素问·移精变气论 Discourse on Shifting the Essence and Transforming the Qi
黄帝问曰：余闻古之治病，惟其移精变气，可祝由而已。今世治病，毒药治其内，针石治其外，或愈或不愈，何也。歧伯对曰：往古人居禽兽之闲，动作以避寒，阴居以避暑，内无眷慕之累，外无伸官之形，此恬憺之世，邪不能深入也。故毒药不能治其内，针石不能治其外，故可移精祝由而已。当今之世不然，忧患缘其内，苦形伤其外，又失四时之从，逆寒暑之宜，贼风数至，虚邪朝夕，内至五藏骨髓，外伤空窍肌肤，所以小病必甚，大病必死，故祝由不能已也。
帝曰：善。余欲临病人，观死生，决嫌疑，欲知其要，如日月光，可得闻乎。歧伯曰：色脉者，上帝之所贵也，先师之所传也。上古使僦贷季，理色脉而通神明，合之金木水火土四时八风六合，不离其常，变化相移，以观其妙，以知其要，欲知其要，则色脉是矣。色以应日，脉以应月，常求其要，则其要也。夫色之变化，以应四时之脉，此上帝之所贵，以合于神明也，所以远死而近生。生道以长，命曰圣王。中古之治病，至而治之，汤液十日，以去八风五痹之病，十日不已，治以草苏草荄之枝，本末为助，标本已得，邪气乃服。暮世之治病也则不然，治不本四时，不知日月，不审逆从，病形已成，乃欲微针治其外，汤液治其内，粗工凶凶，以为可攻，故病未已，新病复起。
帝曰：愿闻要道。歧伯曰：治之要极，无失色脉，用之不惑，治之大则。逆从到行，标本不得，亡神失国。去故就新，乃得真人。帝曰：余闻其要于夫子矣，夫子言不离色脉，此余之所知也。歧伯曰：治之极于一。帝曰：何谓一。歧伯曰：一者，因得之。帝曰：奈何。歧伯曰：闭户塞牖，系之病者，数问其情，以从其意，得神者昌，失神者亡。帝曰：善。
Huangdi asked: I have heard that in treating disease in ancient times, one could cure illness merely by shifting the essence and transforming the qi, through invocation and incantation alone. In treating disease today, toxic medicines treat the interior and needles and stone lancets treat the exterior, yet sometimes the patient is cured and sometimes not — why is this? Qibo replied: In ancient times, people dwelled among the birds and beasts; they exerted themselves in movement to avoid the cold, and dwelled in the shade to avoid the heat. Within, they had no entanglements of longing and attachment; without, they had no ambition to pursue office. In this age of tranquil indifference, evil qi could not penetrate deeply. Thus toxic medicines were not needed to treat the interior, nor needles and stone to treat the exterior, and so it was sufficient to shift the essence and use incantation alone. The present age is not so: worries and troubles beset people within, toil and hardship injure their bodies without; moreover, they have lost accord with the four seasons and go against the proper measures of cold and heat. Injurious winds arrive frequently, and depleting evils come morning and night, penetrating within to the five viscera and marrow and bones, and injuring without the orifices, muscles, and skin. Hence minor illnesses inevitably become severe, and severe illnesses inevitably lead to death; therefore incantation alone can no longer cure.
Huangdi said: Good. I wish, when attending a patient, to be able to observe whether they will live or die and resolve uncertain cases; I want to know the essentials of this, as clear as sun and moon — may I hear of it? Qibo said: Complexion and pulse are what the high sovereigns valued and what former teachers transmitted. In high antiquity, the physician Jiudai Ji ordered complexion and pulse and thereby penetrated to spirit-like clarity, uniting them with metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, the four seasons, the eight winds, and the six confluences, never departing from their constancy; their transformations shift into one another, and by observing their subtlety one comes to know the essentials. If one wishes to know the essentials, then complexion and pulse are precisely this. Complexion corresponds to the sun, and the pulse corresponds to the moon; if one constantly seeks their essentials, this indeed is the essential. As for the changes and transformations of complexion, corresponding to the pulse of the four seasons — this is what the high sovereigns valued, uniting with spirit-like clarity, and by this one keeps death at a distance and draws near to life. When the way of life is thereby prolonged, this is called a sage-king. In the treatment of disease in middle antiquity, one treated as soon as illness arrived: decoctions were used for ten days to dispel diseases of the eight winds and the five kinds of numbness; if not resolved in ten days, one treated with the branches and stalks of herbs, the root and tip aiding each other; once root and branch of treatment were both attained, the evil qi would submit. The treatment of disease in recent generations is not so: treatment does not take the four seasons as its basis, one does not know the movements of sun and moon, and one does not examine whether the condition is contrary or compliant. Only after the form of the disease has already taken shape does one then wish to use fine needles to treat the exterior and decoctions to treat the interior. Crude practitioners, acting rashly and violently, believe they can attack the disease directly; thus before the original illness is resolved, a new illness arises in its place.
Huangdi said: I wish to hear the essential Way. Qibo said: The utmost essential of treatment lies in never losing sight of complexion and pulse; when one applies this without confusion, this is the great principle of treatment. If one acts contrary to compliance, and root and branch are not properly grasped, the spirit is lost and the state of the body is ruined. Discard the old and embrace the new — only then does one attain the understanding of the Realized Person. Huangdi said: I have now heard the essentials from you, Master; you have said it lies in not departing from complexion and pulse — this I now understand. Qibo said: The utmost of treatment lies in unity. Huangdi said: What is meant by unity? Qibo said: Unity is attained through grasping the root cause. Huangdi said: How is this done? Qibo said: Close the doors, shut the windows, attend closely to the patient, repeatedly inquire into their condition so as to follow their state of mind. One who grasps the patient's spirit will flourish; one who loses the patient's spirit will perish. Huangdi said: Good.