volves a moral determination of goodness versus evil, or between health and
disease. Therefore, all medical decisions are ultimately moral decisions. The
physician decides if the situation is worthy or unworthy of restoration. He
might decide to not act and allow natural forces to bring the situation to its
conclusion. Alternatively, he might decide to actively promote a conclusion
of the abnormal state, thereby promoting the creation of a new state.
Thus, action (you wei[11]) and nonaction (wu wei[12]) are the basic
tools of the physician. Action has two types of applications: enhancement
(bu[13]) and depletion (xie[14]). If an organ system is weak, it can be en-
hanced by various means. If an organ system is too strong, and its strength
Medicine, Traditional Chinese 329Preparation of
traditional herbal
medicine. A man in
a Hong Kong
apothecary uses a
large chopper to slice
up root herbs, ca.- The bottles on
the shelves behind
him contain the herbs
in powdered form.
(Hulton Archive)