Compassion as the driving force of Classical Chinese Medicine practice
A while ago, I began a series of posts designed to describe my experiences with Dr. Liu Lihong, renown Classical Chinese Medicine clinician and scholar. He visited NCNM in Portland just about a month ago, delivering powerful lectures and teaching us all with grace and simplicity. Many folks have asked me to share what he had to say about the Fire Spirit school of Chinese herbalism, a school that takes the use of Fu Zi (aconite) and Gui Zhi (cinnamon) to be its guiding methods. Unfortunately, I didn’t take written notes - only a recording - and it is taking me some time to transcribe. It may have to wait until school is out in a couple of weeks, when I have time between clinic shifts.
The truth of the matter is that the most powerful information that Dr. Liu gave us really had nothing to do with the practicalities of herbal formulations. I would like to share what I learned about a lecture he gave in our Medical ethics class about compassion in Classical Chinese Medical practice. I will soon share more of what I learned from this contemporary master of our medicine.
Medicine as the Bodhisattva way
Dr. Liu started out by talking about the concept of a Bodhisattva in Buddhism. In my reading, I have discovered that not everyone agrees on the definition of this concept. A basic understanding of Bodhisattva reveals a being who is either enlightened or well on their way who decides to hold off Nirvana in order to help other human beings reach enlightenment. By this definition, they embody the purest compassion and service to humanity. Certainly a noble goal for anyone, particularly a physician.
Dr. Liu wanted to help us understand what it would mean to live as a Bodhisattva. He explained that for him living this principle in daily life certainly involves living life to its fullest while striving to deeper understanding of what it means to be alive. Living a full life was explained to involve coming to a state of balance in health both in body and in the emotions. That way both Xing (form) and Shen (spirit) will be unified and harmonious. This allows us to be a great resource of inspiration for our patients while also allowing us the ability to walk our path with strength and purpose.
How do we do accomplish this task? By following the guiding hands of the ancients. 文化 (Wen Hua) is a Chinese term that’s something like “culture.” Dr. Liu related to us that the deep meaning of the term encompasses more than what the normal American interpretation might reveal. It isn’t just a collection of wheres and whens and whats, but a body of knowledge produced by great people that can be used for transformation of human lives. The study of culture and cultural artifacts, like the Classical Chinese texts, is more than an empty academic exercise. Or, at least, it should be.
The ancient texts, like those written by Kongzi (Confucius) are part of the Wen Hua that we can use in our quest to follow the Bodhisattva way. It isn’t important that we analyze the texts in an analytical manner. The important thing is that through our study of the texts, we allow them to Hua - to transform us. I think I understand from what Dr. Liu was saying that he believes Chinese medicine knowledge is this way as well. Many of us know a person who has nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Classical texts or Zangfu differentiation or herbs or acupuncture, yet remain a mean-spirited and uninspired person. This is a waste of the information.
So, our goal should be to allow what we are learning to transform us. Our program at NCNM, I believe, really takes this matter to heart. The whole first year is all about breaking you open to receive the teachings fully. It’s a tulmultuous year for many. My experience was truly a birth process. I felt the pain and the subsequent release of that pain only to be shot into an unknown world that is both breathtaking and a little frightening! On the other hand, these last two years have been a lot of information, taking it in and trying to figure out how to use it. I feel that it would be easy to become obsessed with the consumption and reproduction of information, forgetting to be transformed. Now that I look closely at the next three weeks, I realize that it is another birthing process. Our finals are pretty laid back and my mind and spirit naturally turn to cultivation. I find myself wanting to do Qigong, wanting to spend time in nature, wanting to read texts that inspire me. I find myself reading back over my first year notes, reconnecting to the symbolism we were steeped so heavily in during our first year.
Words to live by
I realize the truth of what Dr. Liu was teaching us as I’ve described above. But, there was more. After talking to us about the process by which we can get closer to enlightened awareness, and the purpose of that in turning us into superior physicians, he let us in on what he believed to be the highest truth of the Way of the Bodhisattva. It’s a simple statement, echoed through many cultures in one form or another. In this instantiation, it is expressed in a slightly different form than most Westerners are used to - by Kongzi (Confucius):
子曰、其恕乎、己所 不欲、勿施於人
Zǐyuē, qí shù hū, jǐ suǒ bù yù, wù shī yú rén
The master said, it’s perhaps “Shu”, do not place upon others what you would not have placed upon yourself.
