The goal of Chinese medicine is not only to prevent and treat illness but also to support people in their efforts to achieve a meaningful life. Chinese medicine is informed by the philosophies that were prevalent during its development, including Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The material in this book is primarily influenced by Daoist thought, but influences from the other traditions are also present. A fundamental understanding of some key concepts and beliefs will be helpful as we move forward in this discussion.
A Philosophical View
Living a meaningful life requires the acknowledgment that we are all uniquely important. The underlying philosophies of Chinese medicine provide a framework that supports our individual evolution.
Humanistic and Holistic
The philosophy behind Chinese medicine is humanistic, in that it recognizes that we all have the potential to discover and express our unique qualities and to make meaningful contributions to our families and society. Our unique qualities manifest through our bodies, our emotions, and our mental activities. There is no one food, herb, exercise, or discipline that is “right” for every person. We must each discover what is right for ourselves.
This humanistic philosophy also recognizes our foibles and shortcomings and offers tools to help alleviate our emotional and psychological suffering. The Ling Shu acknowledges that human beings do not want to be sick and die—but most of us do get sick at one time or another, and we all die. Since this is the case, the ancients recommend that we make this life as meaningful as we can. They suggest that we cultivate such virtues as integrity, loyalty, courage, and piety, so that as we lie on our deathbed we have as few regrets as possible for how we have lived our life.
Chinese medicine is imbued with the holistic view that human beings are in constant connection with the cosmos, Heaven, and the Earth. This connection is not just a philosophical concept. It is physical reality. The light of the sun penetrates our bodies to nourish our bones. The Earth’s atmosphere, in partnership with the plant life of the planet, provides us the food we eat. Every breath connects us to the universe.
Chinese medicine also recognizes an inseparability of body, mind, and spirit.
Life as a University
Regardless of culture, human beings share much in common. We encounter similar challenges, and our lives are largely defined by how we meet them. The ancient Chinese considered that at one time or another we all have to manage eight fundamental “Palaces”: health, wealth, prosperity, relationship, creativity and children, travel and opportunity, career or vocation and knowledge, and wisdom. We confront all of these lessons as we move through life, but there is usually one major theme that is of particular interest to us. This is the subject matter we are responsible for mastering during this lifetime. How well we manage our lessons determines whether or not we complete the curriculum.
The Chinese were aware that Heaven and Earth moved through regular, repeating cycles of birth, growth, maturity, and death. They had no difficulty extending that recognition to the lives of human beings, with the belief that we incarnate repeatedly. If we are unsuccessful in navigating a particular lesson in this life, we will have a similar opportunity in another lifetime.
The Imperative toward Evolution
A view fundamental to Chinese culture is that everything—humans, animals, plants, stones, and the planet—is evolving toward a state of perfection. This perceived perfection is not based on some aesthetically beautiful outcome but is driven by the innate requirement to adapt to our circumstances.
Early observers recognized that a large cause of our suffering was our inability to adapt easily to the changes imposed by the natural cycles of life as they pertain to ourselves, to our relationships with loved ones, to our environment, and to society in general. They also recognized that the ability to evolve and transform, as necessitated by the inherent changes and conflicts we encounter in our lives, is a requirement.
This overarching philosophical theme of evolution is reflected on a small scale for each individual life, on a larger scale for the human race, and on an even larger scale for the evolution of our planet and its amazing diversity. Out of necessity we accommodate to the changes in our surroundings, not only to survive but also in an attempt to create the optimal environment for our lives to be meaningful and pleasurable.
Prerequisites of Life
All living creatures are enacting the evolutionary imperative to reproduce themselves in order to ensure their survival as a species. Researchers going into the Chernobyl accident site have found that over the past quarter century the wildlife in the region of Chernobyl has thrived. This is due in part to the fact that the animals were not subject to the influence of human beings, and also because those that successfully met the challenge of living in such a radically changed environment mutated and passed their genetic changes on to their offspring.
