Slate and Shell PDX

Doorways

December 1, 2011 Category :Children| Chinese Medicine| Health 0

This morning, we woke up to cars covered in frost and my husband, son and I spent 15 minutes scraping windows so that we could drive to work and school. My husband told me that he was planning on biking but had run out of time. He said it felt so good to bike yesterday because he worked up a huge sweat. Arg!, I said, the Neijing says not to sweat in the autumn and winter! He looked at me and smiled, sort of shook his head and then kissed us goodbye. The Neijing is not the magical thing to him that it is to me.

I got in the car with my son, who was refusing to wear his hat and wanted me to turn the heater up full blast. I drove past swarms of children and teenagers on their way to school in the 33 degree weather this morning. My son and I looked at their shorts, skirts and thin sweatshirts, saw their bare necks and heads, legs, shivering from the cold as they stood with their arms wrapped around themselves, trying to stay warm.

My son is only six, but we’ve talked a lot about Zheng Qi and Wei Qi…which we refer to in simplistic terms as “The Soldiers.” Today we talked about The Soldiers at The Doorways and gates that go into our bodies. We talked about our bathroom door and how we almost have to slam it closed in the winter because it swells from the cold, but in the summer, it opens and closes so easily.

He asked me why sweating isn’t so good for us in the winter and we thought together about how hard it must be for The Soldiers to close The Doors in the wintertime after they are opened from sweating. If these doors are left open, cold and wind can get inside and make us sick. We played with these concepts and with his help, I began to see even more fully how simple and amazing these ideas around seasonal living are. He must have seen it too, because he quickly put his hat on and turned the heat down a little. He wants to be healthy and he wants to thrive – it’s just a matter of communicating how to do that and empowering him to start figuring these things out on his own.

This is what is so beautiful about Chinese medicine and ancient medicine in general. Really, it’s what is so beautiful about ancient thinking. This type of thinking honors both the artistic and the scientific points of view. It allows a type of intelligence that includes the imagination, somatic sensation and emotional input. It’s a world view based on beauty and observation, both inside ourselves and out and requires that we pay attention to what’s going on around us at any given time – rather than putting value only on the abstract.

Instead of trying to quote facts or studies that would be meaningless to this child, we were able to talk about something we both experience daily – the inability of our bathroom door to close. We used our imagination, our intuition and our logic to come to conclusions together….and that’s the other big thing. Instead of some pedantic exercise in lecturing another human being about the facts of life, of this body, of this world – we discussed these things as equals, as two beings coming together with our equally valid and wonderful experience and in this way we both learned something. What an amazing gift to start seeing the world in this way, to start seeing our health in this way – to be in partnership for the discovery of health in the relationship between patient and practitioner, parent and child, etc.

Noseless Saddles and Movember

November 21, 2011 Category :Health| Mens Health| Womens Health 2

As it is Movember, and there is much talk about about men’s health, particularly prostate health, I’ve been paying a little more attention.

So much of Chinese medical diagnosis, whether “Classical,” or ”Traditional,” focuses on organ pathology when dealing with erectile dysfunction and other problems related to the male genital area. It is definitely possible for this to be a channel problem, especially when dealing with younger men, but I rarely hear it talked about as such. If we pay attention to our surroundings, our culture and our current lifestyle practices, perhaps we will start to see that something that may be hiding under the Chinese medicine radar for us.

Portland, OR is a town focused on cycling. We’ve got over 324 miles of bike lanes as well as the highest share of bicycle commuters (6-8%) in any US city. Bicycling here is considered not only exercise or a means of transportation, but a complete lifestyle that reduces petroleum usage and keeps the environment clean. It’s no wonder that many cyclists, women included, do not often associate, nor talk about, the genital numbness and sexual dysfunction that is now being linked to riding on saddles with long “noses”. It can be embarrassing, not to mention, frustrating when one is trying so hard to do the right thing by working at a petroleum-free commute.

