What is meant by TCM being a complete system?

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

Can someone explain to me the concept that TCM is a " complete system " .

Since I have not attended any school in China, I do not know how it is

being presented in China - or here in the U.S. for that matter.

 

1) Does this mean that TCM acupuncture and herbs modalities are

sufficient to handle any kind of health problem - including

psychological? Or does this mean that acupuncture and herbs are

sufficient to handle a defined set of problems and TCM is complete

within these definted set of problems?

 

2) When one talks about TCM being complete, does this include all

modalities: acupuncture, herbs, tuina, and qigong, or a subset of

these modalities?

 

3) Does this mean that TCM is is complete as it stands today or is it

still evolving and is only semi-complete?

 

Thanks for the clarifications.

 

Regards,

Rich

[Guest guest]

Hi Rich -

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but when I think of CM being a complete system I

think in terms of all of its modalities being centered on the same concept -

balancing (or restoring normal flow of) qi. This is in contrast to many

so-called " alternative " or " holistic " healing systems that are comprised of a

hodgepodge of techniques such as nutrition ideas, gem-crystal healing, herbs,

manipulation, etc, that, themselves, arose independently of each other and with

different underlying principals. - Matt Bauer

-

Rich

Chinese Medicine

Tuesday, November 09, 2004 5:59 AM

What is meant by TCM being a complete system?

 

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

Can someone explain to me the concept that TCM is a " complete system " .

Since I have not attended any school in China, I do not know how it is

being presented in China - or here in the U.S. for that matter.

 

1) Does this mean that TCM acupuncture and herbs modalities are

sufficient to handle any kind of health problem - including

psychological? Or does this mean that acupuncture and herbs are

sufficient to handle a defined set of problems and TCM is complete

within these definted set of problems?

 

2) When one talks about TCM being complete, does this include all

modalities: acupuncture, herbs, tuina, and qigong, or a subset of

these modalities?

 

3) Does this mean that TCM is is complete as it stands today or is it

still evolving and is only semi-complete?

 

Thanks for the clarifications.

 

Regards,

Rich

 

 

 

 

 

http://babel.altavista.com/

 

and adjust

accordingly.

 

If you , it takes a few days for the messages to stop being

delivered.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

H Matt,

 

Thanks for trying to help me out here.

 

I understand what you mean that CM has a central guiding principle,

i.e, balancing or restoring qi flow. Is it this principle, that you

feel, makes CM complete? Am I understanding you correctly? Also do you

use CM and TCM interchangeably or do your perceive that there are

differences?

 

Thanks again for attempting to clear up some nomenclature and concepts

for me.

 

Regards,

Rich

[Guest guest]

Hi Rich,

 

Again, I don't know how anyone else uses the concept of a " complete " healing

system, but, yes, I think the underlying principal of qi balance/flow is what

makes CM a complete system in my mind. I do not believe that CM or any medical

system is so " complete " that methods from other medical systems cannot offer

additional healing value. And, no, I don't think CM and TCM are entirely

interchangeable. I personally am a bit torn over the issues of such terms: on

one hand I appreciate the potential value of term specificity, on the other hand

I find disagreements over such details tedious. - Matt

-

Rich

Chinese Medicine

Tuesday, November 09, 2004 9:41 AM

Re: What is meant by TCM being a complete system?

 

 

 

 

H Matt,

 

Thanks for trying to help me out here.

 

I understand what you mean that CM has a central guiding principle,

i.e, balancing or restoring qi flow. Is it this principle, that you

feel, makes CM complete? Am I understanding you correctly? Also do you

use CM and TCM interchangeably or do your perceive that there are

differences?

 

Thanks again for attempting to clear up some nomenclature and concepts

for me.

 

Regards,

Rich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://babel.altavista.com/

 

and adjust

accordingly.

 

If you , it takes a few days for the messages to stop being

delivered.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Rich,

 

I would say that TCM is a complete system because any conceivable condition can

be diagnosed as

a " pattern " and then treated, including any spiritual or psychological

conditions. The theories of yin-

yang, five phases, channels, essential substances (shen, qi, blood, jinye,

jing), Internal Organs, causes

of disease (internal, external, neither), and all of the concordances

(liver-eyes-tendons-blood-wind-hun-

anger), etc seem to do a pretty well perfect job of covering every aspect of

human physiology and

psychology, without needing any sort of additions. Comprehensive and truly

holistic, might be better

understood than " complete " perhaps, but then " holistic " gets thrown around so

much these days....

 

 

Simon

[Guest guest]

Hi Simon,

 

Thanks. I understand what you are saying. But this raises another

question in my mind. In a recent thread, Robert introduced me to

" nine-needles " and other past practices in CM. These past practices

included surgery, which, to the best of my knowledge is not included

in under the umbrella of TCM, but were taught in some CM traditions.

Apparently Hua Tuo was a master surgeon. I found these techniques,

such as nine-needles fascinating, especially in the way the overlap

with tuina and modern surgical techniques.

 

Rich

 

Chinese Medicine , " wackname "

<wackname> wrote:

>

>

> Rich,

>

> I would say that TCM is a complete system because any conceivable

condition can be diagnosed as

> a " pattern " and then treated, including any spiritual or

psychological conditions. The theories of yin-

> yang, five phases, channels, essential substances (shen, qi, blood,

jinye, jing), Internal Organs, causes

> of disease (internal, external, neither), and all of the

concordances (liver-eyes-tendons-blood-wind-hun-

> anger), etc seem to do a pretty well perfect job of covering every

aspect of human physiology and

> psychology, without needing any sort of additions. Comprehensive and

truly holistic, might be better

> understood than " complete " perhaps, but then " holistic " gets thrown

around so much these days....

>

>

> Simon

[Guest guest]

Adding to your well-communicated ideas,

 

There are only a small number of literate, complete historical medical

systems in the world. These include Chinese medicine, Greco-Arabic

medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and Tibetan medicine. These are all based

on an underlying theoretical foundation that has been expounded in

source texts, such as the Nei Jing, Shang Han Lun, Canon of Medicine

(Ibn Sina), Gyud Bzi (Tibet), or the Charaka Samhita (India).

Homeopathy also qualifies as a medical system. Whereas qigong,

shiatsu, jin shin do, NAET, kinesiology, etc. are modalities of

treatment that exist within a greater system (or not). Complete,

literate medical systems have a number of modalities that are to some

degree based on the underlying theoretical foundations, but may have

variations based on the techniques being used.

 

 

On Nov 9, 2004, at 11:18 PM, wackname wrote:

 

>

>

> Rich,

>

> I would say that TCM is a complete system because any conceivable

> condition can be diagnosed as

> a " pattern " and then treated, including any spiritual or

> psychological conditions. The theories of yin-

> yang, five phases, channels, essential substances (shen, qi, blood,

> jinye, jing), Internal Organs, causes

> of disease (internal, external, neither), and all of the concordances

> (liver-eyes-tendons-blood-wind-hun-

> anger), etc seem to do a pretty well perfect job of covering every

> aspect of human physiology and

> psychology, without needing any sort of additions. Comprehensive and

> truly holistic, might be better

> understood than " complete " perhaps, but then " holistic " gets thrown

> around so much these days....

>

>

> Simon

>