素问·示从容论 Discourse on Demonstrating Unhurried Deliberation
黄帝燕坐召雷公而问之曰：汝受术诵书者，若能览观杂学，及于比类，通合道理，为余言子所长，五藏六府，胆胃大小肠脾胞膀胱，脑髓涕唾，哭泣悲哀，水所从行，此皆人之所生，治之过失，子务明之，可以十全，即不能知，为世所怨。雷公曰：臣请诵《脉胫》上下篇甚众多矣，别异比类，犹未能以十全，又安足以明之。帝曰：子别试通五藏之过，六府之所不和，针石之败，毒药所宜，汤液滋味，具言其状，悉言以对，请问不知。雷公曰：肝虚肾虚脾虚，皆令人体重烦冤，当投毒药刺灸砭石汤液，或已，或不已，愿闻其解。帝曰：公何年之长而问之少，余真问以自谬也。吾问子窈冥，子言上下篇以对，何也。夫脾虚浮似肺，肾小浮似脾，肝急沈散似肾，此皆工之所时乱也，然从容得之。若夫三藏土木水参居，此童子之所知问之，何也。
雷公曰：于此有人，头痛筋挛骨重怯然少气，哕噫腹满，时惊不嗜卧，此何藏之发也。脉浮而弦，切之石坚，不知其解，复问所以三藏者，以知其比类也。帝曰：夫从容之谓也。夫年长则求之于府，年少则求之于经，年壮则求之于藏。今子所言皆失，八风菀熟，五藏消烁，传邪相受。夫浮而弦者，是肾不足也。沈而石者，是肾气内著也。怯然少气者，是水道不行，形气消索也。咳嗽烦冤者，是肾气之逆也。一人之气，病在一藏也。若言三藏俱行，不在法也。雷公曰：于此有人，四支解墯，喘咳血泄，而愚诊之，以为伤肺，切脉浮大而紧，愚不敢治，粗工下砭石，病愈多出血，血止身轻，此何物也。帝曰：子所能治，知亦众多，与此病失矣。譬以鸿飞亦冲于天，夫圣人之治病，循法守度，援物比类，化之冥冥，循上及下，何必守经。今夫脉浮大虚者，是脾气之外绝，去胃外归阳明也。夫二火不胜三水，是以脉乱而无常也。四支解墯，此脾精之不行也。喘咳者，是水气并阳明也。血泄者，脉急血无所行也。若夫以为伤肺者，由失以狂也。不引比类，是知不明也。夫伤肺者，脾气不守，胃气不清，经气不为使，真藏坏决，经脉傍绝，五藏漏泄，不衂则呕，此二者不相类也。譬如天之无形，地之无理，白与黑相去远矣。是失吾过矣，以子知之，故不告子，明引比类从容，是以名曰诊轻，是谓至道也。
Huangdi, seated at leisure, summoned Lei Gong and asked him: You who have received the arts and recited the books — if you are able to survey the various branches of learning and extend them by analogy, comprehending and uniting their principles, then tell me what you excel in: the five viscera and six bowels — gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, spleen, uterus, and bladder — the brain and marrow, tears and saliva, weeping and sorrowful grief, and the paths by which fluids travel. All of these belong to what gives rise to human life, along with the errors made in treating them. You must strive to understand them clearly; then you may achieve complete success in ten cases out of ten. If you are unable to know them, you will be resented by the world. Lei Gong said: I have recited the upper and lower chapters of the Canon of the Pulse extensively, distinguishing differences and comparing categories, yet I have still not been able to achieve complete success in ten cases out of ten — how then could I be sufficient to make these things clear? The Emperor said: Then try instead to master the faults of the five viscera, the disharmonies of the six bowels, the failures of needle and stone, the proper uses of potent drugs, and the flavors of decoctions — describe their manifestations fully, and answer me completely; I will ask you about what you do not know. Lei Gong said: Deficiency of the liver, deficiency of the kidney, and deficiency of the spleen all cause the body to feel heavy and the mind vexed and oppressed. When one administers potent drugs, needling, moxibustion, stone-lancing, or decoctions, sometimes the disease is cured and sometimes it is not. I wish to hear the explanation for this. The Emperor said: Sir, why is it that though your years are advanced, your question is so trifling? I have truly asked in a way that exposes your own error. I asked you about the deep and obscure, and you answer me by citing the upper and lower chapters — why is that? Now, when the spleen is deficient its pulse floats and resembles that of the lung; when the kidney is small and floating it resembles that of the spleen; when the liver is tense, sunken, and scattered it resembles that of the kidney — these are precisely the cases that regularly confuse the physician, yet through unhurried, careful deliberation one can grasp them correctly. As for the fact that the three viscera of earth, wood, and water dwell intermingled — this is something even a child knows to ask about; why do you ask it?
