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Note: today's post comes to us from Jonathan Schell, the driving force behind the Chinese Medicine Database, an online resource for doctors/practitioners, students, scholars, researchers and translators. If you are involved in Chinese medicine on any level and haven't heard of this wonderful resource, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

This was originally a post from the facebook page for the Chinese Medicine Database and has been reprinted in its entirety, with permission.

Today I am feeling especially driven. Maybe it was because I was sick for a week, and maybe it is because of the Tsunami in Japan, but I so passionately want -- to have so many more Chinese medical texts translated! We have the people just waiting to work, but just lack the funds.

I believe that the more texts that we translate, the more face of what we know as Chinese or Asian medicine will be changed. The thing is I need a few hundred people like yourselves to stand with me and bring this to fruition! A number of... you subscribe already, but I ask those of you that don't what would it take for you to subscribe?

I am not asking for me. I have yet to make money on the Database. I ask because what Book makes you salivate enough that you are willing to throw down your $20.00 per month to make it happen? Economy be damned. I believe that we are reaching a pivotal point with our field. We are big enough to be noticed, but not organized enough to fend for ourselves.

And so here it is -- my passionate howl into the vastness of Facebook -- In my opinion we are heading as a profession towards being absorbed. I put a time of 20 years to it. If you talk to people at the schools there is always more emphasis being put on Western techniques and less time in teaching Chinese medicine. The incentives are on merging Chinese medicine with Western medicine. And as with the most recent financial crisis -- we know that the incentives dominate the course of events.

I am not just passionate about the Classics because I am a big history buff, and love to talk about the past. No in fact I am a clinician just like the majority of you. The Classics serve to prod me into other states of consciousness which provides me with alternative insights. But why as a profession should we care about them? Because in my opinion, they are the only leg that we will have to stand on that irrefutably defends the uses for and the mechanisms of Chinese medicine. No person or organization can doubt 2,000 years worth of written material if it is readable in your own language. But if it is another person's language, we in the West have a tendency to think of things as primitive.

So when we are struggling to not be absorbed in 20 years, and we are all struggling -- it will be too late, my friends, to ask that our academics translate the texts to justify our position. There will be no time left, it would be like trying to raise wheat in winter. No, the time to bear the brunt of this work is before we need it, when we are strong and fresh, and not embattled defending our techniques -- loss of this to PT's, loss of that to Chiropractor's, loss of this other thing to MD's.

I am sorry to say that I don't have the $13 million dollars to translate the 400 main texts in my possession, because if I did I would spend it towards that purpose. But each of you has $20.00 and I have $20.00 and over the years 1,000 of us putting together our collective $20.00 will start to make a dent in that $13 million.

In 20 years I want to be able to say to my son, and your children -- "You know -- everyone said it was impossible -- that it would never happen -- but we pulled together as a community -- and WE MADE IT HAPPEN!" That would be truly awesome! And I think would change the face of Chinese Medicine as we know it.

I am one man, with a team of translators ready to work. I ask you whether you believe in the project or not, would you join me -- to say that you were part of it? To say to your children that we made something so amazing happen that it changed the way our profession understands the medicine? I built this system for us, to be used by us, so that we are never in the dark again.

This is what I am passionate about, and the fire to "Get to work" rages inside of me. I am tired of limping along, I want to start this Wonder of the World now!

Register at www.cm-db.com -- each of us can contribute a little bit to this project and together we can make it happen. I give you my word, which in my world means that I will make my word happen.

Mu Xiang Liu Qi Yin 木香流气饮

An acupuncturist called me yesterday and wanted to know more about Mu Xiang Liu Qi Yin. I had never heard of the formula, and we had already established that it wasn't in either the Bensky or Chen formula book, so I did a quick google search. A few scattered references to the formula in one of Macioca's books and a few others came up, but no clues as to the ingredients or dosages. Then I did a search in Chinese. Ta-da!

It's from the Song dynasty text Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang, which also gave us such famous formulas as 四物汤 Si Wu Tang and 四君子汤 Si Jun Zi Tang.

There are actually two formulas given, and as far as I can tell the first one is the original as written in the Song dynasty. The second version has modern dosage amounts (grams rather than liang) so I'm guessing this is the version most people use today.

Here is a translation of the ingredients from the first version of the formula:

• 半夏（汤洗七次）二两，Ban Xia 2 liang
  
• 陈皮（去白）二斤，Chen Pi 2 jin
  
• 厚朴（去粗皮.姜制.炒）、青皮（去白）、甘草、香附（炒.去毛）、紫苏叶（去枝.梗），各一斤； Hou Po, Qing Pi, Gan Cao, Xiang Fu, Zi Su Ye, each 1 jin
  
• 人参、赤茯苓（去黑皮）、干木瓜、石菖蒲、白术、白芷、麦门冬，各四两； Ren Shen, Chi Fu Ling, Mu Gua, Shi Chang Pu, Bai Zhu, Bai Zhi, Mai Men Dong, each 4 liang
  
• 草果仁、肉桂（去粗皮.不见火）、蓬莪（煨.切）、大腹皮、丁香皮、槟榔、木香（不见火）、藿香叶，各六两； Cao Guo, Rou Gui, Peng E, Da Fu Pi, Ding Xiang Pi, Bing Lang, Mu Xiang, Huo Xiang, each 6 liang
  
• 木通（去节）八两。 Mu Tong 4 liang

Here's my stab at the actions:
Original: 调顺荣卫，通流血脉，快利三焦，安和五脏。
Translation: Mediate and organize the Ying and Wei, connect and flow the blood vessels, quicken the triple burner, calm and harmonize the five zang organs.

