Fwd: Ba Dou - a New Twist on an Old Devil

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http://216.92.231.121/Herbology/Badou.htm

 

This is an interesting article that illustrates the remarkable unity in the

TCM outlook.

 

TCM terminology is at the same time literal and poetic metaphor. People

really are made sick by factors like Wind, Cold, Heat, Dampness, etc.

That's literal though it often sounds strange and fanciful to Westerners

when they first encounter TCM concepts.

 

On the other hand, TCM recognizes that Pernicious Evils such as Wind,

Dampness, Dryness, etc. can affect people on other levels besides the

physical. TCM thought doesn't draw the sharp distinctions between the

physical and the emotional that are drawn in the West - even by many Western

psychologists and psychiatrists who push a psychosomatic explanation for

anything and everything. Unlike many Western psychiatrists and

psychologists, TCM recognizes that not only can emotions be the Root of

physical problems but physical problems will predipose people towards

certain emotions. The latter sometimes is recognized in the West, but

usually only given lip service to.

 

This holistic outlook goes beyond the mind-body-emotion link to also include

the spiritual. This is a component that for the most part gets ignored in

Western medicine even though Westerners also have concepts such as " breaking

one's spirit " , " soul murder " , " dispirited " , etc. Western medicine long ago

divorced itself from these concepts, and in doing so, became much poorer as

a result. TCM retained them.

 

The article specifically is about the herb Ba Dou, a powerful purgative.

There is a lot of 5 Element terminology in the article. The 5 Elements are

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The Element Metal is concerned with

letting go. One easily can make the literal connection between a purgative

herb and the concept of letting go. What is not so obvious on the surface

is the connection between Metal and the Lungs (Yin Metal) and the Large

Intestine (Yang Metal). TCM looks at collections of functions - things

which are similar to each other. Thousands of times per day we breath in

and then release breath. Both are necessary in order to live. The Large

Intestine gets rid of (lets go of) substances we can't use and would be

sickened by. The remarkable unity of TCM thought starts to become clearer

when one considers that the Lungs are particularly vulnerable to grief.

Grief is a process of letting go. Very often people who are confronted with

tremendous loss will have trouble catching their breaths. Some may even

develop asthma.

 

However, it would be a mistake attribute all cases of breathing problems to

Lung and grief Roots. In some people anger can trigger episodes of

breathing problems. So can fear. So can a lot of strictly physical things

like allergens, germs, toxins, excercise, cold weather, etc. Not all

constipation is due to a person refusing to " let go " . TCM recognizes a wide

range of possible Roots, and never tries to fit everyone into the same

psychobabble cubbyhole, i.e. if a person has asthma the person by definition

has problems letting go. But at the same time TCM also recognizes that the

Lungs, grief, issues of letting go, etc. are going to be very intimately

related in some individuals.

 

Victoria

 

 

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