In a typical seated position, no pressure at all is applied to the perineum. The ischial tuberosity (“sitz bones”) typically take on the body weight. It should be fairly obvious to a CM practitioner that if so many channels (Jing, Mai, Luo, etc) are running through the genital area that putting a significant amount of pressure on those channels will cause a problem. Any report of genital numbness when cycling supports this. We know that numbness is a sign that those tissues are not being nourished properly.

In June, a New York Times article discussed a series of studies by Steven M. Schrader have shown that a traditional bicycle saddle allows for a very unnatural condition in which your perineal area, including all it’s surface nerves and blood vessels, takes on 25-40% of your body weight. Within only a few minutes, normal oxygen circulation levels in that important area go down by 80%. With the prostate being buried in this area, it’s a real problem for the health of that highly important tissue.

It’s no wonder that in 1997, urologist Irwin Goldstein declared:

There are only two kinds of male cyclists — those who are impotent and those who will be impotent.

Currently, the only saddles that have been shown to significantly reduce pressure on the perineum are noseless saddles. In Shrader’s studies with male police officers, he found that noseless saddles reduced genital numbness, improved genital sensitivity and officers reported improved erectile function.

Another study at Yale that focused on women showed that the “partial cutout” saddles, currently being sold as items to reduce perineal pressure actually INCREASE pressure on a woman’s genital area.

Regardless of study after study (which I will refrain from repeating here), the cycling community fails to be supportive of the switch. As the NYT article reported, the editor in chief of Bicycling Magazine said that cyclists would be “too embarrassed” to show up to a race with a noseless saddle. Many online cycling bloggers complain that speed and maneuverability will be destroyed by switching to a noseless saddle, all the while admitting that they haven’t tried one yet.

Schrader’s study, entitled, “Cutting off the Nose to Save the Penis,” worked consistently with 90 officers. After the study, the benefits were so noticeable to officers that only three switched back to traditional saddles.

I post this today in the hopes that when working with cyclists, especially young cyclists, that we think about the recommendation of switching to a noseless saddle instead of focusing completely upon which Classical formula might be best. Our treatment strategy might also be aimed at getting circulation moving in the perineal and groin area as well. Certainly, increasing the circulation to that area will help with sexual function – but it will also help to prevent many of the other illnesses that can come about when tissues (including that important prostate) are not supplied with the oxygen and nutrients that they need (and deserve!).

Thoughts on Regulating the Vitality

November 16, 2011 Category :Translation 2

Chapter 2 of the Suwen, The Great Theory on Regulating the Vitality During the Four Seasons, describes the behaviors associated with a healthy lifestyle during the various seasonal changes. Because I cannot include footnotes in the translation, this post addresses some of the thoughts and discoveries I had while reading the chapter.

Within the first section, on Spring, we are told that this is the time that things are manifesting. In particular, the character Chen 陳 is used. Part of the Shuowen Jiezi says of this character: 陳, that “曰陳者大昊之虛畫八卦之所木德之始故從木”. I am most certainly no Bagua expert at all and so I asked Brian Pine about it. Please see the comments below for his opinion on this. According to him, Zhen/Thunder (震) is one of the two gua related to 木 (the other being Xun/Wind (巽)). 震 has two empty lines above. This gua goes with the direction of the Northeast, and could possibly represent the idea of winter turning into spring. Brian notes the similarity of the characters 陳 and 昊 with the character for “east,”: 東.

Zhi 志 is mentioned in each of the four seasonal sections that begin the chapter. I have translated Zhi (志) as “nature.” This is the same Zhi (志) ‘spirit’ that is associated with the Kidney and often translated as “will” in modern TCM textbooks. The concept of “will” implies a desire, wish or intention, none of which seem to fit well here. Zhi (志) can also mean “ambition,” “course,” “purpose,” “resolve” and “conviction”. As “nature” implies a sort of character, temperament or disposition, I believe it encompasses all of these ideas and more. At the opening of each seasonal cycle, if we follow the Qi of the phase we are in, we have the option of generating in ourselves the nature that truly defines us as a human being and dictates our thoughts and actions throughout the season.

