I am also hosting the free class over on my blog!

I’m really excited about this announcement. I’ve decided to put together a free online course for Classical Chinese Medical Texts Vol I. The idea came to me while brainstorming ways to help make the book more useful. While this book was designed so that people could study on their own, having more structure and some instruction will certainly help. This class is meant to give readers the motivation and help they need to get through the the entire book and understand everything within. As I have said before, studying classical Chinese is no easy task and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help people learn how to read it.

The course begins on July 15th. I am planning a total of 15 weekly lessons, but may add more. The main part of the course will be a podcast that will follow the book from beginning to end (15 weeks, 15 chapters). Each podcast will have it’s own web page where the course material can be played or downloaded. There will also be a space for comments, questions, links, and additional material to help you study. We might even try to get a chat feature going so that we can all interact.

The great thing about the internet is that we will be able to keep the information online for people who buy the book later. They will have access to all the files, links, comments, questions, and everything that we do in those 15 weeks. I will keep up with the comments and questions even after the 15 weeks. Essentially, this course will continue as long as the internet does. This means if anyone falls behind, no pressure-the information will always be there.

If you are interested in following the class as we do it, go to http://classicalmedicine.wordpress.com and bookmark the page. This is where the class will be hosted and all detailed announcements will happen there. I’m really looking forward to the class and I hope you can participate!

]]> http://windstonepress.com/2009/06/26/free-class/feed/ 4 windstonepress taiji http://windstonepress.com/2009/06/21/chinese-medicine-and-daoism/ http://windstonepress.com/2009/06/21/chinese-medicine-and-daoism/#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:45:39 +0000 windstonepress http://windstonepress.com/?p=731 ]]> Is Chinese medicine rooted in Daoism? Are all of the classical texts essentially Daoist ideas of the body and disease? Many teachers and authors support this idea and base many of their teachings on the idea that Chinese medicine has Daoism at its core. As much as I wish this were the case, I see very little evidence for this in the classics (as hard as I have tried to find it).

We Westerners like Daoism. I like Daoism. The Dao De Jing is the most translated book into English and therefore celebrated as one of the classics of Chinese culture (even though most people in Chinese speaking countries have never read it and have no interest in it). This does not make it central to the ideas contained in classical Chinese medical texts. In fact, even the term Daoism (Taoism) is problematic. For more on this, I highly recommend this article by Nathan Sivin.

If I were to narrow down any one philosophical thought as predominate in the earlier classics, I would have to say Legalism takes the prize. The zang-organs are given categories that correspond to government posts. The character 治 is used for the verb “to treat”; this is the same verb used to represent “to govern.” There are countless essays that equate treating disease with managing the affairs of the state.

This is not likely to be a poplar stance, as most of the modern teachers who have a following use Daoism as the basis for what they teach. I think there is nothing wrong with this, and I am attracted to such things myself. The difference, for me personally, is that I see this as a modern interpretation of classical medicine which often superimposes ideas on to texts. We want there to be a Daoist basis of the medicine, so we see it even when it is not there.

When I first embarked on the journey of learning to read classical Chinese medical texts, I also believed that Chinese medicine was rooted in Daoism; in fact, I had always been under the impression that it snubbed Confucianism and Legalism. This idea hampered my progress. I was always looking for something that wasn’t in the texts, therefore I didn’t understand the texts. It wasn’t until I started exploring Chinese philosophy in depth that I realized that Chinese medical writers were versed in all classics of philosophy. Very few medical writers snubbed any one tradition, and they often used aspects of all philosophies including “Daoism.”

I do not want to discourage people from developing interest in a Daoist Chinese medicine. There are certainly examples of Daoism in medicine, it’s just that they do not exist everywhere. I simply want to encourage people to become much more versed in philosophy and Chinese history so that they can have a better grasp of the texts they are learning to read.

Ling Shu Chapter 55

The superior physician treats that which is not yet ill. The inferior physician treats that which is already ill.

This is a fairly famous statement, which is often interpreted to be a call to preventative medicine. Modern physicians often complain that patients come in with specific complaints and it is impossible to treat what is not yet ill. I find this stance strange, as if we are to believe if someone has a disease which has already become manifest, the practitioner is prevented from treating what is not yet ill.

