Having done my full education here in China, I have tried with varying degrees of success to live up to expectations set for domestic students. While my theoretical understanding of the medicine and diagnostic skills are quite strong in relation to my peers, most Chinese students kick my butt when it comes to rote memorization of prescriptions and acupuncture points.
For example, those serious about herbal medical work are expected to memorize all 113 prescriptions from the ShangHanLun and their single-herb compositions. Certainly the emphasis in reading the text is on the prescriptions, with less attention given to extracting implied physiology/pathology and individual herbal properties through comparison of individual pattern diagnoses, a deductive reading process I have learned from Dr. LiXin and others (examples to follow).
As my focus shifts to clinical work though, I can see the importance of having such a readily available knowledge base to work from. I've heard that memorization is a learned skill that can be mastered with the help of a bit of strategy. In any case, it is an area I am going to try and put some work into over the next couple months.
The Power of Place
After a couple weeks spent lounging about the beautiful beaches of SE Asia, I returned to Beijing and some fresh perspective on this place that has become so familiar, but yet never quite home for me. The characteristics of the physical environment, cultural identity, and lifestyle habits of its residents combine to give 'The Big Dumpling', as we affectionately refer to the capital city, its own unique energy dynamic that we all feel the effects of in one way or another.
Weather-wise, Beijing is not likely to be considered for a Club Med location any time soon. While there are 4 distinct seasons, its dry and windy in winter, dusty and prone to sandstorms in Spring, and deathly hot and stuffy come Summer. The brief Fall season is often the best month or two of the year when blue skies prevail and temperatures become more pleasant. Overall, the climate grinds on the body's yin element, often depleting blood and fluids and affecting the spleen/stomach balance of dampness and dryness. The strong presence of both wind and summer dampness also have a definite effect on the liver/gall bladder dynamic as well.
Overall, the earth here feels tired as water-tables become depleted and dust from the Gobi sails into town on high winds out of the dry northwest. It is not a place where Mother Nature lovingly embraces life, but rather one of stark and rugged beauty where resources can be short and the struggle to survive fierce.
The cultural landscape is characterized by the remnants of times long past, memories that live on deep in the identity of the people here. To that has been added the destructive, tumultuous forces of modern history, mass population increase and the breakneck pace of development. The result - as interesting as it is hard to define. It can be both ruthless and unforgiving at times, while somehow maintain a straight-forward naivety and endearing quality that makes it, well, almost charming.
This all culminates and is reflected in the patients I see everyday in clinic. The city dwelling population of China is quickly eating and sedentating themselves into Western pathologies at an alarming pace. Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are all raging their ugly heads faster than medicine, whether modern or traditional, can chop them down. A people constantly on edge, Beijingers have taken high-blood pressure to new levels, with the resulting strokes so common that it has become almost a right of passage among aging men who have smoked the heavy smokes and indulged in the white lightning much of their adult lives. Respiratory infections flare up throughout the winter months among the aged population as a coal haze lingers over the city, making it hard for the sun to fight its way through many days.
And then there are the effects of uninterrupted stimulation on the mind and spirit. Overwhelming anxiety and depression are becoming more and more common along with insomnia and its long term side effects. Aging is not dependent upon the body's ability to conduct the more yang processes of life, but ultimately upon its ability to gather and store at an energetic level - the ability to rest both physically and mentally. The perceived need to be one step ahead of the crowd, to push forward despite competition and adversity, to win one's own piece of the modern miracle is where many people find themselves nowadays, a state not so conducive to maintaining peace of mind.
Weather-wise, Beijing is not likely to be considered for a Club Med location any time soon. While there are 4 distinct seasons, its dry and windy in winter, dusty and prone to sandstorms in Spring, and deathly hot and stuffy come Summer. The brief Fall season is often the best month or two of the year when blue skies prevail and temperatures become more pleasant. Overall, the climate grinds on the body's yin element, often depleting blood and fluids and affecting the spleen/stomach balance of dampness and dryness. The strong presence of both wind and summer dampness also have a definite effect on the liver/gall bladder dynamic as well.
Overall, the earth here feels tired as water-tables become depleted and dust from the Gobi sails into town on high winds out of the dry northwest. It is not a place where Mother Nature lovingly embraces life, but rather one of stark and rugged beauty where resources can be short and the struggle to survive fierce.
The cultural landscape is characterized by the remnants of times long past, memories that live on deep in the identity of the people here. To that has been added the destructive, tumultuous forces of modern history, mass population increase and the breakneck pace of development. The result - as interesting as it is hard to define. It can be both ruthless and unforgiving at times, while somehow maintain a straight-forward naivety and endearing quality that makes it, well, almost charming.
