life gate and cinabar fields...?

[Guest guest]

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" Marco " <bergh

" Discussion List " <chimed

 

 

Dear Marco,

 

You really post the most complex but critical questions to TCM practitioners and researchers ! But good on you for doing this. Your questions and inquiries moves the profession forward.

 

The concept of 'Life gate' or 'gate of life' or ming men as described by the Chinese-English Chinese Traditional Medical Word-Ocean Dictionary (p. 1055) as the " key to life " sheng ming de guanjian . It continues by saying that it is a " site where before-heavenly Qi xian tian zhi qi is stored and hidden yunzang " . It is the the very root gen ben of life and transformations sheng hua. "

 

Actually you can see what the 'gate of life ' or ming men looks like and its location in page 41 of Ilza Veith's The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (l972) which has an illustration of the internal organs . This inner organ body chart was in turn lifted from Essential Reading For the Medical Fraternity Yi Zong Bi Du which was published in 1637 . The author of the book , which is a ³key access book² men jing shu in Chinese medicine was Li Zhong Zi who also authored other books including one entitled Essential Knowledge on the Neijing (Nei Jing Zhi Yao ) which annotated several chapters of the Neijing .

 

But the term gate of life or ming men also refers to an acupuncture point along the Governing Vessel acutract. Some Chinese medicine scholars also refer a segment of the pulse as ming men. It also refers to a segment on our face which is located between the two eyes just above the bridge of the nose.

 

As for the Cinnabar Field or Dan tian, I do not think the Neijing mentions the term. Volume 1 of the four volumes Chinese Medical Dictionary Zhongguo Yixue Da Cidian -(1921 by Xie Guan p. 369-370 ) refers to the Dan tian as something " located three cun below the navel as referred to by Taoist practitioners . It is the site where men's quintessential chamber jing shi or women's uterus bao gong are located. " Xie Guan also mentions that the term dan tian xue Dan Tian acupoint is another name for Guan Yuan xue located along the Conception Vessel acutract. As you know, Dan Tian (lower ) is also a common site for concentration and breathing in Taoist medidational practice.

 

Finally , let me quote from the " Ode to the Inner Body Landscape " Nei Jing Fu written by Zhai Liang circa 1628:

 

" But where is the fruit stored? The accumulation of the intercourse between the Kan and Li is the sea from which the Qi is generated and the hole from which the Origin yang is generated . Open up the quintessential and the blood ‹ to the womb . This determines longevity or otherwise . This is referred to as Gate of Life . There is nothing wrong with calling upon the Heavenly Root .This can only make us know that there is a sound of thunder coming out of the bowels of the Earth which gives us insight into the spring light gradually spreading and covering the universe. "

 

Regards,

 

Rey Tiquia

Chairperson

Alliance of Associations of Australia

Phd Candidate

Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science

University of Melbourne

Parkvilled

Victoria

Australia

 

life gate and cinabar fields...?

Tue, Aug 6, 2002, 11:51 PM

 

 

Dear list any comments most welcome...

 

 

Robert:

 

when i would commence

with my squiggly approximation of kanji on the board. and when i

missed a stroke or got the order wrong, they'd let me know very

politely and I'd invite one of them up to the board to fix it for

me. that was both educational and fun for me. my students taught me

while i was teaching them, and sometimes if none of us knew a

particular character I'd stop the lecture and we'd look it up

 

Marco:

 

Interesting way of disseminating - animating learning both and language (to learn more about the subjects in question).

 

We are trying to do something like this only I am an absolute beginner and non in the class-group know Chinese.

 

To look up the characters can you recommend a book or is it better to try to get a program for a computer (one of the students has " state of the art " computer), big five? (as an example). Someone shown me a program that can look up both the Characters which are in common used in Taiwan I think it is different from simplified characters. We as a group class will first learn or try to learn simplified characters since Unschulds books and Wiseman and Feng Ye Practical dictionary are based in simplified characters:

 

What is the more appropriate referral to these character then " simplified " ?

 

 

If one knows written Chinese is it possible or say less difficult to learn written Japanese (Kan Ji)?

 

Also, any sugestion how to make didactic learning for the class with regard to learning to write Chinese most well come.

 

 

One question that came up was the difference and similiaries of ming men mou - life gate fire and dian tien cinnabar field.

 

I have A Qin Bo Wei anthology and will try to present the information to the class, also think that hara diagnosis's reflection on the sea elaborates on life gate fire but the book is currently not in possession.

 

It seams they are closely interrelated if not the same physiological phenomena-dynamical. At least the lower cinnabar field but what about life gate and its relation to the middle and upper cinnabar fields and the functional relationship between the lower-middle-upper cinnabar field?

 

(I may have imagine) that Dian Tien is a Taoist influence on Chinese medicine, and the term cinnabar was in part to emphasis the importance of the physiological-functional dynamics that the cinnabar field entails. And, that the drug cinnabar was seen as a very important agent with regard to " longevity " and since meditative awareness of the cinnabar field(s) in part has the purpose to both illuminate/realise the person and to enhance life and extension there of it became known as the cinnabar field?

 

We will read the translated version of Nan Jing by Unschuld nan 36 and any other nan pertinent?

 

Which beg the question in the Huang Di Nei Jing was neither terms cinnabar field and life gate fire mention? We have in our possession a translation of the Jia Yi Jing by Yang Shou-zhong and Charles Chase the original author is Huang-fu mi sometimes 300 Ad (I think).

 

Any relevant passage maybe one that is not obvious from reading the chapter titles?

 

Is life gate fire also a daoistic phenomena/influence or?

 

Presumably the various ideological-phenomenical trends-doctrines Buddhism, Confucianism... may have observed the respective entities differently? yet not in possession of who can ride the dragon? by Zhang Yu Han and Ken Rose

 

 

I mention that in a way the lower cinnabar field and life gate fire van be seen as two sides of the same coin and wonder if there are any major objections to present one possibility as such?

 

 

These comments may seam naive and possible even inane but If I do not ask how will we the class improve our awareness-knowledge and clinical skills of Chinese medicine?

 

 

Robert:

as one of my instructors told me, teaching is the best way to learn.

 

Marco:

 

This really inspires me since I feel very lonely in Guatemala with regard to learning Chinese medicine and also very worried how to actually learn good substantial Chinese medicine (maybe and most likely to in the future be able to infuse the Guatemalan-Swedish-English traits that my Shen1 body-persona to a lesser or greater extent encompass, not to mention the future practitioners and the patients, but with reasons and readiness which is far from now).

 

 

Any comments to have to learn when one really have only translated books to relay upon? (and developing a clinic to attend to persons-ailments-disharmonies-diseases...)

 

Are there any good videos (there are places that one can borrow/hire vidio access here) that genualy can be useful or tapes which really is a new idea to me although must admit that I am taping a book for personal usage only as (not to violate any copy right laws) Fundamentals of first edition.

 

Hopefully not to far into the future what would be good-interesting-useful to create a technical language of Chinese medicine in Spanish and Kichee (a Maya Language), any one know of works in progress with regards to this matter. Come to think of it in Sweden if by any chance there is someone from there such a work is most needed too.

 

 

 

 

 

Saludos-Regards-Hälsningar-B'ena'

 

 

 

Marco