At the end of each seasonal section, you will see a similar passage that illustrates the connectedness of each season to the next. For example, in Spring, “Very little can be offered towards the process of growth.” (奉長者少). The Summer is the season associated with the Dao of Nourishing Growth. If one does not take care during the springtime, they will have little to utilize in the process of growth that will be coming in the summer.

In the Autumn seasonal section, we are told to “harvest and gather the Qi of vitality” (收斂神氣). Here, the idea is to harvest and collect the Shen Qi (神氣). 神 has various meanings depending on context. It is often translated as “spirit” or “heart spirit” in modern TCM textbooks. Etymology includes an altar礻on the left, with two hands stretching something 申 on the right. It can be translated as “mind,” “thought,” “spirit,” “god,” “essence,” “vitality,” “energy,” “immortality,” “wonder,” “mystery,” and so on. I have chosen “vitality” here due to aspects of harvesting the most important pieces of the self, the parts that keep us going strong throughout the winter so that the cycle will be able to start anew in the spring.

Now, for the really difficult passages. There has been much controversy with these passages over the years. In every translation that I have read, this portion of the chapter seems to be completely unrelated to the rest. I do not believe that to be correct. There is an intrinsically deep process that occurs between the Winter and the Spring in order to restart the cycle and bring about regeneration. I believe this passage comes after the Winter section because it describes this process for us and is fully related to that aspect of seasonal change.

天氣清淨，光明者也，藏德不止，故不下也。

The Qi of Heaven is clean and clear, light and illuminated.

It stores these virtues without limit,

And therefore, they do not descend.

Here, Heaven is storing the virtues of Yang without limit: clean, clear, light and illuminated. They do not descend because it is the time of winter . We are told that in the winter time, we practice the Dao of Storage, we should not disrupt the yang, we should stay where it is warm and do not sweat (bring the yang to the surface). This idea of Heaven may be modeling the idea of the winter for us, and how we should behave in order to nurture the yang, continue with the storage so that once the Qi of Heaven and Earth begins to generate again, life can come forth in the Springtime.

天明則日月不明.

When Heaven holds the illuminating brightness,

Then the sun and moon are without illumination.

This is the situation during the winter time. All the warmth/illumination has gone into Heaven where it is being stored. We are told earlier that during spring, Heaven and Earth are just being generated/born. Their Qi joins in the summer and the Heavenly Qi is exhausting in the autumn. Once we arrive at winter, the Earth is cracking from ice and we are warned that the Yang cannot be disturbed. This can lead us to the conclusion that Heaven is now in complete storage (in alignment with the winter Qi, the Dao of Storage). When all the illuminating brightness is stored in Heaven, it is no longer present upon the sun and moon.

Mozi taught that Heaven ordered the sun, moon and stars to enlighten and guide the people. When we see that the sun and moon are without the illuminating brightness of Heaven, we know that it is proper to store our Yang as well. It is by Heaven’s light that the sun and moon have their light.

It is also important to note that in the previous section on winter, we are told to rise when we have waited for the sunlight (必待日光). This tells us that there is still light 光 present and that this is a different quality than the 明 that is not present upon the sun and moon in the winter.

邪害空竅, 陽氣者閉塞, 地氣者冒明, 雲霧不精則上應白露不下。

If Xie injures through the empty cracks,

The Yang Qi is locked and obstructed,

The Earth Qi is recklessly illuminated,

And the clouds and mist are not refined,

Then the response from above is that the White Dew (白露) does not descend.

Again, this is why it is important to follow the Dao of Storage, keeping the yang hidden and protected, filling what is valuable and making sure not to disturb the surface. If there is a disturbance on the exterior, cracks will open, allowing the Xie to harm what should be protected in this time of storage. The Yang Qi is then obstructed and locked out of it’s protective place where it should be in resting at this season. Due to the disruption of the Yang Qi, the Earth Qi becomes recklessly illuminated and this is highly inappropriate for the winter time, the time of storage. Due to this inappropriate action, the clouds and mist cannot be properly refined between Heaven and Earth and they do not descend to nourish as they should.