I acknowledge my translation could use work. :) But, you get the point. It’s another statement of the Golden Rule - in this negative form sometimes called the “Silver Rule.” Important within it is the character 恕 Shu. This character is composed of three radicals. On the bottom, we have the Heart. Above that on the left we have the radical for Woman and on the right the Mouth radical. So, “Shu” is something like a woman speaking her heart. Or the kind of speech that comes from the strength of a woman’s heart. Opposed to this elsewhere is the character for anger, 怒 Nu, which looks very similar. The only difference is the upper right radical which is a picture of a hand. The woman radical and the hand radical together as a character by themselves means “slave.” So, anger is when your heart is enslaved. We can look at this in an external way - as when someone is somehow preventing us from living our heart’s desire. But, Dr. Liu asked us to look at it differently. Anger is, he suggested, like not having a master within yourself - when one loses control. Shu is an antidote to this - it is living out our heart’s greatest desires, our heart’s purest desires. This gives us ultimate freedom and it allows us to arrive at our true nature which is always productive of behavior in line with the “Golden Rule” as listed above.
Perhaps you’re not sure what this has to do with Chinese medicine, but for me it was clear.
- To achieve mastery in medicine, we must not only learn from the Classical texts and the wisdom of our teachers, but also allow this information to transform us on a deep level.
- This transformation will be on many levels. Physically, we will “follow our own advice” and live in accordance with the ways that our teachers lay out for us. Emotionally and spiritually, we will walk the path of the Boddhisattva.
- This path is one that brings us into line with Shu - opening to our true nature through living the truth of our heart. This in part involves, and is productive of, behavior in line with the Golden rule.
- This Golden rule indicates that we should treat others as we treat ourselves, or that we should not do to others what we would not have done to ourselves.
- In some sense, all of this tells us to polish ourselves into the kind of doctors that can serve as great examples for our patients. But, we must also allow our patients to be a mirror for us - when we gaze into that mirror we must always be asking ourselves if we are treating our patients as we would want to be treated in similar circumstances.
I’d be interested to hear what you think about this in the comments.
Eric
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Tags: buddhism, Classical Texts (general), Personal Development, professional-development, study, studying.-confucianismRelated posts
Chinese medicine and professional development
I have been thinking quite a bit about my February Year of Sagely Living goal. Before I reveal what I’d like to do this month, I want to look at the symbolism of this month in a little more detail. Let’s revisit the original explanation in the inagural post of this project.
February - Liver, Chou 丑 (Ox): Strategy/Business: This category will contain practices in the realm of business development and strategic planning in the professional world. Why this pairing? The Liver is the general of the body, so has a natural affinity for this kind of activity.
Liver as the General
In the Neijing (Chapter 8), it is said:
肝者將軍之官謀慮出焉
gān zhě jiáng jùn zhī guān móu lù chū yān
Translations vary, of course. Here are my favorites: “The liver is the official of managing the horsepower, planning and strategizing emerge from it.” “The liver is the general who is valiant and resourceful”
I think a lot of people who are interested in Chinese medicine tend to shy away from the old General. We don’t like to hear that we have a Wood voice, we shy away from the concept of an organ as associated with war. We look down on people who express their anger, even in appropriate ways. I don’t feel this way. I embrace the General. The wood is the motivating and moving force in nature, in our bodies, and in our organizations. I reckon that my school and our profession in general could use a little invigoration. Certainly it must be kept in balance - but a focus on this powerful force can only be a boon for me and mine.
When I think about the General, I think of so many of the personal development gurus I’ve known and learned from over the years. David Allen. Steven Covey. Anthony Robbins. Many others. I’m not implying that these folks are constitutionally Wood (though certainly a couple of them are) but simply that what they do resonates with the principle we’re trying to invoke this month. A focus on developing ourselves into the kinds of people that effortlessly and courageously interact with the world in some of its more difficult and potentially conflict-ridden arenas - business being one of those. So, resonant activities for the Year of Sagely Living should take the General as their inspiration. They should involve managing the horsepower (resources), planning, strategizing and valiant effort.
February - the end of Winter
About now in Oregon, everyone is complaining about the weather. Constitutionally damp and cold people have finally become saturated and get depressed. Even folks with strong Spleen energy start to long for the easy warmth and beauty of spring and summer. But I’m smiling. Because I feel the energy on the upswing. In fact, the winter is as good as gone! My bulbs are sprouting vigorously. Buds are growing fat on the Japanese maple. My dog is shedding. I am strangely compelled to play frisbee in the rain. February for me is all about opening myself to the increased activity of the spring season. In that way - a focus on the strongly outward realm of business is certainly warranted. It will help shake out the cobwebs. :)
I do recognize that the weather is still quite cold most places in the Northern hemisphere. In fact, the agricultural nodes for Liver time all relate to intense cold. Further, the time associated with the Liver (1-3am) is certainly a deep and dark time of the day. This is why we didn’t choose to put a type of activity here that was strongly physical, demanding lots of opening of pores or outdoor activity. Do keep this limitation in mind when crafting your goals for February.
