The Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Treating Illnesses

The principle "All medicine is somewhat toxic" refers to the fact that all medications, by their nature, carry inherent biases or specific properties. These properties can provoke certain reactions in the body, leading to what is considered toxic effects. In TCM, medicine is also referred to as "toxic medicine" because of these intrinsic properties.

In contemporary discussions, some individuals who lack a deep understanding of TCM argue that Chinese medicine is harmful due to its toxicity. However, this perspective is naive and ignores a fundamental principle: without toxicity, a medicine cannot effectively counteract the pathogenic factors causing illness. The rationale behind using toxic substances to combat illness in TCM is to utilize a substance's inherent bias to counteract the opposite bias present in the pathogenic qi (energy). By doing so, the pathogenic qi is neutralized or eliminated, resulting in the restoration of health.

When treating illnesses with acupuncture, the key to diagnosis is identifying the exact location of the pathogenic qi within the acupoints. In contrast, when treating with herbal medicine, the focus shifts to identifying the nature of the pathogenic qi without the need to pinpoint its location. The goal is to match the medicine's bias to the bias of the pathogenic qi, which, once ingested, will battle and neutralize or expel the illness-causing factors.

Thus, while the underlying principles of acupuncture and herbal medicine are similar, the methods of diagnosis differ. Acupuncture involves the diagnostic use of the meridian system, acupoints, and the body's organs, while toxic medicine treatment is based on the six meridian and eight principle differentiation methods.

To understand the bias of a medicine, one must first consider its properties and the meridian it targets. The reason why specific substances possess healing properties is detailed in one of TCM's most revered texts, The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica (Shennong Bencao Jing).

All things in nature are created by the interaction of heaven and earth and are composed of qi. Each substance has its own unique properties. But why is one substance medicinal, while another is not? Why does a particular medicine treat a specific illness? These are not random or coincidental but are determined by the very nature of the qi that forms them.

According to legend, Shennong, the Divine Farmer, tested hundreds of herbs and identified 365 types of medicine. This number corresponds precisely with the 365 days of the solar cycle, underscoring the belief that these medicines were created by the interactions of cosmic qi at specific points in the annual cycle. Thus, The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica is deeply rooted in the patterns of the cosmos, much like the Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon).

These medicinal substances store the qi of heaven and earth. When introduced into the body, they engage in a battle with pathogenic qi, using their inherent biases to correct imbalances and restore health. The fundamental idea behind using toxic medicine in TCM is to harmonize the body's internal qi with the qi of the natural world. If the diagnosis and treatment are accurate, this approach to healing is remarkably free of side effects.

Western medicine, on the other hand, lacks the holistic and integrated worldview that underpins TCM. Western medicine also uses toxic substances to treat illness, but it operates on a more microscopic level, focusing on isolated pathogens rather than the interconnectedness of all things. This fragmented view contrasts sharply with TCM, which views the human body as a microcosm of the universe, operating within a larger, interconnected system.

In TCM, a skilled doctor is one who understands both the cosmos and the earth, as this knowledge allows for a comprehensive understanding of the body and its relationship to the natural world. In contrast, Western medicine, by its very nature, often resorts to treating symptoms in isolation, without addressing the root cause of the illness.

In summary, the divergence between TCM and Western medicine in the treatment of illness is profound, rooted in completely different worldviews. While TCM approaches healing from a holistic perspective, integrating the body with the cosmos, Western medicine often reduces treatment to a series of isolated interventions, sometimes with severe side effects.

From this perspective, if we consider traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as true medicine, then Western medicine might not even qualify as such. Clinically, Western medicine resembles more of a craft, like repairing bicycles, while its theoretical foundation is too much like mathematics. Here, I am merely critiquing the theories of Western medicine, with no disrespect intended toward the many dedicated practitioners of Western medicine.

The effect of medicine on people is that it exacerbates illness when there is illness, and harms the person when there is none. It treats illness when it is the correct treatment and harms the person when it is not.

