  His point is that, although the neijing is an exposition of medicine: “it necessarily begins with philosophy and takes philosophy as the study of how to safeguard one’s person. People must first be able themselves to protect their own persons; only then can they represent to others how to protect their persons. Taking philosophy as the way to protect one’s person, it is by means of the principles of philosophy that we are able to preserve our bodies by transforming our qi. Taking medicine is the way to protect other people’s bodies, it is by first completely understanding the transformation of qi in one’s own person that [the physician] is able to represent to others how to adjust the transformation of qi in their own bodies.” He concludes: “from this we understand that philosophy is the true source of medicine, or rather that medicine is the natural outcome of philosophy. This is why the Neijing states explicitly that the study of medicine must start from philosophy.” How, he concludes, could philosophy obstruct medicine? (Zhang Xichun 1918–1934, 296–98).