1.1 The HDNJ
The HDNJ – Huang Di Nei Jing (黄帝内经) is one of the ancient literatures in Chinese classic generally thought to cover physiology (生理学), pathology (病理学), illness diagnosis (病因诊断) on healing therapy and pharmaceutical administration.
The HDNJ supposing a compilation from the Spring and Autumn Period (722~481BC) and the Warring states Period (476~221BC), claim its origin from The Yellow Emperor. It was first recorded in the book Qiluu《七略》by a man called LiuXin 刘歆 (53BC ~ AD23) in 6BC.
Liuxin 刘歆 was a man well learned in classical Confucianism of the time and he studied economy, geomancy and tables. And Qiluu 《七略》was written based on another book known as Bielu 《别录》- a comprehensive book generally believing that looks to problem's solving in a topical index format. The author of《别录》Bielu was none other than Liuxin’s father, Liuxiang. Liuxiang was a royal librarian who studied geomancy and tables during the reign of the Emperor Han Chengdi, Liu Ao (51~7BC). Hence the book Qiluu 《七略》built on the basis of Bielu 《别录》 can be considered as a father and son book.
The initial abbreviation of the book HDNJ《黄帝内经》, Suwen 《素问》had originally just nine books in all. After the Song Dynasty (AD960~1279), the two books Suwen 《素问》and Lingshu《灵枢》, was combined altogether to become the two main canon books of The HDNJ.
This Suwen 《素问》an ancient medical book together with Lingshu 《灵枢》now constituted to the book HDNJ, that is mainly a recollection of studies in astronomy, algorithm (calendar, astrology etc), biology, geography, anthropology, psychology, the Yin Yang concept, the Five Elements implementation and the theory of a possible harmonious relationship between heaven (and earth – The Nature) and man.
The book Lingshu《灵枢》is also known in many other titles namely, Jiujuan《九卷》, Jiuzhen《 九针》, Jiuling《九灵》、 Jiuxu 《九墟》and Zhenjing 《针经》etc. The HDNJ although does contains the application of therapy healing and advocates some usage of medical (herbs) cannot be compared to the Sheng Nong Ben Cao Jing《神农本草经》. The Sheng Nong Ben Cao Jing is another old Classical book of ancient China, a traditional pharmaceutical book by Qin doctors somewhere between 221 – 206BC recording some 365 types of medicinal applications including origins of plants and animal and minerals.
The Sheng Nong Ben Cao Jing 《神农本草经》was compiled somewhere in the first century and is the first book in traditional Chinese pharmaceutical world that specialises the application of
traditional medical herbs but the book was reviewed time again and again over the past centuries as many has not yet passed through clinical trial back.
Much as the term Nei Jing 内经 refers to an outer appearance diagnosis of what is supposed to be reflections of the human's internal well-being, TheYellow Emperor (Huang Di) is a cultural hero and one of the legendary five Emperors first mentioned in Shiji (Chronicle of Qin) by Shima Qian (145-90BC).
Huang Di was also the legendary ruler and ancestor of the Chinese nation. And although the conventional address of Huang Di is used here, Huang Di (2697 - 2597BC) may not necessary be the originator (author) of the book HDNJ himself as bone oracle script 甲骨文 the earliest inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells is found only up to the Shang Dynasty(1600-1046BC). Thus there is a possibility that the term Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) used here could well be used just to magnify or to stress on the absolute authority of this medical book of the day.
Although the foundation of traditional Chinese medical sciences is seemingly built on The HDNJ, Lingshu 《灵枢》also known as zhenjing《针经》, is one of the two books in the main canon of
HDNJ. Zhenjing however is actually founded on the foundation of the Daoism’s concept of 天人合一 the 'harmonious relationship between Heaven' (and earth – TheNature) and man, while the basis of Zen (mediation) in Buddhism is initially engaged on the concept of Zuowang 坐忘 daoist's meditation. So then did HDNJ really preceded the religions and or be it the basis by which these religious schools founded on or the fact by which these religions had in actuality affected as did the way the thinking of the compiler of HDNJ had at first, is a tweak.
The HDNJ therefore should be view much more than just a medical book of the time. Is it therefore also right to say that the HDNJ is a book that supports and maintains the fundamentals by which all the other were founded on for by it are the basis of their fundamentals as well.
1.2 Acupuncture and its various Acu-point
Varicose veins are veins that have become enlarged and tortuous. Veins have leaflet valves to prevent blood from flowing backwards (retrograde). Veins are blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transports blood throughout the body. The three major types of blood vessels include the arteries, the capillaries and the veins.
While the arteries carry the blood away from the heart, the veins help carry blood from the capillaries back towards the heart. The capillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels, are part of the microcirculation being 1 cell thick and measuring 5-10 μm in diameter, connect arterioles and venules, help to enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and the tissues.
Veins can be found in every living creature. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14) Throughout the human body, arteries are mingled with veins and veins with arteries, and both veins and arteries are mingled with nerves the evident of interweaving being very prominent here. God created Adam and Eve out from the soil, water constitutes 65-90% of the human molecules cell by weight, 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of just six main elements oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus that is very much closer to the element of soil.
