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THE ARBRE D’OR’S CALLING is to share its wonderment with readers, its admiration for the great nurturing texts of the past, as well as for the works of ma- jor contemporary authors. Beautiful literature, tools for personal development, of identity and progress, will then be found in the Arbre d’Or catalogue at low prices for the quality offered. AUTHORS’ COPYRIGHTS This eBook is under protection of the Swiss federal law on copyright and its subsequent rights (art. 2, al. 2 tit. a, LDA) It is as well protected by international treaties on industrial property. As a traditionally published book, this internet document and its cover image are all under copyright, so they cannot be in anyway modi- fied, used and disseminated without the agreement of its authors. Getting this file in any other way than downloading it after pay- ment on the site is a misdemeanor. Forwarding this encoded file to another computer could incur damages binding civil responsibility. Do not transfer your copy, but feel free to recommend the site. This way, through mutual trust, you rest assured of best service by the authors. Please note that the royalties of this book will be fully paid to the association : Acupuncture Sans Frontières (acupuncture without borders) http://www.acupuncture-sfi.org Dr Li Xin Dr Claudine Mérer TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE BACK TO THE SOURCES FOR A MODERN APPROACH © Arbre d’Or, Geneva, april 2013 http ://www.arbredor.com All rights reserved for all countries ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book would have never come out without the contribution of many people, to whom we would like to extend our profound gratitude ! I, Li Xin, will always be most grateful to my teachers : Mr.Ren lin, who gave me my very first important lesson about TCM ; Pr.Song zuo ming, from whom I learned the traditional way of thinking and training ; Pr.Gong shu sheng, who gave me a comprehensive view of Chinese medicine ; Pr.Ge qi, who guided me back to learning Chinese medicine, Pr.Li hui ji and Pr.Wu cheng with whom I learned the basis of psy- cho-somatic (Body-Mind) medicine. Without them, my understanding and practice of TCM to day would never have been the same. I would like to thank Mr.Zhang Xiao Tong, and Miss Liu Ming, director of Beijing Cui Yueli Chinese Medi- cine Research Centre, for giving me a chance to prac- tise in a traditional way, and to the Ping Xin Tang Clinic, where I spent almost 4 years seeing patients, and tasting materia medica. All the cases discussed in this book come from my experience there. Many thanks also to Mr.Qin Chao Ying, Miss Liang Wei Na, Mr.He Xiao He, Mr.Duan Ke Sheng, and Mr.Wang Shan, founders of the Yanhuang hospital where I learned a lot. I very much appreciated the offer of the St. John’s Health Clinic in Shanghai to allow me a very flexible 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS time of practice. Without it I could not have finished this book. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to many friends for their contribution : Dr James Heinritz who was the first to read the whole manuscript and gave us encouragement and advices ; Dr Sylvie Hu who shared with us her deep understanding of Acupunc- ture and introduced us to the very enlightening work of Dr Jacques Pialoux ; Dr Jacques Pialoux for giving us permission to publish one of his figures ; Miss Zhai Jing Hui, who helped me correct the prescription’s dosages from the source of the original books ; Miss Sun Hao, our designer of most of the figures and illustrations ; Mr. Li Yue who helped me find precise English words. To Dr Xu Wen Bo, Dr Xu Wen Bing, Dr Liu Jie, Dr Lin Yang who shared my experience : we worked and pro- gressed together. And I, Claudine Merer, would like to thank Michael McIntyre and Mazin al-khafaji, my teachers of Chi- nese Herbal Medicine. I extend my gratitude to my dear friend, Mrs Susan de Talancé, whose help cor- recting english for the manuscript was most valuable and to Homeira Abrishami and Carine Desmonteix whose very professional editing touch transformed the manuscript into a real book. My great respect and gratitude go to my mentor and friend Jacques Pialoux. 5 Many thanks to both our families Sincere thanks to our patients And best wishes to everyone PREFACE I met Li Xin in November 2002. I had lived in Beijing only 6 months and everything was still new. Having a background of Doctor in Western medicine and Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), I was asked to give a conference on TCM for the expatri- ate community of the Beijing International Society. As a follow up to the conference, I wanted to give the audience the opportunity to visit a TCM clinic in Bei- jing. By chance, I met Li Xin who offered to guide us around the private TCM clinic where he was working. Although he was very young (32 years old) I could sense a deep and personal understanding of TCM and a particularly developed sensitivity. This is what I was looking for, after a few disappointing experi- ences in various TCM hospitals of Beijing. He kindly offered me