Chapter 20 Correcting Mistakes in the Medical Forest——The Great Significance of "The More You Correct, the More Mistakes"

This is a night in December of the ninth year of Daoguang.In the middle of March and September, the dripping water turns into ice, and the north wind blows on the body. No matter how thick the clothes are, it feels like being cut by a knife.At the time of the crossing of Xu, all the shops and vendors in the city of Beijing closed down, and the streets suddenly seemed empty and lonely.The Heng Family Courtyard in Banchang Hutong, Andingmen Street, is brightly lit, and there is a steady stream of servants carrying steaming roast duck, boiled mutton, deep-fried belly kernels, fried bergamot rolls, etc. to the hall, where the host is entertaining guests. .

Sitting at the upper table was a pale old man, with ordinary clothes, he did not look like an official figure, and his expression was very humble and easy-going, but the people accompanying the guests were very respectful, fearing that the hospitality would not be good. This person is Wang Qingren, a well-known doctor in the capital.That afternoon he came to Heng's family due to the cold, and not long after taking the medicine, the patient who had been drowsy for many days was sweating and groaning for hunger.The whole family of Hengfu was overjoyed, they refused to let Qing Ren go home, and insisted that he drink before leaving.

During the meeting, Qing Ren kept his three sentences close to his own practice, mostly talking about medical cases and experiences.After a few rounds of drinking, he became a little drunk, and sighed: "I have passed my sixtieth birthday, and I don't have much time, but I have one unfinished business, and I am very unwilling." Everyone asked what was the matter, but he refused to talk about it at first, saying It was because I was afraid of spoiling everyone's appetite, so I couldn't bear to be questioned again and again, so I said: "I am a doctor, and I have the wish to understand the internal organs of the human body. Healing a disease without knowing the internal organs is no different from a blind man walking at night. Over the years, every chance I have Watching Ling Chi's execution, and even going to the mass grave to observe the dead bodies dug up by wild dogs; up to now, I have a general grasp of the shape and location of internal organs, but I can't explain the diaphragm in detail. I always feel uneasy and very distressed!"

Everyone felt nauseated, but one person at the banquet smiled with his beard and said slowly: "Don't worry, sir, maybe I can help you a little - when I led troops to guard Hami, I saw a lot of killings. Others I don’t have any experience, but I have some understanding of this thing..." Before he finished speaking, Wang Qingren got up from his seat, walked up to this person and bowed respectfully, asking for advice endlessly, before saying with a long sigh of relief: "Forty-two years, today is finally hopeful." Perfect..." Under the light, everyone could clearly see the old doctor's cheeks trembling slightly, and his eyes seemed to be a little bright.

The following year, "Yilin Gaicuo" by Wang Qingren was finally published. "Yilin Gaicuo" is divided into two volumes, the first and the second, with more than 30,000 words. There are two main contents: one is "correcting mistakes". Wang Qingren believes that the internal organs in previous medical books do not match the anatomical form, and there are many contradictions and mistakes. , So based on his observation and research in his life, he drew one by one what he thought to be correct "Visceral Correction Diagram"; the other was his unique understanding of the theory of human qi and blood.

After "Yilin Gaicuo" came out, there have been mixed reviews for hundreds of years.Generally speaking, there are many believers in the theory of qi and blood in later generations, and the focus of debate is mostly on Qingren's theory of viscera.As soon as this book was published, it caused an uproar in the medical field, and attracted fierce attacks from many famous doctors, saying that Wang Qingren was an "uncontrollable" "madman", and the so-called ""Correcting Mistakes in the Medical Forest", the more you correct, the more mistakes you make". It may even be a terrible poison to spread.

Among the opponents, some are bound by traditional ethical concepts, and regard mutilating the body of others as an extremely inhumane act, and scold Wang Qingren for studying corpses as "teaching people to learn medicine on the killing field amid piles of skeletons". Looking back now, it is already absurd The speeches dissipated in the wind and smoke of history.Others believed that Qing Ren's theory was deviant and rebellious, and some even criticized his move as unconventional, using the classics as targets, trying to "look around and gather together, and then you can surpass the sages," grandstanding.

