Hùnyuán Xīnfǎ

The Lost Heartof Medicine

Special Edition

☵Yaron Seidman& Teja A. Jaensch

Hùnyuán Research Institute for Chinese Classics

Hùnyuán Xīnfǎ

The Lost Heartof Medicine

Special Edition

☵Yaron Seidman& Teja A. Jaensch

Hùnyuán Research Institute for Chinese Classics

Fig.1

“There is nothing outside of Tàijí. More so when making a

picture of Tàijí, we simply draw an empty circle. This is the

image of complete pureness…Only after this realization can

there be harmony, as without this Center there is never, and will

never be true peace.”

Liú Yuán

Copyright © 2013 by Yaron Seidman.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning or any other – except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

NOTE: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is complete and accurate. However, neither the publisher, nor the authors are engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual reader and no portion of this book is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure the individual reader. Neither the publisher nor the authors shall be liable or responsible for loss, injury, or for the damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.

Hùnyuán Xīnfǎ: The Lost Heart of MedicineY. Seidman & T. A. JaenschPublished by: Hunyuan Group Inc.Greenwich, Connecticut, USAEmail: info@hunyuan.orgWebsite: www.hunyuan.org and www.chineseclassics.orgTeja A. Jaensch: www.pointspecifics.com

Library of Congress catalog number: 2013905610ISBN: 978-0-9891679-1-8Special Edition (April 2013)Printed in the United States of America

Cover calligraphy by Master Wú Zhōngxián (吳忠賢).The cover calligraphy reads Hùnyuán Xīnfǎ ( 混元心法).

Cover and book layout and illustrations by Michael Andre Musa-Tapia. (Miguel Andres – Design & Art) Photography taken and/or edited by Greg Le Couteur (Shadow Sounds).Photography from Sìchuān kindly contributed by Menachem Kuchar.

For our families and our patients.

Contents

Acknowledgments i

Preface ix

Author's note xii

Foreword xiv

Introduction 1

Brief historical perspective 12

Chapter OneShí Yīn Fū and the Ledger of Good and Evil 17

Chapter TwoClarifying Fundamental Concepts of the Heart 52

Chapter ThreeThe Lost Heart 92

Chapter FourA Time for Giving and a Time for Taking 118

Chapter FiveExplaining the 100 Diseases 135

Chapter SixI Know Words 148

Chapter SevenTàijí: Without an Apex 165

Chapter EightThe Wounded Warrior 182

Chapter NineRevering the 100 Medicines 206

Chapter TenThe Concealed Words 215

Conclusion 238

Bibliography 242

Appendix A: 石音夫功過格 248

Appendix B: 說百病崇百药 263

Appendix C: 劉沅: 槐軒全書 271

Index 370

Commentary on the Lost Heart of Medicine 387

Scholar's Notes 390

Acknowledgments

“There is a defining moment in the study of Chinese language when you realize that the page of text you're looking at is actually the right side up.”1

Michael Max

When my daughter looks at a sheet of music, she sees and hears the notes. When I look at that same page, all I see are dots and squiggles. So as I sat looking at the prodigious compendium written by Liú Yuán (劉沅) that we were to work through for the composition of this book, I had the same feeling as when I try to help my daughter with her cello.

It has been said that the entirety of historical Chinese medical thought was filtered through the brilliant mind of Zhāng Zhòngjǐng (張仲景), and the result of this distillation was the Shāng Hán Lún (傷寒論 ).2 In working with Dr Yaron Seidman I have been amazed at how he can look at these extensive manuscripts and instead of seeing radicals and phonetic components, he is able to synthesize and digest what is at the Heart of the text. The ten volumes of the Huái Xuān (槐軒) philosophy of Liú Yuán (劉沅) have been filtered through the mind of a contemporary sage, and what remains is the pure essence. It is thanks to Dr Seidman that this book exists, and I thank him for allowing me to be a part of the journey.

