Dr. Lu, the assistant is supposed to come tomorrow, so my suggestion is to maybe start next week?"

"No need, let's start today."

Lu Xuan shook his head and continued, "Besides, Teacher Wu, as you said, I'm new here, no patients know me yet, and there might not even be a single patient who will register under me, and even if there are, it might just be one or two. I can handle writing prescriptions myself in the system."

Seeing Lu Xuan's determination, Wu Dingzhong did not say more.

"That's true, without promotion at the Health Center, there won't be many patients who know you initially."

Wu Dingzhong was very much in agreement with this point.

Those who know Lu Xuan would generally go to the Qiu City Street Health Center, whereas those who don't know him, even if they come to the United South Chinese Medicine Association, would only register with people like Elder Huang, Elder Ye, and Elder Zhang. The probability of registering with Lu Xuan is not high, very slim indeed.

"Alright, I'll head back first. If you need anything, you can find me in my office or reach out to someone else. I already announced a few days ago that you'll be consulting. I also showed everyone your picture, so they should be able to recognize you."

With those remarks, Wu Dingzhong left.

Lu Xuan stepped forward and opened the door of Consultation Room 249, then came to the table and sat down.

To the right of the table were several common medical books, including "Cold Pathogenic Disease" and the "Inner Canon". With nothing to do, Lu Xuan pulled out a copy of the "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" to read.

The "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" is divided into two parts, the "Spiritual Pivot" and the "Suwen". It is the earliest medical text, and one of the four classical works of traditional medicine.

The "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" is said to be written by the Yellow Emperor, hence its name.

But later generations widely recognized that this book took shape during the Western Han dynasty, with its authorship attributed not to an individual, but as a compilation developed, supplemented, and passed down by generations of medical scholars and practitioners.

As "Huainanzi Xiuwu Xin" points out, the name "Yellow Emperor" is intended to trace back to the origins, signifying the early emergence of Chinese medical culture.

It is not a matter of a single moment, nor a product of one person's work.

Lu Xuan has read "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" more than once.

In fact, those who study traditional Chinese medicine can practically wear this classic work out.

The same goes for Lu Xuan.

While in school, he flipped through this book multiple times and memorized large portions of it.

Even after graduation, he would often take it out for careful study, delving deeply into its principles.

And since acquiring the ability to hear the Heart's Voice of herbal medicine, his research into this book became even more extensive. With his photographic memory, his engagement with such medical texts increased significantly.

Each time Lu Xuan reads this book, he gains new insights.

The medical theories in the "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" are quite unique, whether in terms of views on the human body, disease, or disease prevention and treatment.

The so-called uniqueness naturally implies a point of reference, and the largest reference now is Western medicine, although Western medicine entered later, yet when studying the academic characteristics of the "Inner Canon", one cannot avoid this aspect.

The view of the human body is about how to perceive the human body.

On one hand, it considers heaven, earth, and humanity as a whole, placing humans within the context of heaven, earth, nature, and society.

On the other hand, it posits that the human body is maintained by the movement of qi, and the normal movement of qi involves ascending, descending, entering, and exiting. If this movement of qi is normal, then the human body is normal.

Concerning this point, modern medicine now has a new perspective, which is to consider the biological and social aspects as a whole. In this regard, the "Inner Canon" presented this view thousands of years before modern medicine.

A critical issue in the view of disease is the concept of harmony. The human body out of tune and disharmonious results in disease; more specifically, a disorder in Yin and Yang leads to illness. Yin and Yang encompass many aspects such as qi and blood, and internal organs, all of which can be summarized under Yin and Yang. "The way of heaven and earth, the outline and rule of all things," "the parents of change, the origin of life and death, the residence of divine enlightenment" can all be summarized by Yin and Yang.

It's both simple and not simple, complicated and very complicated; too complex, yet summarizing it can be very simple. At its core, it is about the imbalance of Yin and Yang. The process of treatment is essentially about finding ways to regulate and balance Yin and Yang. Once balance is achieved, the illness naturally heals.

Thus, a major issue in the view of disease is the problem of harmony and imbalance. Harmony equates to normal.

Is more qi and blood better?

Abundant and vigorous qi and blood are good, but too much and stagnation are not beneficial.

Everyone experiences the seven emotions, which is normal, but excess naturally turns harmful.

Just like being happy is good but overly happy is detrimental; excessive joy also harms the heart, "Joy slows qi," which belongs to imbalance; imbalance of Yin and Yang easily leads to illness.

It can be said that the "Inner Canon" established its view on disease based on the concept of "Qi Heng Chang Bian" ("Strange Constancy and Change"), where "Qi" is special, "Heng" is normal, "Chang" is constant, and "Bian" is change.

Normality is health; abnormality is disease. The harmonious, orderly, and unified state of the Yin-Yang qi within the body is health, while the opposite is a pathological state. Therefore, the analysis of disease in the "Inner Canon" is a guiding principle in the study of traditional Chinese medicine.

The view on prevention and treatment, in fact, is about preventing and treating diseases from the standpoint of the overall function and harmony.

Its characteristics include a holistic, functional, and dynamic regulation approach. For example, after drinking a bowl of herbal soup, saying this medicine precisely reaches a specific spot and does not go elsewhere is impossible.

Similarly, acupuncture at Hegu only treating toothache and nothing else is not assured. Rather, it should be viewed from the holistic perspective of a person, with the emphasis mainly on regulating functionality, not saying we disregard form and only emphasize function. Without form, where is the function?