Many realms of professional development :my interpretation of February’s category
A variety of activities could fit in this category. On the more low-key end of things, you might think about reading a book on small business, leadership development or the history of some great leader in your religious or cultural tradition. On the more intensive side of things, you might consider developing a business plan (if you don’t already have one), setting some new goals for your (already existing) business, or taking a professional development course. On a more subtle level, you could consider doing a series of meditations on Liver, general, and the wood element in general and how those forces are functioning in your life.
This category is a little challenging for me because I’m already engaged in so many streams of habit that would fit in it. For instance, I’m working my GTD system. I’m the President AND Vice President of my class. I’m engaged in a variety of leadership development groups in Portland and at NCNM. My partner and I are working through our own business plan while we are both taking formal classes about business! Because of all of this, I think I will take one of the more low-key options. I’m going to be reading one of two books (or their audiobook versions) - either Principle Centered Leadership by Steven Covey or Personal Power II by Anthony Robbins. Along with this, I will be doing daily meditations concerning my future business - simply stilling my mind and letting myself be guided. Simple, but I think powerful.
Eric
Tags: Business, business development, Leadership, liver, ox, Personal Development, professional-development, strategic planning, symbolism, winterRelated posts
Year of Sagely Living
The Year of Sagely Living is a group project. It takes as its primary goal to discover whether living by the principles of Classical Chinese Medicine is a desirable and possible activity for contemporary people. The initial idea was conceived by Abdallah B. Stickley of the blog Even Unto China. In conversation, we discovered a shared passion for the underlying philosophy of Chinese medicine and developed his initial idea into a full blown community based year long project.
This page will be, primarily, a place to:
- Archive Year of Sagely Living posts
- Link to similar posts on other participants’ websites
- Chronicle in a journal-type format my experience with the project - for more reasons on why I’m doing it in this way, please see my post about my initial Year of Sagely Living experiences.
You can read more about the Year of Sagely Living by clicking on the links below
Introductory material and further philosophical exploration of the project
- Year of Sagely Living: 12 months of Classical Chinese Medicine habits
- In personal development, one size does not fit all
- Doctor as medical sage: why the Year of Sagely Living is important
- Year of Sagely Living: More thoughts on the 12 categories
- From even Unto China : The Year of Sagely Living - Life Habits for Wisdom and Health
- From Life Giving Sword : Year of Living Sagely
- From Ross Rosen’s blog: “Year of Sagely Living”
- A follow up from me about the first month of the Year of Sagely Living
Concerning particular months’ themes
Concerning my specific commitments
- January - My commitment to excellence in scholarship
- February - My commitment to professional development
- March - Why I am about to become slave to the clock
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Below begins my Year of Sagely Living “journal” to be updated frequently, with more developed insights to be shared as blog articles on the main page of Deepest Health and linked to on this page.
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June 6, 2008
I haven’t been posting to this page, but I don’t think it gets too many visitors. So, hope noone noticed. :) My weight loss and fitness goals have been going very well. I will post in more detail in a while - I’ll probably revamp this page entirely to make room for more specific reporting of my goals. I’ve really enjoyed the Year of Sagely Living so far, and I look forward to seeing what it brings as it continues.
March 18, 2008
Watching the organ clock has been a surprisingly difficult experience. It’s funny because some people might call me clock obsessed, but it’s hard for me to think about the energetic quality of any particular time that is showing on the clock. Right now, I’m typing to you during Heart time. I find that I often think about the organ clock during this 2+ hour period. The other times I find myself spontaneously considering the organ clock are around Bladder time and again in Lung time. Both of those make sense because they are at the beginning and ending of my average day.
In general, I find that during Heart time it is difficult for me to work in a focused way on anything. I naturally tend to want to do Qigong, review my mission statement, listen to inspirational audiobooks or music and generally just rejuvenate myself. A tough sell during finals preparation. For the rest of this month, I’m going to be a little more focused on the periods - setting alarms for myself as I said I would. During my moments of meditation, I will try to sit with one of the symbols associated with that organ system and see what kinds of resonance come about.