This all culminates and is reflected in the patients I see everyday in clinic. The city dwelling population of China is quickly eating and sedentating themselves into Western pathologies at an alarming pace. Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are all raging their ugly heads faster than medicine, whether modern or traditional, can chop them down. A people constantly on edge, Beijingers have taken high-blood pressure to new levels, with the resulting strokes so common that it has become almost a right of passage among aging men who have smoked the heavy smokes and indulged in the white lightning much of their adult lives. Respiratory infections flare up throughout the winter months among the aged population as a coal haze lingers over the city, making it hard for the sun to fight its way through many days.
And then there are the effects of uninterrupted stimulation on the mind and spirit. Overwhelming anxiety and depression are becoming more and more common along with insomnia and its long term side effects. Aging is not dependent upon the body's ability to conduct the more yang processes of life, but ultimately upon its ability to gather and store at an energetic level - the ability to rest both physically and mentally. The perceived need to be one step ahead of the crowd, to push forward despite competition and adversity, to win one's own piece of the modern miracle is where many people find themselves nowadays, a state not so conducive to maintaining peace of mind.
What Has Been Lost (Pt. 1)
The following post is based on recent lectures I attended at the Kundawell Institue by Professor Xu MingTang, an internationally recognized master of Qigong and energetic healing. Many thanks.
The literature of Ancient China is full of stories where as modern readers, it is difficult to know where to draw the line between historic fact and creative embellishment. Legend surrounding the Warring States Period physician, BianQue (扁鹊）, is one such example. From the Han Dynasty historian SiMaQian (司马迁）, we have The Chronicle of BianQue (扁鹊传） that survives in its original form to this day, some 2,000 years later, where portions of it have become required reading in high school currciulums throughout the country. His name is so inextricably linked to the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in the minds of the Han people that when I mention my interest in the topic, more often than not, "Ah, you mean like BianQue!" is the response I get with raised eyebrows, and a little chuckle.
ZhangZhongJing (张仲景）, author of the ShangHanLun and original old-skool guru of Chinese medicine, placed BianQue sqaurely in the opening lines of his introduction contrasting BianQue's style with that of his Han Dynasty contemporaries, saying: Each time I read over the story of BianQue and the Duke of Qi, I can't help but be overcome by his remarkable diagnostic abilities. At the same time, I find it strange that contemporary scholars of the world today don't apply themselves with all their heart to the study of medicine in order to treat the maladies of lords and princes, not to mention their own families.
The story ZhangJongJing refers to is one that has come down through the ages in SiMaQian's Chronicle that begins with the Duke of the Kingdom of Qi inviting BianQue to be his guest at court. Upon his arrival, BianQue informed the Duke that he has an illness taking hold within the surface level of his body, but the Duke replied simply that he is in perfect health. Five days later, BianQue returned for an audience and told the Lord that the illness has now moved deeper into the blood, but still the Lord did not listen. Upon their third meeting，BianQue stated that the illness has now taken hold in the stomach and colon, still to no avail. Five days later, BianQue returned once again and after taking one look at the Duke, turned heels and ran without a word. When the Duke's messenger came after him he said: At first, the Duke's illness was within the interstitial spaces where herbal reduction and acupressure with warm stones could reach; next, it was in the blood and treatable with acupuncture; at the time of my last visit, his illness was in the stomach and colon where alcohol decoctions can be effective; now, the illness has reached the marrow where not even the power of the Supernatural can reach. There was no point in imploring him to allow me to treat him. Sure enough, five days later, the Duke fell ill and sent for BianQue, who was nowhere to be found. Soon after, the Duke died.
In other pieces of the text, we see BianQue bringing the Prince of Guo back from a deep coma when even the King's own doctors had abandoned hope and left him for dead. In this episode, much to the bewilderment of the palace guards, he insisted the Prince was still alive before even laying eyes on him! We are told that at a young age BianQue was given a special formula and instructions from an old Master before his death that gave him the ability to perceive people's internal organ function, making his diagnostic skills all but infallable.
The overall picture we get of BianQue from his biography is that he was a man of unusual talent, able to directly perceive the pathological disorders of his patients, often in cases where he did not have the opportunity to complete even the most cursory diagnosis! Modern readers of these feats, while holding BianQue in high esteem, consider them no more than tall tales exagerrated through hundreds of years of retelling. But are they？ Often, stories of high antiquity speak through allegory, that while not 100% historically accurate, hide a deep and powerful message beneath the veil of images so extraordinary as to be inconceivable to the rational mind.
