Classical Chinese Medicine events in Portland, OR
I know not everyone is lucky enough to live in or around Portland, OR. ;) I would still like to announce these events - they are more than worth the travel cost and time, I assure you. Click on the flyers for bigger versions, you should be able to click on the flyer when it opens in another window to zoom in even more.
If you’re having a hard time seeing the flyer, you can go to the NCNM Continuing Education event website and scroll down the page to May events.
For those experiencing trouble, here’s a quick summary:
1. Dr. Liu Lihong and Dr. Tang Nong
- Classical Chinese Medicine in Modern China
- Pearls of Wisdom from the Shanghan Lun
Date: May 10, 2008 9:30 – 5:30 // Location: NCNM Ross Island Campus; Portland, OR, Great Hall
This 2-part,1-day seminar will feature the combined genius of the two founders of China’s first official research institute for the clinical application of classical Chinese medicine. Professor Tang, chair of the Institute at Guangxi College of TCM, is the charismatic leader who made deadlines as China’s youngest hospital director. Dr. Liu, co-chair of the Institute and its medical director, is the author of the highly influential “Sikao Zhongyi” (”Contemplating Chinese Medicine”), the best-selling plea for a renaissance of classical Chinese medicine that has reached more readers in China than any other modern Chinese medicine publication during the last century. Both are veterans of the Chinese medicine machine in China, who have a clear view of the limitations as well as the potential of TCM in our time.
2. Dr. Manfred Kubny
An Introduction to Chinese Medical Astrology
Date: May 24-26, 2008 930am -530 pm // Location: NCNM Ross Island Campus; Portland, OR, Great Hall
“Chinese Medical Astrology: A Systematic Introduction” May 24-26 (9:30am-5:30pm each day). This pioneering 3-day workshop will present, for the first time in the U.S., the highly sophisticated model of Chinese constitutional and medical astrology as researched and synthesized by the West’s leading authority, Professor Manfred Kubny (University of Berlin).
If you’re interested in other events pertinent to Classical Chinese Medicine you can check the following sites - note that events are all over the US and Europe:
1. Events page at Arnaudversluys.com
2. Events page at Classicalchinesemedicine.org
3. For the five-element acupuncture fans among you, check out the Portland based home of David Ford and David Berkshire - asomseminars.com
4. NCNM’s Continuing Education Department page
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Tags: Acupuncture, classical-chinese-medicine, events, news, Portland, portland oregonRelated posts
Dizzy? Eat some dragon bones.
I ran across a news item today of some interest to my readers. It involves the discovery that some villagers in China were using the fossils of a dinosaur as medicine, apparently not knowing that they were an important artifact. 
“They had believed that the ‘dragon bones’ were from the dragons flying in the sky,” he said.
The calcium-rich bones were sometimes boiled with other ingredients and fed to children as a treatment for dizziness and leg cramps. Other times they were ground up and made into a paste that was applied directly to fractures and other injuries, he said.”
There are multiple problems with the story. Most importantly, we don’t know whether the villagers truly believed that the bones were from “dragons flying in the sky.” There is a Chinese herb known as Long Gu (龍骨) often translated as Dragon Bone. It is included in the category “herbs that calm the Shen/spirit,” and as the article points out - can be used in some cases of dizziness. It is also commonly used for other Liver-related symptoms like irritability, blurred vision and red and painful eyes. It can also be used for insomnia, for leakage of fluids (such as in night sweats and excessive vaginal discharge) and can be used for chronic ulcers on the outside of the body. It’s a useful herb - to be sure.
But what is this about Dragons? The dragon is a potent symbol within Chinese culture in general and that certainly works its way into Chinese medicine. One place to start in investigating Dragon is with the etymology of the character 龍, which can be translated as “a dragon,” or “of the emperor/imperial,” or “a huge extinct reptile.” When the character is combined with others, when the compound does not explicitly refer to something “dragon-y” it tends to confer a sense of nobility or supreme goodness on the phrase. The first point of interest here is, of course, that a “dragon” can simply refer to a large reptile - as the dinosaurs referred to in the news story.
But why call the herb “dragon bone?” While certainly some large reptile bones have been used for Long Gu, the most common Long Gu comes from various fossilized mammal bones. Why dragon? The answer may become clear after a quick look into some of the symbolism related to Dragon.
On the Chinese organ clock that we use so often in our program in Classical Chinese Medicine at NCNM, Dragon is associated with the Stomach. As such, the Dragon’s voracious appetite can be highlighted. The Stomach, our internal dragon, can be thought of as taking in things from the world so they can be transformed into nourishment - whether we are talking about actual food or simply food for thought. This position on the organ clock is related to the following aspects of time: The third month (approximately mid April to mid May), Taurus on the Western zodiac and 7-9am. All of these times are full of activity and ascending energy. The sun is rising! It’s time to get to work! Time to take it all in! There are other aspects to Dragon - but these elements work well together to prove my point.
One aspect of Chinese medical philosophy that is important to understand is the principle of balance. When there is great energy, there must be a great anchor. When there is great dampness, there must be a great capacity to dry. When there is great heaviness, there must be an element of true lightness. So the symbolism associated with the Dragon is all full of energy, all ready to take on the world - to digest! It is imperial - the figurehead, the one given the “mandate of heaven.” Within Long Gu we find a balance. This is one of the heavier herbs and its action is to act as an anchor. An anchor so that the rarefied and active energy of the Shen and the Liver can be calmed. The Dragon resonates with the healthy energy of the organs and functions that Long Gu seeks to heal.
Looking at it this way, maybe it isn’t so ridiculous that the villagers referred to the fossils as the bones of Dragons. Perhaps they were using the more-than-literal meaning when they said this - it’s impossible for me to know for sure. But be sure, when you are investigating Chinese medicine, not to dismiss a concept based on your first understanding of the language used. In Chinese medicine, there is almost always a lot of meaning lurking in every word.
Tags: Character, chinese-herb, chinese-herbs, cultural-differences, newsRelated 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
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