The People Of China 's Life Force That Flows Through All Life

The first is qigong which is a health practice that utilizes body movement, breathing techniques and mental focus to assist in healing, relaxation and reconnecting (Winn, 2009). Next is that art of meditation. Meditation is an important element in the Tao religion. Many Taoists practice meditation to achieve mental serenity and heighten mental awareness. There are also various forms of exercise, such as yoga and Tai Chi, and therapies, acupuncture and moxibustion, which Taoists use to restore balance within the body and achieve healing.

Medicine within the Chinese culture is often being used to cure sickness and infection and to raise the forte of the frail and elder people (Purnell, 2013).

The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine by Ted J. Kaptchuk is a non-fiction book describing the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine and how it compares to Western medicine. This book does not focus on a specific time period or regions where Chinese medicine is practiced. Rather, it centers on the logic behind Chinese medicine. After studying Chinese medicine in Macao, Ted Kaptchuk returned to America and realized that he could not abandon what he learned just because it was different from Western medicine. Chinese medicine is over two thousand years old and textbooks have dated back to the Han dynasty (202 B.C.E.-220 C.E). These texts will continue to adapt, just as traditions adapt over time. Chinese medicine is still

In Chinese culture, health and illness concentrates on the balance between body, mind, and spirit, expressed as Yin Yang. It symbolizes the idea that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. There is a belief in part of the Chinese culture, that a physical illness is caused by an imbalance of Yin Yang.

life sciences and medicine drawn from the Taoist traditions of the Yin-Yang and Five Elements

Religion organizes society; it controls our daily life and can be the breaking or making point of a society. The three Philosophies of China consist of Legalism, Daoism, and Confucianism, but only one Philosophy surpasses all others, Confucianism.

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.

They were given special legal privileges and were officially supported by the Yuan government. Kublai Khan even set up the Imperial Academy of Medicine to manage the education of new doctors and medical treatises. Healers were divided into two groups, non-Mongol physicians called otachi and Mongolian shamans. Otachi were characterized for their use of herbal remedies, while Mongol shamans were noted for their spiritual cures. During the Yuan period advances in medicine were made and the practice of Chinese medicine spread throughout the empire. Healers were even brought along on military campaigns as they expanded, techniques such as moxibustion, pulse diagnosis, acupuncture, and herbal mixtures and remedies spread westward. Wei Yilin, a physician that lived 1277-1347, invented a method for reducing dislocations under anesthesia. One Mongol physician named Hu Shihui wrote about how important a healthy diet is. Western medicine was also practiced but it was frowned upon by Chinese physicians because it contradicted the yin-yang and wuxing philosophy upon which traditional chinese medicine

Churches and religious sites across China became a unifying force for discussion and connections. The foundations of Chinese culture had been stripped away leaving people alone and confused. An personal example in “The Souls of China” that truly exemplifies what religion means to the people of China is the explanation from Wang Yi. Growing up in the Chinese countryside, Wang Yi had little education and money. Wang Yi recounts a group of ants stuck in the rain away from their home, and decides to carry them home over the water. He describes the sensation he got from this action saying “I felt like their savior…I was only seven years old but felt I had done something really meaningful.” (341). After giving hi sermon, Wang Yi asks the Christians

Yuan Zhao was a Daoist healer in ancient China [471-99] who used his knowledge of the five phases to diagnose and cure a young girl of evil demons that had made her sick after numerous other Chinese healers were unable to even understand the source of her afflictions, which is meant to spread Daoism as much as tell a story. The story is a good example of ancient Chinese medical practices but to fully understand how the different elements of his story fit together it is helpful to have information on the five phases.

Daily life in Medieval China was not easy for most people. Woman were treated inferior to men and children didn't always have the chance to get an education. The majority of women in Medieval China lived tormented lives. School was not an option for girls. They had to stay home and do their daily chores which meant preparing food, cleaning, and looking after their children. Woman had arranged marriages. Their fathers had the last word on who they would marry. After their marriage the wife had to go live with her husband and spend the rest of her life listening to the commands of her mother n law. Women were expected to have many children and had the pressure of giving birth to boys. When a boy was born they would have a celebration but when

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.

Adopted to become the official religion of China between 100 and 200 AD, Taoism and a competition between Buddhism, gave way to incorporating many Buddhist beliefs. These adaptations included replacing the search for self-knowledge and wisdom with that of searching for solutions to sorrow and physical limitations. This transition created several problems for the Taoists trying to escape reality. Alchemy and superstition became popular practices as Taoists tried to escape the real world. Many utilized superstition, magic, and the Tao to extend physical life rather than focus on an after-life.

TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, can be traced as far back as 1000 BC, where stone acupuncture needles were believed to be used. Texts from that period also talked of Yin and Yang and other concepts. The first written work on TCM is titled the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, Huangdi Newijing (Gascoigne 11). This book was written in 300 BC, but entries date back to the early 2700’s BC. The book is still used in universities of Chinese Medicine around the world and is often called the bible of TCM. Today, TCM is still thriving in China and all of Asia. In recent years, information on TCM has become available to people in the United States. The United States has several schools of TCM, and it is now much easier to buy the necessary

Early Taoism in the 2nd century was founded in the ideas of the Taoist intellectuals who each added their own local religious rituals and beliefs. This helped to provide examples of the philosophy and to incorporate Taoism into the current views of the Chinese people. Some of these early rituals focused on meditation, breathing and the recitation of verses (Robinson 1). However, Taoism began to really