1. The Concept of the Organism as a Whole

By "organic whole" we mean entirety and unity. TCM attaches great importance to the unity of the human body itself and its relationship with nature, and holds that the human body itself is a organic whole and has very close and inseparable relations with the external surroundings. The concept of emphasizing the unity within the body and the unified relations between the body and the outside world is known as that of an organic whole.

2. Diagnosis and Treatment Based on an Overall Analysis of Sighs and Symptoms

By "Bian Zheng" we mean analyzing the relevant information, signs and symptoms collected through the four methods of diagnosis (observation, listening and smelling, inquiring , pulse feeling and palpation) in the light of the theory of TCM, having a good idea of the cause, nature and location of a disease, and the relationship between pathogenic factors and the vital energy, and summarizing them into "Zheng" of a certain nature (syndrome). BY "Shi Zhi" we mean determining the corresponding therapeutic method according to the conclusion of an overall differentiation of symptoms, sighs and others.

In clinical treatment, TCM physicians do not focus their main attention on the similarities and dissimilarities between diseases but on the differences between the syndromes they have. Generally speaking, the same syndromes are treated in similar ways, while different syndromes are treated in different ways. Take cold for example, if it manifests itself in more severe chilliness, slight fever, a tongue with thin and white fur then it belongs to the exterior syndrome cause by wind and clod, and should be treated with strong sudorific drugs pungent in taste and warm in property, to dispel the wind and cold; if its manifestations are more severe fever, milder chilliness, a tongue with thin and yellow fur, then it belongs to the exterior syndrome caused by wind and heat, and should be treated with mild diaphoretic pungent in taste and cool in property, to dispel the wind and heat. This is called " treating the same diseases with different methods". Sometimes, different diseases have same syndromes in nature, so their treatments are basically the same. If clinical analysis and differentiation show that persistent dysentery, prolapse of the rectum, uterus and others belong to the syndrome of " sinking?of the qi " (functional activities of the middle warmer, the middle portion of the body cavity housing the spleen and stomach), then their treating method should be the same one, lifting the qi of the middle warmer. This is called " treating different diseases with the same method ".

In China, quite a number of colleges of medicine and pharmacy and scientific research institutes are undertaking the researches on the essence of "Zheng" (syndrome) in TCM. For example, Chongqing Medical College holds that "Zheng" is the comprehensive manifestation of the disorderly relations, resulting from the pathogen and pathogenic condition between the whole body and its reactive characteristics on one side and its surroundings (including nature and society) on the other, between viscera, bowels, channels and collaterals, between cells themselves and between cells and body fluid; that "Zheng" is a reaction of life substances characterized by time-phase and essentiality in the course of a disease; and that "Zheng" is a whole-finalized pattern of reaction which mainly manifests itself in the clinical functional changes. Other scholars believe, from the point of vague mathematics, that "Zheng" is a vague collectivity made up of such materials as symptoms, signs and characteristics.

-------- Source Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine