Traditional Chinese Medicine

Introduction

China is the world’s oldest continuous civilization for more than 6000 years. It has a history characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications, amid alternating periods of peace and war and violent dynastic change. Power was usually held by the emperor, but sometimes shifted to imperial relatives, eunuchs, powerful officials or regional warlords. The country’s territories also shifted according to its shifting fortunes. From the 7th through the 14th centuries, China stood as the world’s most advanced civilization and as East Asia’s most dominant cultural-cum-economic influence. Thus was also its traditional medicine’s methods and practices.

Today, the term “Traditional Medicine” has two meanings:

1. It is commonly used to describe medical techniques traditionally used within various societies and developed before the era of modern medicine. These include broad areas such as Herbal medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese medicine and Homeopathy. Although once solely the province of Alternative medicine, traditional treatments have increasingly been subjected to scientific experiments, studies and researchs – some have been discarded as mere superstitions, while others have been adopted to varying degrees in mainstream medicine.

2. It is also used to describe modern medicine, especially by those offering alternatives to established techniques. In this sense, modern medicine is seen as the established form of medicine that is now the traditional treatment for illness, especially in western societies, and alternative approaches are seen as new alternatives to these traditional treatments. In an antagonistic sense, modern medicine may even be seen as corrupt because of the influence of pharmaceutical companies, with its practitioners seen as “traditionalists” for their perceived attachment to established techniques and unwillingness to countenance new approaches, and those following non-pharmacological approaches forming the vanguard of a new, “non-traditional” approach. These alternative approaches may be those falling into the “traditional medicine” category described by the other definition of the term, may instead fall into a broader category of alternative medicine, or may be techniques actually originating in the modern era that have for various reasons fallen out of favour amongst the majority of doctors. The latter usage is particularly common when discussing disputes within psychology and psychiatry between the various approaches to mental illness and mental health that have been developed over the past two centuries.

Definition of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Chinese Herbology or Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), also known simply as Materia Medica or Chinese Medicine  ( 中醫學 zhōngy xŭe ,  or 中药学, zhōngyào xŭe ), is the name commonly given to a range of traditional medical practices originating from China about 3000 years ago.  The main medical theoretical foundation of TCM includes that of the Five Elements, the Human Body Meridian System and the Universal Yin-Yang System of Balanced Existence. Chinese medical treatments are done with reference to this framework of Chinese Medical Philosophy.

The TCM approach is fundamentally different from that of Western medicine. It has a unique system to diagnose and cure sickness / illness.  In TCM, the understanding of the human body is based on the holistic approach of the concept of  the Yin-Yang Universal Balance. Its treatment of illness is based primarily on the diagnosis and differentiation of syndromes.

(qi) acts as a carrier of information that is expressed externally through jingluo system. In TCM, the zang–fu (solid-hollow) organs are considered as the core of the human body. Tissue and organs are connected through a network of channels and blood vessels inside human body. Pathologically, a dysfunction of the zang-fu organs may be reflected on the body surface through the network, and meanwhile, diseases of body surface tissues may also affect their related zang or fu organs. Affected zang or fu organs may also influence each other through internal connections. TCM treatment starts with the analysis of the entire system, then focuses on the correction of pathological changes through re-adjusting the functions of the zang-fu organs.

Evaluation of a syndrome not only includes the cause, mechanism, location, and nature of the disease, but also the confrontation between the pathogenic factor and body resistance. Treatment is not based only on the symptoms, but differentiation of syndromes. Therefore, those with an identical disease may be treated in different ways, and on the other hand, different diseases may result in the same syndrome and are treated in similar ways.

The clinical diagnosis and treatment in TCM are mainly based on the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements theories. These theories apply the phenomena and laws of nature to the study of the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and its interrelationships. The typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and Qiqong exercises. With Acupuncture, treatment is accomplished by stimulating certain areas of the external body. Herbal medicine acts on zang-fu organs internally, while Qigong tries to restore the orderly information flow inside the network through the regulation of Qi. These therapies appear very different in approach yet they all share the same underlying sets of assumptions and insights in the nature of the human body and its place in the universe. Some scientists describe the treatment of diseases through Herbal medication, Acupunture, and Qigong as an “information therapy”.

The Five Elements

In traditional Chinese thought, natural phenomena can be classified into five elements or phases: metal, wood, water, fire and earth (Chinese: 金, 木, 水, 火,土 ).  These Five Elements (五行 wǔxing) are not materials as the names imply, rather they are metaphors for describing how interactions and relationships between phenomena take place. (Five phases is another way of translating 五行 – literally translated as the Five Phases or “Five Go“).

The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating (生 Sheng) cycle and an overcoming (克 Ke) cycle of interactions between the phases. In the generating cycle, wood generates fire; fire generates earth; earth generates metal; metal generates water; water generates wood. In the overcoming cycle, wood overcomes earth; earth overcomes water; water overcomes fire; fire overcomes metal; metal overcomes wood. The doctrine of five phases was employed in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as music, medicine, and military strategy.

Correlations among the Five Elements and other categories

The Yue Ling (Monthly Commands) and the Huai Nan Zi make the following correlations:

Element    Direction     Color         Musical Note
1 Wood      East         Blue-green    ju  角 (mi)
2 Fire        South       Red             zhǐ 徵 (sol)
3 Metal     West        White           shāng 商 (re)
4 Water    North         Black           yǔ 羽 (la)
5 Earth     Center       Yellow         gōng 宮 (do)

Joseph Needham, in “Science and Civilization in China”,  adds many other sets of five that have been arranged to parallel the five so-called elements. Some of them are as  follows

Element  Tastes   Smells    Viscera
1 Wood    sour     goatish    liver
2 Fire     bitter    burning    heart
3 Metal    acrid    rank     lungs
4 Water   salty    rotten     kidney
5 Earth    sweet  fragrant    spleen

Element   Colour       Animal       Season     Direction
1  Wood   Blue-green Dragon (青龍),  Spring        East
2  Fire      Red          Swallow (朱雀), Summer     South
3  Earth    Yellow       Dragon (黃龍),   Summer    Middle
4  Metal    White        Tiger (白虎),     Autumn      West
5  Water   Black         Serpent (玄武),  Winter     North

Note:

Western parallels and contrasts, revolving instead around only four elements, called the “temperaments” or the four humours in Western physiology, psychology and pre-scientific medicine, from the time of the pre-Classical Greeks until the 18th century Enlightenment, also informed the historical study called Alchemy that led to Chemistry.

Natural Features

The natural features of Chinese medicine are:

* Part of a plant: roots, leaves, seeds, branch, flowers, etc.

* Unprocessed except being cut, sliced, and cleansed of dirt.

* Dried, because it weighs less and can stored longer.

* Some herbs can be eaten after boiling because they turn soft.

* Most herbs cannot be eaten for the coarse after boiling.

* Herbs in general don’t taste good. Most are bitter and earthly, while some taste neutral or even sweet.

* Inexpensive except for a few like:
a.  Ren Shen
b.  Chuan Bei Mu
c.  Dong Qong Xia Cao

How do people take the raw herbs?

As Herb Tea

One common way is to extract the essence by boiling the herbal prescription in water for about one to two hours under low heat/fire. Once the herbal essence has been fully extracted, drink one or two bowls per day while it is still warm/hot.  This can be tailor-made to your requirements and taste. Add honey or sugar to make it less bitter. Our body will readily absorb the herbal essence once it is taken.

In Tablets Form

Tablets are made with raw herbs or their concentrates. They are usually mass-produced, which means they cannot be tailor-made specially for each individual.  Therefore, some may work for us, while others may not.  Choose another one if those that you have taken do not work for you.

In Capsules Form

Capsules are made from raw herbs in small quantities.  The herbs are grind into fine power and put into empty gel capsules.  They can be tailor-made but are inconvenient to modify.  Our body has to extract the essence from the powder herbs, whereas  for the herbal tea the essence has been dissolved into the tea already.

What are the healing properties of herbs?

1. Natural healing effects on organs, blood, and
various unhealthy conditions.

2. Strengthening effects besides cure.

3. Preventive effects.

4. Gentle and mild, with litter adverse side-effects.

5. Each herb has multiple effects in addition to one major effect.

6. Herbs don’t work singly because the effects of one single herb are not strong enough.

7. Rely on synergies because of their overlap in multiple effects.

8.  Package of different herbs put together deliver a much greater effect than a single herb of equal weight.

9. The knowledge and experience in creating an effective synergy for a herbal package distinguish a good herbalist from a mediocre one.

Conclusion

In history, we know fully well that there have been varied and numerous methods of healing since time immemorial. So, people should not be bias towards one medical practice over the others. As long as the medicines or methods of cure are effective, they should be accepted, especially by those who have been cured/healed by them.