Insights and Updates

A person's life generally goes through a process of addition and subtraction. Before middle age, full of energy, one is always diligently "adding" all sorts of things to one's life. After passing middle age, or after a serious illness, one realizes the importance of "subtraction."…

The Principles, Methods, Formulae and Medicinals of TCM Cancer Treatment Part One: Principle (Li) 1. Starting with Dongba Culture In Lijiang, Yunnan, there lives a small ethnic group called the Naxi. Though few in number, the Naxi have their own culture, religion and medicine; people…

One day this summer, a teacher from the Xueersi training center called me to ask why my son had attended only one class and never gone back. I told the teacher that I did not want my child to spend the whole summer attending various…

In the twelfth year of the Kaihuang reign of the Sui dynasty, Sima Daoxin, later honored as the Fourth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, was just fourteen years old and still a young novice monk. One day this young novice went to pay reverence to the…

The late Doctor Yue Meizhong was a master clinician deeply respected in contemporary Chinese TCM circles.

If I had to claim a particular thinker as my master, I would choose Zhuangzi. Sima Qian wrote a short biography of Zhuangzi, saying that "his learning touched on everything, yet its essence was rooted in Laozi," and that "his words are vast and unbridled,…

TCM prescriptions that use many medicinals and are broad in scope have always been easy targets of criticism. Even a famous physician of the stature of Shi Jinmo could not escape censure, because he was fond of using large formulae. Those TCM physicians accustomed to…

Umbilical therapy (qiliao) is one of the external treatments of TCM and has existed since ancient times. The navel, in TCM meridian theory, is called Shenque (Spirit Palace) acupoint, one of the most important points on the human body. Ancient TCM held that Shenque is…

Fangji Huangqi Tang (Stephania and Astragalus Decoction) is a famous formula from the Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet) by the Han-dynasty master physician Zhang Zhongjing. I often use this formula, with modifications, to treat pleural effusion and ascites in cancer patients;…

The Principles, Methods, Formulas and Herbs of TCM Cancer Treatment Part One Principle (Li) 1. Beginning with Dongba Culture In Lijiang, Yunnan, lives a small ethnic group called the Naxi. Though few in number, the Naxi have their own culture, religion, and medicine; people customarily…