More on the Dao

What has the Dao got to do with acupuncture? Well, something and nothing. You don’t need to know about Daoism to learn the skills of an acupuncturist (especially the more Westernised form known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and certainly not the medical kind, used by physiotherapists etc. But, I feel that understanding, inhabiting the worldview that underpins acupuncture enriches my practice, and helps me maintain my own sense of balance and well-being. As a Westerner, that takes a conceptual shift from expecting, and demanding universal truths from my science, to one that allows competing theories to co-exist, and who’s first principle is not the absolute, but change. Often, we try to pin things down to gain a sense of control over our lives, whether that be our jobs, other people or certain events; we may actively work to avoid change happening. But if we can go with the flow of change, be more naturally adaptive, then we really are working in tune with an inevitable feature of life.

The demand for universal truths permeates Western culture and is influenced by religious beliefs in the one true God (see my previous blog ‘Start at the Beginning’). We see this in our scientific methodology; eliminating competing ideas, until one theory prevails. It is also evident in our legal system, and in our politics. By contrast, in China, as Unschuld puts it, there is ‘the continuous tendency towards syncretism of all ideas that exist (within accepted limits)’ (1)

Chinese thought is influenced by the worldview contained within their major religions/philosophies; Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. Their view of the world is ordered through concepts I have spoken of previously, Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and although they part ways on how they see man’s relationship to the universe, they perceive order through observations of nature. The theories behind acupuncture may appear less rigorous than Western science, but it is probably more accurate to say that they are less rigid. It’s like we are standing either side of a window, and you take a snapshot of your view from the window. Then, I take a snapshot from the other side, and from above and below, and then we have to agree which one gives a true perspective of the view from the window, or which one is more consistently correct. Perhaps we would decide that by measuring how much more often people look out from each side of the window. We would have to make a compromise to agree on one truth. Following on from that analogy, in Chinese medicine, we would of course allow all perspective to co-exist and recognise their usefulness for different situations (and we wouldn’t be complaining, ‘But in that other way we looked at it, the tree was over there, so that can’t be right!’).

But I have become sidetracked rather from exploring the concept of the Dao. I think it’s important because Chinese philosophy, religion and Five Element acupuncture focus on the state of the mind in governing health. Eastern meditation and yoga practices are aimed at stilling the mind and cultivating mastery of the mind. Some schools of Buddhism go so far as to believe that our physical reality is manifested by the mind. In that sense, we could conceive of a mutli-dimensional universe that contains as many dimensions as there are human minds (And indeed, modern physics does offer up a theory that the universe is made up of an infinite number of dimensions).

In the first chapter of the Dao De Jing (Way of Virtue), the book said to be written by the father of Daoism, Lao Tzu, somewhere between 6th and 3rd century BC, there is an interesting allusion to this theory.
The Dao that can be spoken of,
Is not the Everlasting Dao.
Name that can be named,
Is not the Everlasting name.

Nameless, the origin of heaven and earth;
Named, the mother of ten thousand things.

Therefore, always without desire,
In order to observe the hidden mystery;
Always with desire,
In order to observe the manifestations.

These two issue from the same origin,
Though named differently.
Both are called the dark.
Dark and even darker,
The door to all hidden mysteries (2).

The Dao is the state that existed before the creation of duality; before the creation of heaven and earth, when there was no thing in the universe, no material thing. Therefore the Dao is implicit in all things and all things are implicit in one another. The Dao is the unknowable unity of the divine. When used by philosophers, the Dao became the Way, the path that directs the unfolding of every aspect of the universe. Dao is the wisdom of the divine made manifest in nature and in each individual life.

Lonny Jarrett, a practitioner academic, has given an interpretation of this text that I cannot match, and so next I will summarise his chapter on the subject (3).

The first two verses of the text mean that fundamentally the Dao is unknowable, the very act of naming it, conceptualising it with the mind, changes it from the Dao of the eternal to the Dao of the transient. Whatever we may say about it, the eternal truth always lies beyond the reach of words, but we know it through intuition and feeling.

As soon as it is named the Dao is no longer one but two, that which knows and that which is known. The Dao gives rise to the two universal poles of heaven and earth, Yang and Yin, perfectly blended with original qi, the original dynamism of the world. This is the here, the there, and the space in between – it could be viewed at the holy trinity. The duality of Yin and Yang exists in all things that can be comprehended by the human mind. It is the human attempt to comprehend that splits apart the primal unity of heaven, earth and qi to generate the material universe of the ‘ten thousand things’ (ten thousand being an inconceivably large number in the 6th century BC).

The human heart may know or understand unity through intuition and feeling, but the mind may never know it, for its evaluative process equips it only to understand the pieces and parts of material existence. The Character De in the title Dao De Jing, means virtue, implying the true self bypassing the evaluative mind.

Chinese medicine does not study things but the space in between, and that is where the eternal Dao is to be found. It becomes evident why true self-knowledge cannot be gained with the rational mind, but only by going inside, and listening with the heart.

