Books

What does 經 mean?

In the previous two posts, we discovered that these Six Thing-a-ma-jigs were first named as Jīng, 經 by Qí Bó in NèijīngSùwèn, chapter 6.  Therefore, the next step in understanding what these Six Things are is to explore the meaning of 經.

To decide what any character “means”, one must look at the way it is used in different contexts and discover the consistent thread of meaning between these uses.  It is virtually impossible to accurately translate 經 as one word, though we often must.  For the student/practitioner, a bit of understanding of these complex meanings may expand our relationship to our medicine.

Jīng 經 is made up of the thread radical on the left and the image of water streaming below the surface on the right.  A possible definition of 經 is “an underlying structure or constant flow of threads or information that is invisible or enigmatic[1], giving rise to rise to and influencing visible phenomenon.

This broad definition covers the bases I think.  Let’s check. […]

What are These Six Things?

Translation of Chinese into English must be a conversation, not a conclusion.  This is something I learned from my friend Sabine Wilms.  Her book, Humming with Elephants, is a 340-page book on a single, short chapter five of the Huángdì Nèijīng which models this translation-as-conversation.  In this text, she discusses her word choices and the context of her word choices.  She also translates historic commentary on the lines in the chapter.  In this way, the text invites the reader into the contemplation of the text rather than just telling us what it means.  I love this!  A translation is a conversation between readers past and present and the text itself.

In this spirit, soon, Sabine and I will be offering a short, four-part class on Chapter 1 of the Huángdì Nèijīng Sùwèn. This class will be a live discussion between the two of us as well as with participants as a way to, not just translate the chapter, but to bring it alive for practitioners.  If all goes well, we will continue on in the text together.  This way, the text is illuminated through a conversation between the two of us and the text as well as between all of us and the text.  Stay tuned!

It is in the spirit of this conversation I […]

Hu Xi-Shu, Jing Fang Doctor, on Wen Bing

Recently I was speaking to my friend and teacher, Andy Ellis about Wen Bing.  He told me about a book I had not heard of.  This text is by the late Dr. Hu Xi-Shu called

Understanding Warm Disease through Six Channel Differentiation of Patterns

Below is my translation of his introduction to the text with commentary. (Thank you to Sabine Wilms for helping me with the translation). This is also meant to give an introduction to two talks that are happening today in regard to working with people who are suffering from The Virus:  Caroline Radice is teaching on Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Tang.(12:00 pm EST) I am speaking on San Ren Tang and Huo Po Xia Ling Tang.  (3pm EST)

Dr. Hu writes:

For the purpose of elucidating the rules of transformation and the diagnostic principles of “10,000 diseases, one origin” Zhang Zhong-Jing wrote the Shang Han Lun.  Thereby making clear the range of tools.  (showing us our options) Therefore, I often say, “The treatment method of 10,000 diseases is already exhaustively covered in the single book, the Shang Han Lun; and yet, the treatment formulas for the 10,000 diseases , verily are not complete within this single text.

Dr. Hu is telling us plainly that, […]

Guest Post: Birth Basics Class

Guest Post by Claudia Citkovitz

I’ll be there!

Save the date!  Birth Basics Class has arrived.

My book, Acupressure, and Acupuncture during Birth won’t be out until December 19, but I’ll be teaching all the content (and then some) here at White Pine Healing Arts on September 28-29, 2019.

The class will cover needle and bodywork approaches for everything from labor preparation and prenatal homework through the three stages of labor and postpartum care.  In particular, we will look at the roles of Yin, Yang, Qi, and Blood in birth, and the effects of stagnation and deficiency on contractions, dilatation, and descent of the baby through the pelvis.