I have been doing very well with taking time for my family. It’s very, very hard to “justify” just hanging out with them on the weekends instead of doing lots of work for school or the blog. It’s not hard emotionally - I *want* to - but right now I’m so driven in both of those areas of my life that I have to do a lot of firm talking with myself. :) Still, I have been managing to spend almost my entire weekend either doing weekly reviews , going on picnics/hikes, doing housework and cooking, playing games, watching movies or some other family/home oriented activity. It’s been wonderful and I think has helped me to avoid the major external invasions circulating around Portland.
I had a realization regarding my initial Year of Sagely Living goal - studying for an hour a day per subject that I’m studying. I find that this plan just doesn’t work for me. I lose a lot of momentum changing from subject to subject. I’ve modified this habit so that I study 1-2 subjects per day, making sure to study important/difficult subjects at least twice a week (not including class time) and other subjects at least once a week. For subjects that have study sheets or flashcards, I do my best to look over these at least once a day regardless of if I’m intensively studying that subject that day. This seems to be working, I’m not worried about finals at all and this with all the time spent with family as listed above.
March 12, 2008
It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride so far this month. I had a couple rough days - I think I was fighting something off, as everyone at school seems to be sick. I had a hard time sleeping and a harder time waking up. I also have a point before every finals week when I get this low level stress reaction to the whole deal. I don’t notice it consciously, but my physiology gets wacky and there’s no other explanation for it. I think I’m recovered now.
Today is the first day that I’ve actually managed to get out of bed before 6, and I feel fantastic. There’s something that happens to me if I can just get up before that time… it’s wonderful. When I woke up, I was just edging out of Lung time. I am interested to see if I tend to feel better if I wake up during that period. Right now, we’re solidly in Large Intestine time. Contemplating this organ network, I find an overwhelming sense of just wanting to get down to work. I’ve found this once before when meditating on LI during LI time — no fanciful ideas, no dreaminess, just the straightforward sense of wanting to work on something tangible. Fortunately, it’s about time for me to leave for Formulas class. This will more than satisfy my urge. :)
In general, my organ system contemplations have been going well. I particularly enjoy meditating during the time of the water organ systems, Bladder and Kidney. It’s easy for me to remember to meditate during this time, both because I’m often just home from school and because there seems to be a quality about the energy that invites that kind of activity. I don’t really want to be working at that time… interesting since LI and KD are across the organ clock from one another - perhaps representing one of the true differences between the rise into Yang and the descent into Yin. Interesting…
March 5, 2008
I obviously slacked a little in my journaling and I really do want to get back to the material I learned last month. But, school moves fast and I have to keep up. :) I’ve been paying attention to the organ clock this week. It’s been quite a challenge with the fast pace of my daily life. I notice that I nearly always check during Heart time and again during Kidney time. Not sure what this means. I enjoy meditating during Kidney and Bladder times — the quality is almost dreamy and I find it easy to concentrate. This is interesting because I’ve always tried to meditate during Lung time, as that seems most “correct.”
I have struggled to wake early because of another interesting time-related situation. The past two nights I’ve woken around 1:30am (Gall Bladder time) with intense Gall bladder stagnation pain and a bounding pulse. There are a few medical reasons this is probably happening that I don’t need to get into here. But, it’s definitely interesting. When I wake at this time, I find myself wanting to do Qigong and go for a walk! Instead, I do a little tapping along my Gallbladder channel and lie back down until I fall asleep. Hopefully this pattern will cease relatively quickly and I can get on track with my early waking goal.
February 18, 2008
I don’t know how many people actually read this page. I just wanted to briefly update to say I’m still alive. Formulas has me in its grips and I’ve time for little else right this second. I have great posts in the wings, but they’re going to have to wait, I’m afraid. I have lots to say about the changes that have come over me in working on my personal finances and listening to leadership related audiobooks, but unfortunately I will have to put it off. Thanks for your patience!
February 13, 2008
It’s interesting how this month has gone so far. I began not being quite sure what I wanted to take in - primarily because this strategy/business category is something that comes so naturally to me. I’m constantly taking in this information, constantly improving in this area. I think one of the things I have learned so far that this is one of my great strengths - but it also points to a problem. I need to apply the same level of intensity at other realms of my life that I do to this one. While self-improvement on a business, organization, strategy level is very important - it is not the only thing in life.
Anyway - I’ve been listening to Steve Covey’s Principle Centered Leadership, and that’s been great. I actually ended up loading a few other e-books to my iPod - one of which is the Giant Within by Tony Robbins. I’ve read a lot of Robbins’ work, but not that particular book. While I was listening to Steve Covey one day, I accidentally switched the pod to random mode and the Giant Within came on! I was hooked from the first sentence and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Covey and Robbins speak to very different parts of my life so I’m happy to listen to both of them. We’ll see how it turns out in the end, but I hope to share insights from both.
