Mystery Of Chi

When caring for Taoist’s patients, the most important thing to remember is their need to restore balance. For them, this may not be achieved through traditional medical practice; however, this does not mean that we should do nothing. Taoists do not believe in artificial or arbitrary healing. Healing must be natural and spontaneous (Tai, 2009). If we try to force medical treatments on them, it may in turn do more harm than good and cause great suffering. Taoists see artificial treatment as a source of evil; however, if the treatment follows the flow of Tao, it is regarded as natural and therefore allowed (Tai, 2009). For example, if a Taoist patient is in need of mechanical ventilation to sustain life, it is no longer natural. The only way to natural care for that patient, without disrupting the Tao, is to provide palliative care and ultimately let the

In order to become a virtuous person an individual must become one with the Tao, an example of a good life is found in Chuang Tzu – Basic writings, “If you do good, stay away from fame. If you do evil, stay away from punishments. Follow the middle; go by what is constant, and you can stay in one piece, keep yourself alive, look after your parents, and live out your years.” (Section three, p46). In order to become one with the Tao and individual must understand the Way and example of the Way “…For this reason, whether you point to a little stalk or a great pillar, a leper or the beautiful Hsi-shih, things ribald and shady or things grotesque and strange, the Way makes them all into one.” (Section two, p. 36) The Way is having the ability to consider all things one. Looking at the creatures of the world without bias and treating everything and everyone as equal. In order to follow the Way one must gain enlightenment, to gain enlightenment one must heavy focus on meditation. Taoists believe that time is cyclical, not linear as many in the West believe, therefore time repeats itself, has no beginning and no end. Tao is considered to be the first cause of the universe, and is the force that

People used to believe that acupuncture works by conserving and balancing the movement of Qi in the person’s body. Qi is basically an idea that is hard to interpret it to other people who do not have much of a grasp on it. It is usually associated with vital energy and has also been included with different western traditions of philosophy.

Good health means the yin and yang is in balance and in harmony with each other. According to Jarvis (2012), foods are classified in this theory; yin foods are cold, and yang foods are hot; cold foods are eaten with a hot illness and hot foods are eaten with a cold illness. Chinese people have practiced acupuncture for thousands of years for the reduction of pain and for various disorders using fine needles at specific meridian points on the body (Edelman & Mandle, 2010). The Chinese believe that when there is an imbalance in a person’s system is when a person has illness. For health maintenance, they use preventive measures such eating healthy. Chinese people enjoy drinking a variety of tea after meals for the cleansing effect. Health protection means wearing an amulet or jade, eat correctly and with compatible food (Jarvis, 2012). Chinese people use cupping, acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbs such as ginseng roots, and usually will consult with herbalists, for health restoration.

This semester we have heard multiple lectures which centered on the Chinese or Daoist cultures, which have multiple similarities and are in many facets built on each other. In the lecture about Daoism, Dr. Ronnie Littlejohn, spoke of transcendent bodies and concentrated mainly on qi (Littlejohn). While Dr. Yuan-ling Chao’s lecture about Chinese medicine was about maintaining

Taoism is a Chinese religious tradition that stresses the importance of living harmoniously with the essence and source of all that exists or the Tao. In Chinese, Tao means the path, way or principle but it can also mean nature or reality. In Taoism, the right path is working in harmony with nature or reality. Taoism ethics stress the three jewels of the Tao which include moderation, compassion and humility. The philosophy of Taoism centers on nature and how human beings should relate with the cosmos. Inner fulfillment can be achieved through contemplation of nature. Nature is like a stream of wisdom and by experiencing it through innocent eyes, we can internalize its pleasantness, its intrigue and its excitement and make serenity.

Taoism combines with the practice of “Wu-wei”, or non-volitional action, acting with the Tao and the symbol of Tao is “Yin and Yang” which are the dynamic force of the Tao that produced the five elements — metal, wood, fire, water, and earth. To the Tao, purposely trying to acquire knowledge was bad because this created a distinction that one person was better in some way than another and this created distinction which led to ideas that may have interfered with “the way”. The believers of Tao needed to learn to live without anything beyond the basic needs which are food, water, shelter, and clothing. Living without expectations is very important in Taoism because the more exception we have in our life, the less we will become, and so by living life without expectations, we can live our life fully.

Taoism is a very complex cultural tradition. It is one the Three Teachings that, along with Confucianism and Buddhism, had a profound influence on Chinese ways of thinking and spiritual practice. The keystone work of

Accordingly, the religion emphasizes the union of the opposite and complementary forces of the universe. Taoism also stresses harmony with nature, immortality, self-improvement and trying to help I the world around them. The Tao is the ultimate creative energy of the universe, and it is also the organic universe or cosmos itself, as well as the way of nature and the world. Deities, along with everything in the universe rely on the Tao. Taoism has practices and believes are lots of times from other religions.

After researching potential cultures and religions, I chose to do my project on Taoism, also known as Daoism. Taoism doesn’t have an absolute being such as Christianity with god. Instead, Taoism follows Tao which is “the source of creation, the ultimate, the inexpressible and indefinable, the unnamable, the natural universe as a whole, and the way of nature as a whole.” Tao is everything and nothing by including the universe but being intangible at the same time. I still find it difficult to completely wrap my head around this term. The most prominent part of Taoism which is also part of Tao, is Yin Yang, which are a principle of two opposite forces working in harmony. Taoists also have a collection of texts and teachings known as the Daozang.

The translation for Tao is “the way”, it is the origin of everything, and it is heaven, earth and humanity existing beyond all forms. The main underlying principle of Taoism is to conform to the underlying pattern of the universe, the Tao. To be in accordance with the Tao, the individual is asked to empty their mind of all doctrines and

The balancing of yin and yang is an integral and fundamental aspect of Chinese medicine as well. It believes that everything in the universe can be classified into yin or yang. When a person becomes ill, physically or mentally, Chinese medicine looks for imbalance of yin and yang within the person. After those are established they use treatments aimed at replenishing what is missing. If a practitioner diagnoses a yin deficiency, they will prescribe yin treatments to bring the body back into balance. This is a minimal explanation as this medical practice is highly complex and

Tao is translated as, “the way” or “path” and if they follow “the way,” they will live in harmony with less suffering. Also, taoists believe that life is happy and should be lived with balance. For example, the Yin-Yang symbol exemplifies that there is an equal amount of good and evil. The white part, Yang, is associated

The complex structure and foreign nature of Tibetan medicine makes it difficult to relate its practices to Western medicine, making it difficult to determine the clinical efficacy of Eastern medical practice. Several clinical analysis studies have recently been performed in order to determine the efficacy of the “holistic” practices of Eastern cultures. Whether the studies show Eastern or Western practices to be more effective, I believe that the most effective treatment should be a combination of both practices.

Traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, is one of the oldest systems of medicine to exist among humans, and it is extremely prominent to this day. According to legend, the system has been in use since the third millennium BCE. The views of such an old system differ greatly from those found in modern western medicine. Perhaps most prominent is the fact that TCM focuses more on the patient than the illness. The system considers the human to be a microcosm of the universe, implying that the body is affected by the traditional Taoist forces of yin and yang, the five elements, and Qi in the same way the cosmos are. Each of these forces act upon the “zang fu,” or organ system, directly influencing a patient’s health. Healers use qigong to assist in the restoration of stability in the body. Achieving balance, both internally and externally, is the most important aspect of healing in TCM.