Daoism, medicine and politics

TCM Or DCM? - A Remarkable Meeting At Qingdao

Qingdao is not only known for its good beer that is owing to the German art of brewing from the 100 years previous colonial period.

Since October 2006, yet another important event might be added to the highlight:

From October 26th to the 29th in 2006, a meeting took place at the holy mountain Laoshan. The invitation to talk about the Dao, had been sent out by the local Daoist monasteries and by the Institute for Religious Studies of the Shangdong Province.

"Dao Lun" - Conversations About Dao, in order to discuss to what extent especially Daoism could be able to contribute to a harmonious and ecological society.

The exceptional feature: About 70 monks, religious-studies scientist, economists, ecologists, medics, even politicians met there to become aware of the role of Daoism, its merits and insufficiencies in a very permissive manner.

The importance of religion was one consensus - something which also the Communist Party had realized when it decided upon the promotion (and thus the control, naturally...) of China 's religions as "creation of harmony" in spring 2006.

Though, first of all, it should be mentioned that our western understanding of "religion" is mainly geared to the belief of redemption in the hereafter, as Christendom defines it since 2000 years.

In other cultures, as well as beliefs, more attention is dedicated to the thought of healing in this life.

Thus, it is not about the redemption from the earthly vale of tears (Jammertal), but it is about the arrangement of life.

Efforts of medicine men and shamans will focus on curing diseases, refusing distress and misery, just as did the priests' in ancient Greek-Roman civilization.

Accordingly, also in the old "religions" of China, we can find different concepts which mainly deal with the well-being in this world.

The lines between "religion" and "medicine" melt into each other.

Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism are obviously the world views of the ancient China which currently are being increasingly rediscovered.

Briefly summarized in their rating for health - without claiming an entire characterization:

· Confucianism impresses with a system of social and family rights and duties which may also serve for today's people in providing pointing-the-way, ethic standards for the social well-being.

· Buddhism - actually an individual, this life exceeding religion of redemption - is marked by its great potential of charitable engagement, since hereby "good karma" for future reincarnation may be accumulated.

· Since Zhuangzi, Daoism contains a complex system of methods and doctrines for individual healthcare (Yangsheng) and for achieving longevity. Daoism profoundly characterized the tradition of medicine. In addition, it turns out to serve as a melting pot for all kinds of vernacular religions.

The speakers at the congress on the Laoshan dealt with the difficulty from different perspectives: It was about the general question how a religion, or a religious community, can come to terms with the state (example: Song dynasty), about the Daodejing and the Question Of Growth And Development (The number 3 in the Daodejing), about the situation of the monasteries (for example, the number of temples in the Laoshan has decreased from a former 100 to today's five; though a new nunnery was opened on historical grounds within the framework of the symposium), about nature conservancy, political economy (Volkswirtschaft) and the Dao, about Neidan (inner alchemy) and Waidan (medicine etc.) as integrated parts of Daoism and especially their significance for a healthy and harmonious society.

Dozens of reports were held in three panels. Finally, it was decided to arrange these "Conversations about Dao" regularly at the Laoshan in the future.

Special attention was dedicated to medicine (Heilkunde) as essential, daoistic body of thought.

As Daoism, since Zhuangzi, seeks for self-cultivation and striving for longevity up to the desired immortality.

There, the cultivation of one's health through inner practice (Neidan), such as Qigong, Taijiquan, meditations and gongfu, are considered as the core of healthcare (Yangsheng).

These inner practices were mostly accompanied by exterior measures to maintain one's health, though - and then as well for curing diseases:

Waidan - this term subsumes all medication and dietetic measures, including acupuncture/moxibustion and the use of "magic" signs and sayings.

These exterior practices turned into the Traditional Chinese Medicine of the People's Republic of China after the Quing Dynasty and of the republican era.

As Wai Xue (exterior teachings) they remain an integrated part of daoist medicine.

But exterior without interior is an absurdity - accordingly, Nei Xue (the inner teachings) as well, together with the inner practices Nei Dan, were handed down by the Daoist monasteries of the Chinese mother country, in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and all the Chinatowns all over the world.

Also it was partly, though rather alienated and obscure, imported into the western health scene which has always preferably turned to the East on it search for new curative conceptions.

The teachings of Ying-Yang and the assumed "Daoism" entered into the packages of instant soups, fashionable pendants and bed sheets.

So, the contemporary development in China, on the one hand, strives for an integration of religion including its medical concepts (even though neither Buddhism, Islam nor Christendom have development any curative systems for this world comparable to Daoism).

On another hand, though, there is a threat of danger for the classical Daoist contents and methods.

Since the - by now world-wide known - TCM is structured clearly and tries, partly successful, to be accepted by western medicine and science.

Medicinal plants from the Chinese Pharmacopoeia are examined for effects and side effects, "fingerprints" are made, parts are extracted and standardized on all levels.

Acupuncture points and their combinations are evaluated, some are discerned as valid, others as invalid and are counter-sunk in the Orcus of ignorance.

Some standard liver-qi stagnation seems to exist in the TCM, as well as some standardized concept of therapy which seems claimed to be apprehensible and testable by multiple choice.

This type of TCM is accepted in modern society and is also -as an important consequence- included in the Chinese system of health insurance.

And consistently, the unaccepted, unevaluated is excluded.

With the Nei-Dan components it is different, as the manifold attraction of Chinese medicine and their appropriation to local health problems in our realms is due to them.

This - seemingly!- system of Yi Jing, Yinyang, Fengshui, Qigong and Gongfu, acupuncture and meditation, in the end from heaven and earth, is not structured. It carries within the "as well as", is a process and thus, it suits the Dao as the "way of things".

Accordingly, intents of standardization enforcedly will have to lead to an amputation of the old medicine (Heilkunde):

Daoist doctors from the monasteries are prohibited to practice, since they cannot get a license. The monasteries are loosing an important element of their medicinal mandate in the framework of the hygiene/sanitation/healthcare (Gesundheitspflege) Yangsheng - and with it, of course, economic resources.

And so it seems that, on the one hand, in today's China religious communities come to the fore as mediators of the curative thought (at least, similar meetings took place among the Buddhists).

On the other hand, a development - quite familiar for the western reader - of standardization and norms emerges which simply negates the incomprehensible and excludes it from reality.

Yet, the truly incomprehensible will always be health and illness, life and death.

The intention of grasping this, deprives it of its meaning:

The Way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way;

The names that can be named are not unvarying names.

It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;

The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. (chap. 1, tr. Waley)