February 12, 2008
Hey everyone - sorry for the long times between updates. I think as time goes on, I’ll get better with updating. This month of Sagely Living has been plagued with a unique problem. While I have been listening to Principle Centered Leadership, and enjoying it very much, I’ve honestly been working more with my own financial health using Dave Ramsey’s system. I’ve thought a lot about it, and I think I will share insights from both systems. While personal finances may not fit with this month’s category exactly, I do think it has lots of relevance for the principles behind YSL.
More to come!
February 3, 2008
I’ve decided to work with Steven Covey’s Principle Centered Leadership. I love Tony Robbins, but I think that Steven Covey has more to offer in terms of helping me to cultivate leaders in the Chinese medicine community. I’ve only just started and have some catching up to do, but certainly will have interesting insights to share with folks as time goes on. I’ve decided to read some Lao Tzu as I do this and see what kind of cross-pollination I can get going.
I’ve also been working on my financial health using Dave Ramsey’s system. While I don’t agree with lots of Mr. Ramsey’s observations on gender, politics and religion I do think he has something special when it comes to being a financial advisor. I also appreciate his enthusiasm. It’s funny how enthusiastic people (personal development and finance gurus, self-made millionaires, renegades in any profession) become the target of the petty words, thoughts and actions of others. It’s revealing - but not of anything that the one attacked possesses. I take what makes sense from these folks and I discard the rest. Some have criticized me for this - but there it is.
January 29, 2008
Well, January is coming to an end. Because my life is already so focused on scholarly pursuits, it wasn’t too much of a departure to work on this. Still, the concerted effort has been an important addition to my daily routine, one I will write about more detail on the main blog. In actuality, the biggest change has been looking at all of my classes every week for at least SOME time. This has, frankly, been transformative. Not only do I feel more caught up with my studies, but I find that realizations are coming more frequently. I feel more equipped to ask questions of the doctors and I have no stress regarding midterms and finals. So far. :)
January 22, 2008
Studying every class a minimum of 2 hours a week has been a much easier commitment to keep up with. It’s funny because somehow I don’t feel it is enough. That’s just good ol’ overachievement talking, though. It’s more than I have been doing up until now. Mostly in the past, I have studied classes as they keep my interest. While that is certainly ONE strategy, it usually leaves one scrambling to study for tests at the end. Because, unfortunately, professors don’t ask whether I am interested in a class before they decide to test me on the material. Go figure. Also, when I have managed to keep up with material that I had, for one reason or another, dismissed as “boring” or “irrelevant” - I have learned a great deal. When I relax my ideas of what interests me and what does not, whole new vistas of knowledge open up.
Formulas has been particularly enjoyable to study this term. I feel I have the hang of Dr. Versluys’ lecture style (fast, information rich) and am familiar enough with formula structure and function to keep up. I have been having an especially hard time applying myself to Internal Medicine.
January 16, 2008
It has definitely been a continuing challenge to keep to my commitment. For two days this week, I didn’t study one or more of my classes. Two days were really “on,” but even those days I couldn’t do half an hour a day. So, I’ve determined that for my courseload and life circumstances, that kind of intensity isn’t healthy or even really possible. For the rest of this month, this will be my routine:
Study every class a minimum of 2 hours a week: Acupuncture techniques, Herbal medicinary practicum, Business seminar, Herbal formulas, Pharmacology, Acupuncture theory, Clinic (with a 5 element practitioner) and Internal Medicine. Within that structure, I will make every attempt to at least look over the notes or do some reading for each class each day. This may involve just reading my notes all in a row before I go to sleep, during my evening routine. It may be more interspersed, or more focused - depending on my week.
Really, the key is that my weeks aren’t stable enough to guarantee me 2-3 hours every single day for study. So, we’ll move to Plan B. So far, I am already noticing increased comprehension of material in classes even from what little I’ve been able to manage thus far. It’s definitely worth the extra work.
January 12, 2008
I wanted to be sure to make a single journal entry to start off this page. However, I am putting most of my observations into a full-blown blog entry, linked above. You can also just click The importance of the Spleen in studying Classical Chinese Medicine. However, to be more explicit about my experiences… I had a very hard time keeping to my 1/2 an hour a day commitment. I think it may actually be impossible, so I’m going to work this week on a revision. It may be that I give myself some flexibility - 10-30 minutes for each class depending on availability with a weekly goal for each class depending on its importance and workload. The key is simply to go over the material as frequently as possible. I found that last term I would study a subject only every 2-3 weeks and the stuff I was studying seemed really new and strange each time I encountered it! Not good. We’ll see what the next week brings.
