Sichuan earthquake relief effort
Hey everyone,
Just a brief update on the earthquake in China. We have learned that the Master of our Qigong lineage is safe as are the families of our doctors - we are most grateful for this. However, as you have seen in the news, thousands have lost their lives and many, many more are injured, in need of food and shelter and are doubtless extremely emotionally distraught.
Further, two Daoist monasteries that NCNM has affiliation with - 1000-2000 year old Mt. Qingcheng and Yuntai Guan have been, sadly, destroyed. These are places of unimaginable beauty and spiritual cultivation and their loss is a great blow. Our visiting professor, Dr. Liu Lihong, has agreed to take any and all donations directly to the abbots of those monasteries. If you feel inspired to donate to this cause, please use the donation button below and I personally guarantee that I will get the money where it needs to go. Otherwise, you can use the Mercy Corps link that I provided in my previous post.
Any amount of money would be very helpful in helping to restore people and places to some state of normalcy. Your compassion is appreciated greatly.
Eric
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Tags: china, community, compasion, daoism, donation, serviceRelated posts
With compassion
I have a lot to write today about the visit of Dr. Liu Lihong, and will be releasing those posts over the next few days. I also have a guest post from Yael over at Chinese medicine notes on the topic of pregnancy in texts of Chinese medicine. However, I didn’t want to let any more time go on without acknowledging the terrible tragedy still unfolding in China. The area hit by the earthquake includes Chengdu, where many of my professors learned and practiced medicine. I do not know how they will personally be impacted by this event, but I do know that we are all affected when great suffering occurs in the world. This, so hot on the heels of the cyclone in Burma/Myanmar, truly should make all of us pause to - at the very least - send our energy and compassion to those who suffer.
I am reminded of the Guan Yin chant we do at school - excellently done on the chanting CDs that Heiner Fruehauf offers over at his site. I will be chanting this as much as I can for many days. It seems fitting… I believe the Chinese for the chant is…
南无觀世音菩薩
nā mó guān shì yīn pú sà
I believe this roughly translates as I pay homage to Guan Yin (the most perfect Compassionate one). But when I have chanted it I have always felt that I can send healing and internal power to those who need it, including myself. I feel the world needs plenty of that right now.
If you feel moved to donate to help those in need, please follow this link to Mercy Corps, who have a team in Sichuan and are already attempting to mobilize resources to help. Mercy Corps is, without any doubt, one of the most efficient and honest international aid organizations currently operating. If you give them money, they will get it to people who need it.
May the suffering lessen soon.
Eric
Tags: china, compassion, eventsRelated posts
Should Chinese medicine be modernized?
You probably already know my answer to this question. Reading through my Chinese Medicine news feed, I came across this article - China to further modernize Traditional Chinese Medicine. Here’s their description of what modernizing means for the medicine.
“In modernizing TCM, efforts will be made to improve standards, study new applications and standardize planting, production and processing of medicinal herbs, according to the report of the center, which is under the Ministry of Science and Technology.”
This doesn’t sound too bad, actually. I can understand the wisdom in standardizing planting, production and processing of herbs. Unfortunately, standardization too often means bringing everything down to the standard of the least excellent instead of bringing everything up to the standard of the most excellent! If they are going to standardize the herb industry they need to take care to:
- Make sure the integrity of biological systems is maintained, or where already damaged, improved. The energetic quality of the herb is certainly impacted by its environment. In ancient times, these herbs grew wild - in harmony with their surroundings. The best quality of many herbs is still found in their wild counterparts! In standardized cultivation, one should do the best they can to replicate that environment - even if it harms yields.
- Follow traditional guidelines in harvest and processing of herbs. If in the Materia Medica an herbs is meant to be mix-fried until yellow, don’t char it. If it is meant to be processed in salt water, process it in salt water. Perhaps contemporary research methods don’t pick up the difference between one processing method and another - but don’t kid yourself into thinking that the sages that developed this medicine were stupid. Their guidelines were precise and developed over centuries of testing. Respect that.
- Use the implementation of standards to ensure the elimination of heavy metals, pesticides and non-edible products from the herbs.