One difference between human beings and other living creatures is how aware we are of our reactions and relationships to the events in our lives. Given that our ultimate goal in life is not only to survive but also to achieve meaning and purpose, with the aspiration to a more “perfect” existence, all human beings have three innate requirements for life:
1. Survival: respiration/digestion/sleep
2. Interaction: with self and others, to seek purpose
3. Differentiation: limiting choice to define who we are
Survival—The Will to Live
We are born with certain attributes that are innate to our being. For example, unless we are born with a genetic abnormality, we will develop the ability to stand and walk in an upright posture. We do not have to be taught; we just do it. These innate abilities are instinctual and operate outside of our conscious awareness. Even more fundamental than the upright posture, we need to breathe, to digest, and to sleep. If we are unable to manage these basic functions, we die. The Internal Organs associated with the functions of physical survival are the Lungs, Stomach, and Heart.
The Lungs are responsible not only for breath but also for smell, a sense vital for us to ascertain the quality of the food we eat and the air we breathe. Of all the organs in the body, the lungs have the most direct contact with the exterior environment, and as such they have a relationship to the skin and with our ability to sense the world through touch.
The Stomach is responsible for digestion, required to derive nourishment from the foods we eat. The Stomach is also responsible for taste, another sense required for survival, to ensure that the food we consume is wholesome.
So vital are the senses associated with the Lungs and the Stomach that the olfactory nerve, which is primarily responsible for smell but also for taste, is the only sensory nerve that can completely regenerate. The sensory nerves for the eyes and ears do not have the ability to regenerate, because we can survive even if we cannot see or hear.
The third organ connected with the level of survival is the Heart, which in Chinese medical energetics is associated with the process of sleep. The Heart has its most important responsibility at the level of interaction, but it makes the bridge to survival. At the level of survival, the human body requires sleep to perform the many important functions that occur while our conscious minds are resting. Most fundamentally, while asleep we breathe more deeply and we “rest to digest” to more efficiently absorb nutrients. Even poor sleep is a requirement if we want to function effectively in the world. Long-term sleep deprivation negatively impacts the healthy functions of the body. Excellent sleep, uninterrupted for eight to ten hours, is rejuvenating.
The body is always working at survival, with the constant firing of nerves and exchanges and interactions of Fluids and Blood all working to accommodate the immediate needs of the body as it responds to environmental, physical, and emotional factors. The myriad biochemical responses are subtle. Subtler still are the energetic impulses that bring these responses about.
There is a larger evolutionary picture of survival, beyond our own individual ability to survive this life. It is the process of choosing the traits best suited to pass on to our offspring for the benefit of the human species. At this deeper level of survival we find the involvement of the Kidneys, which in Chinese medicine govern our ability to reproduce and are associated with the primitive drive of Homo sapiens to survive.
There are still pockets of society across the planet in which people live as their ancestors did a thousand years ago—doing the same work, eating the same quality of food, following the same traditions and rituals that have held their communities together for generations. If we compare the lives of people living in these traditional ways with people living in modern, technological societies, we can begin to appreciate how modern people are being challenged to evolve ever more quickly to accommodate the extraordinary changes they face.
Interaction—Discovering Purpose in Life
The second prerequisite for life is interaction. This level gives a major priority to discovering our purpose in life, beyond the will to live that we experience at the level of survival. Lying in a hospital bed with a respirator breathing for us and a feeding tube nourishing our body may assure survival, but is it living?
Intrinsic to human life is our connection to other beings—people, pets, and even plants. Through interaction and the challenge of relationships, we come to understand ourselves and our roles and responsibilities more clearly. None of us stands alone.
The practice of Chinese medicine expresses this philosophic stance. Rarely is a single point treated, and herbal formulas almost always include at least three or four herbs. When treating a patient, acupuncture points are combined according to their overall synergies, and herbal formulas are assembled based on the mutual interactions of their constituent herbs. For example, some herbs provoke a response, some harmonize the formula, and others guide the effects to particular regions of the body.
Bonding and Community
Being part of a community is essential to our evolution. Bonding to others is an important aspect of discovering who we are. When we participate in a healthy community, we have the opportunity to recognize the particular talents of certain people and to give them the support and freedom to demonstrate those skills and unique abilities. We know them, and we allow their talents to be expressed, just as they know us and allow us our own expression.
