Sun Simiao on Yangxing
Now, it is difficult for humans to nurture but easy to imperil, as it is difficult for Qì to be clear but easy to be turbid. Only when we are able to fully know our awe-inspiring virtue-power in order to protect the spirits of the earth and of the grain, and when we are able to sever our desires in order to secure the blood and Qì, only then will the True One be preserved therein, will the Three Ones[2] be safeguarded therein, will the hundred diseases turned back therein, and will longevity be extended therein…
From Extraction Beyond Sustainability To Regeneration
…This is a pivotal time, a giant hinge moment that calls on us all to replace the currently still dominant model of EXTRACTION not just with the goal of SUSTAINABILITY, as has been advocated up to now by many progressive people, but with the ideal of RESTORATION or REGENERATION. And by “restoration” I don’t mean a return to the “normal” that may have worked for some people in the age before the coronavirus, but a return to the source, to ancient ways of being and knowing, in harmony with our plant and animal relations. We can see the need for this change in perspective in the three main areas of Chinese thought that I like to fall back on: Politics/economics, agriculture, and medicine. …
Embracing the Middle
Mengzi: “Yangzi chooses acting on his own behalf, which means that if he could benefit all Under Heaven by pulling out even a single hair, he still would not do it. Mozi practices universal love, which means that if he had to rub himself raw from the top of the head to the heel of the foot to benefit Under Heaven, he would still do it. Zimo embraces the middle, which brings him closer. However, embracing the middle without expediently adapting to circumstances is still a form of embracing a single position. The reason why I dislike embracing a single position is because it strong-arms the Dao and because it elevates a single position and dismisses a hundred others.”
Establishing Life Through Water and Fire
My translation of ̌Shuǐ huǒ lìmìng lùn 水火立命論 (Treatise on Establishing Life Through Water and Fire), by Cài Yíjì 蔡貽績 from the Qing dynasty: “How are humans created? Humans are created in fire. They are created in the [third earthly branch] Yīn, which is fire. Fire is the substance of Yáng. Creation takes Yáng as the root of life. Human life takes fire as the gate of the lifespan (mingmen). Scholars say that heaven opens in [the first heavenly branch] Zǐ, and that Zǐ is the origin. Doctors say that humans are created from water, and that the kidney is the origin. Who is aware that Zǐ is the beginning of Yáng and that the kidney constitutes a fire organ/storage?…
Classical Chinese Sleep Hygiene
This brief exploration of advice on sleep hygiene from classical Chinese medical and Daoist texts originated with my translation project on the “Hundred Questions on Gynecology.” In Question 49 on the “Thirty-Six Diseases Below the Belt,” the author discusses “harm from sleeping” as one of the seven harms that cause women’s illnesses. When a curious reviewer of my manuscript asked me to explain, I had to go down that rabbit hole, at least briefly. Here is what I found and write in my discussion…