He Loves to Pay for Being Beaten Up

A Chinese man, between 30-35 years old, came in with a question: “Can the doctor beat me up?” Everybody laughed. But he continued, “I am serious, I would like to pay!” I said, “Your request is not funny!” He said, “Oh, but I am very serious!” I said, “Because you have this wish, it means your body is telling you to do so.” He responded, “I don’t dare tell this to other people because I don’t want people to think I am crazy.” I said, “There is no need to feel strange!” He looked at me seriously and with curiosity then asked, “Can you tell me how come?” I said, “Before I tell you, I want to explain something. If I really want to have a piece of candy, it should be due to the fact my body needs some sugar, right? In the TCM medical books we have one term which means “likes-to-be-pressed” which describes your situation, although the books have never said “likes to be beaten up!” He seemed to accept my explanation, but still harbored some doubt.

I said, “Listen carefully, please help me ship a document to another state.” He asked, “How come?” I said, “I don’t want you to do anything, but I have a question for you, shipping must mean shipping out by ship?” He said: “No.” I said, “Can something be shipped by railway or even air mail?” He nodded his head. I said, “That’s it.” He continued, “ I want the medical explanation for my desire, not your story!” I said, “I already told you.” He said, “I seem to understand, but I feel I am in a land of five-miles fog. I said, “Likes-to-be-pressed means deficiency.” I began to beat him up as though I were hitting the drum in lion dancing.

After the ‘beating’ he felt better, but he still asked questions. He wanted more medical explanations in order to comfort himself. I told him, “’Likes-to-be-pressed’ means there is a deficiency in your body; “refusing-to-be-pressed” means there is an excess in your body.” He seemed to understand but requested me to give him a sample case. I said, “A patient came in with a stomach ache and told me they had gone for a medical examination and had received a negative finding. I took the pulse for him; it was weak, and the tongue had a white coating. I pressed his abdomen for a minute, and asked, “How do you feel? Are you feeling better or worse?” He answered that he felt better. I told my patient that his stomach was weak and cold.” After listening to this example, the man felt satisfied and left.