It is undeniable that ancient classics have been handed down for thousands of years. Out of awe of the predecessors and the resulting inferiority complex, coupled with the confinement of old Confucianism, most doctors really lack the spirit of exploration and innovation, and it is difficult to break through the barriers of the predecessors.When encountering difficulties or conflicting opinions, most of them suspect that their own knowledge has not yet arrived. When they really can’t figure it out, they simply go around and say that all the inexplicable things are just misrepresentations and derivations of ancient books.There is not much value in these people's blame for Qing Ren.The problem is that although many people believe that his clear division of viscera is a process of morphological accuracy, many scholars have made strong criticisms of Wang Qingren based on traditional Chinese medicine theories.

Most scholars believe that the definition of "organs" in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years has never really used anatomical and morphological methods. The concept is not equivalent to a real organ. That is to say, although the viscera in Chinese medicine has the same name as the viscera in modern human anatomy, they are not just a few pieces of bloody flesh, but a complex system; Contains the physiological functions of several organs in anatomy.For example, the "heart" referred to in Chinese medicine is not just a fist-sized object composed of myocardial valves in anatomy, but also includes most of the functions of the nervous system and circulatory system, and even thinking functions.

One heart is not another heart, and it may be difficult to explain this truth to ordinary people. Fortunately, Chinese medicine has unique content.It may be easier to understand this theory with the concept of "Fate Gate".The gate of life, this organ unique to Chinese medicine, has been proposed in the "Huangdi Neijing" for thousands of years, and there are different opinions on where it is located in the human body.There are right kidneys, both kidneys, between the two kidneys, and the gate of life is not a tangible organ, but a stream of qi that exists between the two kidneys.But although each has its own theory, there is basically no objection to the function of the gate of life, "Men store essence, and women use lineage", and it does not affect the curative effect of the prescriptions prescribed by each of them.This just shows that the Zangxiang theory of traditional Chinese medicine attaches great importance to the functions of human organs.