Acupuncture points are locations on the body that are the focus of acupuncture, acupressure, sonopuncture and laser acupuncture treatment. They are located along the meridians that are the connecting points across the anatomy, which affect a specific organ or other part of the body. Located along these meridians are also numerous "extra points" not associated with any particular meridians.
The book Zhenjing 《针经》mainly evolves around the concept of Yin Yang, understand acupuncture points as the channels through which the “qi” or energy force of the body pass through believing are vital to the well being of the human body. As an object hits on part of the body, bruises (black and blue) also appear. A bruise, also called acontusion is a type of relatively minor hematoma of tissue in which capillaries and sometimes venules are damaged by trauma, allowing blood to seep into the surrounding extracellular space.
Yin Yang teaches that there is an origin for all and the beginning of any process or state has to go back to its origin. Although the study of acupuncture point based on Yin Yang application has found medical achievements possibly in traditional Chinese practising and that though through acupuncture, symptoms in cancer patients may be slightly be dismissed; it is also true that acupuncture can neither stop cancerous cell from spreading nor of a bad cancer cell going back to its original position of a good cell what is the initial concept of Yin Yang Diao Xie 阴阳调谐, the balancing of Yin and Yang in the original concept of the Zhen Jing 《针经》.
In many cases, acupuncture however cannot be used at all in cancer patient but instead will cause a wider spread of cancerous cell to other parts of the body as well. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heardthrough the word of Christ.” -Romans 10: 17 The bible say, without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11)
What is Yin and Yang? In depicting the Yin Yang in its six Channel view, the three state of Yang ( 三阳状态) is initially brought up from external environmental factors causing the releasing of an energy source that turns into an invisible force while the three state of Yin (三阴状态) is a resultant from the three state of Yang. Very complicatedly, these new forces what initially evolve from nothingness now take in the form of a certain shape, is stored in a concrete body in no shape really of its own and is ready to be used by each other known as Yin being the Body of Yang and Yang to be used by Yin (“阴为阳之体， 阳为阴之用”).
The literal translation is for “qi” is air, breath or gas while the original meaning of Latin spiritus is"breathing"and the Common Greek πνεῦμα, meaningair, breath or spirit and the corresponding Sanskritterm prana, also "breath". By Yin Yang concept, “qi” or energy flow is the lifeforce of a living creature that has to achieve Yin Yang's balance in order for the body to function well. Traditional practitioner mediating air on these vital channels sought to direct the so called “qi” to the right channel in methods they perceive to be the right way of directing these air/s.
When Jesus arrived in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon- possessed men coming from the tombs met him. At their request, Jesus sent those demonsinto a large herb of pigs feeding nearby and their name was legion because they were many. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed downthe steep bank into the lake and were drowned. (Mat 8:28-34, Mark 5:10,11) In Qigong Taiji, or even swordsmanship, the practitioner believes that the "qi" that is flowing inand through theses vital channel has to be directed properly. In cases whereby the "qi" is exercised wrongly or diverted wrongly into the wrong channel, the person may go berserk 走火入魔.
Now then we know that there is another “qi” or air or gases as understood if not properly control will make the practitioner loses their senses. But Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of
the Spirit (of God) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and against such things there is no law.
As the Japanese understanding “qi”, Kaze 風邪, the evil wind is a bad wind that makes a person unwell and kaze, is a head cold cause by an evil wind. In traditional Chinese, the Xieqi 邪氣, evil air (gas) enters into a body and make a person sick. So then this “qi” or air as some understood it maybe somehow different from that in Qigong or in some context of Chinese medical sciences. However, be it the original meaning of “qi” in its original text or even in old HDNJ or at present, the meaning of word no longer matter now as the word “qi” is now used and understood
interchangeably.
Were there spiritual influence involved in these so called earliest Chinese books of practises,we cannot be sure. But looking at the complicity in understanding the acupuncture points to the
structure of the human body and that it was being able to mention in such great details and precision in ancient haematology, spiritual influence in acupuncture might had been a possibility
here in the study of the Lingshu 《灵枢》also known as Ling shu Jing 灵枢经, Divine Pivot or Spiritual Pivot of which also consists of nine books, now incorporated as part of the main canon of the HDNJ.
God is the only source of life giver. Job 33:4, “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” He is before all things,and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17) The sea turtle do not have the concept of Yin Yang is considered one of the longest living reptiles in the Chinese’s belief. Similarly, we can expect a dog that does not know Yin Yang can yet possibly live up to its full dog’s lifespan.
But what is in the true energy force that driven a life? The true life force of every living creature lies in its blood because blood is the life. (Lev 17:3,Lev19:26, Deu12:23) As a meat is cut out, blood flows through. One of the reason why massaging aids in blood circulation precisely maybe due to the fact that blood saturates the millions upon millions of the capillaries and venules that are closely interwoven in the haematology system of the body. And believing this life force will not only pass through the acupuncture points also known as acupoints on the meridians as traditional zhen Jiu Xue 针灸学, believes in the “qi”.
