What is missing in traditional Chinese medicine
Why do traditional Chinese medicine practitioners often feel that the current traditional Chinese medicine has changed? Something seems to be missing here.
What exactly is missing from traditional Chinese medicine? The answer is: "Yuanshen"!
What is "Yuan Shen"?
Yuanshen is the most basic existence of human beings. It is innate and is the god who dominates the life activities of the human body. It is the internal mechanism and law of self-existence of life activities. It can be regarded as the spiritual imprint of certain important basic attributes acquired by human beings over generations in the process of adapting to nature, adapting to society, and adjusting to their own evolution. It is the deepest part of the God of the human body. If human spiritual activity is like an island, then the soul is like the seabed under the deep sea.
From this, we might as well think about it:
Is the medical knowledge that is commonly exposed today the entirety of Chinese medicine?
How much of the most basic and original spiritual imprint of traditional Chinese medicine - the "seabed under the deep sea" under medical knowledge is still imprinted on the hearts of today's medical practitioners and practitioners?
All of these actually come down to the "Yuan Shen" of Chinese medicine!
But where is the "spirit" of traditional Chinese medicine?
In Chinese culture! In the way of thinking that Chinese medicine practitioners should have!
Traditional Chinese medicine is originally cultural medicine, but as we can see, while modern education introduces Western science, it also intentionally or unintentionally adopts a "floating" attitude towards traditional Chinese mainstream culture. The reason why people today are more likely to identify with the principles of Western medicine is because the mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other subjects in our education have fully prepared us in terms of knowledge and adapted our thinking methods for accepting Western medicine. But does Chinese medicine have such cultural foundation? Just think, if so, so what? Are terms like yang deficiency, qi deficiency, blood stasis, and dampness resistance really more difficult to understand than "blood syndrome" and "pheochromocytoma"?
Doesn’t our ancient civilized country have its own culture and civilization to teach? How many times have we come into contact with the spiritual pillars of Chinese civilization such as "The Book of Changes", "Tao Te Ching", "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and "The Analects of Confucius"? Discussions of "essence" and "dregs" have been heard from time to time, but when it comes to derogation, there is more praise and sometimes less praise. As a result, etiquette, wisdom, benevolence, righteousness, and trust are ignored. The heavenly stems and earthly branches are not understood, and the universe and heaven and earth are unknown. Basic knowledge of ancient Chinese culture Almost zero. If Chinese culture is our mother culture, then we might as well ask ourselves, apart from understanding Chinese, do we really think in terms of our mother culture?
Traditional Chinese medicine is often criticized in modern times, that is, "modern people cannot understand it." This has become one of the reasons why traditional Chinese medicine needs to be reformed. Is this a fault of traditional Chinese medicine or education? Do you need to find out before you blame?
In such a cultural environment that lacks Chinese culture, traditional Chinese medicine has almost lost the cultural soil on which it depends. As an organic part of the country’s culture, traditional Chinese medicine actually creates a sense of cultural alienation when studying. , it’s really confusing. Learning and using Chinese medicine without any knowledge of ancient Chinese culture is like water without a source or a tree without roots. No matter how hard you try, you can only gain its form but lose its spirit.
Today's understanding of "knowledge" is often limited to the category of "knowledge". This is really a Western-style understanding. The original meaning of "zhi" should be "intelligence", which includes wisdom and knowledge, that is, both Tao and reason. The key point of difference between Chinese medicine and Western medicine is that Western medicine essentially does not have the desire to seek Tao, so it is a medicine that analyzes reason; Chinese medicine uses reason to prove Tao, uses Tao to unify reason, and combines reason with reason. The orientations and categories involved in "knowledge" between Chinese and Western medicine are not exactly the same. Therefore, there is no harm in learning from Western thinking or technology. Stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade, but it is really unnecessary to worship them without considering whether they are consistent with the traditional Chinese medicine system! It would be even more unwise to use this to completely replace Eastern thinking. Because Chinese medicine is not purely a study of knowledge, it is closer to a study of wisdom.
Traditional Chinese medicine cannot be covered by "medicine", "medical skills" or "medical technology". These are only the parts of knowledge that have surfaced. The greater image of traditional Chinese medicine lies in its "medical way", which is " "The seabed under the deep sea." If Chinese medicine seeks further development, it is necessary to reconnect with the seabed.
Why is the development of traditional Chinese medicine faltering?