The defining moment in the evolution of this book came during the Hùnyuán Research Institute's trip to the People's Republic of China in June 2012, to seek out the Qīng dynasty physician, Zhèng Qīnān (鄭欽安 ). Through studying his lineage we discovered that he was but one of the thousands of students of Liú Yuán, the great Master. We were fortunate enough to be able to learn from his great grandson, Master Liú Bǎigǔ (劉伯谷), lineage bearer of the Huái Xuān school of philosophy. The concepts we extrapolate upon are thousands of years old, but in this book we bring them into the present and share their importance and vitality for medicine. Therefore, it is important for us to acknowledge here the lineage of thinkers, philosophers and healers that came before, and respect our duty of furthering their work, especially in regards to the practicality of transforming philosophy into practice. Guiding us to all this information was the Huái Xuān Shuāngliú Cultural Association (槐軒雙流文化研習會 ), 1 H. Huang, Ten Key Formula Families in Chinese Medicine, trans. M. Max, Eastland

Press, Seattle, 2009, (Translator’s foreword), p. xi.2 A. Versluys, Elementary Aspects of Canonical Chinese Medicine, lecture series, Sydney,

October 2012.

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administered by some true physicians of the Heart, President Master Liú Chí (劉馳) and Director Master Lǐ Tíngxīn (李廷新). To these men in particular, along with Master Gān Liǎo (甘了) and especially Master Liú Bǎigǔ for so generously giving his time to teach us, we offer our Heartfelt thanks.

Pic of Liu Chi and Li Tingxing

Liú Chí and Lǐ Tíngxīn at the Huái Xuān Shuāngliú Cultural Association.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

Henry Brooks Adams

It is through their assistance, and our insistence, that we were able to visit the burial ground of Liú Yuán and his family. This burial site was moved in the middle of the 20th century due to political issues, and the site had not been maintained since. In order to find his tomb we were given machetes with which we hacked our way out into the fields of Shuāngliú. As the dust settled we realized we had found the Lost Heart of Medicine.

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Lost Tombs pic

...into the fields of Shuāngliú...

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Yaron incense

Yaron Seidman paying his respects to the family of lost tombs.

Yaron Pic of tomb and burning paper in field.

Yaron Seidman burning blank paper money as sign of respect for the deceased.It is a Chinese custom to burn fake paper money for the deceased to have in Heaven,

however for enlightened persons, who require no material things on Earth or in Heaven, the custom is to burn blank paper.

Yaron incense

Yaron Seidman paying his respects to the family of lost tombs.

Yaron Pic of tomb and burning paper in field.

Yaron Seidman burning blank paper money as sign of respect for the deceased.It is a Chinese custom to burn fake paper money for the deceased to have in Heaven,

however for enlightened persons, who require no material things on Earth or in Heaven, the custom is to burn blank paper.

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Teja incense pic

Teja at Tomb pic

Teja A. Jaensch offering incense in the overgrown field.

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Grave front on pic

The tombstones of Liú Yuán and his eldest son Liú Bèiwén.

Our deepest gratitude extends to all of those who have contributed to this book. In particular we would like to thank Master Wú Zhōngxián (吳忠賢) for both his beautiful calligraphy on our cover, and the time he took to look over our work and give us feedback. To William R. Morris (PhD), author of Li Shi-zhen Pulse Studies: An Illustrated Guide, for his thoughtful contribution to our book in the foreword, we are eternally grateful. To the current Director of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Associate Head of School, (Medical and Molecular Biosciences) at the University of Technology, Sydney, Associate Professor Christopher Zaslawski, we thank you for your constructive critique and analysis. To Master Chén Zhōnghuá for his exquisite calligraphy in our conclusion to this book and for his continued inspiration in helping us find Center.

To Kelly Mitchell, for editing the text at each and every draft, we know it was a labor of love, and we thank you. To Jacinda Jaensch, who tirelessly read over and over the manuscript highlighting any oversights, from the depths of our Hearts, we thank you. To our fellow Hùnyuán

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Research Institute colleagues, Tristin McLaren and Alex Kolaczynski, thank you for being a part of this project and for furthering our limited capacities of contemplation. Tristin in particular arranged our impassioned words into legible sentences; this book, Tristin, is more yours than ours and we thank you for your dedication, enthusiasm, professionalism and compassion.

