Fu Baoshi’s “Red Cliffs” (Detail)
Introduction:
This article is the opening remarks by Teacher Song Baishan in the course “With the Golden Cabinet in One Hand and the Treatise on Cold Damage in the Other – Helping You Excel in the World of TCM”. Teacher Song used two lectures to explain why he chose to discuss the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” and how he plans to present this classic work.
The importance of the “Treatise on Cold Damage” and the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” for practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is self-evident. Teacher Song, with his extraordinary insight, extensive knowledge, and vast clinical experience, attempts to unveil the mysteries of the classics for us. What could be more exciting than this? (Editor/Wang Chao)
Preface: Why Discuss the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” and How Will I Teach It?
Author/Song Baishan
1. Why Discuss the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”?
Listen to TCM with your heart and feel the beauty of TCM with your life. Hello everyone, I am Song Baishan, and welcome to the Golden Cabinet Lecture Hall. Starting today, I will study the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” with you. First, let’s talk about why we should discuss the Golden Cabinet.
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The structure of the “Treatise on Cold Damage” is incomplete; we strive to present the full picture.
First, let’s look at the overall structure of the “Treatise on Cold Damage”. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing gathered various prescriptions and compiled the “Suwen”, “Nine Volumes”, “Eighty-One Difficulties”, “Yin-Yang Great Treatise”, “Fetal Medicine”, and “Pulse Diagnosis” into the “Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases”, which consists of sixteen volumes.
Today, we see the “Treatise on Cold Damage” as ten volumes, twenty-two sections, two hundred ninety-seven methods, and one hundred twelve formulas (some say one hundred thirteen formulas because there is a formula named Yu Yu Liang Wan without a corresponding medicine). So where did the other six volumes go? What content did they cover?
Looking at the “Treatise on Cold Damage” as a whole, we find that most of its content is about cold damage, with sections on pulse diagnosis, examples of cold damage, and later discussions on Taiyang disease, Shaoyang disease, Yangming disease, etc.
Upon careful examination of the articles, we find that the “Treatise on Cold Damage” does not discuss warm diseases, heat diseases, or wind warmth. Given Zhang Zhongjing’s level and knowledge, he should have been able to cover these disease types, as his expertise is certainly beyond that of ordinary people, and the original text of the “Treatise on Cold Damage” clearly reflects the names of these diseases.
We should reflect on what Zhang Zhongjing meant when he said he wrote sixteen volumes in the preface of the “Treatise on Cold Damage”. The officially circulated version—the Song edition of the “Treatise on Cold Damage”—contains only ten volumes. What is the content of the other six volumes? This is a matter worth pondering for scholars.
We find that the “Guilin Ancient Edition of the Treatise on Cold Damage” and the Baiyun Pavilion edition indeed record sixteen volumes, which include sections on warm diseases and heat diseases. Of course, the officially circulated version (Song edition) is more formal and has stronger credibility.
The “Guilin Ancient Edition of the Treatise on Cold Damage” is complete, supplementing the missing parts in the Song edition. Some say this is a revised version by later generations. Even if it is a revision, the person must be highly skilled, so it is necessary for us to present the full picture of the “Treatise on Cold Damage”; this is one reason.
2. Compared to the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” is difficult to read and teach.
Since many teachers discuss the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, we will not cover it here. The “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” has twenty-five sections, covering miscellaneous diseases, gynecological diseases, miscellaneous therapies, food poisoning, dietary taboos, etc. Therefore, it is quite challenging to teach, and currently, there are relatively few people discussing it.
We can divide the “Treatise on Cold Damage” into two books: one called “Treatise on Cold Damage” and the other called “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”. The “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” discusses over forty disease types, including gynecological diseases, menstrual disorders, prenatal and postnatal conditions, and dietary taboos, starting with the section on organs and meridians. Thus, the content is very complex, making it difficult to teach. Furthermore, in the opening section, the discussion of organ and meridian diseases and pulse diagnosis is contradictory and contains many errors.
As a result, many teachers and students find themselves confused when reading the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”, especially in the first section on organ and meridian diseases and pulse diagnosis. They struggle to understand the section on spasms and damp heat, and when they reach the third section on Yin and Yang toxic diseases, they often cannot continue reading. Why is this? Because terms like Yin toxin and Yang toxin, and Bai He Hu Huo (Lily and Foxglove) do not connect with our current terminology, most students give up after the third section, indicating that the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” is indeed difficult to teach.
3. The formulas in the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” are numerous, practical, and can better serve patients.
Thirdly, the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” contains many formulas, with a total of two hundred sixty-two formulas, including some famous formulas from later generations, such as the Qianjin Formula, etc. In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in studying the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, and enthusiasm is high. However, most people focus on the “Treatise on Cold Damage” and neglect the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”, so it is necessary for us to revisit the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”.
