Body/mind which is most important?

[Guest guest]

Dr. Vinod,

 

Thank you for taking the time to explain this fascinating way of looking

at human physiology... it is certainly at odds with modern Western

medical concepts but its effectiveness in clinical practice cannot be

denied! My mother has suffered from Parkinsons for quite sometime, she

is at a stage now where walking is not possible without help and her

cognitive functions are slowly disappearing! She is 76 and otherwise

healthy... never had any other medical problem and as far as I know the

only other medication she ever had was a low doses pill for hypertension

(Zestril?). I once asked a TCM herbalist that I was seen, for an acid

reflux problem, about Parkinson and she say it was not treatable by

! Any comments on ways to avoid this condition for me

and my sister?! I am 55 and she is 52... I know about chemical exposure

and other Western info on this, like CoQ10... I was just wondering about

it from an Oriental perspective. Oh yes, I live in NJ, USA!

 

Thanks again,

Dom

 

Vinod Kumar wrote:

>

> Chinese Traditional Medicine

> <Chinese Traditional Medicine%40>, Domingo Pichardo

> <dpichardo3 wrote:

> >

>

> > I, for one, would be happy just to hear what you have to say on that

> > subject without having to argue about it!

> >

> > Just one question about your statement that that disease organs are the

> > root cause of psychological pathology... isn't the nervous system

> > (including the Brain) consider as some sort of organ or part of an

> organ

> > system in TCM? I am implying, of course, that what we in the Western

> > World call " mind " is a function of our nervous system , including all

> > our feedback sensory systems, like visual, olfactory, auditory, etc!

> If

> > this is true, than there is a physical component(an organ system) to

> > what we call " mind " that would be readily assessable to all the various

> > models of treatments used for say the liver system. It seems to me that

> > this will end this argument of Mind being separate from Body!

> >

> > Dom

> >

> Dom - most of this is a matter of defining terms. We must understnad

> what is being refered to when we use the word 'mind' - in TCM the mind

> is a function of the Heart - the Shen - all organs have Shen but the

> essence of Shen is the heart function. The mind in this sense are the

> cognitive and analytical functions - the sense of self and other - the

> Ego - etc. The nervous system belongs to the Kidney functions. There

> is some controversy about where the mind comes from since some say the

> Shen - some say it comes as a result of the relationship between the

> Kidneys and the Heart - some say it comes through the

> Kidney/Liver/Heart generation cycle - this last is the one I

> to - this is too complicated to go into here - you can read about

> these issues in Lonny Jarrett and Leon Hammer.

>

> We humans have a mind other creatures do not - but they do have

> nervous systems - organs - endocrine glands - brains - consciouness -

> perception - etc. Mind is an artifact of the evolutional process in

> human beings in the the systems I follow - it is an aspect of ego or

> of the sense of self - it is a synthasizing process - it brings

> evloutional advantage over those who do not see or understand the

> difference between self and other - like a tiger who has no awarness

> of an antelope other than as an object of their hunger.It also is

> important in the development of intelligence since it uses analysis to

> solve problems - in fact this analytical function is a primary aspect

> of mind.

>

> But some human beings since ancient times have said that we have a

> higher function of perception which is clearer and more effecient than

> mind - it is more effecient because it is direct perception as opposed

> to being filtered through the ego - this function is inherant in the

> human condition since anyone can develop it - we actually are very

> familar with it since we pass in and out of it all of the time - this

> is called things like being in the flow - meaning pure experience -

> direct experience without any ideas or viewpoints or analysis is one

> form of it - this can happen as peak experiences or as ordinary things

> like making love where it is possible to lose a sense of self and just

> be in the present moment. Those who have mastered this type of

> consciouness have developed many techniques for achieving it - Chi

> Kung - Kung Fu (meaning in this sense the achievment of higher goals)

> - meditation - TCM in it's higher manifestations has as it's objective

> not just health in the ordinary sense but what they think is a higher

> state of consciouness and perception - in traditional Chinese culture

> this was called the development of the Qi and Shen - the highest level

> of this is pure Shen (anshen)- my teacher (a Japanese Zen Master) says

> of this - do not worry about the Qi worry about the Shen (the Spirit)

> because in the end all of us will be abanonded by the Qi - but Shen

> will sustain you to the last breath.

>

> Hundreds of books from many traditions have been wriiten on the

> achievment of higher consciouness and higher physical realization.

> None of these teachings believe that higher consciouness is seperate

> from the body they believe it is a simple undeveloped aspect of body -

> coming from defecient states. Each system has a slightly different

> emphasis but the core of all is annihalation of the mind (ego

> functions)and the realization of the highest consciouness - anshen

> consciounesss - some call the quality of this consciouness as love -

> or compassion - or universal awareness - many things. there are many

> staqes of this realization and there are highly developed scientific

> concepts on how to achieve the no mind state. So this is why many

> people coming from Eastern cultures do not hold the mind in the

> highest regard we hold the develoment of Shen consciouness as being

> the goal of life.

>

> In TCM the nervous system is an aspect of the Kindney function.

>

>