My Medical Philosophy: The TCM Large-Formula Multi-Target Special Therapy Is an Open-Source Medical Idea

If readers have followed this book from the preface, you should by now understand that the TCM large-formula multi-target special therapy I advocate is essentially a philosophy of treating disease. It is not a fixed, ready-made formula but a compositional approach that can be continuously refined in line with that philosophy.

My own current focus is on continually refining the empirical formulas I have worked out over the years and trying to build new regimens for diseases I have not previously handled much. At the same time, I keep learning new medical knowledge to further refine this theoretical system.

Not only is the system itself open; I myself am willing, in an open spirit, to make all my research available to colleagues. Throughout my life I will not actively publish papers or pursue titles; I only want to be a grassroots doctor. I may not publish a monograph in my lifetime, or at least not within the next ten years.

Because I personally feel that when medical research is built on the utilitarian pursuit of titles and honors, it loses much of its joy and becomes wearying work. Designing a possibly effective treatment strategy to solve previously unsolvable disease problems is itself thrilling. When one is immersed in that joy, there is no time or energy for anything else.

The physicist I admire, Richard Feynman, wrote a book called The Pleasure of Finding Things Out; the title is wonderful. There are people in this world who, like Feynman, deeply enjoy the pleasure of thinking itself, and I am one of them. As everyone knows, once a hobby becomes overly professionalized, it stops being so much fun.

I used to be half a programmer. "Half" because I learned to write and modify code and also studied online marketing, running a cross-border e-commerce business for years with those skills—but I never formally worked as a programmer. I encountered many open-source programs and communities and experienced firsthand how open source drives technological progress.

I even hope that one day a senior programmer interested in medicine will build an open-source community centered on large-formula multi-target thinking, so that interested people can develop it together as an open-source project, building and sharing. That would be of great significance for medical progress.

This summer, at home with the help of AI, I learned some new open-source technologies and rebuilt my personal website with these improved tools, solving the system crashes caused by excessive traffic. With AI translation, I also rebuilt my multilingual site using a new static-site generator. In the process I experienced firsthand how technological progress brings us more convenience.

I have also begun to imagine, when time allows, aggregating AI, human doctors, patients, and serious medical enthusiasts within a single open-source medical project, so that exchange and interaction can jointly advance medicine and benefit more patients.

I believe someone will do this sooner or later. As technology develops, the way humanity studies medicine is bound to change dramatically. When such a project appears is only a matter of time.

I love living among green hills and clear waters. After I graduate, I may find a mountain-village clinic in Mentougou, Beijing, practicing there for the people of the surrounding villages and for patients who come from elsewhere for treatment.

At the same time I would rent a small courtyard and a small plot from the villagers, grow my own fruit and vegetables, keep a few chickens and ducks, and plant roses and greenery around the house. Practicing medicine while living my favorite life of farming and study.

There, trees shade the way and the sky is blue and water clear. In spring, tadpoles swarm black as ink in the mountain streams. The hills roll on, endless forests stretching to the horizon. At night the stars fill the sky and insects chirp.

I can keep reading and writing there, communicating online with medical colleagues around the world who share my language. My family supports me and is willing to live that way with me.

A true large-formula multi-target therapy is a vast system that cannot be built by one person. But I can divide it into small pieces, accumulating a little each day. Now nearing fifty, I am no longer in a hurry for results.

My father's side of the family has longevity genes; perhaps I will live past eighty, giving me another thirty years to research in this direction. A small daily contribution over thirty years amounts to a great deal.

The ocean of medicine is vast enough for countless people to swim in for a lifetime. I hope to add a brick or tile to the edifice of medicine, helping it move toward greater efficacy, safety, and economy—guarding the health of patients everywhere, and of myself and my loved ones.

I must also emphasize: although I focus on large-formula multi-target thinking, I do not believe it is necessarily the optimal choice for every patient. In fact, some patients I treated unsuccessfully with this approach were later cured—by me or by other doctors—using other strategies.

The large-formula multi-target approach is merely one possible, worth-trying option for refractory disease, by no means the only way out.

Medicine is a discipline without end. A physician should remain humble, refine the craft, and strive for perfection throughout life, not let narrow personal views become prejudices that block the view like a leaf before the eye.