This bonding does not just give meaning to who we are as individuals; it also provides the “economics” of human life as determined by our social values. With interaction comes comparison. As we interact, we compare ourselves to other people. We learn to imitate and identify with others or to reject them, thereby establishing the value systems, the beliefs, and the roles we assume in a community.
Movement and Circulation
The ability to interact requires movement—that is, the ability to articulate one’s self into the world. We balance this outward movement with our ability to retreat inward, to have meaningful dialogue with the deeper aspects of ourselves and to discover our purpose. With that discovery, our activities in the world carry a sense of inner purpose and are not confined to the survival requirement of seeking food and shelter.
Our innate need to communicate requires a network of interaction both inside and outside of the body. For example, outwardly we rely on these networks for the transportation of goods and for our own ability to travel.
Inwardly, the Blood has an important role in the network of communication within the body. The Chinese believe that the Blood carries and circulates our memories and emotions. Our experiences, translated by the beliefs and values we hold, are recorded in the Blood to circulate through our bodies, thus affecting our anatomical organs and exerting a potentially harmful effect on their function.
The level of interaction is important to our evolutionary process because it gives us the opportunity to live with a sense of integrity and to express who we are in relationship to the world. If we are comfortable with ourselves, we can be grounded in the pursuit of what is interesting and important to us. We have the confidence to create a life that is meaningful.
This interactive aspect of life—of bringing forth our purpose into the world—is represented by the Heart. The Heart represents sovereignty, which means having a certain sense of ownership, being willing to take responsibility for our lives, and being willing to enjoy life the best we can. We go out into the world and engage with others; we seek answers to our questions and set goals we want to accomplish.
Interaction also engages the Kidneys and the ability to learn about ourselves through introspection. We have to keep in mind, however, that we cannot really know who we are by only reflecting on ourselves. We only really know ourselves when we interact with the people and world around us.
The Choices We Make
Implicit in having a sense of purpose in life, with the ability to develop deep, meaningful relationships, is the need to make choices. When we leave our families and go off to school or work, we do not make friends with just anybody we meet. We seek out those people who support our own self-perception, who reflect back to us who we think we are. For example, if I believe I am an intelligent person, I can choose friends from among people who are also very intelligent because they reflect back my own intelligence. Or I might choose from among people who are less intelligent, which would prove that I am very intelligent by comparison. Or I might choose friends from among people who are even more intelligent than I am, to constantly question and challenge my intelligence and thereby allow my intelligence to grow even further.
Our relationships are not just the result of circumstances; they are reflections of our motivations for choosing who we are going to allow into our lives.
Similarly, the choices we make regarding our vocation might be fueled by our passions or based on practicality. We pick them to fulfill a particular purpose based on the complex combinations of beliefs and values we have accumulated through our interactions.
If we view our relationships and jobs objectively, they reflect the beliefs and values we have learned. If our lives are meaningful, with satisfying, fulfilling relationships and vocations, our choices are working for us. If not, the objective observation of our motivations can help us to change.
The Heart circulates our Blood, which holds all our experiences and emotions, and gives us the ability to relate to our friends and family. The Kidneys offer the Essence of who we are as individuals, including the powerful will to survive in the physical world. These two Organs have a unique relationship. The Heart provides us the ability not only to relate with others, but also to look at ourselves with compassion and acceptance. The Kidneys, with the Heart’s acceptance, provide us the ability to know our true selves clearly and honestly.
Differentiation—Maintaining Stability and Balance
Through interaction we discover our talents, know what we like and what we do not like, and define ourselves and the lives we want to live. Hopefully our definition of who we are is based on what we truly want for ourselves and not what others expect of us. The third requirement, differentiation, is not really a separate aspect of life. Rather, it concerns the ability to balance the requirements of society with the requirements we have for ourselves as we attempt to lead a meaningful, purposeful life. We cannot let everything in; we cannot be friends with everybody. We have to be selective. Differentiation is a defense mechanism needed to maintain sanity.
Habituation and Predictability
We each maintain our individual balance in the world through habituation and predictable behavior. Unfortunately, as we age our relationship to the world becomes bound up in the beliefs and illusions we hold about the external world and ourselves. We typically become stuck in our habitual patterns of thinking and behavior. We eat the same foods, do the same activities, and interact with the same people day after day. The requirement of differentiation, intended to help us know and express our unique talents in the world, can become a rigid and pathological mechanism.