to sit in when he was treating patients, and although I was thrilled, my very poor understanding of Chinese language drastically limited the experience ! I decided that I should first learn some Chinese ! During the following year, we met on several occa- sions, discussed and compared our views on TCM. He told me how he started studying at Beijing TCM Uni- versity (北京中医药大学) in 1988, and was even nom- inated “Huang Di Neijing (黄帝内经) representative of the class” in 1989 ! At the time he didn’t really under- TCM : BACK TO THE SOURCES FOR A MODERN APPROACH stand the book’s contents and lost interest in TCM. In 1990 he tried a year of western medicine. Although he was very interested in physiology, explained in a scien- tific way, he realised that western therapy didn’t pro- vide all the answers and was totally lacking in some areas, and he went back to studying TCM. In 1991, he met his first teacher, Mr.Ren. Mr Ren was over 40 at the time, a Master of Martial Arts, and visiting Li Xin’s university for a week. Li Xin offered him his room and was very impressed to see him meditate every night and look so much younger than he was. One day, following a generous gesture by Li Xin, Mr Ren invited him to come to the medical school library. At the entrance was a statue of Zhang Zhong Jing (张仲景), author of Shang Han Za Bing Lun (伤寒杂病论). Mr Ren asked Li Xin to bow to Zhang Zhong Jing, and then bow to him, according to Chinese tradi- tion. He then told him : “TCM is very simple : in front of a patient just ask yourself : is this patient warm, cold, in excess or in deficiency ?” On their way back, he spoke again : “The secret of a formula lies in the fact that only three to five ingredients are important. If there are many ingredients, either it was meant to confuse other doctors, or the author of the prescription didn’t have a clear understanding himself !” The two never met again, but these few words were enough to make Li xin believe in TCM and set him in a new direction. Subsequently, he spent most of his time in the library, and rarely went to TCM lectures. He studied Huang 8 TCM : BACK TO THE SOURCES FOR A MODERN APPROACH Di Neijing (黄帝内经), Shang Han Lun (伤寒论), and the books of famous doctors of different dynasties such as Li Dong Yuan (李东垣), Zhang Zi He (张子和), Zhu Dan Xi (朱丹溪), Zhang Yuan Su (张元素), Zhang Jing Yue (张景岳), Xue Ji (薛己) from Song and Yuan Dynasties. Learning from ancient books was a difficult task, not only because of the use of old language, but mainly because of the metaphoric way the ancients used to express themselves. When an artist draws a picture, you have to grasp the feelings behind it, beyond the performance and style of the artist. Ancient doctors had their own way to express their thoughts, and it is essential to understand the meaning hidden behind the words. In Li Dong Yuan’s “Pi Wei Lun” (脾胃论), it is written that the main principle of a prescription is : “Bu xie zai wei, sui shi huan qi” (补泻在味, 随时换气) which translates literally as “Tonify, sedate comes from the taste, cold and warm depend on this moment”. This means that when we treat a patient it is more important to understand the taste of the herb used (sedat- ing or tonifying), than its nature (warm or cold). We find the same principle written in the Huang Di Nei- jing (黄帝内经). Li Xin graduated with honours in 1993. During the following two years he wanted to stay closer to home, and became a TCM teacher in a medical school in Jiang Su province. He started practicing meditation and Tai Ji Chuan, teaching himself how to purify the shen and open the channels. 9 TCM : BACK TO THE SOURCES FOR A MODERN APPROACH From 1995 to 1997, he came back to Beijing and worked in health schools and a Medical Science Development centre, practising and teaching TCM, and giving lectures. In 1997 he joined the Beijng Yan Huang hospital, the best and largest private TCM club in Beijing where he provided medical services for senior government officials. He was the health manager and magazine editor of the club and trained young therapists in acupuncture, massage and meditation. More than 30 of the best specialists in TCM, with government’s agreement, were practising in this club. With them, Li Xin enlarged his experience and deepened his understanding. He met his second Teacher, Professor Song Zuo Min, an expert in paediatrics and internal diseases. Pro- fessor Song was over 80, he had been a student of the most famous doctor in Beijing, Dr Kong Bo Hua, from the Kong Zi family. With Pr Song, Li Xin learned the principle of tonifying Jing and regulating Qi Ji by using light dosage and light taste. When we met in 2002 he was also working part time at the Ping Xin Tang clinic and, a year later, sitting with him, I was able to see how precise his method was, how different from my own experience and understanding and how effective his treatments proved to be, even in the most difficult cases. Gradually, it became important to try to keep his personal approach alive and better known to those seek- ing to reach the essence of TCM, in the simple way described in ancient books. In September 2004 the idea of this book was born ! 10