These pages shall be filled as I learn and grow through this ancient Chinese medical practice. In my research, I have already found two distinctions of Chinese Medicine: Classical Chinese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Classical Chinese medicine is rooted in ancient Daoist medical texts of China (The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine). This text has been traced back to about 250 BC (far older than the I Ching). The traditions and perspectives of Classical Chinese Medicine stress the organic wholeness and interdependence of systems. Methodology is empirical and tested over millenia for its efficacy.
The term Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is actually misleading. Traditional Chinese medicine is a recent creation in China in response to Biomedicine in China. Chinese herbalists and biomedically-oriented physicians invented TCM in an effort to bridge the two medicines in Communist China (when the teachings of Confucius came about).
That’s all I want to say about the difference of the two on a cerebral level for now. On a personal level, I have many fond memories of my mother as Chinese Medicine was always her chosen modality of treatment. Although I may never know which methodology (classical or traditional) she was treated under, it was always the case that ‘everything has an affect on everything’ in our household. I was brought up very much to understand that there is cause and effect in the universe.
In reading about Classical Chinese Medicine, memories of my childhood are rekindled. The spark of interest has definitely ignited…
