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Please select one of the many topics for exploration: Classical Chinese Medicine, Translations, Clinical Information, or the Science of Symbols.

Promoting Health and Relaxation During the Four Seasons

CCM2022-09-07T12:36:39-07:00Tags: classical texts, self-cultivation, translations, vitality and wellness|

BY GAO LIAN (16th Century)
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

The following is a presentation of four famous seasonal tableaux by Gao Lian, a 16^th century poet and medical scholar who was an ardent proponent of the art of nourishing life. They originally appeared in Gao's book, Zunsheng bajian (Eight Pieces on Observing the Fundamental Principles of Life), which Chinese physicians used to regard as a comprehensive source of lifestyle related information. Recommencing one of the main themes of the Neijing, these seasonal portraits can be read as a typical attempt to translate the densely crafted teachings of the classic into more contemporary language.

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Five Phase Element Relationships

CCM2022-09-07T12:35:25-07:00Tags: classical texts, Five Phases (Elements) Theory, translations|

BY WAN MINYING (14th Century)
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Metal is generated by Earth; if there is too much earth, Metal will be buried. Earth is generated by Fire; if there is too much Fire, Earth will be charred. Fire is generated by Wood; if there is too much Wood, Fire will flare. Wood is generated by Water; if there is too much Water, Wood will be washed away. Water is generated by Metal; if there is too much Metal, Water will be grimy.

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Chinese Medicine Holomap with the 28 Stellar Constellations

CCM2023-06-03T11:49:07-07:00Tags: cosmology, stellar constellations|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

MAP DESCRIBING THE RESONANCE OF MACROCOSM AND MICROCOSM

For over 25 years, Heiner Fruehauf has led a research project decoding the ancient Chinese science linking macrocosm and microcosm, which so crucially informed the original definition of the 12 organ networks of classical Chinese medicine. Per popular request, he has synthesized this information into a "holomap", which reflects the functional resonance of each organ systems with the 28 stellar constellations, the 12 earthly branches, the 12 tidal hexagrams, the 12 times of the day, the 12 months of the year, and the 12 rivers mentioned in Lingshu chapter 12.

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The Classical Pearls Series of Remedies: Positions on the Alchemical Holomap of the Chinese Organ Networks

CCM2023-06-03T11:46:37-07:00Tags: Classical Pearls, Classical Pearls Herbal Formulas, cosmology, organ networks, stellar constellations|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

We are excited to present an informative learning tool and clinical resource — a chart that aligns the remedies in the Classical Pearls Herbal Formulas™ family around the cosmological holomap of the Chinese organ networks that Heiner Fruehauf so often teaches about and has spent over 25 years researching. This chart is primarily to show, at one glance, where the constitutional home of each of each remedy is. The chart includes a short description of how the remedy functions with regard to Chinese medical physiology.

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Single Herbs Series: Guizhi and Rougui (Cinnamomum loureirii bark and twig)

CCM2021-03-22T13:32:41-07:00Tags: Chinese herbs, didao yocai (terroir), guizhi (cinnamon), paozhi (traditional processing), rougui (cinnamon), terroir|

By Heiner Fruehauf Heiner Fruehauf’s prolific research trip to China and Vietnam in the summer of 2014 to source high quality, potent, directly-traded Chinese herbs from small family farms provided a significant amount of material and information about didao yocai and paozhi – terroir [...]

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An Ancient Solution for Modern Diseases: “Gu Syndrome” and Chronic Inflammatory Diseases with Autoimmune Complications (An Interview with Heiner Fruehauf)

CCM2022-09-07T11:53:14-07:00Tags: autoimmune disorders, chronic disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic parasitism, fibromyalgia, Gu Syndrome, Heiner Fruehauf, Lyme Disease|

WITH HEINER FRUEHAUF
INTERVIEW BY GORDANA SMITH

After his prolific trip to China in the summer of 2014 to discover new sources of herbs, Heiner Fruehauf has returned with a refresh body of knowledge, that when synthesized with his over 30 years of clinical experience in Chinese medicine, offers greater insight into his body of work about Gu Syndrome (chronic parasitism) and treating complex autoimmune disorders with Chinese medicine.