Here arises a question: Why can’t modern people understand ancient texts? Since the implementation of new education, we have been learning foundational knowledge and cultural subjects, starting from elementary school with English, introducing a large amount of Western thinking. We can’t even understand a classical poem. We have wasted much energy learning things like X + Y = Z, leading to a lack of understanding of our own culture.
Our children have learned too much science while neglecting the study of our own culture, resulting in a significant problem in the inheritance of TCM.
It’s like going to war; you are given a gun and sent out. But what country made this gun? What caliber is it? What kind of bullets does it use? What is the recoil? You know nothing about it, and you just swing it around. Do you think you can win a victory this way? Therefore, we also call for the restoration of the master-apprentice system in TCM inheritance.
Something can only be destroyed from within; external attacks cannot destroy it. I often discuss with my students that they say TCM has been supported in recent years. We have been calling for support for TCM for three years now. Let’s look at the results of this support: we indeed have specialty examinations, but so far, the results have been minimal. I often tell my students that TCM cannot be supported just by shouting slogans.
What if TCM is suppressed? I can tell you clearly that it cannot be killed either, because TCM originates from the people and ultimately serves the health of the common people. As long as it is effective, the people will believe in it, so it cannot be eradicated or extinguished.
People often complain that there are few good TCM practitioners. I say this is normal. We do not need so many famous doctors, nor do we expect all TCM practitioners to be like Zhang Zhongjing, Ye Tianshi, or Li Dongyuan; that is impossible. We need more TCM practitioners who can treat common and frequently occurring diseases, such as colds, fevers, headaches, coughs, and back pain.
Doctors who can treat common diseases are the most needed. To all medical workers, as long as you can treat common and frequently occurring diseases, being an ordinary doctor is what the people need.
When the public complains about the lack of good doctors, I often explain it this way: Are there many cooks? Yes. But how many can truly become great chefs? Few. Are there many bricklayers? Are there many carpenters? Yes. But how many can satisfy you when renovating a house? Very few. There are many good painters, but how many can paint like Zheng Banqiao or Qi Baishi? Very few.
In any profession, the elite are a minority; this aligns with objective laws. If everyone in the world were an elite, it would be a terrifying world where we could not live, or even survive.
Another issue arose during a meeting with a Western medicine teacher who admired me and wanted to befriend me. He said, “But I have a view on TCM; you TCM practitioners see everyone as sick.” I said that’s normal. Why? I said if you are not sick, you would become a ‘real person’, living as long as heaven and earth, able to grasp Yin and Yang. Can you do that? He said he could not.
In TCM, we evaluate a person’s health based on five criteria: first, the five organs are not deficient; second, the six bowels are not failing; third, Qi and blood are not depleted; fourth, the meridians are unobstructed; fifth, the spirit is calm. So I ask you, can you achieve these five points?
Thus, in the eyes of TCM practitioners, healthy individuals are extremely rare. If we truly achieved this, we would at least be true, wise, and virtuous; we should at least be wise people. Then he laughed and acknowledged our viewpoint.
4. The formulas in the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” are highly replicable and effective.
Now let’s discuss why we should teach the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”. The formulas in the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” are highly replicable and effective, just like those in the “Treatise on Cold Damage”. As long as you identify the pattern, using them will yield results.
The formulas in the “Treatise on Cold Damage” and the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” are consistent in principle, method, and application, and we need to study them thoroughly.
Compared to other texts, the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” and the “Treatise on Cold Damage” are concise yet profound. We can see that Zhang Zhongjing was not only a physician but also a literary figure, a master of classical Chinese. Looking at the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, the writing is rigorous; adding or removing a word would be inappropriate, so we need to study it carefully.
Some people have asked, since it is written so well, why is it called the “Treatise on Cold Damage” and not the “Classic of Cold Damage”? In fact, our ancient scholars had clear distinctions between which books are “classics”, “treatises”, or “discussions”. A “classic” only discusses results, not principles; that is what a “classic” is, such as the “I Ching”, “Inner Canon”, and “Tao Te Ching”.
These classics are difficult to understand because they only tell you the results without explaining the principles, making them challenging to read. Therefore, “classics” are meant to be taught, requiring a master to explain them.
In contrast, a “treatise” is relatively understandable; it discusses causes, methods, and results. In the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, the formulas are preceded by discussions of pathogenesis, causes, and differential diagnoses, concluding with specific formulas. This is what a “treatise” is. The content of a “treatise” is a theorem; we do not need to conduct research to verify the “Treatise on Cold Damage” or the “Inner Canon”; we do not need to verify axioms and theorems.
2. How to Teach the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”
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Use the principle of formulas: add or subtract from the original formula, without adding more than one or two ingredients.