Tags: Acupuncture, classical-chinese-medicine, habits, Personal Development, professional-development, scholar, study, studying, Year of Sagely LivingRelated posts
Why should doctors cultivate compassion?
Three excellent blogs, Urbanmonk.net, The Middle Way.net, and kentonwhitman.com have collaborated to create a group writing project around the topic of compassion. They have titled the project “Spread the love NOW,” an imperative statement for an imperative topic! It’s a great time of year to be thinking deeply about compassion and other related topics, so I thought I would add some thoughts of my own. If you have an online journal or blog, consider visiting that link and participating in the project yourself. Entries need to be posted by the 5th of January, 2008. As if joining your voice with so many others to talk about such a worthy subject isn’t enough benefit alone, there’s also a prize involved. Visit the Urbanmonk.net link above to learn more.
Compassion is a natural theme for a blog about medicine. However, it is too seldom discussed explicitly in medical settings. Sometimes it seems that it is assumed that people come to medicine naturally aligned with the principles of compassionate living and that their medical practice will be informed by those principles. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some come to medicine because of family tradition, others because of hopes of monetary gain, still others sort of by accident - they choose it out of a book or from some career counseling service’s list. Of course there are many, particularly in the natural medicine fields, who do come for all of the right reasons. Further, even people primarily motivated by some of the above can be exceptionally compassionate individuals. Regardless of one’s motivation for entering the medical field or one’s natural tendency with regards to compassion, it is a topic that should be carefully considered and a trait that should be vigorously cultivated.
The philosophical roots of Chinese medicine are full of descriptions of the necessary attitude for a good physician. While Chinese medical science should not be equated with the philosophical systems that gave rise to it, we can look to those systems to understand the medicine more fully. Interestingly, all three of the major Chinese spiritual systems - Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism - take compassion to be one of the highest virtues. In Daoism, compassion is one of the three jewels that all good people should seek to cultivate. Compassion is at the very heart of Buddhist thought, no doubt about it. In Confucianism, too, compassion is a most sought virtue and some sources indicate that Confucius believed that all other virtues flowed from this one. I’d like to briefly explore the Confucian understanding of Compassion and suggest some ways that physicians and physicians-in-training can incorporate this vital virtue into their own lives and medical practices.
The word for compassion is Ren 仁 and can also be translated as benevolence, humility, humanity and mercy. The character is composed of the person radical on the left and the symbol for “2″ on the right. It indicates either a cluster of two persons or the relationship between two people. It is my understanding that this virtue has been explained in many ways by different Confucian philosophers. One of the major points of contention concerns towards whom we are meant to have this special attitude. Some contend that it should be shown to all people (universal love) others indicate that it is reserved for those we owe some filial debt - such as our parents. Despite these differences, the essence can be agreed upon by anyone. When taking action in the world, we must always consider how our actions will impact other human beings. We must act in such a way that it does not support the desires/wishes of one person at the detriment of others. In essence, we must think of the humanity of others and act in such a way that we respect and honor the core of humanness within every person.
What does this mean in medicine? Simply this - that your primary concern is a doctor is to respect the humanness of each patient. They are not your experimental laboratories, they are not marks to push your products on, they are not intentionally being difficult or any of those other petty little things we all think at one time or another. Thus, they shouldn’t be treated as such. They should be always and everywhere treated in exactly the same manner as you would have yourself treated, with respect, openness - and yes, even a kind of love.
How can we learn to embody this principle? Well, any of the basic self-cultivational practices will certainly help. Meditation helps our minds to quiet and this in turn will help us to notice when our thoughts turn to less than compassionate directions. One practice I can suggest is to stop immediately any speech or thought about any person, patient or not, that you would not want them to hear you thinking or saying. You might also want to look into volunteering your time to a local charity, particularly one that serves sectors of the public that you traditionally find difficult. In exposing yourself repeatedly to people you find difficult, you may be more able to work through your troubling feelings.
In general, I believe that thinking carefully about our relationship with the virtue of compassion is one of the most important practices we can work with as physicians and future physicians. How does compassion play out in your daily life? Learned any particularly poignant lessons about this virtue? Share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comments. If you would like to read more articles like this one, be sure to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or via email.