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Between Heaven and Earth: Selected Translations from the Classics

CCM2017-04-01T19:41:11-07:00Tags: classical texts, German, Heiner Fruehauf, Huainanzi, Huangdi Neijing, Li Ji (Book of Rites), Liji, translations|

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

The qi of earth ascends, the qi of heaven descends. In this fashion, yin and yang grind against each other, and heaven and earth merge in undulating embrace. If this setting is vibrated by thunder, excited by wind and rain, moved by the flow of the four seasons, and fondled by the germinating light of sun and moon, the world’s myriad processes of transformation become aroused.

FROM BOOK OF RITES (LI JI), FL. 2ND CENTURY B.C.E.

GERMAN TRANSLATION BY MARKUS GOEKE

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The Heart: Selected Readings

CCM2017-04-01T19:41:19-07:00Tags: classical texts, fire, German, Guanzi, heart, Heiner Fruehauf, Huainanzi, Tiupeng Wuyu, translations|

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

The heart is the ruler of the five organ networks. It commands the movements of the four extremities, it circulates the qi and the blood, it roams the realms of the material and the immaterial, and it is in tune with the gateways of every action. Therefore, coveting to govern the flow of energy on earth without possessing a heart would be like aspiring to tune gongs and drums without ears, or like trying to read a piece of fancy literature without eyes.

FROM THE DAOIST CLASSIC, CONTEMPLATIONS BY THE HUAINAN MASTERS (HUAINAN ZI) FL.110 B.C.

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Fei: An Etymological Analysis of the Pictogram for ‘Lung’

CCM2022-09-07T12:52:51-07:00Tags: classical texts, cosmology, etymology, Heiner Fruehauf, Huangdi Neijing, Jingue yaolüe, lung, Shuowen jiezi, symbolism, translations|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

The word 肺, in a more specific reference to the specific function of this organ system, is classified by the component 巿 po (in its seal script form, composed of the pictographic components grass 屮and eight 八), meaning “abundant foliage in the wind” (this is a clear reference to the anatomical appearance of the lung lobes, as well as to traditional descriptions of this organ: Chinese texts describe them as “leaves”; see Shijing: 東門之楊, 其葉肺肺 “The poplars at the Eastern Gate, their leaves flutter lung-like in the wind;” Neijing: 肺熱葉焦 “When the lung is hot, its leaves become charred”); note that the rain forest with its prolific canopy of leaves is considered to be the lung of the earth.

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Alchemy and Symbolism in Chinese Medicine: A Reading List of Relevant Materials

CCM2023-06-28T18:00:11-07:00Tags: cosmology, symbolism|

COMPILED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

A reading list of materials about alchemy and symbolism in Chinese medicine.

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The Science of Symbols: Exploring a Forgotten Gateway to Chinese Medicine, Part 1

CCM2022-09-07T13:13:20-07:00Tags: Joseph Campbell, symbolism|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

This article summarizes the initial results of an ongoing research project conducted by the Acupuncture Point Research Group of the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. First published in The Journal of Chinese Medicine (February 2002).

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The Science of Symbols: Exploring a Forgotten Gateway to Chinese Medicine, Part 2

CCM2022-09-07T13:01:16-07:00Tags: Joseph Campbell, symbolism|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

This article summarizes the initial results of an ongoing research project conducted by the Acupuncture Point Research Group of the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. First published in The Journal of Chinese Medicine (June 2002).

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Die Wurzeln der chinesischen Medizin, Teil I

CCM2022-09-07T13:13:09-07:00Tags: German, Joseph Campbell, symbolism|

VON HEINER FRÜHAUF
AUS DEM ENGLISCHEN ÜBERSETZT
VON SEPP LEEB

Dieser Artikel fasst die ersten Ergebnisse eines laufenden Forschungsprojekts zusammen, das von der Akupunkturpunkt-Forschungsgruppe des College of Classical Chinese Medicine an der National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, durchgeführt wurde. Erstveröffentlichung im Journal of Chinese Medicine (Februar 2002).