If some western medical scientists might sneer at the theory of the gate of life—you find out the difference between the left and right kidneys, and prove a gate of life for us Doctors to see?What is said about "the door of life is the place where all the spirits are given up, and the place where the original qi is attached", so it is like a mysterious book, nonsense!Then for the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine, they have to be dumbfounded and scream in disbelief. Anyone who reads martial arts novels is no stranger to meridians. When it comes to the six-meridian sword described by Jin Yong, everyone is delighted, and those who have a fever can even tell which six meridians they are one by one; Leisurely fascinated.However, when Western scientists moved out all the most advanced eating guys, densely wrapped around people's bodies with colorful, thick and thin wires, and after a lot of fighting, they still could only shrug their shoulders and spread their hands, confused: "But it's all These blood vessels and nerves, where are the meridians? No?" - before this, they had already dissected N miserable corpses to pieces. Although no signs of meridians can be found in the human body, they dare not deny the existence of meridians as they did with the gate of life: conclusive evidence makes them speechless, and acupuncture based on the theory of meridians has shown incredible effects To them it seemed like a miracle.Not to mention the outstanding curative effect of acupuncture on stroke, neuralgia, insomnia, stiff neck and other large and small diseases, only a few hair-like silver needles can block pain and perform surgical anesthesia. While taking off his glasses and wiping his sweat, he continued to bite the bullet and search for the so-called meridians that theoretically spread all over the body but are actually invisible and intangible—acupuncture and moxibustion was one of the first Chinese medicine subjects to go abroad and had to be accepted by the Western medical community. It is very clear that Chinese medicine is not concerned with where an organ is or what it looks like, but what the function of this organ is.What is valuable to Chinese medicine is the functioning of the living body. Once a person dies, he is a pile of dead flesh. No matter how thorough the research is, it has left the truth.If someone really uses an anatomical organ to correspond to the organ in theory, and confuses function and entity, it is like replacing a verb with an adjective with a noun. A system does have the danger of restricting the thinking of doctors. Although it is an exaggeration to say that it is poisonous, it has some truth to say. There are even contemporary physicians who believe that Wang Qingren's research on anatomy is a path that should not be taken, which confuses the basic theories of Chinese and Western medicine. He should not study anatomy at all— — How can mechanical anatomy explain TCM? Behind this debate, which has not yet been fully settled, lies the fundamental difference between Chinese and Western medicine. Chinese and Western medicine are rooted in completely different theoretical systems. Modern western medicine is established and developed on the basis of anatomy. Its cognition and understanding of the human body is based on specific local anatomy, using microscopic analysis and research as a means. That is to say, in the eyes of Western doctors, the human body is a sophisticated composite assembled from nerves, blood vessels, bones, muscles, skin, and so on.Their research method is to cut the human body into thin slices, put them in test tubes, put them under a microscope or use various methods to test the ingredients; and then design endless instruments, such as what X X-rays, gastroscopy, CT, tried their best to make every corner of the human body invisible.Therefore, although they look at people in different ways, they are divided into different categories and systems; and as the research deepens, the subjects become more and more trivial. There is a joke that Western medicine even divides the left and right nostrils into departments , albeit an exaggerated one, illustrates this trend. The most fundamental theory of Chinese medicine is the theory of yin and yang. Everything in the human body can be divided into yin and yang, but yin and yang are interdependent and interdependent, and cannot be separated for a moment. will exterminate the species.Therefore, although it is also divided into internal organs, six internal organs, five sense organs, nine orifices, four limbs, and a hundred skeletons, these various organs are actually all unified under Yin and Yang.Therefore, in the eyes of Chinese medicine, the human body is an indivisible and harmonious whole; when they look at people, they never look at each piece of flesh, bone, and organ in isolation. For example, when an old Chinese doctor sees a doctor, he doesn't even need you to speak. He just looks up and down, tilts his head, and after a while calmly pulses, he will spit out a few words: "It seems that there is something wrong with you." Ah." At that time, there must have been many patients with western medical diagnosis reports who felt that this old man was unpredictable, and they were overwhelmed with admiration - he could be indistinguishable from X-rays. This must not be a pair of naked eyes, it is simply piercing eyes! In fact, it's just the internal organs' pathological changes reflected on the pulse and body surface - since they are one body, they are connected, one is prosperous, the other is prosperous, and the other is damaged.As for the specific connection with which, where the glory and loss are manifested is knowledge. Chinese medicine has its own set of sayings; This kind of craftsmanship is just a piece of cake. In the eyes of skilled Chinese medicine, all living beings in the world have almost no difference in muscle, bone, skin and flesh, but they are all yin and yang.So obsessed with one liver and one lung like Wang Qingren, many people really don't think it's necessary. People are only regarded as a whole, but they have not yet entered the door of Chinese medicine.Chinese medicine is very powerful, not only the human body, but the whole nature and the whole universe are completely visible in the eyes.Also in the "Huangdi Neijing", it was put forward: "Humans and the heaven and the earth are connected, and they correspond to the sun and the moon." Later, Dong