Here I would like to present detailed translation of difficulty 21 of NanJing, stated that Pulse is more important then symtom for diagnosis. This difficulty was translated differently by different authors giving opposite meaning of difficult issue:
Here is Paul Unschuld's translation
«The 21st difficult issue:1)The scripture states: If a person's [bodily] form has an illness while the[movement of his] vessels has no illness, that implies life. If the [movement in the] vessels has an illness while the [bodily] form has no illness, that implies death. What does that mean?
2)It is like this. If a person's [bodily] form has an illness while the [movement in his] vessels has no illness, that does not mean that [the movement in his vessels has] no illness: it means that one's breathing frequency does not correspond to the [movement in the vessels(3) That is a pattern of great [importance]!»
Bob Flaws translation
«Difficulty Twenty-one says: The Classic says if a person's body is diseased but their pulse is not diseased, this is called life. If the pulse is diseased but their body is not diseased, this is called death. What does this mean?
Answer: If a person's body is diseased but their pulse is not diseased, that does not [mean] there is no disease. It means that the number of respirations does not correspond to the number of pulses [i.e., the speed of the pulse]. This is a great [or important] »
First of all it looks strangein both translations that somebody ask question to explain classical difficulty and response is to deny explanation. Classics are not a debate: question is a short sentence naming difficulty and answer explains it. In our case somebody asks to explain difficulty and explanation is to contradict it. ??????
So lets check an answer from NanJing, as we know the question:
人形病脈不病，非有不病者也
人形病 /when/ man looks ill (here 形 look or appear is a verb)
脈不病 /and his/ pulse isn't ill
非有不病 as he doesn't have it so he isnt ill
Limiting construction ...非....不... if not...then not, or as not.....then not.. has appeared in early classical wenyang language V. BC, which gives us idea that NanJing was written BC. Compare : as he didn't have treatment he didn't get better.
者 zhe is a morpheme showing that all parts of sentence must obey verb in our case "isn't ". This morpheme also appeared in early classical wenyang which defines time of writing of this semntence
也 Final morpheme
So let me interprete the answer: if patient looks ill but his pulse isn't ill, so according to the pulse he isn't ill, it only explains that his appearance doesn't correspond the pulse and it is great wisdom.
Here is Paul Unschuld's translation
«The 21st difficult issue:1)The scripture states: If a person's [bodily] form has an illness while the[movement of his] vessels has no illness, that implies life. If the [movement in the] vessels has an illness while the [bodily] form has no illness, that implies death. What does that mean?
2)It is like this. If a person's [bodily] form has an illness while the [movement in his] vessels has no illness, that does not mean that [the movement in his vessels has] no illness: it means that one's breathing frequency does not correspond to the [movement in the vessels(3) That is a pattern of great [importance]!»
Bob Flaws translation
«Difficulty Twenty-one says: The Classic says if a person's body is diseased but their pulse is not diseased, this is called life. If the pulse is diseased but their body is not diseased, this is called death. What does this mean?
Answer: If a person's body is diseased but their pulse is not diseased, that does not [mean] there is no disease. It means that the number of respirations does not correspond to the number of pulses [i.e., the speed of the pulse]. This is a great [or important] »
First of all it looks strangein both translations that somebody ask question to explain classical difficulty and response is to deny explanation. Classics are not a debate: question is a short sentence naming difficulty and answer explains it. In our case somebody asks to explain difficulty and explanation is to contradict it. ??????
So lets check an answer from NanJing, as we know the question:
人形病脈不病，非有不病者也
人形病 /when/ man looks ill (here 形 look or appear is a verb)
脈不病 /and his/ pulse isn't ill
非有不病 as he doesn't have it so he isnt ill
Limiting construction ...非....不... if not...then not, or as not.....then not.. has appeared in early classical wenyang language V. BC, which gives us idea that NanJing was written BC. Compare : as he didn't have treatment he didn't get better.
者 zhe is a morpheme showing that all parts of sentence must obey verb in our case "isn't ". This morpheme also appeared in early classical wenyang which defines time of writing of this semntence
也 Final morpheme
So let me interprete the answer: if patient looks ill but his pulse isn't ill, so according to the pulse he isn't ill, it only explains that his appearance doesn't correspond the pulse and it is great wisdom.
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