Medical I Ching

[Basil]

Does anyone have any experience with The Medical I Ching by Miki Shima?

[Daeluin]

I don't have experience with it. The reviews on amazon are interesting. From those I get a sense the book is not quite for beginners, but also not quite for seasoned acupuncturists. The book was published in 1992, and I'd imagine the western understanding of chinese medicine has matured quite a bit since then.

 

That said, this is likely a great book to study principle through, come to understand the reasons for these particular hexagram interpretations, and use those reasonings to deepen one's approach to ones current understanding of chinese medicine and I ching.

 

But it might not be the best introduction material for either the I ching or chinese medicine. Before one has built a foundation in a particular area one should be careful with what one embraces, until one has enough experience to reason things out from one's own perspective.

[Basil]

Are you aware of another book on the same/similar subject?

[Daeluin]

No, but there may be one.

 

Personally, my approach to learning about chinese medicine comes from first hand internal experience. Rather than learning factual knowledge and logic based applications of this knowledge, I study principles and then forget them and practice inner cultivation. Then I use my experiences to deepen my understanding of principle, which then informs a living model of chinese medicinal theory - one that approaches from the whole more than from the parts.

 

This approach likely takes much longer than simply studying knowledge of chinese medicine alone, but perhaps goes hand in hand with the I Ching, which is all about describing a base set of principles that can be found alive in every aspect of existence. The I Ching principles can be applied to many manifestations of chinese medicinal theory, but these aren't locked in place. Often with the I Ching there are many applicable hexagrams, but only one that best describes the heart of the situation from the perspective one is desiring to understand and treat from.

 

Study of the I Ching is a great introduction to learning to read between the lines, to learn to look at the essence underlying the discernible parts. This essence is at the core of how the body works. Simply studying the essence of the 8 trigrams and the 5 elemental forces is a great way to gain a deeper understanding into some of the roots of chinese medicinal theory.

[Basil]

Thank you, that is helpful insight.

 

I've engaged in I Ching study for a while and have a growing interest in health application/medicine.

 

I say all of this as an interested novice.

[SmilingPenance]

i'm reading  i ching acupuncture

 

very interesting and relates i ching to different balanced methods in acupuncture. i believe dr tan's system also is derived from the i ching