Zhongshu built the theory of "the unity of heaven and man", which gained support from it, which in turn influenced future generations. doctor.According to this point of view, in addition to the human body's own factors, TCM diagnosis and treatment must also consider the influence of seasons, climate, day and night, morning and evening, and even regions. Therefore, seeing a doctor in Chinese medicine is like standing on the top of a high mountain, looking down at the patient struggling between the heaven and the earth, tracing the root cause and seeing all aspects clearly, and just taking a light hand, with a few efforts, the world is turned around. As a result, some people are full of ambition. Since heaven and man are one, they can understand astronomy and human affairs, even if they are prime ministers. "If you are not a good minister, you are a good doctor." It was originally the same science. With such a broad mind, Western medicine's meticulous efforts to learn from Sun Xingzhe to get into people's stomachs and try to understand everything in bits and pieces is really petty in the eyes of Chinese medicine.So entangled in one place, treating the head with a headache, and treating the feet with a foot pain, they cannot grasp the whole, and the effect is bound to be limited. What they are most proud of is that they can see foot problems from headaches, and head problems from foot pains; You say your stomach hurts, but his eyes may turn to your liver which you think is fine. In this way, it is impossible to draw a grid on the human body, and each person's viscera and viscera are taken for their own management, so the subjects of Chinese medicine are very roughly divided; conversely, although each has specialties, if he does not understand the overall situation, he must be a quack doctor if he does any one subject. Only when you understand that the head and feet are one, can you lead a bull with a thin thread. At the bottom of all science is philosophy. From the differences between the fundamental theories of Chinese and Western medicine, we can also see some differences between Eastern and Western civilizations.For example, one focuses on the overall concept, pursues the perfection and harmony of the whole, and sees everything from an overlooked perspective under a unified system; while the other focuses on the in-depth study of each aspect, and continues to study through in-depth research and further refinement and dispersion of various disciplines. , from bottom to top to form a well-thought-out scientific system. This big topic cannot be explained clearly in this article. I just want to say that the different ways of thinking produced under this cultural difference determine the different research methods of various sciences, including medicine, between the East and the West. Although many scholars tend to believe that human civilization was not completely extinct in the last Ice Age, and suspect that mysterious knowledge such as the Book of Changes is the fragments of civilization left over from the catastrophe; but like more people, I believe that this round of human ——Let's put it this way: Compared with the Earth's lifespan of billions of years, we have every reason to believe that the human evolution process of only a few million years will not be the only one—the starting line on the track of civilization will not be stretched too far.In other words, today's Eastern and Western civilizations basically developed within these few thousand years.Therefore, some people regard the Eastern and Western civilizations as very different from each other, and if they exalt them to the sky and suppress them to the ground, they may be acting on their own will. Contemporary Western research on human intelligence also proves this point from another aspect.The mythical genius superman actually does not exist. Even Einstein's brain is not much different from ordinary people. Although the gap between human civilizations may still be widened for thousands of years, the speed of progress of modern science in one day is equivalent to dozens or hundreds of years in the Middle Ages, and this gap that once existed should have been filled. In the final analysis, after human beings got down from the trees and stood up straight, they started their journey towards civilization on the basis of limited differences.Maybe it's because of the region, maybe it's a whim of a few people, or maybe it's a reason that will never be known again. On the journey, the road of human progress gradually diverges, day after day, year after year, generation after generation. , walked out of the Eastern and Western civilizations with very different scenery. Weaving cloth with silk thread weighing about two catties, the smaller the weaving, the finer and denser it is, the larger the weaving is, the looser and thinner it is. Western science pays attention to empirical evidence, and each step must be proved by the previous step; compared with the result, they value the process more, and would rather use the cumbersome process to deduce the result than believe in the straightforward but unproven result-so even though the steps are small Some walk slowly, but after all, every step is taken steadily.If you walk steadily, you can afford more things. Chinese civilization is broad-minded and far-sighted, and its magnificence and grandeur are indeed inspiring to future generations. However, human wisdom and energy always have limits, and such a broad perspective will inevitably make this kind of civilization somewhat empty. This defect is even more obvious compared to Western civilization, where the head gets lower and the eyes become more focused. There must be something unique about raising your head higher than others and seeing farther than others.Still taking traditional Chinese medicine as an example, they found that many seemingly unrelated things are inextricably linked. The meridians mentioned above are very typical.However, the meridian theory has been produced for thousands of years. During this period, no one wants to find out what these thin lines drawn on paper look like on the human body? This is another important feature of Chinese culture: focusing on conclusions regardless of the process, paying attention to the two ends and ignoring the middle.Since the experience of the ancestors has proved that there is a causal relationship between the two and taught how to use this relationship, does