Eric
Tags: Character, compassion, Cultivation, meditation, professional-development, virtueRelated posts
The Year of Sagely Living: 12 months of Classical Chinese Medicine habits
If you sift through all the posts here at Deepest Health, you will find that I have a passion for personal development. In particular, I have a deep and abiding interest in using principles taken from my study of Classical Chinese Medicine to develop myself into a high level Chinese medicine scholar and physician. Now, all hubris aside, I understand that even in an extremely devoted lifetime I am highly unlikely to reach the heights that the ancients point towards. However, I believe it is my responsibility as a future CM doctor to do my best to struggle in that direction. I look to the Classical texts of Chinese medicine for my main inspiration on how to live and learn, but fill in the gaps in my understanding with other ancient works such as the Dao De Jing, the Confucian classics, Buddhist texts and the Bible. I also consult contemporary personal and business development gurus, particularly around organizational issues. In fact, I think a wide variety of texts are applicable in developing a set of principles to take me towards becoming a great physician.
I’ve discussed these teachings and the practices they explicitly or implicitly reveal with many people. My discussions seem to have reached a critical point and are now spilling over into a plan for action. In particular, in conversations with my friend Abdallah Stickley at Even Unto China, a life-changing project has taken shape and is ready to see the light of day.
We propose a year-long public effort to live the principles that will take us in the direction of becoming the doctors the Classics talk about. In other words, we’d like to take the principles of Chinese medicine seriously and let them guide our life. We have mined our understanding of the principles that underlie the education of great physicians (who are, by default, great people) and came up with twelve categories of practice. Our thought is if one works diligently to adopt practices associated with each category, one will be taking great strides in the direction of becoming a great, or sage, physician. However, for folks not in the medical field - these practices will take you far in achieving great heights in whatever profession in which you are currently involved. These twelve categories we then associated with a different month, using the Earthly branches and twelve officials as guides. The idea is that we want to be working with the seasonal and bodily energy, not against it. So, for instance, we wouldn’t want to begin a rigorous program of physical exercise in the deep of Winter.
We will focus on one category each month. Participants will assist in articulating practices in each category, though we have come up with quite a few already. Participants will pick one or more practices in each category and publicly commit to doing them throughout the month. The public component is actually quite crucial, as it has been affirmed again and again that when a person believes themselves to be held accountable by others in some action they are more likely to accomplish it. Thus, it is best if people either have an online journal, website or blog already. Alternatively, participants can sign up for one (many are available for free - more details in a future post). Regular updates will be posted, and experiences will be discussed by all involved. There will be other options for people unwilling or unable to have an online home of their own.
Below is a listing of the categories, a brief description of each as well as their timing and an explanation of the pairing of time and category. If you’re confused by the symbolism I discuss, read my post about the Chinese medicine organ clock. In future posts, probably a couple a day for the next 2-3 days, I will explore the categories in more detail and list the practices we have come up with so far. Further, I will explain how I see this project playing out in my own life. Hopefully this will help interested people to understand the project and get involved. For more background, you can visit the links I provide below and also read posts about the Year of Sagely Living at Even Unto China.
January - Gall Bladder, Zi 子 (Rat): Scholarship/Study: This category will contain practices to develop us into true scholars in the Confucian/neo-Confucian tradition. Why this pairing? The seasonal energy is still in winter, a contemplative mood prevails, but the Yang is rising. Similar to this, we can see scholarly pursuits as ACTIVE passivity. One generally sits still, but one’s mind is hard at work.
February - Liver, Chou 丑 (Ox): Strategy/Business: This category will contain practices in the realm of business development and strategic planning in the professional world. Why this pairing? The Liver is the general of the body, so has a natural affinity for this kind of activity.
March - Lung, Yin 寅 (Tiger)- Activity/Rest: This category will contain practices having to do with appropriate cycles of rest and activity in daily life - for instance, appropriate waking times throughout the seasons. Why this pairing? This earthly branch and the essence of the Lung Zang is all about peaceful tension between opposites, like the time of the year associated with both. Further, being mindful of our need for balance between rest and activity is great preparation for the often overactive spring/summer energy.
April - Large Intestine, Mao 卯 (Rabbit) - Care of the planet/consumption: This category will contain practices that develop us into compassionate and sane consumers, while helping to develop our deep relationship with the natural world. Why this pairing? April is a time when we can see the beauty of nature all around us, so is a great time to contemplate our dependence on it and responsibility towards it. Also, the negative side of LI/Rabbit is a tendency to run rough-shod over the needs and wants of others, these practices will seek to counterbalance this.