The text took me on a journey, says Robyn Bowcock, mental health nurse and Associate Lecturer at the University of Western Sydney (School of Nursing and Midwifery). Robyn, for your perspective and insight, we thank you. To Master Robert F. Feng, Stuart Rushton, Annika Andersdotter, Peter Schäfer, Sarah Arratoon, Julie Partridge, Anthony Captain, Menachem Kuchar, Denice Finnegan and Debbie Simpson, Julia Tyne, Monica Perez-Pardo and Maria D'Urso; thank you for the time and effort you took to read through our early drafts and offer guidance. To all of our patients who have had to hear us badgering on about Confucius and Mencius over the last year, we thank you for your patience. And to the masterful Evgeny Kissin for his amazing performance of Mussorgsky: Pictures at an exhibition, thank you for getting us through those long nights in front of the keyboard with your food for the soul.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, from both Yaron and myself, we thank our families; our parents, our beautiful wives and wonderful children for supporting and inspiring us. We are sure that this is just the beginning, with many miles to go before we sleep.

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Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.3

Robert Frost

3 R. Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 1923.

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Preface

The first book I wrote, I printed and bound myself. It was 1997 and I was finishing my final year of high school. After studying Kung Fu during my adolescent years, I felt I needed to write something to fill a void that existed in my training. The book was called Yì Shén (意神), Remember the Spirit

(literal translation – the meaning of spirit), and was a pleading to myself to seek what was beneath the layers of external movement, behind the kicks and punches.

Later, when my journey began into the study of Chinese medicine, language and culture, I discovered that what I was aiming to be was an Yī Shēng (醫生), a doctor. Literally again, this means someone who cures life. Throughout my studies, both in Australia and the People's Republic of China, I found myself continually seeking something to fill the void, just as I had been in my martial arts training. Despite the fact I had, in my opinion, some of the very best educators in the world, I could not help but feel I was lacking in my practice of medicine.

Clouds drift by deserted city walls,Filling the collapsed spaces...

Cheng Man-Ch'ing

Then I was fortunate enough through miraculous circumstances, in the

middle of the road, to become acquainted with Dr Yaron Seidman, founder of the Hùnyuán Research Institute for Chinese Classics in Connecticut, USA. In this man I found someone who had that same feeling and was walking that same path, yet was already contemplating amongst the mists at the mountain peak as I stood at its foot peering upward. Dr Seidman's approach to medicine and life is to be clear and yet clearer about virtue; to continually study and research and question in order to be the best doctor and teacher there can be to his patients and students. Hùnyuán (混元 ) literally means the origin of life.

With this dedication he founded the Hùnyuán Research Institute for Chinese Classics, which is now an international think-tank of like-minded physicians. Over the years of exploring the very foundations of Chinese medicine to such a pedantic point of nailing down the ancestry of every word in our Classics, he has formed a unique understanding and way of

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describing what it means to be alive. Medicine is for the living; it is to heal life. So gaining an appreciation for what life is, rather than just trying to understand disease, is vital. To do this, Hùnyuán medicine uses this image to describe the basic processes of living:

Fig.2

If Lǎozǐ (老子) was right and every journey begins with a first step, this is and should be, the starting point for any medical understanding and inquiry. This picture articulates the difference between our bodies when we are alive to when we have expired. For now, we could simply define Unification as breathing in and Separation as breathing out. This circulation of respiration is vital. The implications for Unification and Separation run very deep and are discussed throughout the introductory chapters in more detail.

Yet as important as this first step is, it is just that, and the journey is long. The primary argument of this book is that we need to constantly dig deeper, constantly seek out the Lost Heart of Medicine. Through the works of the Chinese scholar, Liú Yuán, we have found it: it is our Center. If we can find this Center then our approach to health and disease, the way we react with our external and internal environments and the way we think and feel about ourselves can change for the better.

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Separation Unification

It was only at the end of this process of working with Liú Yuán's material, toiling with the translations, that I came to a point of honest realization. When we first started this book we discussed many Confucian ideas with Master Liú Bǎigǔ, such as filial piety, the son respecting the father, self-examination (géwù 格物 ) and selfishness in particular. I kept badgering the poor fellow to give me the answers that I wanted to hear; however, being the sage that he is, he would not budge and just continued repeating the words that I needed to hear. It was only whilst grappling with the final chapters of this book a year after he spoke to me, that I finally heard him. Letting go of our childhood ignorance is a challenge, for no one more than myself. But there is no escaping it once the process of cultivation has been planted and starts to grow within you. I am no longer a child. I am a man. My life. My choice. The challenge here has been not just to translate philosophical concepts from Chinese to English, but also to translate this internal experience in a way that is accessible to others.

