Chapter 25 A pilgrimage to a teacher for three years of hardship, a lifetime of fatherhood and old age

The poem says:

Three years of apprenticeship and hard work, five years of medical study without apprenticeship,

Taste all the herbs to test the efficacy, and accompany the master to guard the doctor's house.

It is said that the eldest son, Li Deren, followed the divine doctor Li Ming to study medicine. Li Deren studied hard, and Li Ming was a conscientious apprentice. Because Li Deren has read the Yellow Emperor's internal scriptures in his private school, it can be said that he has memorized them backwards, and the medical theory has laid a solid foundation. So here in Li Ming, the main thing is to learn some practical medical techniques. Li Deren, in addition to following Li Ming every day to practice medicine, also has to follow him out to collect medicine.

In the feudal society of more than 1,000 years, the relationship between master and apprentice is the same as the relationship between father and son. In that closed era, the apprentices were taught and the masters starved to death, and such examples abound. The craftsmanship, experience, skills, and connections in the master's hands are all the capital of his life. Therefore, they do not accept apprentices easily, even if they accept apprentices, they will not easily teach skills. They will test their apprentices in a variety of ways.

The first thing that tests the apprentice is his character. Whether this apprentice has good moral integrity, whether he has filial piety to his master, and whether he is in awe of his ancestor can only be reflected by observing his words and deeds. As the saying goes, it is difficult to draw a tiger with skin and bones, and you don't know your heart when you know people. To get to know someone, you often have to pay the price of blood. Therefore, these masters are very careful, and once they find out that their apprentices are not very sincere to them, or that they are flawed in their behavior, they will never teach them. Li Deren, Li Ming grew up watching him since he was a child, and he knows his roots, and the test at this level is gone.

However, young apprentices, especially those who are in their infancy, because they are still growing, and people's morality, character, and habits of dealing with people are still changing, so the masters must carefully observe their words and deeds, give correct guidance, and train them to become a responsible man, which is a more important responsibility of being a master under the premise of teaching technology and craftsmanship.

According to the rules, for the first three years after joining the master, the apprentice must live with the master, which is conducive to the master's observation, education and guidance. During these three years, the apprentice had to take care of the master's daily life and diet. Li Deren also lived in Li Ming's house, from getting up in the morning to pouring the urinal for the master, to the big and small things in the master's house, everything that could be done had to be done. Every morning, I get up earlier than the master, clean the courtyard, help the master cook, and watch the children. After the master got up, he prepared the washing water, made the tea, prepared the dishes and chopsticks for breakfast, and put out the tools that the master was usually used to one by one.

After breakfast, the master drank tea there, and the apprentice had to help the master wash the dishes and chopsticks at home, tidy up the room, and even put the shoes that the master was going to wear in front of the master. Be quick with your hands and feet, and do all these things well before the master goes out. When the master goes out, the apprentice must be tightly surrounded behind.

When he returns home at night, the apprentice will follow the master and walk to the door of the house to open the door for the master. When I walked to the door of the house, I had to quickly lift the curtain for the master. After the master sits down, he should find a pair of loose portable clothes for the master to change into. Then make a pot of tea, squat in front of the master, and ask the master to drink tea. Then he hurried to the kitchen, helped Shi Niang clean up dinner, chopped wood, dived into the water and burned the fire, and everything had to be done thoroughly. Then set the table, set the chairs, and set the dishes and chopsticks. After dinner starts, I have to help the teacher take care of the children and coax the children. After the master and lady finished eating, they quickly copied the table out and washed the dishes and chopsticks. Eat some leftover soup and rice in the kitchen, wait next to the master, and pour tea and water. The master spoke, and then went back to his room to sleep.

And so on and so forth, and it has to be held on for three years. Do more work and talk less. To form a necessary tacit understanding with the master, to ponder what the master thinks in his heart, to sit in front of the master's instructions, to have eyesight, to work quickly. Li Deren, like other little apprentices, served Li Ming for three years. The other apprentices only did miscellaneous work during these three years, and did not learn the craft. Li Deren is different from them in this regard, he is both a handyman and a craft.

In the past three years, Li Deren went to the clinic with his master, followed him to the mountain to collect medicines, and accompanied the master to develop Chinese herbal medicines, boil plasters, and configure pills in the clinic. Never leave the master's left and right. What touched him the most was that in addition to teaching him to take the pulse and see a doctor, Li Ming carefully taught him acupuncture and moxibustion, and let him try the needle on himself. For the master's painstaking efforts, Li Deren first practiced repeatedly on his own body every time he had to master the acupuncture techniques of an acupuncture point, and when the master asked him to try the needle on his body, he could produce the needle quickly, the needle was accurate, and the needle was just right, which was very appreciated by Li Ming.

In the past three years, Li Ming has given him the most kung fu of Chinese herbal medicine. The first is to look at the state of the Chinese herbal medicine before it is harvested, identify it, grasp the key points that distinguish it from other similar Chinese herbal medicines, and record in detail the growth environment of each Chinese herbal medicine, when it germinates, when it blooms, when it bears fruit, and which part is medicinal. Second, it is necessary to look at the state of stepping on fresh herbs, especially to remember the state of the root system. Is it fibrous or straight, tuber, or tuber? This determines the direction, depth and strength of the shovel when collecting the medicine. Thirdly, we should look at the state of Chinese herbal medicine after drying, not only to know the fresh medicinal plants, but also to understand the posture, shape, and color of Chinese medicine after treatment.

Li Ming taught Li Deren very carefully. Precisely:

The key to studying medicine is traditional Chinese medicine, and the skills of three looks are very important.

Recognize the flowers, recognize the fruits, recognize the roots and seedlings, and use the medicine to be ingenious.

What other techniques did Li Ming teach Li Deren? What other tricks did he have in the preparation of traditional Chinese medicine? Did he tell Li Deren? Please listen to the next breakdown.