I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 325 - 144: Acute Deficiency and Various Insufficiencies, Astragalus Decoction for Strengthening the Middle as the Main Treatment

Chapter 325: Chapter 144: Acute Deficiency and Various Insufficiencies, Astragalus Decoction for Strengthening the Middle as the Main Treatment

"The overall function of the Three Treasures is thus, but if we are to talk about the respective functions of each, we have to mention one phrase."

"The upper burner is like mist, the middle burner is like foam, the lower burner is like a ditch?"

Lu Xuan looked at Ji Xiuwen in surprise, "You know about this?"

"I know a little." Ji Xiuwen nodded.

"Once when I was in school, I stumbled upon it in the library."

"Care to share?"

"Sure, but I don’t know as much as you do."

"No worries, say as much as you remember."

Hearing this, Ji Xiuwen thought for a moment, then said, "The upper burner is like mist, meaning the upper burner disperses the qi and blood of the heart and lungs, like mist permeating, nourishing and warming the body’s organs and tissues.

According to the divisions of the Three Treasures, the upper burner mainly refers to the chest, including the heart and lungs.

The heart is the master of blood, promoting blood circulation throughout the body.

The lungs are the master of qi, responsible for dissemination and descending, distributing the essential qi of water and grain throughout the body. Therefore, the physiological function of the upper burner is mainly to transport the essence of water and grain, which is qi and blood.

Just as you mentioned in ’Difficult Classic Thirty-First Difficulty’: "The three burners are the pathways of water and grain... the upper burner is beneath the heart, below the diaphragm, at the top of the stomach, governing internally without external output."

As for the middle burner being like foam, I don’t remember too clearly, but I do know a bit about it; foam refers to soaking."

Lu Xuan couldn’t help but give him a thumbs up; it’s quite impressive to remember so much without an eidetic memory, especially since he only glanced at it during school. Though not entirely complete, I must say Ji Xiuwen has a good memory and talent in this area, something most people couldn’t achieve.

"The middle burner is like foam; foam does indeed mean soaking."

Lu Xuan nodded and explained, "And the so-called like foam means the spleen and stomach digest and process the water and grain, thereby generating qi and blood.

The middle burner mainly refers to the upper abdomen, including the spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder.

The stomach takes charge of digestion, the spleen of transformation and transportation, the liver and gallbladder of dispersion and discharge, secreting and excreting bile to aid digestion.

Therefore, the middle burner has the function of digesting, absorbing, and transporting the essential components of water and grain and generating qi and blood.

’Difficult Classic’ also holds this view, as Thirty-First Difficulty says: "The middle burner is in the middle of the stomach, neither above nor below, mainly digesting water and grain."

At this point, Lu Xuan paused, then continued, "As for the lower burner like a ditch, the lower burner mainly refers to the lower abdomen, including the kidneys, bladder, and intestines. ’Difficult Classic Thirty-First Difficulty’ says, "The lower burner ... governs the separation of the clear and turbid, governs the output without internal function, serving as a passage." It refers to the main physiological function of the lower burner being the transmission of waste and excretion of urine and feces.

As ’Spiritual Pivot Circulation and Health Association’ says: "The lower burner is where the intestines turn, flowing into the bladder and seeping in. Thus, the water and grains often reside in the stomach, forming waste and descending to the large intestine, becoming the lower burner. Seeping and descending, separating fluids, flowing through the lower burner and seeping into the bladder."

This means that the lower burner has the function of excreting the two wastes.

The excretion of waste is firstly from the large intestine as feces, secondly from the bladder as urine.

And the main issue of the upper burner having fire and the lower burner having cold that was just mentioned is because the middle burner is blocked.

Only by unblocking the middle burner do the upper and lower burners communicate, forming a complete circuit of qi and blood, just like the importance of unblocking the essential meridians in some martial arts novels.

The Three Treasures govern the entire body, and if they are not open, the body’s qi will be in disarray."

"There is so much to say about the Three Treasures, merely understanding these alone might take years." Ji Xiuwen remarked with emotion.

"Did you think Chinese medicine was easy?" Lu Xuan retorted angrily.

Hearing this, Ji Xiuwen suddenly looked at Lu Xuan. To others, Chinese medicine is indeed difficult. Even after studying for seven or eight years, when faced with clinical practice, it’s still a blank slate. They can’t even perform the most basic pulse diagnosis, let alone syndrome differentiation and treatment.

Moreover, many people, even if they’ve graduated, still have much to learn; without three to five years of clinical experience, they likely can’t even sit for consultations alone.

Crucially, this only means they can sit for consultations, not that they can cure the illness.

For some common diseases, following the footsteps of predecessors to prescribe might still be achievable.

But for slightly more complex conditions, they might find themselves helpless.

However, for Lu Xuan, Ji Xiuwen did not see any difficulty. Just the ability to remember everything at a glance already gave Lu Xuan a terrifying advantage in learning Chinese medicine.

What’s more, it’s far from just that.

The most frightening thing isn’t that Lu Xuan has an eidetic memory, but that his research into the content of medical books has already reached a level more profound than most veteran Chinese medicine practitioners.

And he can apply and understand everything holistically without any trouble.

For Lu Xuan, mastering Chinese medicine might be no more difficult than understanding one plus one equals two.

Thinking of this, Ji Xiuwen couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Lu Xuan.

This comment could come from anyone else, but when spoken by Lu Xuan, it seemed odd to him.

Faced with Ji Xiuwen’s strange gaze, Lu Xuan chose to ignore it completely. His situation was different from others.

Having an eidetic memory is one thing, but having the magical ability of Heart’s Voice, where hundreds of traditional Chinese medicines could assist him when he finds himself in trouble, clearing doubts and even not only helping with syndrome differentiation and treatment but also providing complete prescriptions.

A life like this, with an open cheat code, is something ordinary people can’t compare to.

There are just some things Lu Xuan couldn’t speak of; revealing his eidetic memory ability is at least enough to stop Ji Xiuwen from constantly second-guessing. Rather than being questioned daily by him on how he achieved it, it’s better to proactively reveal some aspects, shifting his attention, and the eidetic memory ability is just right for that.