伤寒六经提纲病情

Outline of six stages of a disease

一日太阳以脉浮，头痛、项强、恶寒（八字为提纲）,恶寒（二字为病情）。

The first day of the disease is in the Taiyang stage, the out line (the principle for the diagnosis of this stage) is head ache, stiff neck, and chilly. Among the outline, chilly suggests the severity of the disease in this stage.

二日阳明以胃家实（三字为提纲）、恶热（二字为病情）。

The second day of the disease is in the Yangming stage, the out line for the diagnosis of this stage is fullness in abdomen. Dislike hot suggests the severity of the disease in this stage.

三日少阳以口苦、咽干、目眩（六字为提纲）、喜呕（二字为病情）。

The third day of the disease is in the Shaoyang stage, the out line for the diagnosis of this stage is bitter feeling in mouth, dryness in throat, dizziness in eye. Gap or nausea suggests the severity of the disease in this stage.

四日太阴以腹满而吐，食不下，自利益甚，时腹自痛。若下之，必胸下结鞕（二十三字为提纲），食不下（三字为病情）。

The forth day of the disease is in the Taiyin stage, the out line for the diagnosis of this stage is fullness in abdomen, vomiting, hard to eat (due to vomiting), self diarrhea, stomach abdomen pain from time to time. If the bowel cleansing therapy is used, there will be hard block in the upper stomach area. No desire for eating suggests the severity of the disease in this stage.

五日少阴以脉微细，但欲寐（六字为提纲），但欲寐（三字为病情）。

The fifth day of the disease is in the Shaoyin stage, the out line for the diagnosis of this stage is weak and thin pulse; the patient likes and prefers to lie down. Liking to lie down suggests the severity of the disease in this stage.

六日厥阴以消渴，气上冲心，心中疼热，饥而不欲食，食则吐蚘，下之利不止（二十四字为提纲），不欲食（三字为病情）。

The sixth day of the disease is in the Yueyin stage, the out line for the diagnosis of this stage is heavy thirst; air pushing up feeling, hot and pain in the upper stomach; feel hungry but no desire to eat; if eat, there is vomiting of warm; if the bowel cleansing therapy is used, there will be continuous diarrhea. No desire to eat suggests the severity of the disease in this stage.

 

六经定法贯解

Significance of the Six-Stage diagnosis

凡病邪初入，必由太阳。太阳为寒水之区，居坎宫子位，人身之气机，日日俱从子时发起。子为一阳，故曰太阳。

When a disease-causing factor comes into the body, it must attack the Taiyang meridian (or the Taiyang level, Taiyang layer) first. The Taiyang is the Cold-Water area of the body. It is in the Kan Gua and the Zi zone. The Qi of the body starts from the Zi zone (11 pm to 1 am) everyday. The Zi zone is the first Yang, or it is called Taiyang.  

太阳如天之日（日从东海而出，海为储水之区，水性主寒，故曰太阳寒水），无微不照，阳光自内而发外，一身上下四旁，莫不毕照焉。所以主皮肤，统营卫，为一身之纲领。

The Yang Qi in the Taiyang stage is as the Sun in the nature (the Sun arises from the eat sea, the sea is the space to hole water, the nature of the water is Cold, so it is called Taiyang Cold-Water). The Sun shines to everywhere. The body Yang Qi starts and shines from inside of the body, penetrate to all parts of the body. Therefore, it governs the skin, the Ying Qi and Wei Qi[1], is the governing power of the body.

然太阳底面，即是少阴肾经（相为表里也），若太阳病，过发汗，则伤少阴肾中之真阳，故有亡阳之虞。所以近来医家病家，畏桂麻二汤发汗，等于砒毒，毫不敢用，由其不知桂麻二汤，非发汗之剂，乃协和营卫之方也。

The bottom of the Taiyang layer is the Shaoyin Kidney layer (the Taiyang is the outside and the Shaoyin is the inside. They are couple). If there is something wrong in the Taiyang layer and a sweat therapy has been over used, too much loss of sweat will damage the True Yang Qi in the Shaoyin Kidney layer, so there is risk of losing the Yang Qi from the Kidney. This is the reason why recent doctors fear to use the herb Guizhi and Mahuang to create sweat. They regard such herbs as arsenic poison, dares not to use it. They do not know that the herb Guizhi and Mahuang is not to create sweat but to balance and to harmony the Ying and Wei Qi in the body.

