Guest guest Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 Feb. 21,2003 11:00 am Melbourne Australia Dear Geof and Listmembers, Aside from the ŒDe Qi² , another aspect of acupuncture practice Œreduced¹ or Œeffeaced¹ by this methodology of comparing Œsham¹ and Œreal¹ acupuncture is the nation of what I refer to as the ŒShen effect¹ The Œspirit¹ or shen is Œhoused¹ in the heart or xin. In Taoist meditational practices., the shen or spirit is seen as having two manifestations. i.e. shi shen or Œcognitive spirit¹ or Œordinary consciousness¹ and yuan shen or Œprimordial spirit or Œspiritual consciousness¹ . We can also see yuan shen as equivalent to Jung¹s idea of the Œunconscious¹ Shi shen refers to human perception, senses, thoughts, feelings etc which are derived after birth, while yuan shen is seen as existing before ones¹ birth or before heaven xian tian , effaced postnatally by cognitive spirit thereby becoming invisible. It is believed, that through meditational practice like inner alchemical meditation lian nei dan , Qigong or training of the Qi, this primordial spirit may be gradually recovered and manifested leading to the compounding of what the American Taoist scholar Chang Chung Yuan refers to as the Œinner elixir¹ of immortality According to the Taoist scholar Pei Zhen , the function of shi shen is to ³respond to things and events ying shi ; while yuan shen ³establishes the roots² jian ben . Furthermore , he argues that shi shen is the ³contemplating spirit² si lu shen i.e. his/her daily thinking process ; while yuan shen is a state of xu jing xin shen ³empty and still heart spirit² which is devoid of thought and contemplation wusi wulu . That shi shen is a ³dynamic state² ; while yuan shen is a ³state of stillness² . That in Taoist inner alchemical meditation , the process of ³compounding the spirit .to return to nothingness or void ³ or lian shen fu xu or lian shen huan xu means according to Pei Zhen is similar to ³compounding ³ xiu lian ³ the shi shen or cognitive spirit to enhance its¹ gradual return to the primordial spirit. This is a return to the ultimatelessness , or the wu ji In acupuncture practice, the practitioner when administering acupuncture treatment to a patient on the one hand harnesses his own spirit by keeping it still and calm while at the same harnessing the cognitive spirit of the patient by patiently explaining to the patient the nature and process of acupuncture treatment. By doing this, the practitioner ³ lightens the psychological burden of the patient, alleviates his/her fear of the needle and dispel their worries about their illness. In this way, the patient becomes calm and tranquil and (returns to his/her roots or Œbreeding and growth or primordial spirit) and quietly accepts the acupuncture treatment.² The Neijing in more concrete terms explains how Œharnessing the spirit ² of the patient is performed . It says, ³ the practitioner, after harnessing his/her spirit, must look up to the patients¹ eyes and harness the latters¹ spirit. In this way the Qi can move easily.² Zhang Jing Yue argues that ³the eyes are the opening of the spirit. If one wants to harness the patients¹ spirit, one (the practitioner) must look up to the patients¹ eyes, and harness his/her (patients¹) essence-spirit, preventing it from scattering and dispersing . In this way, the Qi can be managed by the spirit and the acupuncture channels can move easily .² In many ways, we can say that the harnessing of the spirit may also be referred to as Œ the shen effect¹ in the clinical encounter between the patient and the practitioner in TCM acupuncture healing practice can be translated into the notion of interactive Œ pleasing ¹ (between the patient, the practitioner, and the acupuncture needle ) which is known as the Œplacebo effect¹ in the clinical encounter between biomedical and complementary and alternative health practitioners and their patients in Western civilization. Dr. Wolfe Segal, an honorary fellow in biochemistry at the University of Western Australia gives a very good illustration of the placebo effect in his paper ³Naturopathy, Homeopathy and Herbalism ³ published in l987. The placebo effect is a very important healing factor in both alternative and orthodox medicine. The word Œplacebo¹ is derived from the Latin ŒI shall please¹ and refers to therapy that is accepted with confidence and conviction that it is appropriate and will be effective..Obviously, the placebo effect will be reinforced if both patient and practitioner share this confidence in the therapy- whether it be the medication, vitamin supplementation, manipu- lation, massage or other therapies of either alternative or orthodox practitioners..² This Œshen-effect Œ or Œplacebo effect¹ which transpires during the clinical encounter between the practitioner and the patient is best illustrated in an ancient Chinese fable written during the 3rd or 4th century BC. ³ Doctor and Patient Dr. Ju was a famous physician of the state of Qin. He had cut a tumor for Emperor Xuanwang and healed hemorrhoids for Em- peror Huiwang. A certain Mr. Zhang who was afflicted with a sore back asked the physician to treat it. ³I will not regard it as my back any longer. Do whatever you think fit w ith it !² he said Given a free hand, the physician cured his patient in no time. There is no doubt that Dr. Ju was well versed in his craft, but the fact that Zheng put himself entirely in the doctor¹s hand also accounts for his prompt recovery.² Rey Tiquia PHd candidate Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science The University of Melbourne Parkville ,Victoria Australia , " Geoffrey Hudson " <list@a...> wrote: > I saw a show on PBS last night hosted by Alan Alda where they were > exploring placebo effect for the most part. Ted Kaptchuck was > interviewed and described his sham vs. 'real' acupuncture treatments in > the treatment of RSI. The practitioner would put a washer over the > point, then cover it with tape, apply the needle device and call it a > treatment. Supposedly neither the patient or practitioner should be > able to tell if the real treatment or sham treatment was administered. > I was wondering if I'm missing something here... where's the Qi? > Neither treatment stimulated the needle until 'de qi'. I don't think I > was taught out of the back of a turnip truck, but I was taught you have > to get de qi to have an effective Tx. I know that some may disagree > about that, but in general, de qi is a typical sensation. I worry > sometimes about the ramifications of some of the work of researchers. > Maybe I've missed something obvious, but I hate to think of the > implications of a poorly done study done by people with big names and > the impact on a whole profession working hard for mainstream acceptance. > > Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 Dear Rey, What a wonderful thing to have a scholar like you on this list. Your posts are always informative and open up new doors to study. Thanks, On Thursday, February 20, 2003, at 04:05 PM, rey tiquia wrote: > Feb. 21,2003 11:00 am Melbourne Australia > > Dear Geof and Listmembers, > > Aside from the ‘De Qi” , another aspect of acupuncture practice > ‘reduced’ or ‘effeaced’ by this methodology of comparing ‘sham’ and > ‘real’ acupuncture is the nation of what I refer to as the ‘Shen > effect’ > > The ‘spirit’ or shen is ‘housed’ in the heart or xin. In Taoist > meditational practices., the shen or spirit is seen as having two > manifestations. i.e. shi shen or ‘cognitive spirit’ or ‘ordinary > consciousness’ and yuan shen or ‘primordial spirit or ‘spiritual > consciousness’ . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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