Previously it was common for me to chant the following aphorism: 'The Yìjīng (易经) tells us that the only constant is change. Every thing is

under the influence of change, so therefore we are either changing for the

better, or the alternative'. Through the process of working on this book, I find myself reveling in the realization that there is something within me, within all of us (not a thing) that does not change, that is constant. This constancy is what unites us as doctors, patients, family, friends and strangers. The world needs to focus more on what unites us and less on our preoccupation with division and Separation.

Teja A. Jaensch, Sydney, AustraliaFebruary 2013

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Author's note

A long time ago in a remote village in southwestern China, lived an old teacher. To his simple school, a structure with a roof but no walls, came children from all around the countryside. The pupils would wake up at three o'clock in the morning and walk as many as four, five or six hours holding a small lantern in the dark until they reached the little school. There, they would listen to the old teacher for a few hours, then make the long journey home again. Most, if not all of his students came from poor peasant families. The parents wanted their children to go to school but often needed them to stay home and help in the field. As a result the children would only attend the little school one or two days per week, staying home on the other days to help their parents in the fields.

One day the old teacher sat in his school and no pupils showed up; they had all stayed home. 'Maybe there is something lacking in my teaching,' he thought to himself, 'and as a result, my class is empty today. I must find out how to be a better teacher and what it is my students need to know.' He packed a few balls of rice and pickles in a napkin and set off for the mountains. He had heard of an old recluse living amongst the cliffs and valleys and thought that the monk could teach him more about teaching. Across the fields he walked, until he came to a river blocking his way. The current was swift, trying to make him slip; hesitantly he forded the waters. At the end of a long day's journey he finally reached the old recluse.

'I came to ask you about teaching,' he said reverently. 'There is only life that we need to learn about,' the recluse replied.

'And that is it.' 'I would like to learn this,' the teacher continued.'Life is everywhere and within everything,' said the recluse. 'This is

all you need to teach.' 'I think that makes sense,' said the teacher. 'But how do I teach this?' 'Tell your pupils that all they need to do is to love all people and all

living things alike. Heaven's life is in everybody and everything. I have meditated here in this cave for fifty years and have realized that life is equally precious in everything the universe created. Looking at this beautiful tree in front of me, I love it as if it were my father. Everywhere, in everything, life is all alike.'

With that, the teacher bowed his head to the ground, thanked the recluse from the bottom of his Heart, left the food he had brought with him as an offering of appreciation and departed. It was already late by the time he reached the riverbank, yet the waters seemed calmer than before, gently

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caressing him as he made his way across. On the other side, the teacher found a large tree with a vast canopy to cover him. Curling up under its embrace, he fell asleep. In a dream the tree spoke to him.

'I am here to shelter you tonight, but tomorrow after you leave, you are on your own. I cannot go with you and take care of you tomorrow night. For this, I am very sorry.'

'There is no need to be sorry,' the teacher replied in his slumber. 'I am just thankful that you are here tonight.'

The next morning, the teacher thanked the tree again for the shelter it offered and then departed. In the middle of the road he tripped on a stone, fell to the ground and bruised his leg. 'My leg hurts!' he thought, looking at his wound. 'Now that I think of my body, I start realizing that I have one'. Then another thought rippled through him, 'I only have this body because of my father and mother. They created it and now I am here with a bruise. My body travels with me every day of my life. Yesterday’s tree is no longer. How can I love the tree the same way I love my parents?'

Sitting next to the stone in the middle of the road, the teacher thanked it for tripping him. As he observed the stone he remembered the time, now many years past, when his parents had passed away and the burial that he had arranged for them. Tears started flowing down his cheeks. 'I love my parents very much,' he thought. 'How can I love a tree the same way? I am like a stone dropping in the middle of the pond, the ripples created expand all the way to the tree by the water's edge.' He realized that the ripples created by this stone were at first small and strong and then they expanded far and wide. The wider and farther the ripples traveled, the weaker and softer they became. In the Center they were very strong, while on the periphery, weak.

