Book Review: Bob Flaws, Statements of Fact in Traditional Chinese Medicine
I am pleased to review Bob Flaws‘ latest book, an updated and revised version of his Statements of Fact in Traditional Chinese Medicine
This book is, essentially, a highly organized collection of statements culled from various texts of Chinese medicine thematically represented with English, Chinese and pinyin included. It contains statements about a number of essential topics, from basic theory to individual Zang-Fu organs to pathological processes to treatment principles. So, for instance, in the section on physiology we find a subsection about the Zang and Fu organs. Within that section, under the subheading Lung, we find 49 Chinese statements and their translation from a variety of source texts. There are statements about the Lung’s function in the body, the things that easily harm it, some of its pathological states as well as some more symbolic information pertaining to it. Additionally, Flaws provides a brief yet rich interpretation of each statement and its relevance.
Statements of Fact is intended to be a companion to beginning theory classes in Chinese medicine. In the preface of the book, Flaws discusses the challenges faced by Western students of Chinese Medicine. I have to agree with him on his basic assessment of the situation. We are not commonly asked to memorize pieces of texts or the many poems that Chinese speaking students do. We tend not to have basic theoretical information imprinted on our minds and so when we are in clinic or in conversation with a Chinese-trained practitioner, we may be at a disadvantage. Having the basics of theory at hand make it easier to understand inferences, make connections between treatments and their patterns and generally make us more effective students and practitioners. In the introduction, Flaws states:
“Therefore, I recommend that students study this book along with whatever basic theory text their school has chosen. Then, along with understanding the theory contained in that text, they should try to memorize as many of the corresponding statements of fact as possible. That way, one will have remembered the words and the understood their meaning.”
Further, in many schools of CM doctors make many statements in lecture and clinic that have their roots in the voluminous Chinese medicine literature. Only rarely do they have time to verbally source every statement! The ability for an English speaking student to quickly and easily locate that statement as part of the literature is invaluable. Yet this is also where the book finds its primary weakness. While an extensive bibliography is provided, Flaws was unable to follow each statement with a listing of its source text. He explains in the book that this was impractical. Those statements that did not come directly from a Classical text came mostly from Chinese language compendiums of classical statements and knowledge. He explains that the Chinese sources he utilized did not always list their original source for each statement. However, I feel that it would have been wonderful if he could have at least told us which Chinese source each statement came from, regardless of whether that was likely to have referenced the original source. Additionally, for those statements that he was able to trace back to their original source he could easily have listed them. This would have increased the book’s value immeasurably. However, this omission does not significantly alter my overall positive rating.
Overall, the book is a fine effort. As I’ve already mentioned, the organization is first rate and the inclusion of characters, English and pinyin is most appreciated. All of these elements are improvements over the previous edition. Flaws’ explanations of each statement or group of statements is very nice for beginners, but it will be important for students to be careful of taking these as absolute truth. They are Flaws’ interpretation, and while he is a very experienced practitioner and worthy of great respect, he of course interprets these statements through his own point of view. Using his interpretation as a guide will help new students to get a grasp of the basic idea and they can do further investigation to come to a fuller understanding for themselves.
The book is a great value for the price and I believe it will make a good addition to your Chinese medicine library. You can visit Blue Poppy Press’ website for more information and to purchase yourself a copy. You can also simply click on the picture of the book at the beginning of this article. When you do and have had a chance to use it for a while, please do come and let us know how you enjoyed it.
Eric
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Tags: blue-poppy-press, bob-flaws, book-review, books, Character, Classical Texts (general), textual-analysis, Theory, translationsRelated posts
What symptoms can emotions cause in the view of ancient Chinese medicine?
In my previous article, How the Emotions impact the body’s basic energy, Huang Di has some insightful information to share even as he has some questions about his understanding of the emotions and the basic health of the body. QiBo, however, shows his prowess as the Master by revealing some fascinating details about the full impact of emotions on the body - even discussing particular symptoms. I’ll list the text first in Chinese and then in translation to English, using Maoshing Ni’s translation as a guide. I’ll follow that with discussion about what QiBo has to say.
