素问·徵四失论 Discourse Verifying the Four Faults
黄帝在明堂，雷公侍坐。黄帝曰：夫子所通书受事众多矣，试言得失之意，所以得之，所以失之。雷公对曰：循经受业，皆言十全，其时有过失者，请闻其事解也。帝曰：子年少智未及邪，将言以杂合耶。夫经脉十二，络脉三百六十五，此皆人之所明知，工之所循用也。所以不十全者，精神不专，志意不理，外内相失，故时疑殆。诊不知阴阳逆从之理，此治之一失矣。受师不卒，妄作杂术，谬言为道，更名自功，妄用砭石，后遗身咎，此治之二失也。不适贫富贵贱之居，坐之薄厚，形之寒温，不适饮食之宜，不别人之勇怯，不知比类，足以自乱，不足以自明，此治之三失也。诊病不问其始，忧患饮食之失节，起居之过度，或伤于毒，不先言此，卒持寸口，何病能中，妄言作名，为粗所穷，此治之四失也。是以世人之语者，驰千里之外，不明尺寸之论，诊无人事。治数之道，从容之葆，坐持寸口，诊不中五脉，百病所起，始以自怨，遗师其咎。是故治不能循理，弃术于市，妄治时愈，愚心自得。呜呼，窈窈冥冥，熟知其道。道之大者，拟于天地，配于四海，汝不知道之谕受以明为晦。
Huangdi was in the Hall of Light, and Lei Gong sat in attendance. Huangdi said: Master, the books you have mastered and the affairs you have received are many indeed. Try to speak of the meaning of success and failure — how success is achieved, and how failure comes about. Lei Gong replied: Following the classics in receiving my training, all say one should achieve complete success in ten cases out of ten; yet there are times when errors and failures occur — I ask to hear the explanation for this. The Emperor said: Is it that you are young in years and your understanding has not yet reached far enough, or do you speak in a mixed and confused manner? Now, the twelve channels and the three hundred sixty-five connecting vessels are things that people clearly know and that physicians follow and employ. The reason complete success is not achieved is that the spirit is not concentrated, the intent is not well ordered, and outer and inner lose their coordination with each other — hence there are times of doubt and danger. In diagnosis, not knowing the principle of the counterflow and favorable flow of yin and yang — this is the first fault in treatment. Receiving instruction from a teacher without completing it, recklessly practicing a mixture of techniques, mistakenly calling error the true Way, changing names to claim credit for oneself, recklessly using stone-lancing — this leaves lasting fault upon oneself; this is the second fault in treatment. Not attending to whether the patient dwells in poverty or wealth, nobility or lowliness, the thinness or thickness of his seat and dwelling, the coldness or warmth of his physical condition, not attending to what is proper in diet, not distinguishing whether a person is bold or timid, and not knowing how to compare categories — this is enough to throw oneself into confusion, and not enough to make oneself clear; this is the third fault in treatment. In diagnosing disease, not asking about its origin — worry and distress, immoderate eating and drinking, excess in daily activity, or perhaps injury from poison — without first inquiring into these, but abruptly taking hold of the wrist pulse, how could one hit upon the disease? Speaking recklessly and inventing names for the disease, one ends up exhausted by one's own crudeness; this is the fourth fault in treatment. Thus, when people of the age speak of these things, their words race a thousand li beyond the mark; not understanding the discussion of the cun and chi pulse positions, they diagnose without regard to human affairs. As for the Way of the methods of treatment and the treasure of unhurried deliberation, they merely sit and hold the wrist pulse, and their diagnosis fails to match the five pulses. When the hundred diseases arise from this, they at first blame themselves, and then pass the fault on to their teacher. Therefore, when treatment cannot follow proper principle, the art is discarded and held cheap in the marketplace; when reckless treatment occasionally succeeds, the ignorant heart is self-satisfied. Ah, how deep and obscure — who truly knows this Way? The greatness of the Way may be likened to Heaven and Earth, and matched to the Four Seas. You do not understand the Way's instruction, and you turn what is meant to bring clarity into darkness.