Mr. Kiao spoke to Ki Liang: "The hot and the cold are in no harmony with your body. The cause for your disease is the lack of balance and measure between need and saturation, pleasure and wish, passion and thinking, fun and boredom. Neither heaven nor evil spirits are to blame in your case. Even if this patient's condition is serious, we shall try hard to restore his health" (2)

Ki Liang replied: "That's an ordinary doctor - have him thrown away".

In his turn, Mr. Yu said: "Since your very birth, you have been lacking in force. You had too much milk as an infant. Yours is no recent ailment; its causes have developed gradually ever since. There is no cure to that".

Ki Liang replied: "That is a worthy doctor indeed!", and seated him at his table.

Mr. Lou also spoke: "The cause for your disease lies not in heaven, in men or in spirits. It took shape the moment you became alive. Even the one who rules over his own life could not get rid of it. So what's the use of trying herbs and all sorts of powders?"

Ki Liang replied: "That is a wonderful doctor", and overwhelmed him with gifts.

Ki Liang suddenly recovered as of himself.

Yang-tzu's explanations help us understand the meaning of this tale:

One must not over-estimate one's life, as it cannot be preserved thus; one doesn't treat himself better if he loves himself. And spite for life does not lead to untimely death either and indifference to one's health does not make it feeble. All these may contradict common sense but that's how things are, in fact.

And here is the conclusion:

Everything comes of itself (3) ; life emerges of itself and so do death, plenty and meagerness.

One might also look after one's life and keep it. One might despise it and lose it. One might love it and live it at its full.

It might sometimes happen that one considers life is not worth a dime and one lives a scanty life. All these may seem self-evident but it is not so. Life and death, plenty and scarcity arise naturally. (4)

***

Let's sum up: a disease comes of itself and so does recovery from it. Nothing on man's power (knowledge) unless Heaven has placed it in man's power. Our effort to stay fit and healthy, to live as long as possible in an impaired health condition rarely succeeds.

This concept belongs to the ancient Taoist thinking and it is highly intriguing for two reasons:

• Because we believe in the power of human's knowledge including the medicine;
   
• Because we give much credit to the widely spread opinion maintaining that Chinese traditional medicine (acupuncture, Yin-Yang medicine, and so forth) works miracles.

But according to the Taoist view, the disease is born at the same time with the individual; it is of the same substance with human condition and is not determined by an agent or cause to eliminate. Disease is something given that we share with all creation as "it took shape the moment we became alive".

For our mentality the disease is surely an evil stranger that must be driven away by any means.

With one exception: Sigmund Freud, who stated that disease and suffering play the role of psychic balance regulators - but his opinions has nowadays but a few followers.

Finally, to understand disease as an expression of the living is undoubtedly too great an effort for modern man.

Notes:
1. In other words, when one has no support from Heaven, one can do nothing against one's fate.

2. This doctor illustrates medical practice based on the balancing of Yin-Yang energy.

3. That is, naturally, without a logical cause.