Tags: Character, Classical Texts (general), emotions, neijing, textual-analysis, Theory, translation-problems, translations岐 伯 曰 ：
怒 則 氣 逆/ 甚 則 嘔 血/ 及 飧 泄/ 故 氣 上 矣。
喜 則 氣 和 志 達/ 營 衛 通 利/ 故 氣 緩 矣 。
悲 則 心 系 急/ 肺 布 葉 舉 而 上 焦 不 通/ 營 衛 不 散/ 熱 氣 在 中/ 故 氣 消 矣 。
恐 則 精 卻/ 卻 則 上 焦 閉 /閉 則 氣 還/ 還 則 下 焦 脹 /故 氣 不 行 矣 。
思 則 心 有 所 存/ 神 有 所 歸/ 正 氣 留 而 不 行/ 故 氣結 矣 。
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How the emotions impact the body’s basic energy, Neijing Chapter 39
I have discussed the emotions in Chinese medicine quite a bit on the site recently. This betrays my deep interest in the function of the emotions in health and disease, but also the interest of readers and the general public. You can read more about the emotions in my article about the Yin and Yang emotions in Chinese medicine as well as the popular article about Chapter 5 of the Neijing. I’d like to follow up on that article in particular by visiting, in two parts, Chapter 39 of the Neijing as it represents one of the more extensive treatments of emotional health and disease that I can find in the text. Today I will cover Huang Di’s question to his favorite teacher, Qi Bo. Soon after, I will discuss Qi Bo’s reply.
I’d wager that the question phrased by Huang Di, in this situation the student, contains more pertinent information than most graduate theses in Chinese medicine! I guess it goes to show that someday the student can become the master. In Chinese, the question reads:
帝 曰 ： 善 。 余 知 百 病 生 於 氣 也 ， 怒 則 氣 上 ， 喜 則氣 緩 ， 悲 則 氣 消 ， 恐 則 氣 下 ， 寒 則 氣 收 ， 炅 則 氣 泄 ， 驚則 氣 亂 ， 勞 則 氣 耗 ， 思 則 氣 結 。 九 氣 不 同 ， 何 病 之 生 ？
A rough translation:
Huang Di said: Good. I know that the hundred disease (many diseases/all diseases) are born from Qi. Anger makes the Qi go up. Joy makes the Qi leisurely. Sadness makes the Qi vanish/perish. Fear makes the Qi descend. Cold makes the Qi consolidate. Heat makes the Qi drain out. Being startled makes the Qi chaotic. Hard labor consumes the Qi. Worry makes the Qi stagnant. These nine different Qi lead to what diseases?
Several of these Qi are mostly external in nature - Cold, Heat, being startled are all clearly reliant on some external stimulus. Hard labor is more internal, but not in the same sense that Anger, Joy, Sadness, Fear and Worry are internal. I would like to look at those five and their Qi altering behavior a little more closely. I want to put out a hypothesis that all of the qi alterations that Huang Di mentions are actually excess conditions of their respective elements, as opposed to deficiencies. I think you will see what I mean as you read on…
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Keys to a deeper understanding of the emotions in Chinese medicine
To come into a deep understanding of the emotional aspects of Chinese medicine, you have to start with the basics. In this article, I would like to demonstrate my understanding of the emotions as they are described in Chinese medical theory to provide some basis for further discussions on the topic.
There are a few preliminary things to understand before we dive into investigating the emotional states themselves. First, the emotions are associated with the five elemental phases, and thus the organs. There is some literature that lists seven emotions, but I have not investigated that yet. Second, each of the states listed below are like nodes. The physicians of Chinese antiquity were not so naive as to think that there were only five emotions! Each “emotion” is a keystone representative of a group of emotional states. This is the template used by most concepts in Chinese medicine. A concept like Qi, though often explained using a discreet definition, is a placeholder for a much larger and more complex group of phenomena.
One final preliminary note. Much literature about the emotions contains the following standard list: joy, anger, grief, worry and fear. You can find ample information about this list in a variety of books and websites. There are a variety of problems with this list, not least of which is the fact that it doesn’t make much sense to folks that joy could be a negative emotion as all the rest seem to be. In my first year, I learned an alternative way of looking at the emotions that shapes how I see them today. This alternative view sees both Yin and Yang sides to each of the five emotional states. The Yang emotional states are functional and an expression of balance, and the Yin sides are not. Below, I will describe each of these, beginning with the Yin as those are the most commonly discussed. Note that while the Yang “emotions” are natural responses to encounters with the world, the Yin “emotions” seem to be maladaptations.