(1) Unschuld P O, 1990 Forgotten traditions of ancient Chinese medicine. Paradigm Publications, Brookline, MA

(2) Chen EM, 1989 The Tao Te Ching. A new translation with commentary. Paragon House. NY

(3) Jarrett L S, 2004 Nourishing Destiny. The inner tradition of Chinese medicine. Spirit Path Press. MA

Yin and Yang (after the big bang)

I remember the first time I saw a ying yang symbol: It was on a piece of jewellery in one of those ‘hippy’ markets in central London. I can’t remember if it was by the church at St Martin’s in the Fields, or Camden Lock.  I was absolutely captivated by it. I was a teenager at the time, living in a suburb of London, which in those days was terribly conservative; even the one Italian restaurant in the high street was thought exotic. It’s funny to think now that I didn’t know what the symbol stood for. The pendant, on a strip of leather, was displayed among the tattooed skulls, Celtic crosses, dolphins, onyx, turquoise and other jumble of designs laid out on a table. No doubt many of them symbolised things I knew nothing about either, but I knew I had to have that one. It just felt right: like coming home.

The yin yang symbol so simply and powerfully describes everything that happens, everything that exists, after the big bang. In my previous blog, ‘Man stands between heaven and earth’ I wrote about the concept of qi being the something that came from nothing after the big bang. Yin and yang describes what it did… what it does, afterwards.

The idea of qi is ancient, and can be found in the earliest classical Chinese medical texts. These texts form the basis of Chinese and other Asian cultures, just as religious texts form the foundation of Western and Middle Eastern. It is hard to separate the doctrines, imagery, metaphor and ideas that come from these influences. The Japanese, for instance, greet each other by saying Ogenki desu ka? –  meaning,  ‘How is your original qi?  Here in the UK, we say ‘Bless you’ after someone sneezes. Yes, we were taught in school that the saying was adopted during the bubonic plague of the 6^th century, but it also speaks of a culture that believes in the possibility of a god that bestows blessings. Even before the medical texts were written ancient literature referred to qi as that which arose at the beginning and from which all things derive.  I just love that the wisdom and beliefs that arose separately in eastern and western philosophies/religions come together to provide a unified understanding of the whole. Birch and Felt neatly sum this up, ‘If God is the creative agent in Western cosmology, qi is the medium of creation in Eastern cosmology’ (1). And of course, the leading edge of modern physics and cosmology are investigating similar things: Einstein’s famous equation E=MC_2, describes the mutability of matter, which under the right conditions transforms to energy and vice versa, and in my previous blog, I discussed the Higg’s boson field, which could be said to describe universal consciousness.

In the Yin Yang symbol, we see the seed of one in the other. Yin is the black side, which symbolises inactivity, whilst yang the active. It can describe all opposites; dark/light; cold/hot; passive/assertive; winter/summer; sad/happy; down/up; heavy/light; female/male; interior/exterior; receding/expanding. In fact, the universe can be thought of as binary, in the sense that nothing exists without it’s opposite. The genius and simplicity of the ying yang symbol are the seeds of the opposite contained within the other, which expresses the idea that nothing is fixed: everything has the potential to change into something else, and indeed, that change is inevitable. The I Ching, the ‘Book of Changes’ is over 3,000 years old, and considered to be the oldest of the Chinese classics.  Interpreted by Daoist philosophers it is a book that teaches how to recognise and embrace change in order to follow the Dao: the way, or path. It is commonly used as a book of divination, similar to Tarot card readings, and, if you have a good translation and interpretation, is a book of wonderful wisdom. The book has as at its heart the idea that in order to live a healthy life we should live by the concept of ‘wu wei ,‘ literally translated as ‘not doing’, but meaning the path of least effort to cause action.  We see this concept beautifully executed in martial arts where combatants go with the flow of their opponent’s movements rather than fighting against them.

Change should happen appropriately and naturally: winter should turn into spring, hot things cool down; full stomachs become empty. In acupuncture we look for the smooth flow of qi to carry out appropriate actions in the body, and  its timely transformation. Blocks to the smooth flow of qi cause sluggish physiological systems, resulting in damp, phlegm, heat, dryness, toxicity, cold.  We also classify the body in terms of its yin and yang aspects. The heavy organs are yin, whilst the lightest yang aspects are the Shen (spirit). In between are the blood and bodily fluids. These aspects can be sub-categorised, so the yin organs are the solids ones, like the Liver, whilst the hollow ones are  yang, like the Stomach. We look to nourish the Blood, as Blood roots the qi. There is a saying that the Blood is the mother of qi and qi moves Blood. This indicates the interdependence of the two: Blood must contain good nourishment at the levels of body, mind and spirit, in order to root and contain the qi. There are different qualities of  qi that carry out bodily processes, but also governs mental acuity and stable emotions. We know that if we haven’t eaten or are unwell, we can feel light headed and scattered mentally.

