Sabine Wilms & Yaron Seidman: Classical Embryology & Fertility | ChineseMedicineTools.com: Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Social Community ~ Video ~ Podcasts

Confucianism versus Daoism

Hi everyone,

March 8th I'll be giving a free webinar on the Fire God school and the use of Fu Zi, I won't be able to do it without first discussing a bit about Confucianism and Daoism, and why Sun Simiao was a Confucian in heart, while Zhang Zhongjing (who used a quote from Confucius in his intro to the Shang Han Lun) was actually a Daoist in heart.

Yaron Seidman DAOM

Http://www.ChineseClassics.org

Looking for Feedback and Questions

Hi everybody,

In preparation for my short talk this coming Monday, I would like to encourage anybody to tell me here what they want me to focus on, what questions were left unanswered by my last seminar if you attended, and what they would like me to explore further, what was too simplistic and what went over your head. This is great technology but the problem I am having is that I was unable to judge the audience's response to what I was spouting out. I love to teach and I love the possibilities of this new medium so gracefully provided by the team at ProD, but I find myself hanging out there in virtual ether, not knowing what you all need. I am used to teaching in conversation and apologize that we didn't have more of that during the last webinar, but I am determined to do just that on Monday, i.e. make space for your responses. I have a head full of obscure information that is not published anywhere (not even in Chinese) but I would love to share, I just need to get a better sense of what you all need, want, and already know. This is a new medium and the way I see it, it is up to make it work any way we want. I see my role as a teacher not as someone who just provides neatly packaged canned information (you can get that from the articles attached to this discussion threat and my other publications) but as someone who engages in a conversation that stretches and enriches all of our minds.

For example, after the last webinar I had some great lightbulbs go on in my head, related to Yaron's question on why I love the classics. I went out in my orchard and looked at my irrigation ditches, all frozen up of course, but still, as I contemplated the layout of my land, the patterns of snow fall, ice buildup, chicken, duck, turkey, and geese tracks, and sleeping bees, I related them to the flow of qi in the human body and our efforts at manipulating that via acupuncture and moxibustion. I realized why I love irrigating and how much I learn from the "craft" of agriculture, whether irrigating or pruning apple trees or "midwifing" goats, and how more and more in my life, it does somehow meet up with my intellectual pursuits.

Another example, I was reading a book by Wendell Berry last night on the Great Economy (what he also calls the "Kingdom of God"), in terms of the aliveness and complexitiy of plain old top soil, versus the small economy, created by humans, centered around money. I struggle with this on a daily basis because I am not very good in the normal money economy and can sometimes feel like a complete failure, but when I look at my life in the larger context, it actually is beginning to make sense. I was so happy to read him explain from his Christian and agricultural background how we are all connected to and integrated into the macrocosm, in terms that Sun Simiao would have completely related to, how humans are just a part of the larger whole.

All right, now it's somebody else's turn...And I do want to make this conversation relevant not just to those of us "viejitos" (old guys, as my neighbors around here say) who have been thinking about this for many many years but also to people just starting out in CM with a fresh, clean mind. Spence mentioned how most people who get into CM do so from a sincere interest in the universe and in healing in all its ramifications. The last thing I want to do is talk over anybody's heads by getting too esoteric.

Sabine

competence

But what is competence? One of my favorite students years ago at the Asian Institute of Medical Studies in Tucson was a lady who was a plant person. She struggled so hard with the academics and I believe in the end gave up on CM school, but she had this intuitive understanding of plants, macrocosmic connections, just a different angle on the whole thing, that unfortunately had no place in modern CM training but was such an invaluable asset to our class on History of Chinese Medicine. I just hope she found herself a personal mentor to study with and managed to continue her talent outside the narrow confines of modern American CM education.

Fire Sage School and Fu Zi webinar

Hi everyone,

thanks for watching the webinar last night. This is a short reply to Lorne's good argument that a tree will survive the cold (of winter) and flourish again, but it will not survive fire (correct me Lorne if I didn't understand right).

In normal cold conditions, like in winter, the Yang energy goes inward into storage, it is cold outside but warm inside. Like at night when we sleep. If it becomes cold inside too, meaning no Yang energy inside or outside then the tree (or the person) is finished. The same is with fire, if it brings all the Yang energy outwards and nothing is left to anchor inside with the Yin then the tree (or the person) is finished. Supporting the Yang means knowing the methods (of using hot herbs) to guide the Yang inward back into its residence. Not knowing these methods and using hot herbs then the fire flares outwards, damaging the Yang (or Yin) inside. Not knowing these methods and using cold herbs to subdue fire outside, leads to the demise of Yang in storage. As if we would say that if a patient is hyper active during the day, lets ruin his sleep, under the wrong assumption that the more he sleeps the more active he'll be.

The essence of Chinese medicine treatment is allowing inappropriate fire to become appropriate and then life continues. The essence of the fire sage school.

Yaron Seidman

Hunyuan Research Institute for Chinese Classics

webinar conversation tonight

Hi everybody,

Just in case anybody reads this before tonight's webinar, Z'ev Rosenberg and I will be having a conversation this evening about Sun Simiao (the 7th century hermit and author of the massive encyclopedia "Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold for Every Emergency"), about his contributions to medicine (with a focus on ethics, nurturing life, and possibly gynecology, if we find the time) and how they can be applied to modern clinical practice. We also want to address the general issue of what the classics mean in modern times and how to read them. It will be a CONVERSATION, so, like the last webinar I did, I am still trying to experiment with this webinar technology to make it as interactive as possible. Bring your questions, post them here in advance if you can or post them in the chat that goes on during the webinar. SPEAK UP! it is so much more fun when the webinar ends up being a two-way street instead of just a teacher saying what they believe to be true. Looking forward to it and thank you for the couple of people who have indeed posted here besides Yaron and me. And if Yaron is reading is and able to "attend" tonight, we will make sure he gets a chance to share some of his wonderful insights again!

Sincerely, Sabine

Tonight's webinar

Hello~I am a senior student of acupuncture in Ohio. Previously, I studied Western herbology and am fascinated by this amazing "herbal prophet". I' am hoping to learn as much as we can tonight about his methods as he experimented with the plants and other resources he found in nature and used in healing. I understand he would actually take all the herbs himself to get a first-hand experience of them. Bold!

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. ~Chinese Proverb