YANG SHENG

Yang sheng is an ancient term, and specific ‘nourishing life’ texts have been found which date back to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. Some of these texts specifically stress diet, exercise and sexual practices which are considered to enhance the vitality and possibly even lengthen life. But the early chapters of the Neijing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic) suggest that it is in the ability to observe what is appropriate at a particular time and for a particular individual that the real art of nourishing life resides.

The ancient Chinese were good at this kind of observation. The medicine described in the classical texts is essentially a move away from the idea that human lives are at the whim of ancestors, gods and the forces of nature, in need of priests and shamans to intercede with the powers of good and bad fortune on their behalf; at this time in history the idea evolved that human beings are responsible for their own destiny, and that it is up to the individual to make the best of what they have been given by ‘heaven’ or nature (tian 天) at birth. Knowing how to look after our ‘inheritance’ forms the basis of Chinese medicine. The classical texts advise us to observe what is natural and to adapt our behaviour according to the laws of nature; learning to avoid what is harmful and adopt what is beneficial for life. Not to contend, not to struggle, but to follow what is natural and in accordance with one’s true nature; to follow what is naturally so (zi ran 自 然). Read more

In the Northern hemisphere we have just passed the spring equinox – our official beginning of spring – which was accompanied by an auspicious new moon. But Chinese new year began exactly one month before with the new moon of February 18th. The phase between the new moon and the full moon of March 5th forms one of the four gates of the year, when the earth element aids the transition from water to wood. Now we are in the wood phase of the year of the wood sheep.

Following on from our reflections on winter, this commentary on Suwen chapter 2 from the Monkey Press book The Liver by Claude Larre and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée, describes the natural movement of the spring qi and its association with the force of the liver.  As growth in the spring is dependent on the storage in the seed of the winter, so the strength of the liver is dependent on the yin of the kidneys. Read more

I have recently been re-editing the Monkey Press title The Eight Extraordinary Meridians for a reprint. Taken from the perspective of the texts of the Neijing and Nanjing, the book considers these vessels as the first organization of life within a human being, the initial divisions into yin and yang,  interior exterior, above and below being managed by eight principles of government in the same way that the eight trigrams symbolize all possible combinations of yin/yang and the eight winds describe all possible movements between heaven and earth. In treatment they may be used to influence deep-seated and possibly inherited problems because they hold this basic information patterning. Similarly, they have always been considered by daoist alchemists and meditators as a pathway for the return to the origin. Considering this – Claude Larre concludes the book with his own insightful comments. Read more

The following reflections on winter are taken from the Monkey Press book The Kidneys. Beginning with the text of Suwen chapter 2, which describes each of the four seasons and introduces for the first time the idea of the resonance between winter, water, the north and the kidneys, it goes on to describe the three months of winter in the Li Ji, Book of Rites. The commentary is by Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée.

SU WEN CHAPTER 2

‘The three months of winter are called closing in and preserving.

The water freezes, the earth is broken up – there is no longer any communication with the yang. Read more

A friend recently asked me to copy the passage on sadness and grief from my book, Chinese Medicine from the Classics: A Beginner’s Guide, as he felt that it might be useful to a patient in their recent state of bereavement. Since that request, a friend of mine also died.

At these times the classics of Chinese medicine can help to remind us of the ever changing nature of reality and within our personal suffering, bring us closer to the timeless and universal.

The passage is reproduced below:

Several characters may be translated as sadness and grief. In the character bei (悲) the heart is below (心) and above is fei (非) which is a negation, a denial, a negative prefix. It is literally a negation of the heart. It is usually translated as sadness, and suggests a movement of repression and restriction which is often associated with the metal element and the lungs. But in Suwen chapter 5 the expression of will associated with the metal element is you (憂), which may be translated as oppression or sometimes oppressive grief. The character ai (哀) is also often paired with bei and both characters are then translated as grief or mourning. Read more

With the latest book from Monkey Press – Chinese Medicine from the Classics: A Beginner’s Guide – we continue our theme of images from the Mawangdui Funeral Banner, discussed below. The central part of the banner (above) was chosen as the cover image for this book, as it shows the very beginnings of life – brought forth by the intertwining of yin and yang. Yin and yang are symbolized by two dragons, one white, one red; as they pass through the sacred jade disc (bi), life streams from their communion.

The beginnings of life are very important in classical Chinese – both to daoist practice and medicine. We are constantly reminded to go back to the source, to keep our connection with our origins. The following excerpt from the first section of the book shows the emergence of life as it is described in the classical texts:

Chapter 42 of the Daodejing gives a concise description of the way in which life spontaneously arises; there is no external intelligence imposing order, but an implicit order emerging from life itself:

‘Dao gives rise to one, one gives rise to two, two gives rise to three, three gives rise to the ten thousand beings.’ Read more

Elisabeth Rochat’s latest book, Aspects of Spirit, provides an in depth study of the concepts of the shen, hun, po, yi and zhi (generally referred to within Chinese medicine as the spirit, the ethereal soul, the corporeal soul, the intent and the will) in both classical philosophical texts and the medical texts of the Huangdi Neijing. The cover image is adapted from a detail of the Mawangdui funeral banner (above), and shows the seven po (or earthly souls) receiving nourishment before they are guided to the underworld.

The banner was excavated in 1972 from one of three barrows (one of which had been vandalized) on the outskirts of Changsha, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Chu, and present capital of Hunan Province. An inscription in the main tomb dates the burial to 163 BCE, and identifies the tomb as that of the Marquis of Dai. The banner was discovered in a second tomb which contained the body of a woman, considered to be the wife of the Marquis. A triple layered coffin had been used, which ensured the extraordinary preservation of the body as well as of the painting. The banner was draped over the inner coffin. Read more

Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée is speaking at this year’s British Acupuncture Council Conference on the subject of her most recent Monkey Press publication, Aspects of Spirit. The conference this year is focused on the subject of ‘shen’ – which, as Elisabeth explains, could be variously translated as spirits, soul, gods, deities, mind, appearance, expression, supernatural, mystical, smart…

The following is from a presentation on the ‘shen’ given by Elisabeth to the Charles Strong Trust in 2012. This excerpt presents the particular associations made within the medical texts between the five zang organs and the ‘aspects of spirit’.

THE FIVE SPIRITS (wu shen 五 神)  

The five spirits represent the application of the theory of the five elements (phases, agents, wu xing 五 行) in the analysis of the working of the heart/mind. Read more

To continue with the subject of ‘shen’, the theme of this years British Acupuncture Conference, the following is adapted from an article by Sandra Hill, previously published in Chinese Whispers.

THOUGHTS ON THE SHEN

We have problems in the West translating some of the most fundamental terms in Chinese medicine. And amongst those which cause the greatest difficulty are the so called ‘three treasures’ – jing (精), qi (氣) and shen (神). We tend to use their original Chinese (pin yin) form as we have no easy English equivalents. It is not surprising that these three key terms have caused so much difficulty to philosophical as well as medical translators, as their interdependence and inter-relationship illustrates the core differences between Eastern and Western concepts of life – addressing as they do the interaction, interdependence and the inseparable natures of matter and energy, body and mind. Read more