In terms of Chinese numerology, so far I have covered the one – qi, now we have the two – yin and yang,  the three is – heaven, man and  earth. The four is the directions: north, south east, west, and the subject of my next blog is the five, the elements Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

(1)    Stephen Birch, Robert Felt, 1999, Understanding Acupuncture. Churchill Livingstone, London

Man stands between heaven and earth

In the Qi Gong exercise, 8 Pieces of Silk Brocade, the first movement is called Shuang Shou Tuo Tian, Two Hands Hold up the Heavens. The movement ends with the arms up above the head, with palms facing upwards, and fingers pointing towards each other. It’s a wonderful stretch for the meridians that run along the arms, but I also use this exercise as a time to remember my unique position as a human being on earth, and my contract with heaven.

In Eastern philosophy, human beings are the product of the union between heaven and earth. They are sustained by the power of earth and transformed by the power of heaven. We can think about heaven and earth as being relative aspects of the same thing, qi. After all, the universe came from nothing, so everything in the universe has been transformed from that something that came from nothing.

Human beings are not separate from the earth, or heaven, they are simply a particular configuration of qi with a unique ability, through the capacity of consciousness, to direct their destiny. In having consciousness, human beings are both the lightest aspect of qi, heaven, and in having a body also the densest aspect of qi, earth (qi is commonly translated as energy, but is more like a motivating, animating force). Standing as the highest manifestation of the evolutionary process (through the capacity of high states of consciousness compared to other living things) human beings have an obligation to push the leading edge of evolution forward, which is to relate to one another, all other living things, and the earth with a higher state of consciousness/mindfulness/compassion.

The philosophies of the East have long been based on an understanding that all life is connected, a unified whole, and it seems that modern physics is catching up, with the discovery of the illusive Higgs boson particle (1). When atoms (or you and I) pass through the Higgs field, particles from it attach to the particles in atoms giving them weight: in other words making them manifest. Matter is constantly passing through the Higgs field, so everything really is connected. Science may yet discover that thoughts and emotions also are made manifest by the same process, which would make the Higgs field what some describe as universal consciousness. Our sixth sense, and intuition, which we have learned to mistrust in Western societies, is my proof of this.

So in discussing man’s place, standing between heaven and earth, I have sought to describe our purpose in life, which is to manifest our true potential to the best of our abilities. In my next blog I will write about Yin and Yang, through which everything in the universe can be described. Practitioners of acupuncture observe the state of Yin and Yang in the body, and work towards harmonising it.

(1)    Nick Collins, Science Correspondent, 04 Jul 2012, Higgs Boson: Q& A, The Telegraph. Available at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/9372661/What-is-Higgs-Boson-the-God-Particle.html

Start at the beginning

Welcome to my Blog about my continuing professional development as an acupuncture practitioner. I hope it will  encourage me to put my thoughts on paper, and it is also aimed at students and patients who want to deepen their understanding of this amazing practice.

I read an article on the BBC website yesterday about how language can affect our relationship to the future. Actually, the research it covered was about how people who speak a language which is strong in future-time references are less likely to save than people who speak a languages that doesn’t. Professor Shen argues that if your language separates the future from the present it leads you to dissociate yourself from the future, and therefore make it less likely that you will save money for your retirement. For the English speakers among us, an example is the English saying, ‘it’s going to rain tomorrow’, whereas a German speaker would say, ‘it rains tomorrow’. (1)

This is just one example of how cultural difference affect our relationship to our world. The Chinese languages have weak future-time references. Not only that but the ideograms of their written language is a completely different form of expression from our rationalist roman text. We must rely on the writer’s ability to express the nuances of concepts, emotions and descriptions. With ideograms, the reader connects to the writer through the image, through the senses. How different their experiences must be. But can we say one is better than the other, or are they just different?

In the West, the materialist worldview is considered more advanced than older philosophies. Indeed, the era from which this world view sprang was called the age of enlightment. It freed us from the ignorance, disease and suffering of earlier eras and gave birth to an explosion in scientific and sociological advances.

Leonard Shlain argues that the discoveries in laws of physics at the foundation of the material worldview could only have sprung from the West because that culture had a religion that believes in the  one true God. Without that concept deeply imbedded in the psyche of the society, men would not have gone in search of the one true law that governs the universe. And it explains why similar discoveries were not made in the  polythesist East, at a time when the cultures were equally advanced (2)

The philosphical foundations of acupuncture are rooted in cultures for whom the relationship between objects was more significant in terms of understanding how things work. In the blog entries that follow, I’m going to start my project byexamining some of the core concepts that underpin early Chinese philosophy, and try to give practical applications for their usage.

(1) Tim Bowler Business reporter, BBC News, 23/2/13, ‘Why speaking English can make you poor when you reitre’. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21518574

(2) Leonard Chlain, 1993, Art & Physics: Parallel visions in Space, Time & Light Perennial, NY