How to learn Chinese medicine? (Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine)

As time goes by, traditional Chinese medicine is becoming more and more popular among busy white-collar workers and elderly people living a comfortable retirement life. Many people also like to read books about traditional Chinese medicine, and some related traditional Chinese medicine health programs have also emerged. For those who have the time and energy to learn Chinese medicine, how much benefit will these books and programs bring them? Because I rarely follow these programs or read these books, I don’t have much say. But I still have some personal opinions and suggestions for the students in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine who are about to enter the door, and those who are trying to understand Traditional Chinese Medicine systematically. Some people say that to study Chinese medicine, one must read classics. This is a wise saying. But it is impossible for people who have never started to understand the classics. It is like a baby that cannot walk. You cannot train it to run in the same way as Liu Xiang. A person who can comprehend one of the classics of traditional Chinese medicine must be a doctor with superb medical skills. Therefore, it is possible for a beginner to read a book twenty or thirty times without understanding what it says. So how should a beginner learn Chinese medicine? First of all, any technology must have a theoretical basis. The basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine is essential for a person who studies traditional Chinese medicine. It is difficult for people who do not know the yin and yang and the five elements, the six evils and seven emotions, the physiological characteristics of the internal organs, and the direction of the meridians to understand and understand traditional Chinese medicine. The textbook "Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine" is of course an authoritative work for learning the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, but it has to be said that the readability of books generally used as textbooks is relatively low. What I recommend to my fellow students is "Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine" by Mr. Qin Boyei. This book is very readable, and Mr. Qin Boyei is nicknamed "Qin Nei Jing" and knows the classic works of traditional Chinese medicine by heart. This book is a rare book that can lead everyone into the door of traditional Chinese medicine. In addition, Mr. Fang Yaozhong's "Popular Lecture on Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine" is also very readable. After understanding the basics of traditional Chinese medicine, you need to learn the diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine. TCM diagnosis is the most complex and difficult subject to learn. Because the most demanding aspect of Chinese medicine is dialectical treatment. To learn this subject, the most systematic textbook is the "Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine". The best compiled one is "Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine" organized by Mr. Deng Tietao and published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press, which is known as the fifth edition of the textbook. However, the same Not very readable. Mr. Jiao Shude's "Discussing Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment from Cases" and Mr. Fang Yaozhong's "Seven Lectures on Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment" can make up for the readability problem, but both of these books require readers to have a certain knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine. The study of traditional Chinese medicine is a key point in the study of traditional Chinese medicine. "Compendium of Materia Medica" is a good book, a thin book. The readability is much higher than the textbook of "Chinese Materia Medica". In addition, "Songs of Medicinal Properties including Four Hundred Flavors" and "Fu of Medicinal Properties" are both Chinese medicine works in the form of verses. If you are a student studying Chinese medicine, memorizing these two books will be of great benefit to the application of Chinese medicine. As for the world-famous "Compendium of Materia Medica", which is very readable, people who have seen the entire "Compendium of Materia Medica" are basically daunted by it. Renming Health Publishing House recently published the Jinling edition of "Compendium of Materia Medica", which is absolutely effective in self-defense. Weighing more than ten kilograms, it is definitely not something that can be read in two or three years, let alone memorized. I think "Compendium of Materia Medica" can be used as a reference book such as a dictionary, but is not suitable for reading as a study book. Learning prescriptions is actually a stage of getting better and better. If you are familiar with Chinese medicine, you will have a certain understanding of Chinese medicine prescriptions. Beginners of prescription medicine throughout the ages have admired "Song of Soup". The author of this book is the same person as the author of "Compendium of Materia Medica" mentioned earlier - Wang Ang of the Qing Dynasty. Wang Ang himself is not a doctor, but a rich man. He organized a large number of local famous doctors to write medical books for him, which were finally published under Wang Ang's name. Even so, many of the books he organized and compiled are very good introductory works on traditional Chinese medicine. The poetry form of "Tangtou Gejue" is written to make it easy for readers to recite. Most of the prescription poems attached to the contemporary "Prescription Science" are from "Tangtou Gejue", and some are adapted from "Tangtou Gejue". Most of the famous doctors in the late Qing Dynasty had recited Wang Ang's "Soup Song Jue" when they started. If you have read the above books, you can basically say that you have entered the door of Chinese medicine with one step. For people who are not students of traditional Chinese medicine, after understanding this, when you seek treatment from a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, you will at least be able to distinguish the quality of the doctor and the rationality of the prescription. What if you are studying Chinese medicine? These are far from enough, and I haven’t even gotten started yet. Students in traditional Chinese medicine schools can seriously study the internal medicine, external medicine, gynecology, and pediatrics of traditional Chinese medicine after reading these books. When studying these subjects, there is a book worth reading, and that is "The Golden Mirror of Medicine". "Yi Zong Jin Jian" is a textbook compiled by the Imperial Hospital under the leadership of Wu Qian, the envoy (equivalent to the dean) of the Imperial Hospital at the time, for medical students in the Qing Dynasty to study. This book basically represents the highest medical achievement at that time. Except for febrile diseases that appeared in the Wanqing system, it basically includes all disciplines of traditional Chinese medicine except Zhu Youke (medical psychology). It can be said to be a masterpiece of medicine. . Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, many doctors studied traditional Chinese medicine based on the "Yi Zong Jin Jian" and became famous doctors. In addition, "Medical Zhongzhongshenxilu" written by Zhang Xichun of Hebei Province at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China was known as "the first book on Chinese medicine". It is the most imitable book and is also worth reading. After reading these books, a Chinese medicine apprentice can reluctantly start training. Even if the medicine cannot cure the disease, there should be no problem of killing people.

What if you want medicine to cure your illness? Systematically study the "Huangdi Neijing", which is the "ancestral classic" of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", "The Synopsis of the Golden Chamber" and "The Study of Febrile Diseases" (these books are included in "The Golden Mirror of the Medical Emperor" and "The Zhongzhong of Medicine"). There are systematic explanations in "Shenxilu"), which are classic works of traditional Chinese medicine. In addition, he dabbled in the works of medical doctors of the past dynasties, especially the works of the "Four Great Masters of Jin and Yuan Dynasties", namely Liu Wansu, Li Dongyuan, Zhang Congzheng and Zhu Danxi. If you study in this way, you will be on your way to becoming a famous doctor. After reading these books, there are still some books that need to be read, and that is medical records. Traditional Chinese medicine is different from Western medicine. Medical records are an important part of Chinese medical books. Among them, "Clinical Guide Medical Records" can be said to be a wonder among medical records. Mr. Deng Tietao, a leading figure in the field of traditional Chinese medicine today, once said that this medical case has educated dozens of generations of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. This shows the value of "Clinical Guidelines and Medical Records". Learn basics → learn clinical → learn classics → learn from various schools → do clinical → study medical cases, this is the path that Chinese medicine should take, and as a person who is interested in Chinese medicine, you also need to learn the basics, instead of just following what others say, you need to know Some TCM health care books are right, while others are just cheating for royalties. Only by knowing the basics of traditional Chinese medicine can we eliminate the false and preserve the true.