惡氣不發，風雨不節，白露不下，則菀槁不榮。

If the corrupt Qi is not expelled,

The winds and rain are not restrained,

And the White Dew fails to descend,

Then what is bountiful will wither and nothing will thrive.

These things all go back to the previous passage in which storage was not properly taken care of, Xie invaded through the cracks, the Yang was disturbed and due to all of this, the proper relationship between Heaven and Earth that would create the White Dew never took place. If that corrupt Qi is not expelled, and the recklessness of the Earth Qi results in unrestrained wind and rain, along with a failure of the White Dew to nourish the life upon the Earth, there will be nothing that can thrive. Early on in the chapter, it is part of the Qi of Spring that the living things should be thriving 榮.

賊風數至，暴雨數起，天地四時不相保，與道相失，則未央絕滅。

If thieving winds (賊風) arrive frequently,

Violent rains regularly rise up,

The four seasons of Heaven and Earth do not sustain each other,

And the Dao that supports them is lost,

Then there is nothing to unite the seasons,

And they are severed and extinguished.

In the previous portion of the chapter, each seasonal section ended with a warning that illustrated to the reader that if the advice for that season was not followed, there would be some type of calamity in the following season. In this way, we should be aware that following the proper recommendations for the particular season will support what must occur in the following season. All of the seasons are united in a cycle, everything is dependent on what occurred in the cycle before.

Chai-like Tea

November 7, 2011 Category :Medicine Making| Recipes 0

I love drinking Chai tea, especially when it’s the only thing that tastes as good or better than coffee to me. Instead of being a bitter and draining drink, it’s a warm and nourishing drink…especially good for the Autumn and Winter. My friend, Josh Green, makes one of the most delicious versions I’ve ever tasted. Josh began making it after he returned from India a few years ago and it really inspired me to try my hand at it. (I call this a “chai-like” tea because it’s just my take on trying to get at the taste I like and make it convenient in the mornings.)

Josh makes his amazing chai by boiling a fresh cup of soy milk with the bouquet garni (herbs and black tea) inside, pressing the ginger as it simmers. It’s got an amazing citrus flavor to it and I was convinced he had added lemon zest the first time I tasted it. I believe now that the lemony flavor is achieved because each cup is made fresh, the ginger is cooked for a shorter period and possibly because of the alchemy that occurs with the soy milk.

I prefer to use raw cow’s milk/cream or coconut milk as I have been a little wary of soy milk and am still working on researching that bit. (Kathleen DeMaisons has a nicely written little piece that covers some of my concerns but doesn’t highlight soy as a huge criminal either.) I also have a 6-year old son who LOVES chai almost as much as I do – so I make a chai mix that we keep in the fridge to save time on a daily basis. I cook the herbs for a much longer time and the tea for a much shorter time (only steeping it) than Josh does. My tea has a much earthier flavor, including lower notes, for this reason. If you prefer a more citrus style tea with higher notes, I would suggest trying to make your tea a cup at a time.

You can use whatever milk you wish in this recipe. If you choose to use coconut milk, I urge you to make it yourself rather than using canned milk (which may contain BPAs in the coating). It’s quite easy to make, though I don’t have time to write up another entry about that right now, so I will refer you to Elana Amsterdam’s blog for that recipe. For my coconut milk, I only use coconut and water, I find no need to add the stevia as she does. If you choose to use a soy, hemp or nut milk, it is best to avoid milks with added flavorings and preservatives and look for a product with simple ingredients that retains it’s purity. I can’t say that I’ve found a great product there and again, for nut milks, I prefer to make them from scratch, which is delicious, retains a fat content not found in boxed nut milks and is much better for you and your family.

To sweeten this mixture, I often use honey or maple syrup but lately, I’ve come to love the Chinese crystal rock candy. I purchase this for for about $2/pound from Benson Huang at Healing Food is Medicine. Benson is a Chinese medicine practitioner who excels at Chinese dietetics. He taught me that the crystal rock candy, because of it’s special structure, is able to bring water into the body, thus hydrating it – rather than building phlegm as so many of our modern day sweeteners do. As with all other foods though, everything in moderation.