the specific process of how to elicit a response matter? If we use dominoes as a metaphor for Chinese culture, they may attach great importance to the few cards at the two ends, but they are a bit dismissive of the long string in the middle-knowing that they will be pushed down one by one, why do they have to weigh them one by one? How about measuring and pondering carefully?If they insist on explaining the process, they also have a way, some of which are vague and mysterious formulas that are universally applicable, such as yin and yang and five elements. This way of thinking is actually greatly influenced by Taoism, one of the sources of Chinese culture.There is a famous Taoist allusion: When you catch fish, you forget the trap.The trap refers to bamboo utensils such as fishing cages for fishing. "Zhuangzi·Waiwu" clearly states that "the reason why people in the village are fishing, they forget the trap when they get fish." What you want is fish, and you get fish Why are you still clinging to the fish cage? Don't you think it's cumbersome? This way of thinking does have its advantages: after mastering the knowledge verified by experience, you will no longer stick to the tedious process, so that you can use your precious energy for further development. This may be the Chinese civilization in the past thousands of years. There are relatively more newly discovered causes during the year. It should be said that not all Chinese scholars ignored the process at first, and some people made efforts to start with logical concepts and push them step by step.That is the "learning of name debate" by Hui Shi and Gongsun Long in the pre-Qin period.Needless to say, the importance of logical concepts, the way of thinking of Western science originated from Aristotle’s logical method, syllogisms, theorems, formulas... such development has led to today’s Western civilization.If the "School of Mingbian" continues to develop, it may not be impossible to provide a refined way of thinking for the evolution of our country's civilization. Unfortunately, this kind of theory died in its infancy before it reached maturity.Confucianism, who is slow in words but quick in action, hates the so-called sophistry that seems empty and unprincipled.They have always hated talkers, and wished they could kill them quickly: "Evil words will overwhelm the country!" The sad thing is that the birth of Chinese logic is unfortunately famous for its sharp words. Since then, for thousands of years, Chinese civilization has developed step by step under the influence of Taoism, which forgets the fish when it catches fish, and Confucianism, which is slow in words but quick in action.You don't need to do calculations on paper, and you don't need to sweat profusely in the laboratory. Most of the most profound knowledge is obtained by concentrating on closing your eyes, adjusting your breath, and slowly comprehending it. The flaws behind the brilliance were fully exposed when the civilizations of the two sides grew and finally collided. Abandoned fish traps quickly disappeared in the long river of history; posterity did not feel much regret, anyway, they ate fish. The representative discipline of this way of thinking——Chinese medicine, although it can see more comprehensively than Western medicine and go further than Western medicine, but because the research of the past dynasties has despised the process, such an embarrassing situation inevitably appeared: I don’t even know How can I get to this point, how can I see this point—I don’t know how to get this fish.If someone asks that Chinese medicine summarizes the five internal organs with the five elements, then you can tell me why the liver must belong to wood and not other water, fire, or earth?You said that the liver grows and stretches like a tree, can the word "like" explain everything? Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners over the years are either dumbfounded, or give you a blank look, and are too lazy to talk to you anymore—anyway, prescribing medicine according to the five elements, the curative effect is obvious to all. Just because it doesn't make sense doesn't mean it's ridiculous.On the contrary, the development of modern western medicine has proved the scientific nature of traditional Chinese medicine time and time again.For example, the view on the cecum: In the past, after rigorous anatomical research, western medicine did not find the cecum to have any function, so it declared it a useless organ that had not fully degenerated, and cut it off whenever there was a disease; since Chinese medicine believes that the human body is a whole, then Everything has its role in the whole system, and the cecum is no exception.The fact is that in recent years, Western scholars have declared that they have discovered the effect of cecum on steroids. There is also the thinking function of the heart.This is a typical case of Western medicine ridiculing the absurdity of Chinese medicine - it has long been proven that the brain is the human body's thinking center, and the heart is just a power pump for running blood.However, in recent years, the personality of patients after heart transplantation has changed, and more and more doctors have to re-examine the saying of "heart governs mind" in traditional Chinese medicine. To this day, there are still many Chinese medicine practitioners who hold their hands in their sleeves and look disdainfully at the young men in white coats who are busy working around the clock, with their nostrils sneering: Who told you not to believe it?The knowledge of the ancestors is great! And if any science wants to develop further, it has to rise from the empirical stage to the empirical stage. That is to say, if Chinese medicine wants to go out of the new world, it must also use advanced technology to trace the cause of disease and produce curative effect through experiments. scientific explanation. This is actually very necessary for Chinese medicine.The magic weapon of Chinese medicine is traditional Chinese medicine, but for thousands of years, all doctors' understanding of Chinese medicine comes from their predecessors and their own experience.From the plants all over the mountains and plains, it is already a remarkable achievement to discover the characteristic effects of curing diseases one by one.However, although you know that this medicine has an effect on a certain disease, it is absolutely impossible to know what