It was asked: What does it mean when it is said that the superior physician treats disease before it arises? The Master replied: To treat disease before it arises means, upon seeing a disease of the Liver, to know that the Liver will transmit it to the Spleen — and therefore first to replete the Spleen.
When a Tai Yang disease presents with fever and absence of sweating yet aversion to cold, it is called hard spasm (gang jing). When a Tai Yang disease presents with fever and sweating yet no aversion to cold, it is called soft spasm (rou jing).
Lily disease is so named because the hundred vessels share a single source, and when disease arises it involves them all at once. The patient wishes to eat yet cannot eat, remains silent and withdrawn, wishes to lie down yet cannot rest, wishes to walk yet cannot move.
虚劳里急 · 小建中汤证
Vacuity Taxation with Internal Urgency: Xiao Jian Zhong Tang Pattern
When vacuity taxation presents with internal urgency — palpitations, nosebleeds, abdominal pain, seminal loss in dreams, aching of the four limbs, vexing heat in the palms and soles, and dryness of the throat and mouth — Xiao Jian Zhong Tang governs.
In chest impediment disease, with panting, cough and expectoration, pain of the chest and back, and shortness of breath — the cun pulse sunken and slow, the guan pulse slightly tight and rapid — Gua Lou Xie Bai Bai Jiu Tang governs.
痰饮治则 · 当以温药和之
The Treatment Principle for Phlegm-Rheum: Harmonize with Warming Medicinals