In our clinical practice, we have discovered many issues, and many teachers who focus on classical formulas often say, “I used a certain decoction to cure a disease” and present some case studies. For example, some teachers claim to have cured a disease with Gui Zhi Decoction. Upon observing their case studies, the formula contains twenty-five or six ingredients, including Gui Zhi and Shao Yao. I do not agree with such cases.
It’s like when we cook, we add a bit of pepper or other spices. If we serve a dish of stir-fried garlic shoots with meat, the server will certainly call it stir-fried garlic shoots with meat. If the server says, “Teacher, please enjoy stir-fried with pepper”, that would be inappropriate.
When learning to apply classical formulas, the number of added or subtracted ingredients should be less than the original formula, generally one or two ingredients is best. Because treating diseases works this way: if the odd does not cure, then the even will; if the even does not cure, then the odd will. How can there be so many additions and subtractions?
The reason is that we do not accurately grasp the pathogenesis and do not thoroughly understand the medicinal properties, leading to excessive additions out of insecurity, resulting in a hodgepodge decoction.
2. Combine insights from later physicians, analyze the original text, and correct pronunciations.
In our teaching of the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”, we must first read the original text, correcting any obscure characters and pronunciations. Secondly, we need to analyze the original text thoroughly. We will cite the viewpoints of ancient scholars, such as You Zai in the Tang Dynasty, Cheng Menxue, and others, as well as Mr. Wu Qian from the “Medical Canon of the Golden Mirror”, who interpreted the original text of the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”.
3. Share personal understanding and clinical experiences.
More importantly, I will discuss my personal insights and understanding, as well as my clinical experiences, to serve as a reference for others.
When we explain the original text, for example, when discussing the section on women’s diseases, such as the An Tai (calming the fetus) section, when we talk about Dang Gui San (Angelica Powder) and Bai Zhu San (Atractylodes Powder), we will not only discuss Zhang Zhongjing’s treatment methods and thoughts but also the perspectives and treatment methods of later physicians regarding fetal movement issues. We will thoroughly explain the condition of fetal movement instability to the best of our ability.
For instance, the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” includes Dang Gui San, Bai Zhu San, as well as Dang Gui Shao Yao San (Angelica and Peony Powder), Jiao Ai Tang (Mugwort Decoction), and other formulas for calming the fetus. Later physicians also have formulas like Bao Chan Wu You Yin (Mother and Child Safety Decoction) and Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang (Fragrant Sand Six Gentlemen Decoction) for calming the fetus. We will clarify these in this chapter.
In other words, our discussion of the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet” will not be limited to the text itself; we will also cover the diseases it involves, sharing the viewpoints and knowledge of ancient and modern scholars, as well as the prescriptions I am familiar with, for clinical reference.
4. Differentiate from the later 28 pulses and explain the pulse methods in the “Treatise on Cold Damage”.
In the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, the sections on pulse diagnosis and differentiation are not covered in the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”. However, we will discuss the pulse signs mentioned in the “Essentials of the Golden Cabinet”. The pulse methods in the “Treatise on Cold Damage” are distinctly different from the 28 pulse signs in later pulse studies. Moreover, the pulse methods in the “Treatise on Cold Damage” are more accurate in clinical application and provide better guidance.
Upon careful examination of the outlines in each chapter of the “Treatise on Cold Damage”, we can see that Zhang Zhongjing placed great importance on “pulse”, “symptoms”, and “disease”. The pulse methods in the “Treatise on Cold Damage” are more precise in clinical verification and provide more reliable guidance.
5. Discuss formulas with practical clinical cases.
After analyzing the articles and discussing various viewpoints, we will also analyze the formulas presented in the text, combining my clinical experiences and actual cases to explain and clarify them.
This will broaden everyone’s thinking and enhance their interest in learning. If we only discuss theory and text, it can become tedious, and listeners may fall asleep. In our teaching habits, this is unacceptable. If someone falls asleep while listening to your lecture, it is not the listener’s fault but the speaker’s responsibility.
3. Conclusion
I have participated in many lectures, including those for the general public, students, professionals, and even Western medicine practitioners. I always ask the organizers about the audience. This is very important; we must tailor our lectures to the audience. If we are addressing students, we cannot just talk about our experiences, as they may not understand. If we are speaking to TCM experts, we cannot just recite theories and texts, as they are more familiar with them than we are and will not be interested.
In organizing this course, we have a large audience, including professionals, experts, scholars, TCM enthusiasts, and many patients. Therefore, teaching this course is quite challenging, and I personally feel a lot of pressure. Thus, I can only do my best to share what I have learned with everyone.
Transcribed from the 2243rd issue of the TCM Book Friends Association
The articles published by this account are mostly excerpts from publicly available content on the internet, intended for reference and learning purposes only, and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or treatment. If necessary, please use under the guidance of a physician. If there are copyright issues, we will delete them.
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Table of Contents 20210301