components in this plant are responsible for it in the experience stage. It is said that the onset of traditional Chinese medicine is slow, precisely because of this reason.If you don't know the active ingredients, you can't purify and refine it, so you have to fry a large bag of grass root bark in a pot, and then pour it down with your nose pinched, so that it can develop by itself-eat the essence and dross together, can you not be slow?Nowadays, the development of traditional Chinese medicine in the world is not optimistic, and the inability to know the active ingredients for further analysis is an important reason. And if you want to know exactly what ingredients play a role, you must first understand the pathogenic mechanism of the disease, the chemical composition of viruses and drugs, and the absorption and metabolism process of the human body... This is the middle section of the long string of dominoes in Chinese medicine that has been neglected for many years; or in other words, the fish trap that was abandoned by the ancestors. Or to put it more directly, those magical and weird viscera. Giving full play to the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is only a small part of the task of re-understanding traditional Chinese medicine and discovering the mysterious treasure house of traditional Chinese medicine.Under the iceberg, there are countless valuable experiences and bold assumptions of the ancestors, waiting for future generations to sort out, summarize and confirm—to truly grasp, to infer other things from one example, to draw inferences, to go further... If we only rely on limited experience and hard thinking, the old path of Chinese medicine may have come to an end.This kind of knowledge based on enlightenment, in the process of inheritance, the proportion of loss is definitely far greater than that of innovation - because of the lack of intermediate deduction and verification, how much experience of the previous generation can be inherited depends on the uneven understanding of future generations ability.What's more, many masters don't have the ability to accurately express their feelings. For thousands of years, I don't know how many masters' experience have been buried in the loess with the passing of Sri Lankan people. The road started by exploring the dominoes in the middle is actually a great journey towards the integration of Chinese and Western medicine.This road has been going on, the macro and micro of Chinese and Western medicine complement each other, experience and technology complement each other, form and function verify each other, the progress of skill will increase geometrically, and it will definitely stir up huge waves, and jointly clean up the fierce and vicious. disease, creating a healthy era; This road has been going on, and one day, the earth will converge with the advantages of China and the West, and truly become a perfect circle, and together welcome the next new era of mankind. Wang Qingren tore off a small corner of the curtain between Chinese and Western medicine; under the thick curtain, there is hidden a section of dominoes connecting human body functions and entities. In fact, there have been some people who wanted to figure out this domino in the past dynasties, not to mention the importance of detailed and correct knowledge of human body structure for surgery. Therefore, it cannot be said that the anatomical morphology of Chinese medicine has not improved at all. However, the progress is so slow that there is hardly any difference in thousands of years. Until the appearance of Wang Qingren. As a famous doctor, he certainly knew what his involvement in the field of anatomy meant to the traditional medical profession.He didn't fully understand the great significance of his life's career, and he didn't know that his contribution to anatomy was far less than his innovation in exploring medical research methods; The mistakes in the ancient books should be corrected within his ability; or, his scientific sensitivity made him vaguely feel that it might not be feasible to rely on the experience of the ancients from now on—he may begin to realize that the internal organs There are many important secrets that cannot be revealed by simple records in ancient books: "Predecessors created medical books, and the internal organs were wrong, and later generations suffered from professional medicine, and they have been passed down for hundreds of years..." So under the weight of the authority of the millennium and the sages of the past generations, he tried his best to hold his chest up, and based on what he saw with his own eyes, he drew it carefully; facing the expected criticism, he smiled frankly: "I engrave this picture for the rest of my life. I don't want future generations to know me, nor do I avoid future generations from sinning me. I don't want to express my own opinion and comment on the shortcomings of the ancients. I only hope that people in the forest will see this picture. Contradictory, ambiguous words— Illness or less loss is my high hope! " Let's remember this day: In 1830 AD, the tenth year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Qingren's "Yielin Gaicuo" was published, which marked that human beings have stepped on a long journey in the long journey of combining Chinese and Western medicine. This book exhausted all the energy of the old man, and only a few months after its publication, Wang Qingren became critically ill. On the sickbed, Wang Qingren rubbed his withered hands the "Yilin Gaicuo" that still exuded the fragrance of ink, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart.The countless experiences of wandering around the dirty place over the past few decades flooded his mind. He faintly smelled the suffocating blood and rancidity from the end of his nose, and his haggard face suddenly twitched in pain. He hurriedly struggled to shake his head slightly, his gaze shifted to the book in his hand. After a long time, his face calmed down, and there was a faint smile between his brows—he seemed to hear solemn Sanskrit music playing in the ward, fragrant flowers falling from the sky, and bright clouds surrounding him. A never-before-seen comfort and tranquility surrounded him, making him no longer feel the pain and fatigue of troubled times. On February 16th, the eleventh year of Daoguang, Wang Qingren, a famous doctor of his generation, died in Beijing at the age of sixty-four.