At any rate, the following quote from Nanjing has a completely different interpretation of the above passage:

Treating what is not yet ill means that when one sees illness in the liver (for example), this (can be) transmitted to the spleen. First fill (shi2) the spleen qi so that there is no way for it to accept the liver’s evil qi. This is what is called treating what is not yet ill.

As you can read, the writer of the Nan Jing felt that the meaning of treating what was not yet ill did not mean some psychic rendering of signs and symptoms, but a way of treating a person who comes with a specific complaint. One might go so far as to suggest that when the superior physician sees that one zang-organ has been afflicted by evil qi, the zang-organ in the control/destruction (ke) cycle of the five phases needs to be supported.

The Jin Gui Yao Lue explains this method works because when the spleen is supplemented,

it can injure the kidney. If the kidney is injured, then water doesn’t move. If water doesn’t move, then fire becomes abundant. If fire becomes abundant then the lung is injured. If the lung is injured then metal doesn’t move. If metal doesn’t move then the liver becomes abundant and is naturally cured. This is the secret meaning of supplementing the spleen to cure the liver.

As can be seen from both the Nan Jing and the Jin Gui Yao Lue, the superior physician understands the consequences of the actions of treatment through the five phase relationships. This may or may not have been the meaning intended by the Ling Shu; however, the closer a commentator is to the classic being commented, the more likely I am to take their claim to understanding it seriously.

In modern times, the five phases are relegated to old quackery that needs to be replaced with rigid diagnostic strategies and a focus on patient complaints to determine the affected system. If the five phases are not ignored, they are often taken to be central to Chinese medicine and not well balanced with the many other aspects of the medicine discussed in the classics.

In most modern schools, students are taught to observe, ask questions, palpate, form a treatment strategy based on the affected system, and then treat the affected organ or meridian directly.

This is almost the exact definition of the inferior physician from the same chapter of the Ling Shu.

1. Deepesthealth.com:  Eric Grey, a student at NCNM, has maintained this blog for a couple of years. Recently, the content has been a little slow as the author is about to graduate, but the past posts are worth looking at. Eric is one of those extremely passionate students, and since he is about to make his transition from student to practitioner, others students should really follow this blog.

2. TCM Directory: This page has loads of information which is nicely organized. I used to use google to search for what I was looking for, and now I look here first. If you are a practitioner, you can take advantage of a free listing. They have everything from books to school listings to acupuncture supplies.

3. Chinese Medicine Notes: I first found this blog by Yael Ernst because someone had mentioned my book on there (what can I say? I was ego surfing). I found that I kept reading, and reading, and reading. This is unusual for me, as I am not usually interested in blogs. What I like most about Yael’s blog is that it is well written, well thought-out, and interesting! She’s also much more consistent than say, me, with weekly posts added on spot.

Anything I missed? Probably. Let me know below.

There are so many Chinese medicine books available, some of which are great and others which are…well, not so great. Among a crowded field, there are some valuable books that I believe get lost in the  mix. Here they are:

1. The Practical Application of Meridian Style Acupuncture by Jon Pirog. The author covers a lot of ground with this book. Pirog gives a more classically based look at the functions of the points (for example Xi-cleft and Source points) and the uses for the meridians that fall outside of the category of the ‘regular’ twelve. When selecting points, having as much information about the categories of points beyond what was chosen in the 1950’s in China will go a long way toward more refined treatments.

2. The Complete Stems and Brances: Time and Space in Traditional Acupuncture by Roisin Golding. The stems and branches are, for the most part, ignored in modern Chinese medicine. This is remarkable considering that most of the early medical thought was intricately connected to this system. There are many unique treatment methods that come from this system, all of which I have found to be highly effective in clinical situations. Most importantly, if you really want to have access to the classics, then you cannot ignore the stem and branch system, as classical authors discuss the cosmology behind medicine at least as much as they discuss diagnosis.

3. Shang Han Lun and Other Traditional Formulas: A Clinical Reference by J. Michael Moore. This book looks at formulas from a completely different angle and contains some interesting information on the pschological aspects of formulas. During my first few years in practice, I used this book as my primary reference because I had already studied Dan Bensky’s book so much in school that I couldn’t bear to look at it (I do like his books, however). If you’re looking for something different, find a copy of this hard to find book.