Lei Gong said: Suppose there is a person with headache, spasm of the sinews, heaviness of the bones, timidity and shortness of breath, hiccupping and belching, fullness of the abdomen, periodic fright, and disinclination to lie down — from which viscus does this arise? The pulse is floating and wiry, yet on pressing it feels as hard as stone. I do not understand the explanation, and so I ask again about the three viscera, in order to understand their analogous categories. The Emperor said: This is precisely what is meant by unhurried deliberation. In the elderly, one seeks the cause in the bowels; in the young, one seeks it in the channels; in those in their prime, one seeks it in the viscera. Now everything you have said misses the mark. The eight winds accumulate and turn to heat, the five viscera waste and are scorched, and the pathogenic evil is transmitted and received from one to another. Now, a pulse that is floating and wiry indicates insufficiency of the kidney. One that is sunken and hard as stone indicates that kidney qi has become lodged within. Timidity and shortness of breath indicate that the water pathways are not moving and that the body's qi is being dissipated. Coughing and vexed oppression indicate the counterflow of kidney qi. In one person's qi, the disease lies in a single viscus; to say that the three viscera are all acting together is not in accordance with proper method. Lei Gong said: Suppose there is a person whose four limbs are limp and languid, who pants and coughs and has bloody discharge. In my ignorance I diagnosed this as injury to the lung. On pressing the pulse it was floating, large, and tight. In my ignorance I dared not treat it. A crude physician applied stone-lancing, and the disease was cured with much bleeding; once the bleeding stopped, the body felt light. What is the nature of this? The Emperor said: What you are able to treat, and what you know, is indeed extensive, yet with this disease you have erred — even a wild goose in flight also soars up to the sky. Now, the sage in treating disease follows method and holds to measure, draws on things and compares categories, and transforms his understanding in the realm of the profound and obscure, tracing from above down to below — why must one cling rigidly to the fixed channels? Now, a pulse that is floating, large, and empty indicates that spleen qi has become cut off externally, departing from the stomach and reverting outward to the yangming. Two fires cannot overcome three waters, and thus the pulse is chaotic and without constancy. Limpness of the four limbs is due to the failure of spleen essence to circulate. Panting and coughing occur when water qi combines with the yangming. Bloody discharge occurs when the vessels are tense and the blood has nowhere to flow. As for taking this to be injury of the lung, that is an error verging on recklessness. Failing to draw on analogous categories shows that one's understanding is not clear. Now, in true injury of the lung, the spleen qi fails to hold its post, the stomach qi is not clear, the channel qi cannot be employed as it should, the true viscus is broken and breached, the channels and vessels are severed at their sides, and the five viscera leak and drain — if there is no nosebleed, there is vomiting. These two conditions do not belong to the same category. It is like Heaven having no form and Earth having no pattern — white and black are as far apart as that. This lapse is my own fault: since you already possessed this knowledge, I did not spell it out further for you, so that by clearly drawing analogies through unhurried deliberation you might arrive at it yourself. This is called diagnosing with ease, and this is what is meant by the utmost Way.