Unfortunately, this isn’t all “modernization” has in store for Chinese medicine in China. If prior activity is any measure, it will almost certainly entail the purging of important information from the official canon and redoubled efforts to justify Chinese medicine from a Western scientific standpoint. Further, practitioners with diverse (yet vital and functional) theoretical standpoints, diagnostic methods and treatment principles may be forced to embrace the standard despite the fact that it is not clinically more effective. This, so the line goes, is the only way that Chinese medicine will be accepted into the mainstream.
If that’s what it takes to be accepted into the mainstream - I’ll take the tributaries.
Eric
Tags: activity, china, clinic, Cultivation, environment, herbs, news, Science, standardization, study, tea, Technology, traditional-chinese-medicineRelated posts
Top 5 Reasons to make Classical Chinese medicine your medicine of choice
1. Clinical effectiveness: Chinese medicine, particularly when it is practiced in a Classically-based manner, works. In my scant year of clinical observation, I have seen miracles transpire. I have seen people shackled by various conditions, sometimes all their lives, be simply TRANSFORMED after only a few treatments. Many of you have probably seen this as well. It works for patients - and that’s what medicine is supposed to do.
Yes, I’ve read THAT study, too. Studies have flaws - THAT study has been roundly denounced by a number of people in a number of different ways. I’d be glad to discuss it in another post. Think also about this - Chinese medicine works in a manner entirely different from Western medicine. It’s so different, in fact, that placebo controlled double blind studies may simply be ineffective for displaying what it is that Chinese medicine can do. Clinical studies are another matter, and many show the great effectiveness of Chinese medicine. Where those studies have been negative or inconclusive, I feel that it probably has something to do with the level of Chinese medicine being practiced in the study. That’s why I’m hoping to do (and encourage others to do) clinical studies through Helfgott Research Institute. I’ll certainly post about any future results.
2. Doctors who take their time: When you see a Chinese physician for the first time, you will probably be amazed by the intake process. The process is extremely detailed, and Chinese physicians take all of your concerns under advisement - not just those that fit neatly into a simple diagnostic category. Chinese medicine physicians will not dismiss your concerns as “irrelevant” or “psychosomatic,” they will integrate each manifestation of disease into a full diagnosis that will guide a treatment to rectify the balance of your ENTIRE system.
3. Fewer environmental impacts than Western medicine: Chinese medicine doesn’t employ pharmaceuticals or other chemicals in carrying out treatment or diagnostics. The pollutants dumped into our waterways by the pharmaceutical industry are a significant problem. That being said, there are real environmental issues that the CM profession must grapple with, including the problems inherent in importing herbal products from China. Although that is most certainly a post in itself - I want to point out that many American companies are working to find pesticide-free and sustainably produced herbal products. More of this is surely to come.
4. Good cost-benefit ratio: As we all know, the escalating costs of healthcare are leaving many Americans uninsured, causing nearly unbearable pressure on the hospital system and social services. That the wealthiest nation in the world leaves so many people without access to basic care is reprehenisble. Natural medicine in general represents an answer to this problem. Many treatments by Chinese medicine physicians use food therapy and economically priced herbal supplements. Further, you will find that the average office visit for a Chinese medicine doctor is very reasonable considering the great depth of care you receive. Insurance companies are beginning to pick up the cost of these office visits, which is an encouraging sign.
5. Total integration: This medicine doesn’t “rob Peter to pay Paul,” as the saying goes. When your chief complaint is treated, it is treated in order to integrate your entire self - mind, body and spirit. So, for instance, your ongoing treatment for seasonal allergies isn’t going to create dryness in your mucus membranes, difficulty sleeping and pervasive feeling of anxiety. This will reduce your overall discomfort, as well as keeping costs down - you won’t need to buy medicine to treat the problems that your medicines produced!
There are certainly many more reasons you should make Classical Chinese Medicine your medicine of choice - but I hope this list will provide you with some food for thought as you contemplate your health care options. Remember - YOU DO HAVE OPTIONS!
Tags: balance, china, clinic, disease, ego, environment, food, health, helfgott research institute, law, service, studyRelated posts
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