4. Forgotten Traditions of Ancient Chinese Medicine, translated by Paul Unsculd. This is a translation of one of the many works by 18th century physician Xu Da-chun, who is one of my favorite authors in the history of Chinese medicine. Xu is a highly critical thinker who takes nothing at face value and questioned the medical practices of history and his time. I used other writings from Xu in Classical Chinese Medical Texts, and my desire to read his writing in Chinese was one of the motivators for me learning classical Chinese. As of this date, this title is reprinting and used copies are expensive; the list price is 59.99, so don’t get taken. Oh, and the best part is that it includes the Chinese in its original form.

The first two books are readily available on Amazon, but the last two are harder to come by right now.

I have no major qualms with the article itself, but take exception to one of the quotes he uses to make the point that studying the classics can be “dangerous.” Any disagreements I have with Dr. Hammer’s article are the same disagreements I have with the quote from James Ramholz, which reads:

“Unfortunately, the classics are actually poor teaching tools. They often mention things without clear details or explanations. Commentaries sometimes sound as if they’re about completely unrelated topics. Even if when we read the original text in Chinese, its meaning, translation, and interpretation are frequently in dispute. The classics are actually the starting point for study and research, not the accumulation or final arbiter of what can be known.”

Let me say first that I entirely agree with the last sentence. Every aspect of Chinese medicine, including the classics, is indeed a starting point. This is a big part of what makes the medicine, for me personally, a study which I never tire of. There is no final arbiter of what can be known. Thousands of pages of classical Chinese medical texts sit in libraries and have yet to be analyzed, much less written about in English. What can be known about Chinese medicine? Every piece of knowledge is the beginning of the next discovery.

I find all of the other statements are based on common misunderstandings of classical texts. Below, I will take each part of this statement and explain my thoughts on why each one misses the mark:

Unfortunately, the classics are actually poor teaching tools. They often mention things without clear details or explanations.

No specific classic is named here, so I will be forced to follow suit and also make generalizations. The assumption here is that the writing of the classics is flawed because modern readers find them unclear and want more explanations. A lack of explanation can be simply explained by the author assuming the reader would understand the text. The authors of classical texts could not have possibly had western readers of the future in mind when they wrote. They were writing for the audience of their time and based what they wrote on the “common knowledge” of their time.

It is also important to remember that the literacy rate in China was extremely low up until the last 30 years or so. The author’s audience was small and consisted of the period’s brightest scholars. Only the most wealthy and educated could read such classics. These texts were written for people well versed in not only medical classics, but in every aspect of current and historical literature. We shouldn’t be surprised that we are not as equipped to easily comprehend these texts.

Expecting medical books to give readers “clear details” is also a very modern notion. The classics were not written as treatment manuals, but as foundational theory books. The cosmology that underlies classical texts was known by readers of the time. Practical application of that theory was not learned through books, but through apprenticeships.

If the classics are poor teaching tools today, this is our responsibility. Our inability to use them shows a lack of knowledge on our part and has nothing to do with the authors of those texts. If we want to use the classics as teaching tools, then we need to first find out what pieces of information we are lacking.

Commentaries sometimes sound as if they’re about completely unrelated topics.

I have never found this to be a problem when reading texts in classical Chinese. At times, I find commentaries that do not seem to address the preceding passage directly. In the mind of the commentator, what they wrote is related, so the modern reader’s challenge is to find that connection.

Again, we have to look more closely at the period a text was written and when it was commented. A 16^th century text commenting on a 2^nd century text is explaining the text for 16^th century readers. If hundreds of years separate a text from its commentary, we must assume that what was common knowledge during the time of the text was no longer common when the commentary was written. Historians even use data on which parts of a text were commented and compare them with which parts were not to gleam important historical data. For a modern reader to say that commentaries seem unrelated misses the most basic reason for a commentary, which is to explain the text to their audience.

The above sentence repeats the same mistake from the first, which  is to assume that any historical text was written for us, with our current notions of culture, the body, and medicine. They were not. Assuming such texts should address our needs is unrealistic.

Even if when we read the original text in Chinese, its meaning, translation, and interpretation are frequently in dispute.

