Next, let’s look at a few famous phrases on the big screen, left behind for us by renowned ancient Chinese people. Let us take a look. Zhuangzi said “All under the sky there is one breath of life and life is the gathering of Qi. The gathering of Qi gives life, while its dispersal brings death.” How should we understand this sentence ? All things leave behind them the Obscurity (Yin), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (Yang) while they harmonize their conflicting Qi (Chong Qi). So Qi is the congregation of Yin Qi and Yang Qi, and so when they gather together, life is created. Later, there was something that Zhuangzi said that reverberated in TCM. It was very clear that Yin Qi and Yang Qi conformed with each other. There’s a sentence in “Yellow Emperor’s Classis of internal Medicine” which says that when Yin Qi and Yang Qi are balanced, the spirit can still be treated. If Yin Qi and Yang Qi are separated, then the body’s energy will be depleted. Once your energy is depleted. Your life ends.
So the congregation of Qi is very important. It’s the basic of life. There’s actually a very common saying of “people are still alive as long as they draw breath (Qi in Mandarin).” You are still alive as long as you are breathing. If you don’t have Qi, then your life is over.
The “Yellow Emperor’s Classis of internal Medicine” “Haven covers the Earth below, and of all the creatures living across the world, none are more noble than man. With the essence of Heaven and Earth does man live, and is completed by the cycle of the seasons.
The essence of Heaven and Earth Yin Qi and Yang Qi. Heaven refers to Yang Qi, and Earth refers to Yin Qi. Heaven is covering, above, while earth holds it below. The myriad creatures grow and die in succession, Among these creatures. The most noble is man.
On our set today, we have another guest. This is the academic inheritor of national-class TCM practitioner Chen Wenbo, Mr. Chen Xin. Welcome. You grew up in a family of TCM practitioners. I’m sure that you were influenced as a child by many of the professional knowledge of TCM and philosophy. Just what is TCM? It is common knowledge. What is common knowledge? Those who have a mind to become doctors, but many don’t. We have a saying. “I annotate the ‘six classics’ and the ‘six classics’ annotate me.” What does that mean? As you know, there were the hundred schools of thought during the Spring and autumn Annals, one of which was a medical school thought. By drawing on others experiences, they took all of the experiences of other schools and used them for themselves. That’s why they had a lot of interaction with schools of Daoism and Buddhism. Yin and Yang actually come from aesthetic tradition. For example, on today’s set, we can look at this tea set. There are cups to both the left and right of the teapot, which represent the balance of Yin and Yang. Also, as the two of you sitting, Mr. Lou is an extremely gifted scholar. He’s not just a young scholar. He’s not. And as for you, everyone acknowledges that you are pretty, that you are a beautiful lady. When a gifted scholar and beautiful woman sit together, the variance in the voices between men and women completely demonstrates the balance of Yin and Yang.
I want to ask you that as for the topic we just talked about have you ever met this situation as a TCM practitioner.
For example, the general principle of TCM is to adjust the balance of Yin and Yang. What is balance? We just talked about colds. There is a great difference between the treatment methods of TCM and Western medicine. With Western medicine’s methods if someone has a fever, they’ll take a bag of ice and cover it, and at the time, the surface heat will dissipate. That’s a naturopathic method. It’s naturopathic however, sometimes this will be exhibited in other areas of the body. Sometimes, it’s actually very dangerous, and can easily develop into encephalitis. So what does TCM do? We have the internal and external parts of the body approach nature. How do we approach nature? We northerners, I don’t know how many members of the audience are from the north, we eat persimmons. In the winter, persimmons freeze into balls of ice, and Western treatment methods would call for it to be thawed in hot water, because that’s the fastest. But if you try that, if you thaw it with water, the persimmon becomes a lump of mud, which you can’t eat.
The fastest should actually be thawing it with cold water. The goal of soaking it in cold water is to get rid of the ice. What’s the goal? To use the simplest, mildest method to reach a sort of harmony.
Regarding life, what unique understanding does TCM possess? Only with Qi can we have life, but can this life be maintained solely by Qi? That’s different. It also requires energy and the spirit. That’s why we often talk about energy, Qi, and the spirit. This was actually mentioned in Laozi’s book. All things leave behind them the obscurity (Yin), and go forward to embrace the brightness