I'm running out of time here, got to get back to work. I'll translate the rest of it later - including indications and directions. Remember folks, there is a huge amount of information on Chinese medicine that hasn't been translated into English, this is just one formula! Heed the words of Bob Flaws and learn your Chinese - you'll have access to so much more information. It advances the profession and helps your patients too!

Today's Chinese Lesson

Chinese: 肠断
Pinyin: cháng duàn
Literal: "intestines cut/broken/snapped"
Meaning: heartbreak

Isn't this interesting?? I found this just flipping through my Chinese-English dictionary. Having your "intestines cut" is an expression meaning heartbreak! Chinese people love food. If your intestines were cut, you'd be so sad because you couldn't eat anymore.

Also, flipping the characters (断肠 or duàn cháng) yields the same meaning.

Today's Chinese Lesson

Chinese: 心肝
Pinyin: xīn gān
Literal: "heart-liver"
Meaning: 1. Conscience 2. (as a form of address) beloved; dear

In TCM, the heart and liver are the two organs most strongly associated with emotion.

Dao of the Day

Words of truth are not beautiful;
Beautiful words are not truthful.
The good do not argue;
Those who argue are not good.
The wise are not extensively learned;
The extensively learned are not wise.
The Sage is not mean.
Simply doing things for others he feels greater fulfillment.
Simply giving to others he feels he has gained more.
The Tao of heaven benefits and does not harm.
The Tao of the Sage is to accomplish without competing.

-Lao Tzu: My Words Are Very Easy to Understand by Cheng Man-Ching and Tam Gibbs, Chapter 81

Words to trust are not refined.
Words refined are not to trust.
Good men are not gifted speakers.
Gifted speakers are not good.
Experts are not widely learned;
The widely learned are not expert.

Wise rulers for themselves keep naught,
Yet gain by having done for all.
Have more for having freely shared;
Do good not harm is heaven's Way;
The wise act for and not against.

-Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way by Moss Roberts, Chapter 81.

Happy AOM Day!

What is AOM? AOM is an acronym for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and it refers to the system of medicine that uses acupuncture, herbs, body work, nutrition counseling, exercise and more as the tools to get people back in balance and therefore back to health.

What's the difference between AOM and TCM? TCM stands for Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is the official system of Chinese medicine that is taught in China. The terms, theory and methodology are all standardized and thus are used in many non-Asian countries for educational purposes.

Here in the United States we use both terms to refer to the medicine. Some people prefer the term AOM because it encompasses all systems of Asian medicine with roots in Chinese medicine. The traditional medicine systems of Korea, Japan, Vietnam and many other Asian countries are all based on Chinese medicine, but have developed their own unique theories and treatment methods as well, and thus cannot be called TCM.

Still other people prefer the terms East Asian Medicine, Traditional Asian Medicine, or Classical Chinese Medicine. In the end it doesn't matter what you call it - just use it! If you're a patient, take a moment to reflect on how your Chinese medicine practitioner has helped you, and tell a friend. If you're a practitioner or a student, let's give thanks for being in this profession and use today to let people know about why they need Chinese medicine in their lives.

Dao of the Day

In previous posts we've explored quotes from the Dao De Jing, the classic attributed to Laozi. Today we strike out in a slightly new direction: the Zhuangzi! Zhuangzi was a philosopher in the Warring States period who is supposed to have been Laozi's student and successor. The two are linked so closely that the school of thought attributed to them was known as "Laozhuang thought" before there was such a thing as Dao-ism.

Today's quote is from Thomas Merton's translation of the Zhuangzi. Thomas Merton was an interesting fellow - he was a Trappist monk who didn't read or write Chinese, although he was fluent in several other languages. His method of translation was to gather together the translations available in the languages he knew, read and assimilate them all to make an English version.

If a man steps on a stranger's foot
in the marketplace,
he makes a polite apology
and offers an explanation
("This place is so terribly
crowded!")

If an elder brother
steps on a younger brother's foot,
He says "Sorry!"
and that is that.

If a parent
treads on his child's foot,
nothing is said at all.

The greatest politeness
is free of all formality.
Perfect conduct
is free of concern.
Perfect wisdom
is unplanned.
Perfect love
is without demonstrations.
Perfect sincerity offers
no guarantee.

The Origin of This Picture is Unknown

Take a look at the first two characters of the third line. 阴 is romanized as "yin", as in yin and yang. Yin and Yang are a set of opposites that underlie all creation. In general, yin relates to the moon and things that are cold, dark, contracting, downward moving and female. In general, yang relates to the sun and things that are warm, bright, expansive, upward moving and male.

Everything (absolutely everything) in the universe has yin and yang within it. Although yin generally relates to the "female principle" and yang generally relates to the "male principle", it is an elementary mistake to equate everything female with yin and male with yang (see Charlotte Furth, "Blood, Body and Gender: Medical Images of the Female Condition in China, 1600-1850", 1986. Chinese Science 7: 43-66 and "Concepts of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Infancy in Ch'ing Dynasty China", 1987, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1 for an example of this mistaken thinking).

The next character is 道, which is romanized as "dao". This is the Dao or (Tao) or Daoism, and can mean the Way, a road, a path. If your mind works a certain way, your next question is, path to where? Way of what? In regular Chinese grammar, 道 is usually preceded by another character - 武道 meaning the Way of martial arts or war, 茶道 meaning the Way of tea. Taken by itself, 道 becomes a subject for philosophical inquiry, meditation, contemplation.

In the case of our unfortunately translated picture above, the 阴道 is the pathway of yin - the vagina. The vagina can be thought of as a pathway to the ultimate physical expression of yin in the world of humans - the interior world of a woman. It should therefore be treated with respect and care by those fortunate enough to have one and by everyone who is fortunate enough to come in contact with one.