We must remember that, in spite of modern China’s wish to proclaim otherwise, there was not a wholly unified China that existed over the last 3,000 years. China’s history is complicated; when we consider all of the changes in dynasties, wars, famines, movements, rebellions, plagues, religions, uprisings, and regional distinctions over time, we have a very complicated history that occurred in the geographical region we now call China.  The cultures of the Han and Tang dynasties, for example, cannot be treated as part of some imagined “one China.”

Each new era had its own distinct culture that needed to reinterpret the classics according to that culture. Many of the historical periods of China faced the same problem we are facing today: how do we interpret and use this medicine? This is not a new problem, as evidenced by the need for the commentaries spoken about earlier.

I find the disputes about meanings of the classics to be one of the most interesting aspects in the history of Chinese medicine. What is the Triple Warmer? What is the Shen? What is the Ming Men? In my own work, I have no desire to try to define these things concretely. I could argue that the Ming Men, for example, is the eyes. I could use the Nei Jing to back up my claim. However, I would be ignoring the many other writings that claim that the Ming Men is the right kidney or the space between the kidneys, among other possibilities. In my view, the need to define these things concretely does not reflect the spirit of the classics, but is a projection of our own culture, which wants conclusions based on concrete evidence. The classics had no such expectation.

In Classical Chinese Medical Texts (Ch. 6), one of the texts I used is from The Classic of Difficulties. One sentence makes a statement about the San Jiao, which was debated in later times. I find the sentence impossible to interpret with 100% certainty. Initially, I wanted to take this chapter out of the book because I was afraid readers would want something more concrete. In the end, I left it because readers need to know classical medical texts contain many statements that are wide open to differing interpretations. I do not see this as a problem, but more as one of the most fascinating aspects of the medicine.

I think Dr. Ramhoz’s quote above has helped to illustrate what I find to be the final barrier to entering the next stage of development in Chinese medicine: drop all assumptions and expectations, forget the world you live in just long enough, and the world of the classics will become wide open to you.

]]> http://windstonepress.com/2009/04/19/leon_hammer/feed/ 0 windstonepress http://windstonepress.com/2009/04/06/volume2/ http://windstonepress.com/2009/04/06/volume2/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:58:59 +0000 windstonepress http://windstonepress.com/?p=605 ]]> People all already asking about Volume 2 of Classical Chinese Medical Texts. I am not sure when Vol. 2 of this series will be out. Since the current book has come out, I have found it hard to work on it. Writing the first book was one of the most difficult endeavors of my life, and every time I pick up texts to even think about working on the next volume, I feel overwhelmed. My goal is to have it completed by end of summer.

I have already collected tons of possible texts. I have decided that at least one of the volumes will focus on the Ling Shu and some of the commentaries by later authors, which are brilliant. This will probably have to be a later volume, as these are more complicated texts with layers of possible meaning.

Another idea I am considering is several volumes, each with its own focus. For example, one volume could focus on herbs and another on theory, and yet even another on “physiology.” I had thought about a whole series focusing on a single text each, but have since decided it is too difficult to do a language teaching book in this way.

When I started writing Vol. 1, I had a plan for all of the volumes. I no longer like any of those ideas, so right now I’m just reading through texts and trying to discover what makes sense. Once I decide, the next book should be out within a couple of months. The vision is still the same: to deepen people’s knowledge of classical Chinese medicine through direct readings of the texts.

The short answer is that you should be able to buy Volume Two by fall.

When I was writing the book, I had no idea that Windstone Press would offer MP3 recordings for each chapter (I don’t think they knew it either). For those who will have the recordings, this is a great benefit to studying.

At first, I thought it wouldn’t do much good. This is a reading book, after all. I only put the pinyin in the book for people who could already speak and read Mandarin so that they could use other dictionaries and compare definitions.  Looking back at my own education in Chinese language, I realize that recordings of the textbooks I was using were essential for both reading and speaking. Reading while listening to the sounds helps readers focus and use more of their brain. You will remember more by listening.

The recordings are basically set up as follows: each of the 15 chapters has its own file. Each chapter file starts with a reading of the Vocabulary, number by number. For the earlier chapters, each character is repeated twice (through Unit one I believe). After the Vocabulary section, the text is read. Each unit gets a little faster, but the rate is still good for beginners and not too boring for those who can speak Mandarin already.

