Think Like a Philosopher: Psychosomatics and the Luo Vessels By
Nicholas Sieben, LAc The philosopher was given great respect
within classical Chinese culture. The Dao De Jing has many
passages extolling the virtues of the "philosopher king." The
same was true within medicine. It is not enough to look at
things in their literal sense: the Nei Jing asks a bit more from
us than that. Much of the classical texts are written in code,
using philosophical metaphor to present their wisdom. My teacher
Jeffrey Yuen has called Chinese Medicine "applied Chinese
philosophy," advising that we'd benefit as acupuncturists by
learning Chinese philosophy. Every teaching we received from
Yuen was rooted in philosophy relating to that particular
tradition. To illuminate the mysteries of the Chinese Medical
classics, we must try to understand and think like the
philosophers who wrote them. Acupuncture is popularly seen to
address physical problems. The notion that acupuncture also
affects the mind and emotions is confusing to som