Chai-like Tea Recipe:

The Mix:

(Makes about 3/4 gallon of mix)

10-12 cups of filtered water
14 cinnamon sticks
2 level TBSP green cardamom pods
1 level TBSP cloves
1 level TBSP peppercorns
12-20 nickel-sized pieces of fresh ginger root
1 TBSP organic vanilla extract or 1-3 vanilla pods
1-2 cups of honey or maple syrup or 1/4-1/2 pound crystal rock candy

Add the first 7 ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for about 5 minutes and then cover and turn down to a simmer for 45-60 minutes. Strain the herbs out by using a french press or cheesecloth and a colander. Dissolve the sweetener into the hot, filtered mix (making sure that it is sweet to your liking) and then put into a glass container. After it cools off, cover and store in the fridge.

To Prepare:

Fill your tea cup about 3/4 full of the mix and top it off with the milk of your choice. Pour what you have measured into a small cooking pot and bring to a boil. While it’s getting hot, prepare your tea, either as loose leaf or a tea bag and then use the hot liquid to steep the tea as you normally would.

You can use black, green or rooibos tea (keeping it caffeine free) with this mix. This allows me to easily prepare a cup for both myself and my son in the mornings!

Ahhh….Jue Qi 厥氣. What to do?

November 3, 2011 Category :Uncategorized 2

Chapter 43 of the Lingshu, Yín Xié Fā Mèng, talks about Unprincipled Xie qi giving rise to various dreams. As the Xie is moved through the body by the Ying and Wei, as well as the Hun and Po, Qi becomes excessive in some places and insufficient in others. Specifically:

氣淫于腑 , 則有餘于外 , 不足于內 ;
氣淫于臟 , 則有餘于內 , 不足于外。

If there is Unprincipled (淫) Xie in the Fu organs, then there is a surplus (餘) on the outside and an insufficiency (不足) in the interior.
If there is Unprincipled (淫) Xie in the Zang organs, then there is an insufficiency (不足) on the outside and a surplus ((餘) in the interior.

Commonly, when we talk about “excess” and “deficiency,” both in the Neijing and in TCM, we are talking about Shí(實) and Xū(虛). These are not the characters used in the Yín Xié Fā Mèng. Instead, we are talking about a (淫邪) Yín Xié (Unprincipled Xie) and it’s ability to cause a situation of (餘) and (不足). I had originally translated 淫 as “Excessive,” but due to so many variations on this in the Neijing, ended up going with something more specific: “Unprincipled.” The idea of 淫 is one of wantonness, lewdness, something obscene that doesn’t follow the conventional (or what is assumed to be healthy) principles.

You will notice in the Yín Xié Fā Mèng that 淫 is only mentioned 5 times, at the very beginning of the chapter. The rest of the chapter goes on to explain the situation in which there is either surplus (餘) or insufficiency (不足). I can only assume that this surplus or insufficiency has been caused by the Unprincipled Xie in the Fu or Zang.

As the chapter talks about what is occurring with the Qi, it uses two terms. One to denote an overflowing/overabundance or being filled (盛 shèng/chéng) and another (厥氣 jué qì) to denote what I’m assuming to be it’s opposite. This is due to the fact that after all cases of 盛, we are told to cure by draining or purging. After all cases of 厥氣, we are told that for these 12 types of insufficiency (不足), we cure by nourishing.

I have not translated 厥氣 into English because the term is denoting something that’s a little mysterious to me at this time. Most of us know the character Jue (厥) from it’s use in the 6 Conformations: Jueyin. It’s also used in the Neijing for cases of syncope/fainting. What is it used for here and is there a relationship between these other uses?

厥 is found in the dictionary by looking for the radical 厂, (hǎn). The more modern Far East Chinese-English Dictionary tells us that 厥 means (1) to faint, (2) same as 撅-to dig or (3) a personal and possessive pronoun. In the Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), the definition is given as: 發石也從厂欮聲 “mining stones and is also from the combination of 厂 ‘precipice’ and 欮 (jué) ‘hiccup,’ the latter probably providing the semantic component.