I suggest using the recordings on the “second pass” through each section. In other words, study the Vocabulary as outline in the introduction first, then go through again with the recordings. When you finally approach the text, read them as outlined in the introduction first, then use the recordings.

When using the review pages (the first page of each chapter), you can use the recordings especially when you are having trouble remembering the text. This will certainly help your ability to memorize the texts.

All in all, I’m really happy they are offering these recordings. I think they will  be of great benefit to everyone using this book.

About twelve years ago, while still a graduate student of Chinese medicine, I came across various copies of translations of the classics. What I read made no sense to me, so I asked some of the teachers who taught my classes. The overall response I got was, “Don’t worry about that.” This made me even more curious. How could I just forget the classics of the medicine I was studying?

I started getting my hands on anything I could read. I loved reading Paul Unschuld’s books, but in a very sneaky sort of way. I then started to discover academic work by Nathan Sivin, Charlotte Furth, Benjamin Elman, and others. They seemed to contradict much of what I was hearing from my teachers and I would use their work to ask more probing questions of my teachers.

After about a year of trying to understand the medicine through translations of the classics, I was told by a teacher whom I respected greatly that if I really wanted to get into the deeper meaning of classical texts, I would have to study Chinese…and not just Chinese, but classical Chinese. I was not excited by this.

Upon graduation, I vowed that after practicing for five years I would move to China and study the language. After a year in private practice, I was already quite bored. I missed the camaraderie that came with having classmates who were grappling with the same questions I had. I decided to keep practicing and enrolled in local Chinese courses. This was very satisfying at first, but after a year I realized I was no closer to being able to tackle Chinese medical texts.

I enjoyed clinical practice. Helping people with their physical, spiritual, and emotional issues was very satisfying; on the other hand, the desire to go more deeply into the medicine was eating away at me. After three years of practice (to the day), I decided to take on studying Chinese full time. I packed up as much as I could carry with me on a plane and gave the rest to the local Salvation Army. I gave up essentially everything I had built, but I knew I was treading the right path for me at that time.

My initial plan was to come to Taiwan for just one year, then apply for a graduate program in the UK or back in the US. I wanted to go all of the way through to PhD and not stop until I was done. After one year in Taiwan (studying Chinese 10 hours per week for the entire year), I realized I still needed more training. I couldn’t get through a modern Chinese book, let alone a classical text. For most of this time, I was working for a publishing company translating from Chinese to English. Most of the books I worked on were Chinese language textbooks. I didn’t realize how valuable this experience would be at the time-it was just a way to pay the bills.

After two years of studying and working, I received a full scholarship to attend the Chinese University of Hong Kong for two years. At this time, I decided to ramp up my knowledge of classical Chinese. I read and studied every book available.

Many of the classical Chinese textbooks I found to be great resources, but they do not cover medical literature. I probably spent about a year in total devoted to learning to read classical Chinese. The books that used English to teach classical Chinese were initially very helpful. After mastering these, I started reading classical Chinese to modern Chinese translations of medical texts.

I often asked myself, “Why is no one creating a good classical Chinese to English textbook?” Finally, I sat down at my computer and outlined what such a book would look like. I pulled some medical texts from my bookshelf and included what I found to be the best methods from all of the Chinese-English books. After a few chapters were put together, I had the beginnings of a textbook.

At the time, I was about to begin my second semester in Hong Kong and didn’t have time to work on the book. I was not serious about finishing it and was hoping someone else would pick up on the idea and do it. After about a month into the semester, I realized I was miserable in the academic world and knew I would only grow more miserable. I decided to give up the scholarship and went back to Taiwan.

The first few months, I had forgotten about the book. I traveled a lot and worked on bits and pieces. At some point, I looked at what I had put together and realized it could be a book-and a very useful one. I decided to start taking it seriously, which meant that I had to throw out a lot of what I had already done. I needed to consider what beginners could handle, check to be sure I was teaching each new character, make the texts short but still useful, explain the grammar in a way that could be understood, and make sure all of the texts followed one another in a language learner’s logic.

For the last six months or so, I have done nothing but work on this book. My goal throughout writing it was to create the book I wish I had when I started working on learning to read classical Chinese medical texts. I hope you will find that it makes tackling more difficult aspects of the medicine much easier.

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