What I learn

 

heritage in chinese civilisation

3.6  The Thirty-Six Strategems and TCM

i. The Thirty-Six Strategems is about the art of war, and it and TCM share common strategies:
a. ‘strike east but make a sound in the west’ strategem is similar to TCM treatment of illnesses in the upper body via the lower body, e.g. a headache can be treated via the leg and foot; a face distorted on the left but acupuncture treatment is given on the right (one must know root cause of distortion) equals to 

b. ‘man tian guo hai’ (crossing the sea without the emperor’s knowledge) suggests using psychology to treat psychological disease
c. ‘beauty trap’ suggests hitting on what one likes, e.g. on roundworm problem, use prescription that attract roundworms to eat and be narcotised, then other prescription to excrete it
d. ‘throw out a brick to get a jade gem’ suggests always prescribe mild medicine before strong one, i.e. known as to ‘open or explore the path’ (kai lu) medicine/prescription, e.g. tonify the stomach and spleen first so that can absorb medicine; also a mild medicine will enable one to see if prescription is suitable than only followed by a strong prescription
e. ‘looting a burning house’ refers to removing root cause of problem/disease, then only consolidate the situation.

ii. TCM sees the body in holistic view
‘besiege Wei to rescue Zhou’
When an organ has problem, another organ is treated to overcome the problem, i.e. treat the stomach to protect the liver.  Thus, when there is a problem with an organ, check the other organs as well, especially the five 'zhang' organs.

iii. There are three views/treatments in TCM
a. holistic
b. dialectic (know common concepts as well as opposing concepts)
c. remove the root cause

iv. TCM and The Thirty-Six Strategems have in common - 
a. Yin-Yang theory
b. dialectic view, i.e. know your enemy before an attack

v. TCM stresses the philosophy/unity of heaven, earth and man, thus one must know the patient’s physique in order to treat the patient successfully, just as one needs to know the climate and topography before one can attack.
e.g. when a patient is overjoy, he can hurt his heart/fire element, so use the kidney/water element/fear to treat him, based on the Five Element theory.

vi. Two strategies to care for health:
a. ‘watch fire burn across the river’, i.e. have the proper or correct state of mind.  Do not be hasty in understanding illness.  Have proper state of mind before acting on an illness or getting treatment or deciding on healthcare.  Do not follow what others do.
b. ‘pilfer the goat’, i.e. do it the easy way.  The easy way also needs persistence e.g. many TCM care methods are easy to follow but one needs to be persistent.

vii. ‘if all else fails retreat’

None of the 36 strategems is about failure or escape; but is about defeating the enemy.  It is about preserving self-strength before attacking again.  Thus, combine exertion and rest in an appropriate way; slow down pace does not mean stop totally.

* Heritage in brief, for contemplation