The Entirety Concept of Life as the common theoretical foundation of both chigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine
In ancient Chinese cultures, through the process of directly observing and experiencing both his own life and the world of nature, and through comparison, synthesis and deduction, man gradually established a unique understanding of human existence - The Entirety Concept of Life. This
concept is the cornerstone of both chigong and the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and manifests in the following ways: a. The Entirety Concept of Man and Nature
Man was regarded as a part of nature, and the life activities of man were studied against the entire evolving background of all things in the universe. This concept was presented in detail in the classical works of Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as The Yellow Emperor's Classic on Internal Medicine (Huangdi Nei Jing - second century B.C.).
For example, the influences of the variations of the seasons upon the activities of life were stated in the following words: "The yin and yang -spring, summer, autumn, winter are the beginning and ending of all things, the nature of life and death. If one acts contrary to this law, one suffers illness and misfortune; if one accords with this law, one enjoys health and fitness."
The application of this principle for the preservation of health evolved into the sage's secret of maintaining well-being: "Nourish yang in spring and summer; nourish yin in autumn and winter, rise and fall together with all things at the gate of growth, adapt oneself to the changes of the seasons, and to the cold and the hot."
In the practice of Chinese medicine, this principle, in its application in the areas of physiology and pathology, evolved into concepts such as "Mans responses to Nature". In therapeutics, besides taking medicines in accordance with the seasons and the time of day, there existed also the meridian method of acupuncture.
For a long time these theories were deemed worthless, and discarded. However, recent studies have shown that these initially unbelievable ancient doctrines and methods actually embraced profound scientific implications.
For example, between 1967 and 1972, at two principal hospitals in India, among the emergency heart attack cases, the statistics showed an obvious direct relationship between heart attacks and fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field, due to the magnetic activities of the sun. Complete physiological examinations were carried out upon 43 volunteers, with the results showing that the rise and fall of blood pressure and the increase and decrease of the number of white blood cells coincided with the cycles of variation in the earth's magnetic field within a given time-frame.
All of these studies have proved that the view that man is responsive to nature is not a groundless heresy, but rather an accurate reflection of the relationship between the human body - this "small world" within - and the universe - that "giant world" without.
With respect to the meridian method, it may be said that it is the summarized, distilled experience of the ancient Chinese obtained through long-term observation of the phenomena of the human biological clock. It is rooted in the various biochemical processes within the human body, and possesses undeniably scientific implications. It has drawn serious attention from scientists outside China.
b. Entirety Concept of Mind (Spirit) and Body
In the view of this concept, the human spirit (consciousness) and the physical body were regarded as an indivisible whole, and upon this basis the life processes of man were studied. The ancients thought that man was the unity of spirit, chi and body.
In an ancient work - Huainanzis Fundamental Teachings on Taoism (.HuainanzVs Yuan Dao Xun) - this concept was explained as one in which the physical body is the basis of human life, the spirit is the director of the human life activities, and chi is the manifestation of encoded life information, filling the whole body and unifying the body and the spirit into a totality. With regard to this totality, the ancients especially stressed the importance of the controlling role of the spirit, which maintains stability and change within the human body, as well as the safety of human life.
This entirety concept - which regards the spirit as the controlling element in the unity of body, chi and spirit - differs in essential ways from the modern Western concept of life.
In modern medicine, a considerable amount of extensive research has been conducted upon the study of the human body in the areas of anatomy and histology (tissue science), but the study of the psychospiritual dimension has been ignored.
Neurology places its emphasis upon the processes by which signals stimulated in accord with internal and external environmental changes travel within the nervous system, as well as the reactions of the central nervous system to these signals; but in so doing it has ignored the volitional, initiatory nature and dominant role of the spirit or consciousness in the total human life process.
Psychology has studied human moods and behaviors, as well as their relationship to the observable nervous system, but it has known nothing of chi.
Although the above-mentioned research has been quite extensive and accurate, the understanding of human life obtained from it is still quite partial and fragmentary. The explorations of the ancient Chinese into the human body, though not as accurate and detailed as those of modern medicine, reflect the laws of human life processes in their totality. This is why the understanding of human life found in ancient Chinese cultures has attracted great attention from modern scientific research throughout the world.
c. The Entirety Concept of the Human Body
First, the human body is regarded as an organic whole. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, all of the component parts of the human body - the layers of skin, the muscles and bones, and the internal organs - interrelate with each other and interact with each other, forming an organic totality centered within the internal organs.
Within this unity, there are organic relationships between every internal organ and all of other parts of the body. There are many statements with regard to this subject in The Yellow Emperor's Classic on Internal Medicine, which became the source and basis of the doctrine of the vital organs and the classical theory of organic/visceral interrelationships in healing.
Second, in the views of the ancient Chinese, the human body - this organic whole - is formed and maintained by the coordination of the main and collateral chi channels, comprising 12 main channels and 15 collateral channels, which are connected internally to the viscera and externally to the bones and muscles. The processes of human life are carried out by means of chi, which circulates and flows along these channels and their points of intersection, or vital points.
Moreover, every part contains the capacity to reflect the life-condition of the whole; this constitutes another manifestation of the entirety of the human body. Due to the fact that chi binds together the entirety of human life processes, and that it fills and flows through the whole body, one single partial component can to some extent relay information reflecting the state of the whole body.
For example, the state of the viscera can be reflected both in the color and the coating of the tongue, and in the contours of the eyes.
Any abnormal changes in the internal organs can be detected from the hand's ulnar artery. The state of every part of the body can be reflected in the manifestations of the corresponding reflexology points of the face.
Are these statements correct? From 1976 to 1977, at Longhua Hospital in Shanghai, 1,251 surgeries were made with acupuncture anesthesia applied through reflexologically related points, raising the success rate to 96%, which provided overwhelming evidence for the accuracy of these ancient doctrines.
All said, human life is a totality of body, chi and spirit. This human life is controlled by the spirit and is a body/mind unity existing within the context of a man/nature dynamic. The life of the physical body is centered within the internal organs and maintained by the flow of the chi through the main and collateral chi channels. The spirit (mind or consciousness) "resides" in the heart. The chi circulates and flows along the main and collateral chi channels, filling all parts of the body and unifying the spirit or consciousness with the physical body.
This concept is the theoretical basis of both chigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Theory of The Main and Collateral Chi Channels as well as The Theory of Chi and Its Transmutation are the respective manifestations of this concept of the entirety of life.
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