Suitable for non-acupuncturists such as doulas and midwives, students learn to recognize the faces of yin and yang, as they manifest and shift throughout the course of labor and delivery. Using a clinical problem-solving approach, you will learn to assess balance and flow from labor preparation through the postpartum period and use acupressure, bodywork, auriculotherapy, and moxibustion to support and encourage healthy labor. Acupuncturists taking the course will learn a full range of needling and non-needling techniques, suitable for even the most conservative hospitals. Non-acupuncturist birth professionals will come away with a powerful but manageable toolbox of new techniques for helping moms with breech, oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios, IUGR and other […]

Walk Along the River II: Review for The Lantern

Dr. Yu Guo-Jun

I am writing a review of Dr. Yu Guo-Jun’s new book, A Walk Along the River II for The Lantern Journal.  This text, published by Eastland Press, is meant to come out soon, March hopefully!  One reason I wanted to write this review is so I could read it as soon as possible.  Given how remarkably excellent volume I is in regard to clinical value, I figured that Dr. Yu has much more to teach me.  I am not disappointed!  The new book is a powerful companion to his first book with chapters on the following:

Disorders of Qi, Blood and Body Fluids
Generalized Disorders
Gynecology and Obstetrics
Pediatrics
Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat
and an appendix of Time and Space in Chinese Medical Therapeutics

It’s a stellar text!  However, not only do we have this text coming to us soon, we have the chance to study directly with this massively brilliant, warm and articulate physician. In case you have not already registered, Dr. Yu will be teaching live and live-streamed in Amherst, MA March 15-17, 2019.   The topics are Learning From Mistaken Treatments, From Complexity to Simplicity and Dr. Yu’s Ten Favorite Formulas.  We hope you can join us!  In addition, Dr. Yu will be teaching at the Shen Nong Society Conference on […]

A Confused State Precedes a “Trial Treatment”

The excerpt below is from Volume II of Dr. Yu Guo-Jun’s excellent text entitled A Walk Along the River.  (Thank you Eastland Press!) This volume will be released in early spring of 2019, just before Dr. Yu’s visit to the United States, Seattle, New York, and Amherst, MA.  This case gives you an idea as to the depth of Dr. Yu’s thinking process when treating this patient’s chronic fever. As you will see when Dr. Yu teaches, he uses Cheng Yu frequently.  Cheng Yu  are short Chinese phrases similar to sayings like “it takes two to tango” or “six of one, half dozen of the other.”   His texts are riddled with meaningful Cheng Yu.  In this case, it is 茫無頭緒先“試探” “A confused state precedes a trial treatment.”

About Dr. Yu’s Teaching in Amherst, March 15-17, 2019 (Learn More ››)

For many of us, being confused about a case can easily make us doubt our own abilities.  Here, Dr. Yu uses the fact that the case is confusing both to diagnose and to set up his intentions as “trial.”  Acting on diagnosis as hypotheses followed by an experiment allows Dr. Yu to learn from the case.  Confusion, in this case, means two things: first, it means that it is likely that the […]

Coming to White Pine! Dr. Yu Guo-Jun, Author of A Walk Along The River

White Pine Institute is proudly announcing a three-day seminar with Dr. Yu Guo-Jun.  Dr. Yu is the author of A Walk Along the River, one of the most informative and accessible Chinese medical texts to ever be published.  Dr. Yu is known for his friendly, warm and rich teaching style.  His instruction is based on his long apprenticeship with the well-known Sichuan practitioner, Dr. Jiang Yu-Guang and his fifty years of practice with classical formulas.  Dr. Yu started his career as an economist, but due to the Cultural Revolution, he was sent to the countryside.  This is where he learned Chinese medicine in the traditional manner.  In spite of, or perhaps because of Dr. Yu’s lack of formal institutional training, his way of working and teaching are unique and profoundly traditional.  Dr. Yu became a practitioner at the Leshan hospital where he works to this day, taking over the teaching of seminars from Dr. Jiang.  It was Dr. Yu’s seminars that became the basis of his first text, A Walk Along the River.  Volume Two is scheduled to come out in the spring of 2019.

We are also thrilled to have Michael FiztGerald as Dr. Yu’s interpreter.  Michael […]

Go to Top