Every-Day Miracle
What follows is a story from my ancient former farm life, which I composed in 2009, 11 years and what feels like a lifetime ago when I happily got up at 5 am most mornings. I found it in my ancient files while looking for goose pictures, and figured maybe it will make you smile….
Grief is a Kitten
Grief is a kitten wanting to toy with you
One moment a blanket of purring fuzzy love,
Contentedly crashed out on top of your chest, with her tail in your face.
The next its claws tear bloody scars across your aching heart,
Bound to heal over time,
But hurting like hell in the meantime.
Why Learn Classical Chinese?
…I am convinced that classical Chinese has a way of accessing the deeper truths in nature, in heaven and earth, and in the human condition, that no modern language could ever express. It has a way of playing with layers of meaning in each character, with dimensions and relationships, of evoking feelings and connections between overlapping and actively interacting fields of reference. I am further convinced that we, by studying it and reading it, can slowly begin to acquire the ability to perceive the world in such a non-rational, non-linear, heart-centered mode that we can then apply to whatever aspect of truth we are interested in, whether it be medicine, aesthetics, gardening, wood-working, or parenting. …
A Cracked Heart
It is a dark grey day outside as I look this truth squarely in the eye: Two nights ago, my soul sister Lillian Pearl Bridges passed, a month after I lost my dog. Making a heavy year heavier yet.
She was surrounded by pure love in her passing, physically by her sons and daughter-in-law, and energetically by a giant tidal wave of love from countless people whose lives she has touched.
Opening the Soul
Moving beyond one worldview into another is difficult and requires effort. It is possible to learn to think in ways closer to the ancient sages of China or the writers of the classical Chinese medicine texts we so admire without learning to read Chinese, but if we can learn to use their tools, the ones they used to learn and to express concepts so different from our own, perhaps we too can enter into the same mind/heart space that enabled its creation and continuation.
The Problem With Spinach
The present post uses THE SPINACH PROBLEM to consider the problem of absorbing the wisdom from the Chinese medicine classics as part of a practitioner’s education and cultivation.
Thoughts on Ancient Medical Texts
A guest post by Tom Ehrman: “Though the Chinese medical literature contains many commentaries on historical works, particularly the classics from the Han dynasty, it is rare for authors to express their actual opinions on the historical literature in a general way. There is one book, however, which contains an entire chapter devoted to just that, the Yīxué Yuánliúlùn (On the Origins and Development of Medicine, 1764) by the Qing dynasty physician Xú Dàchūn (1693-1771), where a kind of brief critical summary of a number of famous ancient texts is given.”
Mugwort in the Bencao Gangmu
…Presented below are 27 mugwort prescriptions from Běncǎo Gāngmù (Compendium of Materia Medica, 1596) out of a total of 52….
Liquid Love and Human Evil
…Today, I sit with love, I hold love, for the children holding their grandparents’ hands, who know not what is happening. Who have no tools to process the bloodshed, so once again, trauma gets perpetuated down the ancestral line. I hold love for my Arab and Jewish friends, the mothers and fathers and healers, the sons and daughters and lovers and neighbors and friends. May God send you a tiny moment of strength, and love, and beauty, in spite of it all…
Just Fine in a Tsunami
“Don’t worry! I knew this was coming. It is exactly what is meant to happen. And we shall be just fine.”
Wallowing in Words
Yes! There are paths that can be followed as paths
But! These are not the paths that last.
Ming: Names
Yes! There are names that can be employed as names
But! These are not the names that last.
Suwen 5 and Seeking the Root
…the lesson here is that we all need to stay open to learning and being corrected. That none of our knowledge is ever enough, that we all make mistakes, and that we all must create and maintain and nurture a learning environment that facilitates this sort of mutual collaboration. And that we must hold each other accountable, and that that our goal must be not to make ourselves right and the other person wrong but to learn from and with and for each other, for the benefit of the greater good.
Acting on my “Coronified” Values
I wanted to share the story of this book with you because it fills me with hope for a new post-pandemic way of life, and because, ultimately, these are all simple things to do. Most of you, the readers of my blog, are healers and as such are involved with physical medicine, with alleviating the suffering of the physical bodies in the community around you. I invite you, through this little story, to contemplate what each of us can do to try and embody the lofty ideal of classical Chinese medicine in harmonizing Heaven and Earth, in cultivating the virtue-power 德 dé that comes from being in alignment with the Dào 道, the cosmic Way.
Feeding in the Grey Zone
A year and half a million deaths (in my chosen home country) into this pandemic, seems like a good time for me to reflect.
Crying Over Spilled Milk
There is no point in crying over spilled milk, right? But how many of us truly know, deep in our hearts, the challenge posed by this casual saying? I don’t know its history, how old it is, who coined it, and under what circumstances and with what intentions it was first uttered. Was it a compassionate consolation from an admirably chill mom on a lazy Sunday morning, to a young child crying after dropping a cup of their favorite chocolate milk at the breakfast table? A stern and judgmental word of warning from the family patriarch in the 50s, home after a long day at the office, when the supposedly happy housewife got upset about the mess on the kitchen floor and lost it? Or a kind-hearted response by a good farmer when a clumsy milkmaid of old dropped a pail on her way from the milking parlor to the creamery?
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…
Chao Yuanfang on Epidemics
The following is my translation of Cháo Yuánfāng’s 巢元方 three essays on Epidemics, found as Volume 10 of the Zhūbìng yuánhòu lùn《諸病源候論》(“Discussion of the Origins and Signs of the Various Diseases,” from 610 CE)