Traditional Chinese medicine "imitates nature". First of all, let's take a look at what the Neijing, which is the foundation of the classics and theories of Chinese medicine, says:
"Yin and Yang, the way of heaven and earth, the outline of all things, the parents of change, the origin of life and death, the house of the gods, the cure must be sought in the root." The Neijing begins with a clear proposal that Chinese medicine must be based on yin and yang, because yin and yang are the way of heaven and earth, and the laws and laws that exist in the entire natural world, and diseases are no exception. Seeking answers in the changes of yin and yang is the general principle and the most fundamental embodiment of Chinese medicine to imitate nature.
The so-called "Neijing" "carries heaven and earth, grasps yin and yang"; "Law Heaven and Earth"; "Those who know it, the law is in yin and yang, and in the number of techniques, eating and drinking sparingly, living regularly, and not working in vain"; "The response of spring, the way of health", "the response of summer, the way of growth", "the response of autumn, the way of adoption", "the response of winter, the way of nourishment"; "Therefore, the sage nourishes the yang in spring and summer, and the yin in autumn and winter, so that from its roots, so that all things sink and float in the gate of growth", and so on, are these not imitations of nature?
The Neijing contains heaven and earth, upper and lower, yin and yang, qi and blood, left and right, water and fire, etc., to discuss human physiology and pathology, and to guide the diagnosis and treatment of diseases accordingly. It has integrated any "hidden" of the human body (such as the liver) into the whole natural world and has become a part of it. Therefore it says, "Therefore, if you do not use the law of heaven and the law of the earth, you will be in trouble!" "I don't know what the years have added, the rise and fall of the qi, and the rise of the virtual and the real, you can't do it!" He also said: "Those who have the four seasons of yin and yang are the beginning of the end of all things, the origin of death and life, and the reverse is the birth of disasters, and from then on, they cannot afford to be ill, which is said to be the Tao." The Taoist, the saint walks, and the fool reverses it. This "Tao" of "attaining the Tao" is the law and law of nature, which the "Neijing" advocates that we should follow and imitate. Sun Simiao also said that "too fearful of the Tao", which is also the meaning. Only by revering it will you imitate it and imitate it.
From the original text quoted above, it can be seen that the so-called "grasp, law, law, follow, and action" in the "Neijing" all contain the meaning of effective imitation and imitation; What it opposes is "lawlessness", "not use", "ignorance", "rebellion", "betrayal", etc., and points out its harm, that is, the calamity brought about by not imitating nature.
In a word, the entire Neijing runs through the idea that Chinese medicine must take nature as a teacher, imitate nature to maintain health and diagnose and treat diseases.
Secondly, we can clearly see this from the history of Chinese medicine and its specific contents, such as its principles, laws, prescriptions, and medicines.
Nature is magical and weird, infinitely powerful, and its myriad postures and changes all give people rich associations and even inspiration. A lot of TCM knowledge was gradually explored and summarized by the ancients through long-term observation of nature and social life, and many of them were the crystallization of learning from and imitating nature in practice.
"The moon is faint and windy, and the foundation is moist and rainy". There are always signs of change. The ancients knew that there must be all the inside and outside, and the inside and outside should correspond, so they said: "If the disease occurs in the five Tibets, the five colors will respond, the five sounds will change, the five flavors will be biased, and the twelve veins will move." Thus he created the Four Diagnoses (Looking, Smelling, Asking, and Cutting), which is a simple and effective method for diagnosing diseases. The ancients also observed that "oranges cross the river and become citrus, and wheat becomes moths when they get wet...... Paint is for people, there are those who are wet all day long and harmless, and those who touch it are sore." Therefore, TCM treatment should also be based on people, time and conditions, and cannot be fixed or generalized. There are also the names of the so-called "Wei Qi" and "Ying Qi" in traditional Chinese medicine, which are based on their lines outside the pulse to protect the body surface; One line is in the veins, turning blood into the four ends and hiding the intestines.
Li Shizhen described his "Compendium of Materia Medica" as "although it is a medical book, it is a practical physics". That is, this book contains many natural phenomena and their truths. Medicine is physics, or inspired by physics. The ancients felt that "the hub of the household is not beetle, and the flowing water is not rotten", so Hua Tuo created the play of five birds to maintain health and spread it to future generations.
The natural world is colorful and all-encompassing, and of course includes all aspects of social life. Therefore, Xu Lingti put forward the famous "medicine is like using soldiers", such as saying that "if a disease is divided and conquered, then the few can win the crowd, so that the front and rear do not save each other, and the momentum will decline...... If the sick side advances, it will not be treated too much, and the vitality will be maintained, so the old teacher "(that is, avoid its edge and fight a protracted war) and so on. In addition, there are also the method of increasing water and boating, the method of drawing wages from the bottom of the kettle, and the method of nourishing water and culverts, etc., are not they also learned from observing natural phenomena?
The "Neijing" compares the twelve Tibets of the human body to the so-called "officials of the monarch, the officials of the prime ministers, the officials of the generals, the officials of the Zhongzheng, and the officials of the canglia", etc., and especially emphasizes the role of the "heart", saying that "the lord is clear and peaceful, and this is the longevity of health...... If the master is unknown, the twelve officials are in danger", is this considered to imitate nature? And its prescription is called "the main disease is the king, the king is the minister, and the minister is the minister", is this to imitate nature? "And the Tao knows astronomy, geography, and personnel, and can last for a long time", can such a "Tao" be to imitate nature? The ancients observed that everything in the world rises and falls, and everything goes in and out, so they summed up that "if you go in and out, the magic will be destroyed, and if you rise and fall, you will be lonely", how incisive this is!
Traditional Chinese medicine is very particular about "studying heaven and man". "Heaven" is nature, and all activities of Chinese medicine, including health preservation and diagnosis and treatment of diseases, must be examined to see if they are in line with the "Heavenly Discipline". To conform to nature is to imitate nature. Only by using the law is natural, can you conform to it and get well-being.
Nature contains endless mysteries, and Chinese medicine has become wise and wise in learning from nature. That's why I say that nature is a great teacher of Chinese medicine.