You are what you eat

[Gerard]

This book should be in the shelf of any serious internal practitioner. A must-read. Memorise it until it becomes second nature:

 

The Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach: A Translation of the Pi Wei Lun

 

http://www.chineseherbacademy.org/articles/yinfire.shtml

 

http://www.fareastsummit.com/market/TREATISE-on-the-SPLEEN-and-STOMACH-A-Translation-of-the-Pi-Wei-Lun-NEW-EDITION_moreinfo.html

 

Li underscores the importance of diet and emotional factors as causes of disease. Since Zhang Zhong-jing, Chinese doctors had emphasized cold injury as the main etiological factor. But it was Li Dong-yuan who emphasized diet and emotions' effect on the original qi.

 

*In addition, Li discusses in this book the relationship of the cause and treatment of disease to Chinese biorhythms. Known as wu yun liu qi, the five circuits and six qi, this has been considered by many of the greatest Chinese doctors of the last 400 years as the pinnacle of TCM theory. Using the stems and branches, one can not only clarify disease processes at work but also modify prescriptions so as to take into account both weather and astrological influences.

 

Do not mess up with the "cooking pot" (spleen) and "the fire" (stomach) or you'll suffer severe consequences.

 

The spleen and stomach are the root of source qi, and are therefore the root of health. Any sustained damage to the spleen and stomach will result in the exhaustion of source qi, resulting in illness. Li emphasized that stomach qi is the root of health and damage to the spleen and stomach can be the root cause of all disease. *Factors leading to deficiency of the spleen and stomach can be summed up as improper diet, over-exhaustion and emotional stress.

 

If the spleen and stomach are damaged, impaired ascent and descent will result in two scenarios. The first is excessive descent with insufficient ascent. This is tantamount to prolonged autumn and winter without spring and summer, whence hundreds of diseases emanate. The second is prolonged ascent without descent which is also a cause of disease.

 

https://pearlschinesemedicine.com/articles/treatment-of-gastrointestinal-disease-hypertension-and-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

 

*I wish this level of expertise was commonplace in today's medical practice though!

 

*Let me add: eating fast, not chewing food well (digestion starts in the mouth making sure one is salivating well and being mindful of the act of chewing and eating); doing other things while eating (including watching TV) breaks the rule of mindfulness.

 

 

Buddhism is not alien to eating well and mindfully:

 

Giving thanks for our food

 

https://www.thoughtco.com/giving-thanks-for-our-food-449751

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by Gerard

[Marblehead]

I used to eat pussy but I promise you, I'm not a pussy.

 

You do not become what you eat.

 

You become what you think you are.  (Within physical limitations, of course.)

 

[Gerard]

You do not become what you eat?

 

Please let's start being serious and leave personal motivations behind.

 

Another golden rule from that important piece of work:

 

The Liver cannot be healthy if there are unfulfilled desires.

 

Let's not talk about enlightenment let alone claiming we have reached that stage...especially TODAY...let alone from lay practitioners.

 

The Liver is the Heart's mother and this last organ is responsible for reaching that state, so if the Liver is not working at 100% how will the Heart open up and merge with the Absolute? It's impossible. 

 

Humans have a lot of desire in their hearts. The three major poisons:

 

1. Lust, sensual desire

2. Delusion

3. Aversion (dislikes)

 

Let's talk about eating well. This is a good start:

 

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4015133

 

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. (Hippocrates, Greece, 460 BCE-375 BCE). They knew well back then, didn't they?  

[Marblehead]

Sorry Gerard, but I was being serious.

 

I know that there are a lot of people who consider this subject an important one.

 

I agree with you that  the liver is important as it removes most of the poisons from our body.

 

And I fully agree with your "Three major poisons".  But I consider them firstly mental leading to physical problems.

 

I think an important consideration of this is quantity - insufficient or excess.

 

So yes, both quality and quantity must be considered.

 

[cheya]

Gerard, thank you for these posts. I recently took an online course teaching how to apply Chinese understanding to massage therapy. (That's not a very good description of this excellent course).  Studying the organ systems and five element theory was a real eye-opener! It was huge for helping me see what I needed to do in my own life to improve long standing tendencies. I had no idea they were all connected like that! 

Even after this illuminating course, it is still too easy to fall back into old habits and forget, so I especially appreciate your taking this up. I hope you will continue in this vein. Very helpful!