The first command that comes with a promise, "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12) Longevity does not necessary mean immortality up to thousands of years as a the theory of 天人合一 'Harmony between Heaven and Man' sought to achieve. Instead God has decreed in Genesis
6:3 The LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal.." When Moses the servant of theLORD died, he was a hundred and twenty years old, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. (Deuteronomy 34:5,7)
And if God did not give the concept of Yin Yang to the Israelites at Mount Sinai but instead give them laws and regulations that would have otherwise serve as a form of general education, God's promises, commandments and warnings is a lamp to our feet and a light to thy path.
1.3 Traditional Chinese Medical Science and its Religious Concept
Seemingly, the compilation of the HDNJ book may have seem to have been a breakthrough in the medical science of the era whereby old shamanistic beliefs that disease was caused by demonic influences but that instead in the beliefs that sickness in the body is cause by the natural effects of diet, lifestyle, emotions, environment, and age what are the true reasons for diseases to develop.
Hidden amid in this evolution of new medical breakthrough are a set of new belief what was not new at all but rather the author’s effort to affirm the work of his father and beliefs that initially sprang from a religious source. Then using the title of Huang Di to impose absolute truth over his (and his father) own work in the time when the old emperor died and was succeeded by the emperor's nephew, since this emperor begotten no one to take over the throne.
I believe whether in the choice of being atheistic or pantheistic, man-kind is created to be originally religiously inclined (Acts 17:23). One belief of ancient Chinese is that they believe in Shang Di (The One Supreme God) who is equal to Tian (Heaven) is a one Supreme God who governs the world but the term used was not concise until the second millennium BC. While the reign of The Yellow Emperor, Huang Di ( 黄帝 ) was somewhere between 2697-2597BC as recorded in the Shiji (Chronicle of Qin), “Huang” can refer to Yellow or Soil, the word
“Di” can refer to lord, emperor or god as well.
Judging by the way the character is written, it is most probably that the character initially may have imply “a mandate ordained by Heaven”. However the theory of 'Harmony between Heaven and earth' 天人合一 in the HDNJ is a religious theory that teaches possible 'Harmony between Heaven and earth - The Nature) and man'. (see below on The Yellow Turban Rebellion)
While Lingshu 《灵枢》or Zhenjing 《针经》in HDNJ 《灵枢•刺节 真邪》repeatedly emphasis that Heaven, Earth and Man is originally one, the theory of 天人合一 is in fact the basis of the view in the study of geomancy in the HDNJ.
Generally most would probably prefer to drink a cup of cooling herbal tea on a hot day while taking tonic is suitable only on a damp day and we had thought it to be in conjunction with the
belief and concept of the Yin Yang balancing in the body. We do not need great theory to tell us what the body needs in order to achieve a balance in the overall metabolism in a body but that
sufficient rest and normal healthy eating will help to maintain this balance in the body.
As a cube of ice is left out in the open, it melts down, in scientific term that it is called an endothermic reaction or simply a melting down of the ice. However, although drinking cooling herbal tea on a hot day may help to bring down the heat in most individuals, for certain individual, depending on the metabolism rate by which the body metabolise or depending on the adaptation of the body to the pharmaceutical effect of these herbs, drinking herbal tea for some on a hot day would cause the overall heat in the body to rise up due to the enzymes that is at work what is an antibodies reaction that signals from the brain should increase the overall body heat.
The latter, the body being a mass by himself and not able to expel out this coolness effects (what is catalytic) that comes into work through this pharmaceutical effect, one possibility is that
the person may suffer from a wind-heat stroke. Although seemingly Yin Yang does seems to be a one right way as if the human biology works, we can only understand Yin Yang in an abstract manner but not in its concrete form.
And if acupuncture generally believing to be a breakthrough of traditional Chinese medical science of its times has been a religious tool used by the ancient monks in propagating their religious beliefs and to the heights of its day, I suppose it would be better to guide the one and only “qi” we have in the body that is from the Giver of Life and to guide it well in our Lord Jesus as the work of our hand proclaims - Jehovah Rapha, God is our healer and Lord and Saviour alone. Amen.
[ The Yellow Turban Rebellion ]
During the Yellow Turban Rebellion (AD184-192), famines and floods were seen as an indication that adecadent emperor had lost his mandate of heaven and the government was widely regarded as corrupt and incapable.
The three main leads staging the rebellion were bomohs Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, called themselves heads of the General of Heaven, Earth and Man, were men of Taoist
origin campaigning on the slogan, “苍天已死，黄天当立" meaning, The Heaven (天 - Tian) is dead, The yellow earth (The rebels) shall be established.
Those who joined in the rebellion, were mostly bandits and peasants, affected either by famines and or political instability, were long rooted in the cultural teachings of Huang Lao (while Huang refers to the HDNJ, Lao refers to The teachings of Laozi, the originator of Daoism) and they viewed The Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) and Laozi as the founder of their sect and the rebels, known as the (黄巾) Huang Jin, literally translated as “yellow scarves” - 巾 without the radical 立 established and 冖 crown, wore yellow cloth bound about their heads, were a law unto themselves.
Interestingly,
立 (pronounce as 'li' ) - One in Heaven, two on earth == "Establish" (Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16, 2 Corinthians 13:1)