Chapter 43 specifically says that the “Jue Qi is as a guest, or stranger in” the organ (厥氣客於___). This type of structure sounds to me as if there is something in the organ that shouldn’t be there – but considering the ideas around the meaning of 厥, I would be more willing to assume this idea of mining, digging, taking….the Unprincipled Xie is actually causing a situation in which something is being stolen from the organ, hence the ideas about nurturing to cure it. I’ll keep thinking on this, but would, as always, love to hear any thoughts.

Fun at the Wu Family Shrines!

October 31, 2011 Category :Chinese History 0

I am always excited to find a fun and educational technological experience – often because they are few and far between. I came across an interactive recreation of the Wu Family Shrines a few months ago. This was designed by Anthony Barbieri-Low, a professor at Princeton University who specializes in the “social, economic, legal and material culture” of Ancient China. Barbieri-Low and one of his PhD candidates put the reconstruction together in 2005. You do need Quicktime Player to use it, and if you don’t have it, it’s absolutely worth getting it for the experience. You can read translations of the major inscriptions and check out the various carvings that were found. Going back to the hermeneutics piece from last week, this reconstruction may provide a great way for us to learn a little bit about Chinese history during the Eastern Han while having more of an interactive experience that is actually fun!

You can find the Computer Reconstruction of the Wu Family Shrines by clicking here.

Richard Gunde has a nice article written about the shrines, as well as the controversy around their actual dating and what may or may not have been part of the original shrines. He says:

The nearly one thousand years of scholarship behind the monument known as the Wu family shrines,” Liu continued, “is itself a kind of monument.” The problem is, Liu declared, that we actually do not know the date of the Wu family shrines and cannot be sure that the stone carvings that are called “the Wu family shrines” were ever assembled in one place. In short, did the Wu family shrines per se ever actually exist?

That is a mystery I will leave you with for today….

Herma – wha???

October 25, 2011 Category :Translation 7

Hermeneutics. That’s what.

It’s an odd word and it’s meaning is one that has been argued again and again by overly-intellectual philosophers since at least the time of Plato. I suppose the next question is: What exactly does this weird old word have to do with Chinese medicine? This is something we might ask Jason Lay, who is the first person I heard to use it in relation to said subject. David White, more recently for my ears, has been heard throwing this curious lingual gem around when talking about our historical medical texts. There is good reason for this, but it’s easy to get lost in trying to interpret the hermeneutic mess and how we might help ourselves to care, in the slightest, when reading the deluge of ancient Chinese medical and philosophical material. Or, again, maybe that’s just me and my meager abilities to understand this type of thing. Regardless, I do believe that it may be easy enough to identify at least a smidgen of the reasoning for why this is important to a translator of these texts.

Lets just imagine sitting down with a chapter of the Neijing. We’ve got some hot tea, a little silence, a little yearning to feel connected to those dudes of old and a big hope that we might find some pearl to help us on our path in this medicine. We start looking characters up, stringing concepts together, checking out our grammar book and getting some idea in our head of what this first sentence means.

But wait! Here it comes…the whole hermeneutics thing. That sentence cannot be taken alone. It has to be taken in context of the whole. A guy named Heidegger called this the “Hermeneutic Circle.” Using the circle means you focus in and out, in on the smaller » Continue Reading

Awake and Updating

October 21, 2011 Category :Uncategorized 0

It’s been a while, but I’m back! As you can tell, the site has undergone some changes. Some of them don’t seem so large (like the appearance of Chinese characters again), but they took quite a bit of time and finagling. Most of the rest is just asthetic. Regardless, some life is coming back into this site. The old has been thrown out and I hope that in the next few weeks some more content will start to appear. For now, I’m just trying to make sure everything is running well, so pardon any gliches here or there (and if you notice anything, feel free to let me know about it.)

