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

The five elements of life

And finally, to the five elements.  Although I am a Five Element acupuncture practitioner, it is probably the aspect of Chinese medicine (CM) theory I am least comfortable explaining to people.  That’s because I feel it’s essential to understand them in terms of Chinese numerology, otherwise there is little value in merelydescribing them. In my previous blogs,’ Yin and Yang (after the big bang)’, and’ Man Stands between Heaven and Earth’, I explain the phenomena that emerged after the big bang. The one is the Dao, or original qi, which is the source of all things in the universe; two is Yin and Yang which describe all things that emerged after the big bang into this universe of duality.  Sitting in between the opposites of heaven and earth, the lightest and heaviest aspects of qi respectively, is Man, who, with his higher state of consciousness, is the mediator of heaven on earth.  And four, the directions, need no further explanation. Whereas the first four are about separation, the Five Elements are about integration.

Lou Zi, the author of probably the best known Daoist text, ‘Dao de Ching’ – ‘The Way of Virtue’ describes the Dao, or original qi as being in an eternal state of self-becoming, revolving around a central pole of emptiness, eternally emerging and returning to itself.  Philosophically, the book describes the Way, the path or cosmic law that directs the unfolding of every aspect of the universe.  The phases of movement of the Dao; becoming, moving away, and returning to itself can be seen in all creative cycles in the universe. Whether it is the emergence, expansion and collapse of the universe itself; the unfolding of the four season year after year, or creative cycles in developing and manifesting plans, they all follow the same movements.

Water, the first stage of the Dao represents the potential basis for the manifestation of life. The moving away from itself and separation into the two poles of heaven and earth is the second stage, represented by Fire. The third stage is Wood. Its function is to blend Fire and Water back into one harmonizing qi. The fourth stage, Metal, signifies the return from the duality of Water and Fire back into the original nature of the Dao. The four transitions occur around a centre, which corresponds to Earth, the fifth element.

In Chinese medicine (CM), the classification of the movements of qi into Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth has all sorts of uses.  Different maps of the elements help us to understand their relationships in different ways.

Here, with Earth in the middle, highlights the centrality of Earth to all other processes.

This next map shows the generative cycle of the elements. In CM, the meridians of qi that flow around the body are named after the organs in the body, but they are more than just about the function of the organs, they are also about the communication of the quality of energy associated to the organ system.  So, each of the elements has a Yin and Yang pairing of organs associated to them which reflect their energetic function in the body.  The Wood energy is about integrating Fire and Water in order to manifest. The energy is assertive, generative. The Liver, which stores the Blood at night, has the function of ensuring the smooth flow of Blood around the body, and is strongly related to stable emotions (Heart and Small Intestine relate to Fire, Stomach and Spleen to Earth, Lung and Large Intestine to Metal, Bladder and Kidney with Water).  If one energetic system is underperforming, it will have a knock on effect on the entire generative cycle. If Fire, for example, is weak, it can drain the mother in the cycle, Wood, or not energetically feed the child in the cycle, Earth. Symptoms could show in either the mother, or the child, when in fact it is Fire that needs treating.

Similarly, the energy must be in correct balance between the elements, otherwise the elements will fail to control each other. A Metal element that fails to control Wood, for example, may see a patient with symptoms related to Liver and Gallbladder.  Qualities of energy relate to body, mind and spirit. The densest, most Yin aspect of body function is the organ, and the lightest Yang aspects are emotions and mental function. The emotional and mental associations of Wood are anger and assertiveness. So, in this case, someone with uncontrolled Wood may exhibit symptoms related to irregular or heavy periods (since in CM, the Liver controls the smooth flow of Blood), and may get angry and frustrated, often because they are unable to assert themselves effortlessly. Again, the skilful practitioner would tonify the Metal element, rather than pacify Wood.

How does a practitioner know what is going on, are the symptoms in the weak element, the mother or child, or along the control cycle?

The practitioner uses signs and symptoms to diagnose the Causative Factor: the element which is at the root cause of illness. The elements (as manifestations of energy) vibrate at a particular frequency, which can be observed in the colour, sound, odour and emotion of the patient. The five element practitioner is trained to identify these vibrations.   A preference or aversion to a set of associations to one of the elements can also provide a clue.

As a form of classification, the Chinese associate manifestations of life to each of the elements. Some common ones are:

Element	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Colour	Green	Red	Yellow	White	Blue
Phase	New Yang	Full Yang	Balance	New Yin	Full Yin
Direction	East	South	Centre	West	North
Life Cycle	Infancy	Youth	Adulthood	Old age	Death
Energy	Generative	Expansive	Stabilising	Contractive	Conserving
Season	Spring	Summer	Between	Autumn	Winter
Season	Windy	Hot	Damp	Dry	Cold
Development	Sprouting	Blooming	Ripening	Wilting	Dormant
Smell	Rancid	Scorched	Fragrant	Rotten	Putrid
Flavour	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Pungent	Salty
Mental quality	Sensitivity	Creativity	Clarity	Intuition	Spontaneity
Negative	Anger	Hate	Anxiety	Grief	Fear
Positive	Patience	Joy	Empathy	Courage	Calmness
Body	Tendons	Pulse	Muscles	Skin	Bones
Aperture	Eyes	Throat/tongue	Lips, mouth	Nose	Ears

That was a whirlwind tour of the elements. The elements represent qualities of movement which are universal to all things. They are a way of categorising all phenomena, whether solid, material things, or immaterial concepts and emotions.  In the human body they provide a model to analyse the correct functioning of relationships between organs and physiological systems.

For my next blog, I will discuss the Dao in a little more depth to discover what Chinese philosophies  has to say about the role of the Mind (heaven) in our manifestation on Earth.

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