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Die Wurzeln der chinesischen Medizin, Teil II

CCM2022-09-07T13:13:37-07:00Tags: German, Joseph Campbell, symbolism|

VON HEINER FRÜHAUF
AUS DEM ENGLISCHEN ÜBERSETZT
VON SEPP LEEB

Dieser Artikel fasst die ersten Ergebnisse eines laufenden Forschungsprojekts zusammen, das von der Akupunkturpunkt-Forschungsgruppe des College of Classical Chinese Medicine an der National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, durchgeführt wurde. Erstveröffentlichung im Journal of Chinese Medicine (Juni 2002).

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Correlative Cosmology in Chinese Medicine: The 12 Organ Systems and their Relationship to the 12 Months of the Year, the 24 Seasonal Nodes (jieqi), and the 72 Material Manifestations (wuhou)

CCM2022-09-07T13:06:12-07:00Tags: cosmology, jie qi, material manifestations|

COLLATED AND TRANSLATED
BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Collated and translated from the Yizhou shu (Document of Zhou, fl. 3rd century) and a variety of Han and pre-Han dynasty texts.

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Correlative Cosmology: Energetics of the First Month of Spring and Lung Function

CCM2022-09-07T13:11:49-07:00Tags: cosmology, Five Phases (Elements) Theory, Huangdi Neijing, lung, symbolism|

COLLATED AND TRANSLATED
BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

In this article of Chinese to English translations, Heiner Fruehauf explores the lung as a metal organ according to the five phase element system. Modern Chinese medicine discourse, therefore, has exclusively focused on this organ’s association with the metal season of fall. In original Neijing cosmology, however, the five phase system is paralleled by a more complex and inclusive system of twelve functional entities that correlate the twelve months of the year with the order of the twelve channel systems that we now refer to as the “organ clock.”

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Correlative Cosmology: Energetics of the Second Month of Spring and Large Intestine Function

CCM2022-09-07T13:09:47-07:00Tags: classical texts, cosmology, Five Phases (Elements) Theory, Heiner Fruehauf, Huangdi Neijing, large intestine, symbolism, translations|

COLLATED AND TRANSLATED
BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

According to the five phase element system, the large intestine is classified as a metal organ. Modern Chinese medicine discourse, therefore, has exclusively focused on this organ’s association with the metal season of fall. In original Neijing cosmology, however, the five phase system is paralleled by a more complex and inclusive system of twelve functional entities that correlate the twelve months of the year with the order of the twelve channel systems that we now refer to as the “organ clock.”

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The Treatment of Kidney Failure and Uraemia with Chinese Herbs

CCM2022-09-06T18:01:26-07:00Tags: Chinese herbs, kidney failure, uraemia|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Chronic renal failure marks the most severe of the potential end stages of chronic kidney infection and other systemic diseases involving the kidneys, such as diabetes. Patients with renal failure essentially suffer a near complete collapse of kidney function and become internally poisoned by nitrogenous compounds as a result. If kidney function is not restored, which in chronic cases is virtually impossible with modern medical treatments, or if the body's toxic load cannot be expelled by other means, this condition is severe and usually quickly leads to death. Since the advent of the modern medical procedures of kidney dialysis and kidney transplants, chronic renal failure has lost much of the immediacy of its life threatening quality. For most dialysis and transplant patients, however, the quality of life remains low.

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Insomnia and Vivid Dreaming in Chinese Medical Thinking

CCM2022-09-06T18:03:30-07:00Tags: dreaming, insomnia|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Just like other traditional cultures, the Chinese have always attached a great deal of importance to the occurrence as well as the contents of dreams. In general, ancient Taoist thinkers believed that the healthy and balanced person should sleep undisturbed and not have any dreams at all, since they are always an indication of intemperate meandering by the ethereal soul (hun). The Inner Canon (Neijing) had outlined that the body’s qi primarily circulates on the body surface during the day, then circulates within the body’s interior during the night. If this normal rhythm is disturbed, sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy, or nightmares may occur.

