Chapter 101: Origin of Illness
Holistic Interpretation
Fire corresponds to the Heart Meridian, relating to heart system diseases, with symptoms such as fever 🔥, dry throat, and dry mouth.
Water pertains to the Kidney System, associated with kidney issues, manifesting as chills 🌊, night sweats, and nocturnal emissions.
Metal for Lungs, Wood for Liver, Earth for Spleen and Stomach—imbalance among the five elements leads to diseases in corresponding organs.
In hexagram symbolism, weakness indicates mild illness, while strength signifies severe illness; moving lines suggest worsening conditions and physical suffering.
- Snake Line Signifies Frightened Heart: A moving Snake line indicates restlessness and palpitations.
- Azure Dragon Indicates Excessive Alcohol or Lust: A moving Azure Dragon line suggests illness caused by overindulgence in drinking or desires.
- Hook Chen Signifies Swelling: A moving Hook Chen line represents edema or bloating.
- Vermilion Bird Induces Rambling Speech: A moving Vermilion Bird line corresponds to incoherent talk and mental confusion.
- White Tiger Brings Injury: A moving White Tiger line signifies physical trauma; women may experience metrorrhagia or fainting due to blood loss.
- Mysterious Warrior Relates to Melancholy: A moving Mysterious Warrior line represents depressive emotions; men may suffer from yin-related syndromes or yin deficiency.
Wild Crane’s Comment: This is the foundational theory of illness divination from The Golden Strategy, but I regard it as a “door-knocker”—a method one must use for ordinary inquiries. For accuracy, one should cast separate hexagrams for auspiciousness and inauspiciousness; relying solely on this hexagram to determine life or death is not credible. Those inquiring about illness seek to know prognosis, cause, and treatment; merely guessing fever or chills is futile. Hence, I have deleted this chapter as it only discusses symptoms without addressing treatment.
My Approach: First, cast a hexagram for auspiciousness—if auspicious, recuperation will lead to recovery; if inauspicious, seek medical help. If the ghost line overcomes the useful god, then cast another hexagram to inquire about ghosts, spirits, or ancestral graves, identifying the offending entity and its resolution. Only then does one fulfill the inquirer’s needs.
Chapter 102: Ghosts and Spirits
Juezi Says: When divining about ghosts and spirits, if the ghost line is dormant, empty, broken, buried, or cut off, it is not caused by ghosts or spirits.
- Ghost Line in Metal, Strong: Martial deity or western god; dormant indicates spirit of death by blade.
- Ghost Line in Wood, Strong: Civil deity or eastern god; weak suggests plant spirit or hanging ghost.
- Ghost Line in Water, Strong: River, sea, or northern god; dormant indicates drowning ghost.
- Ghost Line in Fire, Strong: Fire god, thunder deity, lightning mother, or kitchen god; dormant suggests ghost of fire victim.
- Ghost Line in Earth, Strong: Earth god, mountain, river, or land deity; dormant indicates spirit crushed to death.
Ancient methods used the five elements to name deities (e.g., metal ghost as Guan Gong), but I believe there are many martial deities, and customs vary by region, making exhaustive description impossible. The patient should suspect unfulfilled vows to a temple or defilement, then verify through divination. A strong, moving ghost line confirms the deity’s disturbance. Offer incense, flowers, and paper horses to righteous deities; for evil spirits, use paper money and send them away quietly at night in the specified direction (e.g., metal ghost to the west 🌅).
Wild Crane Adds: Rituals for epidemic diseases can be effective, but illnesses like madness, consumption, qi stagnation, and alcohol or lust-related ailments are unrelated to ghosts and spirits. Moderation in diet, abstention from desires, and nurturing the spirit are fundamental. Having traveled widely, I have seen people impoverished by sacrificing livestock to deities, and harming life to save life only compounds the sin. Scholars believing in evil spirits is truly inexplicable—Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs to save people, yet never advocated killing creatures for healing.
Li Woping Criticizes: Yimao identifies metal ghosts as Guan Gong, while Supplement associates the Azure Dragon with Guan Yu, but what deities existed before Guan Yu? Deities that demand worship for blessings and punish neglect are evil spirits. Righteous deities do not act this way. This book is logical overall, but its chapter on illness discussing ghosts and spirits is unconvincing. However, since people first inquire about ghosts when ill, I reluctantly follow convention. The wise should discern carefully.
🧠 In-Depth Understanding
Core Concepts 💡
- Five Elements Pathology: Traditional Yijing studies attribute illness to five elements imbalance (fire-heart, water-kidney, etc.), diagnosed through hexagram lines.
- Spiritual Interference Theory: Some illnesses stem from offending ghosts or spirits, resolvable through rituals, but distinguishing righteous deities from evil spirits is emphasized.
- Rational Priority: Wild Crane and Juezi critique blind belief in spirits, advocating hexagrams for prognosis combined with medical treatment to avoid superstition.
Modern Interpretation 🌟
- Integration with Scientific Medicine: Five elements symptoms can be seen as ancient observations of physiological systems, but modern science should prioritize diagnosis (e.g., fever from infection, night sweats from endocrine checks).
- Psychological and Environmental Factors: “Mysterious Warrior melancholy” resembles modern depression or anxiety, requiring psychological intervention; “spiritual offense” can be interpreted as environmental stress or subconscious conflict.
- Layered Decision-Making: Hexagram outcomes serve as risk references—auspicious results boost self-healing confidence, inauspicious ones prompt medical action; moving ghost lines suggest reflecting on habits or environmental adjustments (e.g., routine, living hygiene).
Practical Value ⚡
- Health Management Tips:
- Moving line strength/weakness: Analogous to illness urgency—moving lines indicate acute conditions needing prompt care, weak lines suggest chronic issues requiring nurturing.
- Directional banishment: Modern translation involves addressing stress sources (e.g., western metal ghost → check metal objects or western environmental disturbances).
- Avoiding Superstitious Practices: Animal sacrifice is ineffective and unethical; replace with healthy living (e.g., dietary moderation 🔥, emotion management 🌊).
Philosophical Reflection 🤔
- Balancing Human Care and Rationality: Ancient texts reflect the psychological need for supernatural explanations, but Wild Crane’s critique shows early rationalism—emphasizing human agency (self-help over divine plea).
- Cultural Adaptability: Traditional wisdom requires filtering historical limitations (e.g., spirit theories) to extract holistic views (interconnected body-mind-environment) for modern health management.
📚 Related Knowledge
- Related Concepts:
- Five Elements Interaction: Fire overcomes metal → heart affects lungs; water overcomes fire → kidneys affect heart, akin to TCM’s “mutual generation and restraint among organs.”
- Six Line Deities: Azure Dragon (wood), Vermilion Bird (fire), etc., represent energy states, not physical deities.
- Further Reading:
- The Golden Strategy chapter on illness: Compare with original theory to understand Wild Crane’s edits.
- Yijing Kuí Hexagram (ghost line movement): Reference for isolation and harmony in illness divination.
- Modern Research:
- Psychoneuroimmunology: Validates how emotions (e.g., melancholy) affect illness, supporting modern interpretation of “Mysterious Warrior.”
- Folkloristic Perspective: Regional ritual differences (e.g., southern worship of kitchen god 🔥) reflect cultural diversity, requiring localized responses.
