Three causes

Also three categories of cause. External, internal, and neutral causes of disease. The term three causes was coined by Chén Wú-Zé in his A Unified Treatise on Diseases, Patterns, and Remedies According to the Three Causes (三因极一病症方论 sān yīn jí yī bìng zhèng fāng lùn) published in CE 1174. External factors are the six excesses. Internal causes are the seven affects. Neutral causes (or causes neither internal nor external) include eating too much or too little, taxation fatigue, knocks and falls, crushing, drowning, and animal, insect, and reptile injuries. See cause of disease.