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Principles and Persuasions in Chinese Medicine Diagnosis – Selected Readings

CCM2017-04-01T19:51:14-07:00Tags: Classical Chinese Medicine, classical texts, diagnosis, Heiner Fruehauf, Huangdi Neijing, pulses, translations, Yin and Yang, yin/yang theory, Zhang Jingyue|

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Prior to the process of treating disease, the sage (superior doctor) must be able to distinguish the Yin and Yang of Heaven and Earth. S/he must know the rhythmic flow of the four seasons and the intricate relationships between the five organ networks and the six bowel systems. S/he must be able to distinguish the Yin/Yang and exterior/interior quality of the meridians, and know what kind of diseases to treat with acupuncture, what kind with moxibustion, and what kind with herbs.

INDIVIDUAL MONOPGRAPHS

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Blood, Blood Stasis, and Blood Path Disorders

CCM2022-09-06T18:10:58-07:00Tags: blood disorders, chronic disease, Huangdi Neijing, Kanpo|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Japanese Kanpo (“Chinese modalities”) medicine has in many ways distinguished itself as an independent school of Oriental medical practice. Although Kanpo practitioners generally derive their inspiration from the Chinese classics, they have developed their own set of diagnostic procedures, therapeutic methods, and medical theories, certain aspects of which vary quite drastically from standard approaches adopted by their colleagues in modern China. To dismiss the Japanese system as an unorthodox branch of Chinese medicine, however, would belittle the age-old Japanese practice of “creative imitation” as baseless esotericism, and miss important aspects of classical Chinese theory that have been preserved and illuminated by the Japanese approach.

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Commonly Used Chinese Herb Formulas for the Treatment of Mental Disorders

CCM2022-09-06T18:09:05-07:00Tags: Chinese herbs, mental health|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

The concept of an inseparable body mind continuum is one of the main characteristics of Eastern thought. In classical Chinese medicine, therefore, bodymind continuum mental activity has always been considered to be inseparable from bodily functions, and mental diseases were generally not treated differently from any other disorder. The Chinese term 'yuzheng' (depression), for instance, refers to stagnation on both a physical and mental plane, and is usually addressed with the same diagnostic and therapeutic means as diseases that would be considered to have entirely physi cal origins in the West.

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Stroke and Post-Stroke Syndrome: Prevention and Treatment by Chinese Herbal Medicine

CCM2022-09-06T18:06:37-07:00Tags: Chinese herbs, Huangdi Neijing, stroke|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

In the Chinese medical tradition, deliberations about the origins and treatment of stroke related conditions span over more than two millennia. Since the condition has traditionally been considered to be one of the "four major problems in internal medicine" (neike si dabing), stroke chapters occupy a prominent place in virtually all of the works that make up the defining body of traditional Chinese medicine.Beginning with the Huangdi Neijing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor), a variety of stroke symptoms were described in great detail, but there was at that time no single label or category which established a concise Chinese term for the condition.

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Excerpts from Sikao Zhongyi (Contemplating Chinese Medicine)

CCM2022-09-07T11:13:05-07:00Tags: Chinese medicine profession, classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, Liu Lihong, Sikao Zhongyi|

BY LIU LIHONG
TRANSLATED BY TAN WEIWU AND ERIN MORELAND

It is imperative that we ask the following questions: Does the Chinese medicine we see today, that we know of today, reflect what Chinese medicine truly is? Does the level of competence of doctors working in various Chinese medicine institutions today reflect the actual potential of Chinese medicine? And just what is this potential? Where do the apexes of Chinese medicine lie? Were they attained in ancient times or in recent times?

