Yojokun

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If a man is going to become a doctor, he should be a gentleman and not a man of little character. A gentleman doctor practices medicine for the sake of others. His sole purpose is to help people. The doctor of little character practices medicine for his own sake. His commitment is to his own profit and well-being.

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As medicine is the art of aiding the sick and ailing, a doctor should do everything he can to treat a disease, regardless of the patient's status, wealth, or lack of either. If he is asked to visit a sick person's house, he should go quickly, without regard for the real estate value of the residence. And he should not be tardy. A person's life is his most important possession, so one should not treat a patient lightly. This is the task and duty of a doctor.

If his medical practice is currently in vogue, a doctor of little character will believe that he is quite above others and will make light of his patients of low social standing and income. This is a doctor who has lost his original purpose.

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A person with some leisure should set himself to the task - at least a little - of understanding the outline of medical practice. This will allow him to judge whether a doctor is skillful or clumsy, have some concept of the basic medical herbs, and know the healing or deleterious effects of certain foods and medicines.

By reading medical books, he will be able to prepare emergency medications for everyday use. Thus, he may be able to provide emergency treatment while the doctor has not yet arrived, or take care of minor ailments in a village where there is no doctor, or even treat someone or himself while on a journey. In short, he will be able to take care of himself and help others.

If you have no knowledge of medicine, you will not be able to tell a good doctor from a bad one, and you will simply consider a skillful doctor to be one who is popularly employed and those not in demand to be quacks. Note that in the I Shuo it says, "An excellent doctor will not be as successful as one simply popular at the time."

There are numerous examples of people who have been unable to tell the difference between skillful and unskillful practice, have entrusted the lives of their parents and themselves to an average practitioner, and have been given the wrong treatment and have died.

You should consider such things deeply.

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A mediocre doctor dislikes medical study and so avoids it. He reads books written by famous contemporary doctors, memorizes the use of fourteen or fifteen concoctions, but know nothing of the Way of Medicine. Nevertheless, if he becomes familiar with the sick and dying and treats everyday diseases, he will do better than the man who reads medical books but who has had little experience with the ill. This can be likened to ripe barnyard grass tasting better than unripe grain.

A shoddy doctor without adequate medical learning is apt to take the false symptom for true, a chill for a fever. By mistaking one for the other, he brings on numerous disasters in diagnosis not apparent to the untutored eye. There are fevers that resemble chills, and chills that resemble fevers. there are true symptoms that resemble false symptoms , and false symptoms that resemble the true. And there are internal wounds that quite clearly resemble external ailments.

There are many diseases with symptoms that mislead the unprepared doctor. There are also deep-rooted diseases, diseases that are hard to diagnose, and rare diseases with which doctors are not familiar. The treatment of such diseases is extraordinary difficult.

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The ancients said that "The poor die from the lack of a doctor, the foolish die from choosing a mediocre physician." This is pitiful.

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When a medicine is effective, it is either because it was appropriately prescribed or because it hit the mark by chance.

It is an undeniable fact that a mediocre doctor often misses the mark. Thus, you should always use an appropriate medicine prescribed by a good doctor. Never rely on a mediocre doctor.

An appropriate prescription is like the arrow of a skillful archer who always hits the target. An accidentally successful prescription is like the arrow of an untrained archer who sends it up with a prayer and fortuitously strikes the target.

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If a person studying medicine comes to understand that he was not born with the right mentality or talent for such work, he should immediately abandon the field. A man without talent will not understand the Way of Medicine well. He will only make many mistakes and hurt those beloved of Heaven, and this is a grave crime. We should all have a deep respect of the Way of Heaven. There are many other professions from which a man can choose, and he should direct his efforts to one of those fields.

If a student of medicine only trifles with the art, he turns his back on the Way of Medicine and will damage others. Not only that, but he himself will be unhappy. If a man is muddled and does not understand this art, but rather fabricates things, makes a show of whatever talents he has, criticizes some doctors, and is obsequious to others in order to gain their favor, he is to be held in contempt.

In Li Chi it says that "A practice of medicine can be considered good if it has been in a family for three generations." If a doctor's descendants are born with an innate talent for medicine, it is right for the profession to be carried on generation after generation. but such a thing is rare. Regardless of whether the three generation consist of father, son, and grandchild, if there is a teacher followed by a succession of apprentices for three generation, the practice will be well understood. However, though a man may be the son of a doctor, if talent is lacking he should not follow a family profession in inexpert skill.

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Concerning the recitation of poetry, Abbot Shinkei said, "There are people who have read widely in poetry anthologies and have great knowledge of the subject, yet they are poor poets."

The art of medicine is exactly the same. There are doctors who have read many books on medicine and yet are not skillful. This is because they have not really used their minds to pursue the Way of Medicine and have no detailed knowledge of the subject.

Nevertheless, no man can be skillful without reading medical texts. There are many Confucian scholars who have studied broadly and gained great knowledge and yet do not understand the Way. However, there is no one who has understood the Way who has not studied extensively.