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Venerating the Root: Part Two: Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold for Every Emergency - Volume 5: Pediatrics, Part Two (Volume 2)
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About Venerating The Root: Part Two: Essential
Product description This book is a literal translation of the second half of Volume 5 from the Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang on pediatrics, composed by Sun Simiao in the seventh century. Similar to Part One, it contains the Chinese text, Dr. Wilms' expert translation and notes, clinical commentary by Dr. Julian Scott, and Dr. Wilms' translation of a commentary from 1698. Review Review by Assaf Mor: Sun Simiao's texts are gems from a historical point of view. It is thrilling to see how advanced he was in putting down his ideas almost 1500 years ago, understanding the importance of treating children at a time when children were not as precious as they are these days. Today we have special hospitals with many wards for all kind of pediatric illnesses and we spend significant time and resources to take care of our children, pamper them, and keep them away of from any harm. However, in the old world, his approach for treating women and children first out of moral and practical reasons was considered revolutionary as he saw that treating children will create a healthier society. Interesting to note that it took the Western world another 1000 years to write the first book about pediatric care. But what is the importance of his writings from a clinical point of view in a world that has such strong "tools" like antibiotics and paracetamol and where vaccinations are considered compulsory in order to prevent those disease that ruled the world 1500 years ago? And on the other hand, what can we learn from the medical Gentlemen (as he beautifully calls them) who used substances that today are perceived as toxics? Well, first of all we see that when they had to deal with life-threatening situations without the strong drugs that we have today, it made them think and search for causes for the disease so that they could eliminate and prevent them. In order to do so they were not afraid to use materials and methods that were sometimes as dangerous as the disease itself. Today we use "safer" drugs that are more potent but make us "sloppy" and therefore we may miss what is really going on in the body and what the causes for the illness are. Modern pediatric care is considered safer but is it healthier? Indeed one cannot ignore that children's mortality rate is without any doubt better than it was 1500 years ago, but does it make our children healthier ? Reading these texts about "transformations and steamings," for example, we see that in a less "comfortable" world children had different ways and reasons for being ill. This should make us wonder what is buried underneath the drugs and vaccinations we use today. The second interesting observation relates to the fact that Chinese medicine is used today as a last line of treatment. Today we use Chinese medicine as a more gentle way to deal with or treat situations that are considered outside the focus of biomedical medicine or when parents have had enough of the symptomatic treatment of antibiotics and Tylenol. Sun Simiao's text was written in times when Chinese medicine was used when a child's life was at risk, situations that we rarely see today in our clinic as we count on the power of biomedical medicine to save the child's life. This is why his prescriptions are very strong and sometimes even much stronger than those we will use today in our clinic. This may suggest to us the potential of a good, well-diagnosed medicine that is oriented to treat the root rather than to treat the symptoms. The last and most fascinating thing about Sun Simiao's texts is when he mentions that these texts are there in order to teach us when to treat children and when to let them heal by themselves, when a situation is life-threatening and when it is part of their normal growth. Sun Simiao emphasizes what we know but tend to forget - that children have the power to heal themselves because their Yang is so clear and that all we, as parents and medical gentlemen and gentlewomen, need to do is to guard them and guide them in their own Dao. I want to thank Sabine for bringing these texts to us, to help all of us who cover children's ears during thunderstorms to reveal a bit more of the great mystery of human life and the ways to nourish and cultivate a healthier life for ourselves and our society. Assaf Mor, Lic Ac. (IATcm) Tel Aviv, 2015. Review by Julian Scott: I am thrilled to have this work made accessible for the first time. It is a pleasure to read. What makes the book very special is that although it is a treatise on a wide range of conditions, including many gynaecological ones (in the earlier volumes), it describes illnesses that occur right at the beginning of life. I feel so at home with this approach. In the courses that I give, I always emphasise the importance of the early years: and how problems that occur in the early years may have an effect on health all the way through life. The specific symptoms may go away, but the underlying imbalance may remain, and reappear in another guise later on. Only by studying the first months and years can you understand the appearance of disease later on. I am most impressed by his starting with 'Transformations and Steamings'. They are so clear to be seen in clinical practice. Every time a child makes a developmental leap, there is a corresponding 'illness'. When I first started practising, these illnesses were always fevers, corresponding to his description of 'steamings'. but now that children are so much colder in energy, and weaker, the 'steamings' often come out as mucus discharges and cough. There is a most interesting discussion of the character shan, usually translated as hernia. Sun Simiao says that shan can be caused by nursing when the mother is angry. In clinical practice, it is most unlikely to see a hernia from such a cause. However, shan as it described here would seem to refer to colic, and not hernia as we understand it. Babies who nurse when their mother is angry certainly do get the most dreadful colicky pains; moreover, there are protrusions from the abdomen caused by pockets of wind, which do look very similar to hernia, and are terribly painful. Unlucky the baby that has an angry mother to nurse from. In my practice I tentatively advise bottle feeding in such cases. I say tentatively, as I rather fear the blast of anger being turned on me. What a keen observer he must have been. No wonder he was venerated as the Medicine Buddha or the 'Medicine King'. ... The book is laid out very clearly, with the Chinese on one side and the English translation on the other side, interpolated with many commentaries and discussions. This is not for a beginner in paediatrics, but is an absolute must for anyone who takes paediatrics seriously. About the Author After high school and undergraduate studies in East Asian Studies in Germany, I spent two years in Taiwan studying modern and classical Chinese. I then moved to the US for my graduate studies and have lived there most of the time since, teaching, writing, and farming. I am currently teaching courses on Chinese History and Culture, Classical Chinese, Classical Medical Texts (especially the Yellow Emperor's Classic), Gynecology, and occasional electives, at the National College of Natural Medicine, in the School of Classical Chinese Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and writing, translating, and publishing my own books on Chinese medicine. I have been studying classical Chinese writings on medicine ever since my PhD research in Asian Studies and Medical Anthropology. While my academic background has given me a solid foundation in early Chinese philosophy, science, and cosmology, and therefore in a historically and culturally sensitive approach to classical Chinese medicine, I also enjoy an ethnomedical approach to Chinese medicine as a living, clinically effective, and ever-changing response to any given cultural environment. Some of my favorite topics for research and teaching are gynecology, pediatrics, and reproduction yangsheng 養生 ("nurturing life") as understood in the broadest sense by the great medieval "King of Medicinals" Sun Simiao 孫思邈, including dietetics, lifestyle, regulating the emotions, moral cultivation, etc. medical ethics the modern clinical application of the wisdom from the classics, especially Zhuangzi. In my academic life, I am happiest when engaging in a dialogue with practitioners on how to make this ancient wisdom come to life. In my other lives, I find bliss in holding newborn goats, racing horses in Mongolia, digging in the dirt and hugging a tree, making Sauerkraut or kimchi with my daughter, or playing cumbias on the accordion. It's all about harmonizing Heaven, Earth, and Humanity in the old yangsheng way for me.