As mentioned earlier, treating illness is about helping those who cannot correct their own imbalances to fight off pathogenic influences. Any battle, of course, requires weapons, so in this sense, using medicine is like waging war. Moreover, the effect of medicine is that it exacerbates illness when there is illness and harms the person when there is none. Correct treatment fights the illness; incorrect treatment harms the person.

For someone who is not ill to take medicine is like wielding a knife against oneself. Without an enemy (i.e., illness), the medicine (knife) has no target to strike, and the excess energy from the medicine can only harm the body. Therefore, one must never take medicine without illness. All medicines are inherently toxic.

When illness arises and there is pathogenic energy within the body, only then should one mobilize forces to fight it. However, the strategy must be correct to accurately defeat the enemy. This requires treatment according to syndrome differentiation. Some people, despite being ill, do not follow the doctor's advice, or the prescribed medicine is incorrect and does not address the symptoms, which is problematic because only by addressing the symptoms can the pathogenic energy be expelled. If the treatment is incorrect, it adds another layer of imbalance to the body.

Even more dangerous is if the wrong medicine intensifies the pathogenic energy already present in the body, which can rapidly worsen the illness. The Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) refers to this as "intensified illness." In such cases, the patient may quickly deteriorate and even die.

Western medicine addresses this issue by targeting pathogens, not the illness itself, and certainly not the person or the broader world. In this respect, the differences between TCM and Western medicine are profound. TCM, by treating the world and the person, can solve the problem of disease. By treating the illness, pathogens can be naturally eradicated.

TCM focuses on treating both the root and the branch, while Western medicine treats the branch and tries to deduce the root. Because Western medicine only sees the pathogen and not the pathogenic influence or the person, its treatments often come with severe side effects. For example, during the SARS epidemic, Western medicine used steroids to treat patients, which cured the illness but left people with significant disabilities.

Why doesn't Western medicine have a specific cure for viruses? This is a question of worldview. If you confine yourself within a box, you naturally can't control what's outside the box. If you focus solely on a microscopic scale, you naturally can't manage the broader system.

Remember, all problems must be addressed from a higher systemic level, identifying the root cause and correcting the relationships between higher systems and subsystems to resolve issues within the subsystem. Otherwise, it's like a mediocre doctor who treats only the symptoms of a headache or foot pain without understanding the underlying cause.

Those with a Western medicine worldview find it difficult to understand why TCM can treat viral diseases so effectively, with perfect recovery and no lasting side effects. But it's actually quite simple—TCM uses a higher-level system to fundamentally intervene and change the lower subsystem. It operates from a broader worldview to control the more narrow one.

To put it in more contemporary, albeit somewhat simplistic terms that might be easier for those with a Western medical mindset to understand, TCM treats illness by "downward suppression," while Western medicine attempts "upward suppression." But how can a two-dimensional creature understand a living human and then treat that human? This is why the most refined aspect of Western medicine is vaccines. However, vaccines are just a specialized branch of TCM, which was only recently adopted by Western medicine. For example, TCM invented a rabies vaccine during the Jin Dynasty and a smallpox vaccine during the Song Dynasty. Westerners only learned about vaccine therapy from TCM in the past one or two centuries.

Before Westerners learned about Chinese vaccine therapy, their earlier medical practices also derived from TCM. For instance, their early surgical techniques and bloodletting practices were influenced by TCM’s methods of stone needle therapy. However, because Western practitioners did not understand the TCM concepts of organ systems, meridians, and acupuncture points, their bloodletting practices were merely about draining blood and had no therapeutic effect, often leading to fatal outcomes. This illustrates how dangerous it is to imitate without proper theoretical guidance and highlights the importance of cultural knowledge.

From this perspective, TCM can be seen as the father of Western medicine, with Western medicine as a subordinate branch that suffers from a severely flawed worldview, potentially even diverging from the principles of its predecessor.