'My parents are closest to me, while the tree is far away,' he said aloud. 'I cannot love my parents the same way I love the canopy. While I am thankful for the canopy and the stone, I can tell the difference now!'

Tears came rushing as he remembered his mother and father. Without knowing why, he felt as if he could have helped them more; that he had not done enough in years past.

'I am so thankful to the recluse,' he thought. 'I finally understand what I need to teach my pupils. I need to teach them to keep being who they

are.'

Yaron SeidmanConnecticut, USAMarch 2013

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Foreword

Physician: a person who is skilled in the art of healing.

In this extraordinary book, authors Dr Yaron Seidman and Teja A. Jaensch bring Heart to the physician and the practice of medicine. They facilitate new light through a critical explication of the philosophies contained within the canons of the Huái Xuān. Thus, parting the veil, they provide a glimpse into the nature of medicine.

Hùnyuán Xīnfǎ: The Lost Heart of Medicine will find use by those who wish to understand the Hùnyuán approach to medical practice. It also provides a depth of insight for those who are involved in the deeper study of medicine, resulting in a refinement of our humanity. Seidman and Jaensch employ a traditional path of transmission by elucidating the textual basis of Liú Yuán’s deepest thoughts. Rather than a mere recitation of the Classics, the authors hold true to the spirit of Liú Yuán scrutinizing his writings in search of the true principle. Thus, Hùnyuán Xīnfǎ: The Lost Heart of

Medicine provides discourse which guides the practitioner deeply within to the hidden places.

The authors' approach to the construction of knowledge employs what I call contemplative hermeneutics, which adds the notion of contemplative practices to the discipline of studying ancient manuscripts. Specifically, they provide a unique construction of early literature gained by deep contemplation of the works combined with a disciplined analysis of the characters comprising the text. This approach maintains the relevancy and currency of their work.

Given the inspired nature of this book, it feels important to highlight its location in the field of knowledge production. To achieve this, I considered the distinctions between reproductive and creative knowledge. Memorized and repeated, classical passages reproduce previously constructed knowledge. The value of such work increases with the pursuit of accuracy. The divine spark of inspiration, ephemeral and elusive, risks being lost in the reproduction and desire to capture the intent of writers from bygone eras. Careful to the spirit of the word, translators attempt to capture the essence of intent. Contrarily, a work of creative knowledge production seeks depth of insight without the attempt to reproduce the original thought of a given author. In this instance, there is a transcendence of past, future, theory and practice, which gains a presence and luminosity within the current of Heart transmission.

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This book received inspiration through the authors' work with Master Liú Bǎigǔ, the great grandson of the Qīng dynasty scholar physician, Liú Yuán. They bring their experience and views as contemporary practitioners to bear upon the problem of knowledge transmission, shining the light of their own Spirits into the inquiry upon the Lost Heart of Medicine.

In this effort, the authors explore the term Xìng, meaning Natural

Character. Thus, the need to attain Natural Character becomes the principle from which the text receives guidance. With a focus upon an enlightened Heart, the authors point toward a life that comes from Natural Character, a life defined by the continuous rotation of Heaven. Heaven's life and the Natural Character of the human being are one and the same, as above, so below, the Two are One and the One is Two. Hence, we explore a path with Heart.

Opening with the story of Shí Yīn Fū, the authors highlight the question of virtue through a fabric of Dàoist, Buddhist and Confucian values. Through this process they create an ethical framework that empowers the physician. In their discovery of the Heart's depths, they pursue the question of life and consequently, medicine.

Aligning with true principle, the practice of Hùnyuán medicine proceeds through continual cyclical motions of Separating returning to Unification. This is accomplished by seeking the source of the universe through Xīnfǎ, which is a path of the Heart. Hùnyuán medicine provides an avenue into life and Heart that alters and empowers the practitioner. Accomplished in part through understanding Separation and return, the cycling of Yīn and Yáng, up-bearing and down-bearing, these deep philosophical foundations of Chinese culture are addressed by drawing upon the essential traits of Confucianism, Dàoism and Buddhism.

Upon reading this book, I am enthused, excited and am falling in love with medicine in a new way. I believe that no matter your level of experience, this book will blow your mind and affect your practice in deep and meaningful ways.

William R. Morris, PhDAuthor, Li Shi-zhen Pulse Studies: An Illustrated Guide

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