What path has the development of traditional Chinese medicine taken in recent years? Why are you walking so unsteadily? Really need to reflect! Looking back at the development path of traditional Chinese medicine in recent years, many of them only pursue the "principles" that lead to small knowledge, while ignoring the "Tao" that is full of spiritual energy and leads to great knowledge. Formatting the living Tao of Heaven and Man into a pure knowledge system or techniques for skilled operation, although there are gains from time to time, it cannot be said that nothing is lost. Without a thorough understanding of the connotation of traditional Chinese medicine, it has gradually become a fashion in the industry to judge the profound based on the superficial, review the past based on the present, apply external models, ignore symptoms and treat diseases, and observe people based on objects. Everyone understands the principle of stones from other mountains, but the choice of this stone is more important than whether the research on traditional Chinese medicine is consistent and unbiased.
Please note that "research on Chinese medicine" and "research on Chinese medicine" are not synonymous. Appropriate "research on Chinese medicine" in the style of "researching Chinese medicine" has certain implications for the development of human medicine or Chinese medicine. However, this type of research is currently compared with "research on Chinese medicine" that naturally arises from the endogenous nature of the discipline itself. We should also be aware of the differences in consistency and practicality.
In modern times, with the tremendous progress of science, people's horizons have been broadened, and they are increasingly aware of the richness and complexity of the world.
Facing the complex and ever-changing world, people have gradually calmed down from their initial surprise at the dazzling success of the reductionist approach and are constantly reflecting on it. It has gradually become common knowledge that linear, simple, segmented and static thinking cannot fully solve complex system problems. Complexity science is therefore emerging to make up for the shortcomings of reduction science in dealing with complex systems. Looking back at Chinese medicine, from a reductionist perspective, Chinese medicine does have many "problems". However, from the perspective of Chinese medicine research or complexity science, these so-called "problems" are not necessarily big problems, or even necessarily serious. Most of the problems are just misunderstandings and misunderstandings due to differences in vision, perspective, cultural expressions or cognitive habits. Since reductionist thinking cannot fully understand all levels of the complex world, the irrationality of using it as a criterion for judging whether each discipline or way of thinking is scientific is obvious.
Since the last century, the discussion on the issue of scientific delimitation in the West has generally gone through stages such as the monistic standard of logicism - the relative standard of historicism - the dissolution of scientific demarcation - and the pluralistic standard, showing that scientific delimitation Standards tend to move from clarity to fuzzyness, from monism to plurality. What does this mean? At least it shows that it is difficult to find universal and absolute standards for scientific demarcation! Why? Because the development of science is historical and dynamic, various forms present each other, and its connotation and extension are constantly evolving. Therefore, the standard for scientific demarcation should be historical, dynamic, relative, and pluralistic. If we look at TCM from a historical and diverse perspective, TCM is naturally another form of science besides modern mainstream science, a complex science that connects the past with the present.
But what standards do we use today to judge whether traditional Chinese medicine is scientific? It is basically the earliest, most demanding, and most criticized logicist unidimensional standard that idealizes science! People who are accustomed to inertial thinking have received basic science education in subjects represented by physics and chemistry. They subconsciously regard physics and chemistry as the only forms of science. Therefore, they also believe that science has the only demarcation standard. . In other words, the traditional Chinese medicine community may have been following a hazy path in a trance under the consciousness of conformity, or in order to prove its "science", it may have taken a high-altitude approach and picked up a most recent one that is not completely consistent with its own system or scientific form. Stringent standards to create a cocoon. This is deplorable! In order to adapt to this absolute standard of one yuan, the road to development that could have been multi-directional has been closed off to almost only one road in Huashan.
Today, some "missing the middle way" operations have led to a certain degree of superficialization and alienation of the theory of Chinese medicine itself. This distorted superficiality and alienation has also led to a certain degree of weakening and westernization of the clinical practice of Chinese medicine. Although the body of Chinese medicine is functioning, the soul has gradually been lost. Many knowledgeable people have pointed out that the current Chinese medicine is "brilliant on the surface but shrunken on the inside." Deng Tietao, a master of traditional Chinese medicine, calls this phenomenon "bubble Chinese medicine" because "underneath the colorful appearance, the connotation of Chinese medicine is no longer there." It can be said to hit the nail on the head.
We often hear: Traditional Chinese medicine is an important manifestation or representative of the soft power of Chinese culture. But if the cultural content and connotation of traditional Chinese medicine are constantly decreasing or being reduced, what else can it represent?
