The Jingyue Treatment "deficiency" Heart

With the help of plenty of documents this essay is to explore the authentic meaning of Zhang Jingyue's "treating principles for deficient syndromes" of which thetheoretical source, contents as well as clinical use are discussed in the text. Zhang Jingyue's "treating principles for deficient syndromes" could be summarized as three equal importance and six emphasis, of which the former refers to the equal importance of Kidney and Spleen, Yin and Yang, Physique and Qi; the later pertains to the emphasis on the Yin-Yang interdependence relationship of the herbal compatibility in the compound formulas, namely, to treat Yang in Yin and vise versa; the emphasis on the application of herbs with warming functions---especially of Fuzi, Rougui; emphasis on the use of herbs with tonifying Blood and essence, especially of Shudi; emphasis on the priority of Vital Qi reinforcement over dispelling the pathogenic factors when confronting deficient-excess overlapping cases; emphasis on the importance of Vital Qi replenishment other than dispelling excess evils when treating deficient syndromes; emphasis on the importance of following the pathogenesis but not blindly when treating patients. Based on the inheritance of the ancestors and the summary of his own clinical experience, he put forward this famous "treating principles for deficient syndromes" which had cured the bad habit of cold herb abuse at that time leading to despair of Yang Qi, disputed the unilateral idea of "no reinforcement exits in cold-induced febrile disease(Shanghanlun)", formulated the dialectic relationships between tonifying Kidey and tonifying Spleen, casting new light on regulating Yin and Yang relations. Therefore this principle is of great historical and realistic importance and it could be used as a guideline for us to treat the deficient syndromes in the clinical practice.