 

 

[Marblehead]

3 hours ago, cheya said:

 I hope you will continue in this vein. Very helpful!

 

 

And I promise to remain silent now that you have someone wanting to talk with you about your topic.

 

[CloudHands]

„Der Mensch ist, was er isst.“

[Gerard]

No worries guys...BUT the Spleen is the Earth element, the pivot for all the organs! You mess with it you mess with them all.

 

Quality, quantity (never eat to ful) and state of mind (eat like if it was the last meal of your life...you know what I mean, unlike the way we did before starting this path: rushed, swallowing rather than chewing it, improper food combinations, drinking cold beverages while eating, arguing on the table, and the list goes on. I have done them all!). 

 

Bagua practice is releasing all the offending practices I have done my entire life...and sometimes I sit there quietly wondering how on Earth is this possible, then I think about most of humanity: Sadness and also a deep sense of compassion. We all live in a state of complete  ignorance until the moment of first awakening, and then later on when the connection to the internsl

organs is firmly settled (you understand Taoism and Medicine really well) and the spirit realm that gives shape to the form realm (our perceived world). 

 

The mind just keeps going deeper all the time.

 

In Asia I learned that eating is taken very seriously. Of course there are people who offend their bodies but diet in general is a lot better than in the West.

 

 

 

[silent thunder]

quiet heart when eating

sincere heart when cooking

kind heart when sharing

[Chá Rén 茶人]

This thread title reminds me of the Japanese ascetic practice of Sokushinbutsu, or self-mummification via diet, exercise, and meditation.

 

There are ~20 mummies just chillin' over in Asia made mostly of tree bark, resin, and heavenly qi. It is amazing that the human body can stave off decay past death based mostly upon the replacement of its physical constituents with more durable (if slightly toxic...) elements. 

Or one could look to Li Qing-Yuen who supposedly died in 1930's at the ripe age of 256. His diet was almost entirely rice wine, he shou wu, lycium berry, aged wild ginseng, gotu kola, and lingzhi mushroom. Lots of qi gong and walking. 

[Gerard]

And who you eat it with.

 

The current model of society at this pace won't last past the second half of this century. It needs to change and go back to the old model:

 

1. Happy

2. Healthy and seasonal

3. Shared with joy

4. Eaten slowly

 

meals. 

 

No eating after midday for spiritual practitioners and sunset for the rest.

 

Enjoy the food you eat which has been graciously provided by Gaia, our Mother Earth.

[Gerard]

You can find Medicinal Congees in this file. They all follow Chinese Medicine principles.

 

Hope you find it useful.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2017 by Gerard

[Gerard]

What a find. This page offers recipes according to Chinese Medicine imbalances:

 

Food from East - Sharing Eastern Nutritional Ideas, Advice & Recipes

 

*****

[Pavel Karavaev]

On 04.10.2017 at 11:47 PM, Gerard said:

No worries guys...BUT the Spleen is the Earth element, the pivot for all the organs! You mess with it you mess with them all.

 

Quality, quantity (never eat to ful) and state of mind (eat like if it was the last meal of your life...you know what I mean, unlike the way we did before starting this path: rushed, swallowing rather than chewing it, improper food combinations, drinking cold beverages while eating, arguing on the table, and the list goes on. I have done them all!). 

Yes, I agree with what. 

And I want to add that according to Chinese medicine, the abundance of sweet food is loading and weakening the spleen. The abundance of candies, chocolate and other sweets in stores, becomes the cause of excessive consumption of sugar for many people.

Thanks for the interesting post, this is really interesting and useful information.

Sincerely, Pavel.

[Kara_mia]

On 10/4/2017 at 8:47 PM, Gerard said:

No worries guys...BUT the Spleen is the Earth element, the pivot for all the organs! You mess with it you mess with them all.

 

Quality, quantity (never eat to ful) and state of mind (eat like if it was the last meal of your life...you know what I mean, unlike the way we did before starting this path: rushed, swallowing rather than chewing it, improper food combinations, drinking cold beverages while eating, arguing on the table, and the list goes on. I have done them all!). 

 

In Asia I learned that eating is taken very seriously. Of course there are people who offend their bodies but diet in general is a lot better than in the West.

 

 

 

 

Wise words! I agree that in Asia, in particular in China eating culture is much more sophisticated than in West. Also I believe that  decision what to eat and when to eat should be based on inner feelings and sensations. Such sensitivity if applied in life would make it so much better and fuller.