Certainly, if there is one thing that these past years spent studying ancient medicine have shown me, it is that not all facets of reality adhere to the principles of the rational mind alone. BianQue, and his order of practitioners, are often referred to as caoyi (草医）, or grassroots doctors. This is in opposition to the yuyi (御医) or imperial physicians of the various courts and schools of the many competing nation states. While the caoyi spent their time learning through practice, often under very harsh conditions among the people and their natural environment, the yuyi lived sequestered at court, attempting to systematize knowledge that had come down to them through books alone. While originally springing from the same source, over time, we see the development of a division in the ranks of medical practitioners - the more experiential and insightful practice of the caoyi, rooted in folk practices and observance of nature, and the rational, more intellectual practice of the yuyi who lived in close contact with the intelligencia and heart of the political power structure.
To be continued...
The literature of Ancient China is full of stories where as modern readers, it is difficult to know where to draw the line between historic fact and creative embellishment. Legend surrounding the Warring States Period physician, BianQue (扁鹊）, is one such example. From the Han Dynasty historian SiMaQian (司马迁）, we have The Chronicle of BianQue (扁鹊传） that survives in its original form to this day, some 2,000 years later, where portions of it have become required reading in high school currciulums throughout the country. His name is so inextricably linked to the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in the minds of the Han people that when I mention my interest in the topic, more often than not, "Ah, you mean like BianQue!" is the response I get with raised eyebrows, and a little chuckle.
ZhangZhongJing (张仲景）, author of the ShangHanLun and original old-skool guru of Chinese medicine, placed BianQue sqaurely in the opening lines of his introduction contrasting BianQue's style with that of his Han Dynasty contemporaries, saying: Each time I read over the story of BianQue and the Duke of Qi, I can't help but be overcome by his remarkable diagnostic abilities. At the same time, I find it strange that contemporary scholars of the world today don't apply themselves with all their heart to the study of medicine in order to treat the maladies of lords and princes, not to mention their own families.
The story ZhangJongJing refers to is one that has come down through the ages in SiMaQian's Chronicle that begins with the Duke of the Kingdom of Qi inviting BianQue to be his guest at court. Upon his arrival, BianQue informed the Duke that he has an illness taking hold within the surface level of his body, but the Duke replied simply that he is in perfect health. Five days later, BianQue returned for an audience and told the Lord that the illness has now moved deeper into the blood, but still the Lord did not listen. Upon their third meeting，BianQue stated that the illness has now taken hold in the stomach and colon, still to no avail. Five days later, BianQue returned once again and after taking one look at the Duke, turned heels and ran without a word. When the Duke's messenger came after him he said: At first, the Duke's illness was within the interstitial spaces where herbal reduction and acupressure with warm stones could reach; next, it was in the blood and treatable with acupuncture; at the time of my last visit, his illness was in the stomach and colon where alcohol decoctions can be effective; now, the illness has reached the marrow where not even the power of the Supernatural can reach. There was no point in imploring him to allow me to treat him. Sure enough, five days later, the Duke fell ill and sent for BianQue, who was nowhere to be found. Soon after, the Duke died.
In other pieces of the text, we see BianQue bringing the Prince of Guo back from a deep coma when even the King's own doctors had abandoned hope and left him for dead. In this episode, much to the bewilderment of the palace guards, he insisted the Prince was still alive before even laying eyes on him! We are told that at a young age BianQue was given a special formula and instructions from an old Master before his death that gave him the ability to perceive people's internal organ function, making his diagnostic skills all but infallable.
The overall picture we get of BianQue from his biography is that he was a man of unusual talent, able to directly perceive the pathological disorders of his patients, often in cases where he did not have the opportunity to complete even the most cursory diagnosis! Modern readers of these feats, while holding BianQue in high esteem, consider them no more than tall tales exagerrated through hundreds of years of retelling. But are they？ Often, stories of high antiquity speak through allegory, that while not 100% historically accurate, hide a deep and powerful message beneath the veil of images so extraordinary as to be inconceivable to the rational mind.
Certainly, if there is one thing that these past years spent studying ancient medicine have shown me, it is that not all facets of reality adhere to the principles of the rational mind alone. BianQue, and his order of practitioners, are often referred to as caoyi (草医）, or grassroots doctors. This is in opposition to the yuyi (御医) or imperial physicians of the various courts and schools of the many competing nation states. While the caoyi spent their time learning through practice, often under very harsh conditions among the people and their natural environment, the yuyi lived sequestered at court, attempting to systematize knowledge that had come down to them through books alone. While originally springing from the same source, over time, we see the development of a division in the ranks of medical practitioners - the more experiential and insightful practice of the caoyi, rooted in folk practices and observance of nature, and the rational, more intellectual practice of the yuyi who lived in close contact with the intelligencia and heart of the political power structure.
To be continued...
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