营卫协和，则向之伏于皮毛肌肉间者，今皆随汗而尽越于外矣。邪出于外，则表气疏，里气畅，病所以立解矣。至若发汗而致亡阳者，岂真麻桂之为害哉？不知由其人内本先虚，复感寒邪，今得桂麻协和阴阳，鼓邪外出，大汗淋漓，而肾中一线之元阳，乘气机之鼓动，而与汗俱出，实气机势时之使然，非桂麻之必使人亡阳也。观于气实之人发汗，毫不为害，从可识矣。

If the Ying Qi and the Wei Qi is in harmony, the disease-causing factors hidden between the muscle and skin now move out of the body through the sweat. Upon moving away from the body the invading factors, the defense energy, the defense Wei Qi is in a relaxed condition, the inside organ Qi is in a smooth functioning condition, so the disease is solved. If the sweat therapy really causes the Yang Qi loss, how can we relate it to the herb Mahuang and Guizhi? People do not know that it is due to the original weakness condition of the body inside before the invasion of the disease-causing Cold. Now, help by the herb Mahuang and Guizhi to harmony the Yin and Yang, press the invading factor out of the body, and with the over sweat, the True Yang in the Kidney escapes and floats along the sweat. All are due to the movement of the Qi in the body, not the Mahuang and Guizhi to cause the damage of the Kidney Yang Qi.  This can be further evidenced by using the Mahuang and Guizhi to strong people, in which there is no such Yang Qi escape at all.

然则仲景又岂不知内虚之人不可发汗乎？观于食粥、与不食粥，微发汗、更发汗，中病即止诸句，仲景已于内虚之人，早为筹画矣。真是步步规矩，处处苦心，惜乎知之者寡耳。六经当以一贯解之，章旨太多，恐学者易倦，仍将六经分解，参以附解，〔须〕知分解还是贯解，附解不在分贯之列，分贯是六经大旨，附解是补六经未发之大意。

Of course Mater Zhang Zhongjing knows that for a person in a inside weakness condition, the sweat therapy alone should not be used. So, you see, he introduced the use or not use of food soup to different person and under different clinic conditions. He also mentioned conditions in which to repeat the sweat or stop the sweat in various conditions. He already prepared carefully for how to use the sweat therapy. He has spent so much effort to introduce us the correct use of the sweat therapy. Unfortunately, there is little person really understand this. The Six-Stage or a disease should be understood as a continuous course of a disease. To avoid the too much chapters that may make the new students feel tired in study, so the Master separate the whole course into the six stages.

附解：按六经以太阳为首，厥阴为终。经者常道也，先天之真阳，原寄于肾，肾与膀胱相表里（肾为里，膀胱为表），真阳之气机发动，必先行于太阳经，而后行于诸经，昼夜循环，周而复始。然太阳四面皆水，寒气布护，故曰"太阳之上，寒气主之"，真阳之气，此刻初生，阳气甚微，若太阳经病过发汗，则伤肾中之真阳（表阳被夺，里阳立消），故有亡阳之虞。须知太阳地界主寒，复感外寒之客气所犯，阻其真阳运行之机，故太阳之经症作。二日阳明，阳明地界主燥，客寒之气，自太阳而走入燥地，寒邪便化为燥邪，燥邪入阳明经，而阻其真阳运行之机，则阳明之经症作。馀仿此，学者务宜留心，六经各有表里，即有病经不病里处，详太阳〔经〕附解。

Appendix: The six stages start from the Taiyang and end at the Jueyin. The six stages are the common pathway the energy goes for a circle. The original True Yang lives in the Kidney. The Kidney is the couple system with the Urine blander (the Kidney is the inside and the Urine bladder is the outside). Once the True Yang starts, it must go first in the Taiyang stage (the Taiyang meridian). Later, it goes to other meridians as a circle. However, the Taiyang is crowded by water, with the Cold cover around it, so it is called “Upon the Taiyang meridian/layer, it is the Cold Qi covers it”. The True Yang in the Taiyang stage is the new born Yang Qi. It is weak. If there are too much sweat due to the sweat therapy, it will damage the True Yang in the Kidney (if the surface Yang Qi is exhausted, or hurt, the inside True Yang will disappear right away. ), so there is huge risk the True Yang will die. It should know that, the Taiyang layer dominates Cold. The invaded Cold from outside of the body, in combination with the original Cold in the Taiyang, will block the Yang Qi transport in the Taiyang layer, to cause the meridian disorder in the Taiyang.

On the second day, the disease-causing factor moves into the Yangming stage, the Yangming layer of the body. The Yangming layer dominates the Dryness (the Nature of the Yangming layer of the body is the dryness). When the original Cold factor comes into the Yangming, the factor becomes Dryness. The Dryness factor blocks the Yang Qi movement in the Yangming layer, to cause the Yangming meridian disorders. By the same reason, when the Dryness factor moves into the Taiying stage, it becomes the Wetness factor, and when it moves into the Shaoyin stage, it could become either Fire or Water, and so on. It can change its nature depending on the stage/layer of the body where it comes.