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RE: NATURAL MEDICINE NEW YEAR CHALLENGE: What's Your Healing Resolution?
Well I have not set any New Year resolution but yes I have set some intentions and the major one is to learn the Chinese Medicine Meridian System and I have already started working on it, I just hope I can gain enough knowledge on it as I am finding it a bit difficult to grasp. 💚
I tried to reply when I read this a couple of days ago, but for some reason Partiko would not let me post a comment (reported the bug to the Partiko gods, so they're looking into it).
I'd recommend that you either go do a course or find a practitioner who is vastly experienced who is willing to share their experience and knowledge to you about this - waaaay too much misinformation available on the internet and textbooks; this is not intentional or a conspiracy or anything like that, but there are two main reason why I say this.
Because nearly all modern TCM textbooks coming out of China since the 1960's are edited and censored heavily by 'editorial committees'. The esoteric nature of the channel system goes against much of what is Communist doctrine, so anything that is 'woo-woo' is edited out, or derided as being the 'superstitions of a feudal-imperialist age'.
Therefore anything that Western students and scholars get their hands on is tainted, and combined with the very linear thinking that is second-nature to Western minds (or should I say, post-Aristotelian minds) gets mis-interpreted.
So the vast majority of thinking and writing about the channel system is too literal, and too linear. Although at least in the West, there is the beginnings of a shift, as more Western scholars get their hands on original texts and translate for themselves without (or at least with as little of) the biases of previous decades.
So for example: the channels don't actually exist.
Yes, that's right. I said it. They don't exist. It is stated explicitly in the Huang Di New Jing when describing the channels and their nature.... they are not "things". OK, so there's a lot more to that statement, but it's something I always stressed to my students.
There are two key, fundamental, essential concepts you need to fully grasp when trying to understand the channels: yīnyàng theory, and the I Ching. These co-existent ideas are essential to understanding the ancient Chinese paradigm (180 degrees different to the Western scientific paradigm); that there is nothing stable in the cosmos (the Dào).
Without knowing these, anyone will mistaken the channels as being the circulation or lymphatic system. This is not correct, as these are described elsewhere explicitly.
Reading Paul Unschuld's Medicine In China: A History Of Ideas is a good start to understanding the real historical context for the development of the ideas. Beginning to grasp the I Ching in all its complex simplicity (or is it simple complexity?) helps also. But the real learning always comes from transmission from a teacher - find that person! In terms of primary sources, the Huang Di New Jing/Yellow Emperors Classic of Medicine is a good place, but only the first few chapters that describe the theoretical underpinnings. For channel-specific, the texts are the Ling Shu/Spiritual Pivot or the Nan Jing/Classic of Difficulties. Unschuld & Tessenow have done very very very good translations of the first two texts, but maybe difficult to read for a beginner (but as close to truth as you can get).
The key to remember though always always always is that 1+1≠2, and the channels do not exist.
Happy to chat further via Discord if you want to know more....
😊🙏🏽☯️
First of all a Big Thank you @metametheus for such a detailed explanation. Thanx for all your efforts for bringing so much information to me and highlighting for me how to go ahead.
Yes after reading content online and some books I feel a little confused and I realize that I need a teacher for this subject. I will connect with you on discord please to get more information as that would be better.
I am very grateful to you for being so helpful.
Blessings and Good wishes for you💚
What a great intention @nainaztengra The information is so vast and a bit complex o find too. But, even moreso in ayurveda! Do you know that system? But both can be so useful. Enjoy your studying! You are more ambitious than i am to delve in and study this stuff alone. I am joining a group study in 2020 to become a TCM 5 Elements Practitioner. I've been recieving treatments for 4 years now. It's such a wonderful system. Truly amazing! Again, enjoy your studies 💕
Thank you @yogajill. I have just got my hands on this and I am still not sure of the way ahead, but I am getting some real good advice here which will be useful for me in planning out my studies.
Best wishes
Oh gosh me too! We should share notes!
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@riverflows, sure once I am able to start getting on it, I will surely.