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Chinese Medicine In Crisis: A Letter From An Intern At A Mainland TCM College Hospital

CCM2022-09-07T11:13:14-07:00Tags: Chinese medicine profession, classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, TCM|

AUTHOR UNKNOWN
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

This letter, which first appeared in Ziran liaofa (Traditional Chinese Medicine and Naturopathy), offers an account of a Chinese medicine student who was discouraged by his Chinese teachers' predilection for Western medicine over Chinese medicine.

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Preface to ‘Chinese Medicine: Philosophical Views on the Profession’

CCM2022-09-07T11:13:24-07:00Tags: Chinese medicine profession, classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, philosophy|

BY MAO JIALING
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

How dramatically time has passed for the profession of Chinese medicine! On one hand, we have the glories of the past and the prospects of the future, while on the other we have the sobering reality of the present. The field of Chinese medicine is currently undergoing a relentless assault by the technological culture of Western science, casting it into alternating states of pain and exhilaration. In the process of modernization we may have managed to dress up our field in contemporary attire, but what a heavy price we had to pay: the constant pain and discomfort as we see ourselves violate the foundational tenets of Chinese medicine every day, and most importantly, as we witness the vanishing of its soul, its spirit.

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Proposing a Renaissance of Chinese Medicine

CCM2022-09-07T11:12:54-07:00Tags: Chinese medicine profession, classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, classical texts, Daodejing, TCM, Yijing|

BY LI ZHICHONG
TRANSLATED BY NATHAN GARRETTSON

The latter half of the 19^th century up and through the 20^th century has been a time of great political, economic, cultural, and scientific transformation in China. Chinese Medicine, as a shining gem of traditional science and culture has undergone many assaults, which has led to the field sinking into a sort of quagmire, and it has had to fight bitterly for its own survival. This course of events has come to be called the “Hundred Years of Perplexity.” In the last twenty years, through serious contemplation and reflection on its causes we have become more and more clear how the course of history has chained the study of Chinese Medicine to these complex shackles.

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Cultivating the Flow: A Concept Of Evolutive Well-Being that Integrates the Classic Traditions and Quantum Science

CCM2022-09-07T10:49:13-07:00Tags: classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, cosmology, Daodejing, Heiner Fruehauf, qigong, quantum science, systems thinking, vitality and wellness, Yijing|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Approaching the end of the 20^th century, we are confronted with a number of fundamental issues regarding the quality, if not the general purpose, of human existence. One of them is the gradual demise of the Western-scientific health care system, which has fostered a revival of the age-old discussion about the nature of health, illness, and well-being. In the process of developing alternative approaches to healing, holistic medical discourse has consistently emphasized the “diseased” quality of illness and its therapeutic implications, i.e. the consequent restoration and maintenance of “ease.” However, definitions of the ease state often fail to go much beyond the biochemical aspects of well-being, and thus end up being classified according to the same parameters they were trying to overcome.

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Letter to the Editor Regarding Feng Shui

CCM2022-09-07T10:47:14-07:00Tags: classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, feng shui|

BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

A letter to the NCCAOM regarding the notion that feng shui should be included in Oriental Medicine curricula. "Both the term and the concept of Feng Shui appear frequently in classical Chinese texts that traditionally were considered to have an intimate relationship to the practice of medicine. Feng (wind) stands for movement and thus the dispersing influences in nature, while Shui (water) symbolizes the palpable aspects of reality and thus the congealing effects in nature. Feng Shui, therefore, is the familiar concept of movement and stillness, matter and non-matter, and qi and blood applied specifically to the realm of the earth. "

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Holistic Science Bibliography

CCM2022-09-07T11:15:31-07:00Tags: classical Chinese herbalism, Classical Chinese Medicine, cosmology, holism|

COMPILED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

Heiner Fruehauf shares an eclectic bibliography of sources that bridge the gap between modern empirical science, quantum physics, Eastern mystical knowledge of the body, and biological systems science and the body. From Fritjof Capra's Tao of Physics and Joseph Needham's work, to David Bohm's work and Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe, there are a variety of volumes in this list of citations which serve for a strong foundation for understanding the holographic nature of Chinese medicine.

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