Nǚs (女) in our Medical History

May 7, 2011 Category :Chinese History| Women in CM 3

The pun IS intended as it is seriously news to me if there are any famous females (女) in our Chinese medicine history! This often makes it hard to be a female student learning this medicine. For all the men reading this, can you imagine if you heard about all day long about the women who wrote the Huangdi Neijing, the woman who wrote the Shanghan Zabing Lun, the woman who brought gynecology to the forefront of the medicine with the Beiji Qiaojin Yao Fang and you never once heard an historical reference to a man who practiced this medicine? Would you not have a sneaking suspicion that the contributions of your gender were either completely lacking or unimportant enough as to have been forgotten along the way? A quick read through THIS article is enough to be depressed for many of the female doctors in ancient Chinese history. These amazing women were not allowed to publish the books they had written. Many women died because the harsh standards that were in place to protect their chastity prevented them from seeing male doctors and women doctors were either lacking or too afraid to treat them for fear of retribution.

Obviously, such a brilliant medicine could not have been created without the contributions of both the yin and yang aspects of our species (read: both men AND women). As the prehistory of China closes with patriarchy conquering matriarchy and this situation still exists today (unfortunately in most of the world), I’ve had bad luck dredging up details about the female contribution to this medicine. If you’ve got more, please share! As this research takes quite a while, expect this blogging train to come in bits.

鮑姑: Bao Gu, or “the Immortal Lady Bao”: Jin Dynasty

From what I can gather from this article on her: Bao Gu was probably born in the Shangdang Prefecture or possibly Henan Province. Today, this is Changzhi city in SE Shanxi province. It appears that her father was both a government official and Daoist priest named Bao Jing (鲍靓). He was the prefecture chief in Nanhai county in Guangdong. Bao Gu later married her husband, Ge Hong, and they were both famous doctors in the Eastern Jin Dynasty as well as Daoist practitioners themselves. From a young age, Bao Gu was well read, receiving a wealth of information from her father and later, her husband. She especially liked the herbal component of Chinese medicine, became proficient in acupuncture and was the first woman in China to pursue research on the techniques of moxibustion. Bao Gu and her husband travelled around » Continue Reading

Still Night Considerations

June 5, 2009 Category :Poetry 2

I am, by no means, adept at translating Classical Chinese literature – much less classical Chinese poetry. However, I can’t help but try anyway. I was thinking about Li Bo the other day, and a poem that I read in my undergrad Mandarin classes with Jonathan Pease. I couldn’t remember the exact name of the poem, only that it was four lines long and he talked about the moon in every one of them. I saw the poem as simplistic after reading it, but Professor Pease talked for over an hour about the use of the moon to represent the woman that Li Bo was admiring in the poem. While 靜夜思 is not the poem that we read back then, it is still beautiful, and I had some fun trying to translate it this week.

In Chinese medicine, we talk often about Yin and Yang, the moon and the earth, etc… and I think that one of the best ways we can understand what these concepts mean is through reading classical Chinese poetry.

靜夜思

床前明月光。
疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月。
低頭思故鄉。

Jìng yè sī
Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng.
Yí shì dì shang shuāng.
Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè.
Dī tóu sī gù xiāng.

Still Night Considerations
Before the bed shine the beams of the moon.
Doubtfully is there frost atop the earth.
Raising my head to gaze longingly upon the moon.
Lowering my head in consideration of my homeland.

The way I have translated this poem makes it seem so completely simplistic that I don’t know what to do. Even so, I went to bed thinking about this, and in the only way that I know how – I started to think about the moon as a woman. This character, 前, shows the foot radical over the character for ‘boat,’ and can be thought of as someone standing at the prow of a boat. It does mean “in front,” “ahead,” “formerly,” “preceeding,” etc. And I can see so many meanings in this, one of which could actually point towards something like, “before I took the moon to bed,” or, from a vantage point of the bed, he is looking at the moon.

明月 means not only the moon, but a beautiful type of pearl. I don’t doubt that it could also serve as a name, or pet name. 光 has the meaning of “brightness,” but can also denote nakedness or smoothness. It was originally made from the fire radical 火 over the person radical 人. Given this, another way to translate the line might be: “Before bed Luna with fiery nakedness,” or something like that…

In the second line, 疑 tells us something about “suspect,” or “doubt.” This could be taken as a verb or noun (or maybe even something else). 是 is the » Continue Reading

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