The fire emotional state: Mania - kuáng 狂
I am not sure if this is the best character to use in this situation. In most lists of correspondences, the Yang emotion of Joy is listed, which I will discuss shortly. Kuáng has a range of meanings from manic, deranged, crazy to unrestrained and wild. The character consists of the dog radical on the left and the character for the Emperor on the right. Many times in class we have heard the Yin state of the fire organ systems associated with the image of the Emperor running around at night barking like a dog. I know I feel sort of this way when I’m fully in the grip of insomnia. It is worth noting that the Pericardium is associated with the dog - which connects it well with the Fire phase, and the Heart in particular.
More often you will see fire, and specifically the Heart, associated with Joy. Joy, the Yang emotion of fire, is represented in Chinese by two characters, lè 樂 and xǐ 喜. Le is variously translated as pleasure, happiness and enjoyment. The pictogram represents a musical instrument made of wood. Xi is translated as like, fondness and happiness and is created from a radical meaning mouth on the bottom and a radical representing a drum on the top. So both of these characters relate to music - a pleasurable activity that often brings people together. This is the kind of joy one gets from being around great friends, it is time in the summer sun filled with laughter and the building of beautiful memories. It is sharing of stories around the fire, playing group games, and the unabashed smile of a toddler.
As the Fire emotional state, it is associated with the Heart, Small Intestine, Pericardium and Triple Burner. Thus these organs are most buoyed when the Yang side of the fire emotional state is cultivated just as they are most harmed when the Yin emotional state takes hold.
As a nexus of emotional states, with the spectrum starting at Pure joy on the Yang side and going further and further off balance finally reaching Mania on the far Yin side this emotional state seems to speak to the outward and inward facing parts of ourselves. It concerns our ability to relate properly with other people, to let them into our world and to revel in the exchange of intimacy that takes place between people. A failure in this regard causes us to display behavior that tells other people to “keep away.”
Tags: Acupuncture, Character, emotions, etymology, five phases, textual-analysis, translationsRelated posts
Chinese medicine and the emotions: what does the Neijing say?
One of my professors, whom I admire very much, has a bit of a reputation at school for denigrating the focus of many Chinese medicine students and practitioners on emotional causes of disease. What I think I understand him to mean is that the involvement of emotions in the average patient is overemphasized in some circles. I have an abiding interest in the emotional life and its role in health and disease. Thus, it is important to me to come to an understanding of how I might treat people who are suffering from problems of an emotional nature as well as comprehending how emotions play a role in the development of seemingly unrelated problems. As a Classical Chinese medicine student, it makes sense for me to turn to the classics for this information. What follows is the beginning of an attempt to sketch what it is that the Chinese medical classics say, and do not say, about emotions and human health.
Round 1 : The Neijing and basics of the emotion - body connection : As the foundational text of Chinese medicine, the Neijing is a logical place to start this exploration. I will only note the most extensive and, by my judgment, interesting passages. I will use Maoshing Ni’s translation of the Neijing
- Chapter 5: “Overindulgence in the five emotions - happiness, anger, sadness, worry or fear and fright - can create imbalances. Emotions can injure the Qi while seasonal elements can attack the body. Sudden anger damages the Yin Qi; becoming easily excited or overjoyed will damage the Yang Qi. This causes the Qi to rebel and rise up to the head, squeezing the Shen out of the heart and allowing it to float away. Failing to regulate one’s emotions can be likened to summer and winter failing to regulate each other, threatening life itself.”
- An important note is that it is over-indulgence that causes problems. This sentiment is echoed in chapter 39, which indicates that only severe manifestations of negative emotion create problems. I think this is an important point. While I am sure that even mild experiences of the emotions cause some problems, the body is likely able to readily bring the body back into balance. This would not be the case if the person was already wildly out of balance - in which case even a mild emotional experience might rapidly become a serious difficulty.
Tags: Character, Classical Texts (general), emotions, five phases, textual-analysis, Theory, translation-problems
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