Upon seeing this title, one might think that Tie Shou Tong Jun is rather uninteresting! Is it necessary to discuss something that is already understood?! It must be discussed! It is essential to discuss! Why is that? Because the clear aspects regarding the Jin Kui Yao Lue have been obscured and overlooked!
First, let’s talk about the title Jin Kui Yao Lue. The original name of this book is Jin Kui Yu Han Yao Lue Fang. This means that Jin Kui Yao Lue is an abbreviated or simplified version of the Jin Kui Yu Han Jing, hence the name Jin Kui Yao Lue. So, what is the Jin Kui Yu Han Jing? It is currently recognized that the Jin Kui Yu Han Jing is an alternative version of the Shang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases). In other words, Jin Kui Yao Lue was originally an abbreviated or simplified version of the Shang Han Za Bing Lun. How did it come to discuss ‘miscellaneous diseases’? Gao Bao Heng and others acknowledged in the Jin Kui Yao Lue Fang Lun Xu that they deleted the sections on cold damage and retained the sections on miscellaneous diseases, rewriting it into three volumes: upper, middle, and lower. They stated, ‘Due to the many sections on cold damage, we cut off from miscellaneous diseases below, ultimately leading to dietary prohibitions, totaling twenty-five chapters, excluding repetitions, resulting in two hundred sixty-two formulas, compiled into three volumes, still named Jin Kui Fang Lun.’ Gao Bao Heng and others did not realize that their significant alterations to Jin Kui Yu Han Yao Lue Fang would lead to great misunderstandings in literature research and future learning.
After this alteration, later scholars mistakenly believed that Jin Kui Yu Han Yao Lue Fang discussed miscellaneous diseases while Shang Han Lun discussed cold damage. Miscellaneous diseases are miscellaneous diseases, and cold damage is cold damage; the two are not closely related. However, when reading Shang Han Lun, it often involves miscellaneous diseases from Jin Kui, and reading Jin Kui also references diseases from the six meridians in Shang Han Lun. Fortunately, upon reading Yi Xin Fang, I discovered that the content regarding Jin Kui Yao Lue in this book is all prefixed with phrases like ‘after cold damage, certain diseases,’ such as ‘after cold damage, lily, fox confusion, yin-yang poison.’ Thus, it can be understood that the upper volume discusses cold damage diseases, the middle volume discusses miscellaneous diseases after cold damage, and the lower volume records the formulas, which should be the original structure of Jin Kui Yao Lue Fang. Knowing this structure allows for a better understanding of the transmission patterns of diseases, where they begin, the possible transformations thereafter, and which treatment plans to adopt, i.e., ‘knowing what reverses, treat according to the symptoms.’
Since the structure of Jin Kui Yao Lue Fang is upper volume on cold damage, middle volume on miscellaneous diseases, and lower volume recording formulas, then Jin Kui Yao Lue Fang: Zang Fu Jing Luo Xian Hou Bing Mai Zheng seems to be inconsistent with this structure and cannot possibly be part of the original text. It is speculated that this section was added by Gao Bao Heng and others to align the revised Jin Kui Yao Lue Fang with their academic thoughts. However, the patchwork content has brought great confusion to future generations. The thought of respecting the classics has led later scholars not to consider whether this content is merely a hodgepodge! Instead, they attempt to understand this content based on an infinitely correct foundation. However, when compared to other sections, it is difficult to find any connection between the theories in this section and those in other chapters. For example, the famous saying, ‘by observing the liver, one knows the disease, one must first strengthen the spleen.’ Therefore, the application of Jin Kui Yao Lue must be based on the six meridian differentiation, which allows for a good connection between reading Shang Han Lun and Jin Kui Yao Lue, gradually familiarizing oneself with the six meridian differentiation system and applying it in clinical practice to improve diagnostic skills.
In summary, the current version of Jin Kui Yao Lue Fang has undergone significant deletions and reductions, and its structure has changed greatly. To avoid being misled and affecting the study of the six meridian differentiation system, it is best to carefully read the Jin Kui Yao Lue Xu before reading Jin Kui Yao Lue, to understand that this book has been revised and that it also applies the six meridian differentiation system, rather than the zang-fu system.