May - Stomach, Chen 晨 (Dragon): Physical cultivation: This category will contain practices that help us to shape our physical bodies into ideal vehicles for the transmission of healing energy. Why this pairing? The natural world has exploded into full splendor and the weather in the Northern hemisphere will be warm enough in most places to warrant moving around outside. The ST is an Earth organ and is related to the flesh of the body, which we will be building with these practices. Think also of the dragon and its association with martial arts and other physical cultivation practices.
June - Spleen, Si 巳 (Snake)- Food choices - This category works in tandem with the previous one to help maintain the physical form of the body in an optimal way. Why this pairing? June is actually a great time to do fasting or other food restriction activities because most of us don’t feel any great desire to eat excessively in the summer heat. Further, reducing the burden on digestion will help us to focus on absorbing the pure Yang energy so abundantly available in June.
July - Heart, Wu 午 (Horse) - Community building/charity - This category speaks to our need to be an integral and contributing member of a number of communities. It also involves the practice of compassion in a world where inequality is the norm. Why this pairing? The summer is a wonderful time to participate in community-oriented projects! Also, the Heart and Fire (the Heart’s element) are about intimacy, about connection to Spirit — both of which are well represented in the idea behind this category.
August - Small Intestine, Wei 未 (Sheep)- Ethical Behavior - This category will include practices not covered in other categories that have some ethical dimension. These practices are likely to be very individual and defined by a person’s background, spiritual/religious practice and culture. For example, practicing “Right Speech” through abstinence from cursing. Why this pairing? The Fu (hollow, Yang) organs are said to transmit the essence of their associated Zang (solid, Yin) organs. SI exemplifies this relationship in its devotion to sacrifice as a way to manifest the Heart’s mandate of connection to Spirit in the purest sense. Also because many of the “ethical behavior” practices we discussed are somewhat prohibitive, it resonates with the descent into metal energy that the earthly branch Wei represents.
September - Bladder, Shen 申 (Monkey)- Arts/Aesthetics: This category involves the use of our creative faculties - particularly as they pertain to the arts associated with Chinese medicine, such as calligraphy. Why this pairing? These activities are Yin within Yang - they are still, yet active - like scholarship. More importantly is the symbolism of 申. One of the meanings of this character is to stretch, and the oracle bones show it as two hands pulling something in opposite directions. We might think about this as the intercourse between Heaven and Earth, the Human Being in the middle being the substrate that is stretched between those two poles. I think Art facilitates this threefold communication.
October - Kidney, You 酉 (Rooster/owl): Chinese medicine specific skills: This category includes the refinement of Chinese medicine related skills, such as hand techniques in acupuncture. For those not in the field, you might look into developing skills that will help you in your work. Why this pairing? The Kidney is often said to be the root of all skill and expertise. Also, with the cool calm energy of autumn, one can become focused enough to substantially increase specific skills.
November - Pericardium, Xu 戌: Relationships: This category will involve practices that help us develop more mature and meaningful relationships with others. Why this pairing? Pericardium is frequently said to mediate intimate relationships. One interesting symbolic note is the association of the earthly branch Xu, which means - essentially - weapon. This speaks on many levels to me. For instance, we must be careful to avoid violence in relationships, on whatever level. Also, relationships are a bit like handling weapons — if you’re not careful and mindful, it can come back to bite you. Finally, the late fall and winter are good times for relationship oriented activity, given that most of us desire to stay at home with family and friends as the weather cools.
December - Triple Burner, Hai 亥: Spiritual cultivation: Although we will be looking at spiritual dimensions of all kinds of activity throughout the year, this month we will give it special attention. These practices will probably be quite individual, but there may be some shared goals - such as having a daily meditation practice. Why this pairing? I’ve always learned about TB as being the mysterious “in between,” the mover between worlds, the ultimate stillness. What a metaphor for spiritual practice!
The project begins on January 1, 2008. However, you can join in at any time. Simply comment on this post to let everyone know you’re “in” and let us know how you will be “reporting back” to the rest of us. I will be providing brief descriptions of the categories along with the list of practices we’ve come up with so far in a post in a few hours. That post would be a great place to comment with your ideas for specific practices. To make sure you keep up with all of the Year of Sagely living articles, be sure to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or via email.
PS: For folks in the Southern hemisphere - you can still participate! Simply reverse the correspondences. The list goes, essentially, winter solstice to summer solstice - so you can turn things around to meet your energetic reality.
Eric
Tags: Acupuncture, Character, chinese-medicine, chinese-organ-clock, habits, Personal Development, productivity, professional-development, scholar, Seasons, symbolism, Year of Sagely LivingRelated posts
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