And then a shift happens. We get a new boss at work. We move to a new house. Someone close to us dies. We begin to age. We lose our reproductive capacity. Whenever there is a major shift in the normalcy of our lives, the body must adjust to that shift by changing its subtle biochemistry. The body reacts, trying to maintain homeostasis, perhaps by producing excessive cholesterol to make up for hormonal changes, or perhaps by leaching calcium from the bones when we’re overly acidic from long-term stress. The process we are undergoing is usually diagnosed as a pathological event, but the motivation behind the body’s reaction is an effort to maintain stability.
The organs most associated with differentiation are the Pericardium, or Heart Protector, and the Liver. From a philosophical point of view, the Pericardium, in its role as protector of the Heart, rationalizes our disappointments. For example, let’s say there was a job we really, really wanted. We did not get it, and to help minimize our disappointment the Pericardium says, “Well, the hours weren’t really good for me anyway, so I guess it’s for the best that I didn’t get the job.” Or we have met the man of our dreams, the person we see as our soul mate, our heart’s desire, only to discover that he is already married. The Pericardium tells us that we are obviously better off not having become more deeply involved in a relationship that could have no future.
One of the Liver’s major responsibilities is to maintain the smooth flow of Qi. At the level of differentiation we have established our identity in life. The Liver attempts to maintain this smooth flow of Qi as defined by our own requirements for consistency. If we become very angry because we lost that job or because the man of our dreams was deceitful, the Liver will not be able to maintain harmony. We have to choose, consciously or unconsciously, to let go of the anger so that the Liver can regain harmony and exert its influence to maintain the smooth flow of Qi.
The Liver is also responsible for detoxification. It will make every effort to reduce the toxicity caused by our habituated behaviors. Another of the Liver’s responsibilities is to store the Blood. If our Blood continually experiences the same stimulation from the outside world and continually has the same thoughts circulating within it, the Liver stagnates.
How to Work with Evolution
In summary, when we look at evolution we find that there are three fundamental levels of managing life—survival, interaction, and differentiation. Understanding these levels of existence is of significant importance. First, if we are actively working to develop our awareness of and responsibility for how we live our lives, we can become clearer about which level requires the most work. Second, different treatment strategies will be more effective if applied to the appropriate level.
Survival requires that we have the bare necessities of life—oxygen, food, and rest. Granted, children must rely on their parents to receive nourishment, but otherwise our survival is not dependent on other people. It pertains only to what we are capable of doing on our own. If we have illness at this level, where our respiration, digestion, or ability to sleep is severely compromised, the best treatment modalities are self-help techniques such as breathing exercises, dietary therapy, and meditation.
Interaction concerns our relationship to others, with all the comparisons and values that society brings to our experience of life. The best treatment modalities for illness at this level involve relationship, such as acupuncture, massage, or psychotherapy.
Illnesses at the level of differentiation are the most difficult to treat because the mind and body are deeply habituated to the patterns that maintain our stability, even if these patterns do not promote healing. At this level the best options for therapy are modalities that open the sensory portals—to begin to see, hear, taste, or smell the world differently. Visualization, chanting, herbal medicine, and aromatherapy or incense therapy are among the choices available to help transform our habitual thoughts and behavior.
Emotional and physical pain is intrinsic to human experience. The difficulties and tragedies we inevitably encounter are tests of our faith, devotion, and compassion. For most of us illness will be unavoidable, even if we make the effort to eat and exercise properly. At the same time, our illnesses and our pain can be our best teachers to help us discover the lessons we must learn in order to complete the curriculum for this life. Even if we are not able to cure our illnesses, they offer us a wonderful opportunity to become aware and conscious about our innermost being and to achieve a higher degree of wisdom.
When we reach the end of our lives many of us will be subject to the simple conditions of survival—that is, breathing, eating, and sleeping. Hopefully we will have found comfort and contentment within ourselves and will meet death peacefully as we transition to another dimension of consciousness.