The emergence of the "academic mind" in modern Chinese medicine, which has been in confusion for hundreds of years, is actually caused by the cutting off of local culture and the indiscriminate and excessive worship of foreign cultures.
How to find the "primordial spirit" of Chinese medicine
In view of the current situation that the "academic soul" of Chinese medicine has no owner, therefore, if Chinese medicine is to be revived, Chinese medicine practitioners must truly grasp the essence of Chinese medicine. The lost spirit of Chinese medicine must be found!
How to find it? Where to find it?
Over the years, the author has often used concepts or principles in the categories of Yi, Dao, Xiang, Numbers, Time, and Harmony to explain medicine to different subjects at home and abroad, and has also penetrated into Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Bing, Wu, etc. It is supplemented by knowledge in fields or subjects such as art, meteorology, calendar, astronomy, geography, etc. It is much easier to teach than just relying on textbooks, and the learners are also very satisfied. Their understanding is: both pictures and texts can be used to make things clear. Although the truth is deep, it can be explained in a simple way. The Tao seems far away but is actually close. The most complicated can be summed up in the most simple way. Every example is attached to explain the truth, and the truth can be understood clearly. Obviously, most of what is explained and published are based on ancient works and are not fabricated.
What’s interesting is that when the author uses Tai Chi diagrams, river diagrams, Luoshu, stems and branches, and hexagrams to explain medical principles, the expressions of practitioners often change a lot: stunned, surprised, puzzled, and... The face is innocent, but the subconscious mind is of course: isn’t this something that is often rendered as old-fashioned, decadent, or even pseudo-scientific in today’s context? Why is it relevant to Chinese medicine? But when the medical principles are explained concisely, vividly, with infinite implications and in a precise way, their expressions often turn to emotion, excitement, and admiration! Turning to the question: Why are there so few textbooks on Jian Weiyuan’s way of thinking? Doctors with more clinical experience often feel more emotional after listening to it - why do we feel that this is the original traditional Chinese medicine? Although the system we have learned in the past is relatively complete, the depth seems to only cover the skin and flesh, not the muscles and bones, let alone the The essence!
Although the author is somewhat confident in teaching, I want to touch the listeners, especially those who are clinical practitioners, not only with their eloquence, but mainly with the original spiritual core of traditional Chinese medicine, which makes the learners have a sense of The practical feeling of returning to one’s roots through knowledge.
Since the author keeps getting suggestions or urgings, why not put what he said into words so that those who are interested can have a direct perception of the essence of Chinese medicine and put it to use?
But it is easier said than done. In each of the above categories, which one is not a matter of opinion, with many topics, constant disputes, and even minefields?
However, I feel that most of the contemporary medical books are better than the screening, enrichment and systematization of knowledge, but they are often weak in connecting with the "seabed under the deep sea" - the mother culture. If Chinese medicine wants to get rid of misunderstandings, grasp the true nature, and broaden its horizons, it is very important to improve the quality of Chinese medicine practitioners and build up their self-confidence. All these require the enrichment of ancient cultural knowledge, the guidance of the way of thinking, the understanding of the original flavor of traditional Chinese medicine, and the recovery of the original spiritual core (primordial spirit) of traditional Chinese medicine.
Not only do I think I have a glimpse of the way to connect the Qi, but I also have the inspiration from Dr. Liu Lihong’s “Thinking about Traditional Chinese Medicine”, the inspiration from the re-editing of “The Ancient Medicine of Circular Movement”, and the clinical teachings of Master Li Ke... People began to search for the true meaning of traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine saw a wave of revival. Then why not let go of the heart of honor and disgrace, let go of superficial assumptions, follow what your heart tells you, and use your heart to prove the Tao, hoping that what Ji writes can add fuel to the wave of the renaissance of traditional Chinese medicine?
A publishing house requested a manuscript, and we hit it off immediately!
Now I will start with categories such as "Yi", "Dao", "Xiang", "Shu", "Shi", "He", etc. that are closely related and can be developed separately, which is not only conducive to the presentation of the content And unfolding, it also facilitates the learning of hundreds of schools of thought to connect with the Chinese atmosphere. It can also form an open structure to facilitate continuous addition, correction, modification and improvement after listening to readers' opinions. You can even add to the scope of the discussion at any time.
This time, three chapters of "Yi", "Tao" and "Xiang" have been published first, and the remaining chapters are under consideration and arrangement.