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| Japanese Acupuncture Newsletter, Arizona Volume 2, No. 3: March, 2009 Oriental Medicine & On Human Conditions Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear. The Bhagavad Gita Chapter Two Heart: Joy, Arrogance, and Transcendence #3 …break the flower-tipped arrows of Mara. Never again will death touch you. The Dhammapada In Buddhist terms, many of us are ever wandering at the shore of pain and sorrow, not knowing how to cross the river to the other side. It is up to the Mahayana Buddhism to ferry us to the destination. In my past newsletters, I mentioned about the Shen Cycle, the Harmonious Cycle, where every organ is in order and balanced. When the health of a person starts to fail, the Shen Cycle turns to the Ko Cycle, the Destructive Cycle, where each organ starts to affect in a negative way and reduces the function of a related organ. For example, when the Kidney starts to fail, it influences the Heart function. The functions of the two organs are related just as the lungs' and the heart's are. In Oriental Medicine, the Kidney Element embodies Fear and Will. Its element is Water. The Element represents death* and the beginning of life. Just as fear resurrects will, making you stronger, water creates life. A cancer patient may fear death, but out of the fear and frustration, emerges hope. Hope dissolves fear and transcends us to the Heart Element of joy in knowing the true self, the Atman. *death: some place it in the Metal Element. In the past, I presented that it was important to know which point to take between the Elements to move the Shen Cycle in the right direction. For example, the Liver/Wood Element to the Heart/Fire Element. It is an equally important and more difficult task to know which point to take to break the Ko Cycle of destruction, for this point would be the ferryboat of the Mahayana Buddhism. I struggle with the point on a daily basis. Most of my patients do not have their priorities in the right places. They lack focus and patience. They are the wanderers at the shore. How do we ferry them to the other side with acupuncture? Needless to say that sometimes it is not an acupuncture point that really matters. It is our choice of words and compassionate manner* or intuition to read their concerns that is the key. *words and manner: the Noble Eight Path = right understanding, right purpose, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right attention, and right meditation. However, for the physiological transformation to happen, it would be nice to know which point to take to break each of the Ko Cycle. I will be writing about it in my next newsletter. For now, I would like to ask you this: At what point do you drop fear and reach the other side of the shore?  "Let me tell you what I lost through meditation: sickness, anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death." Buddha Namaste © 2009 Dr. Y. Frank Aoi/Japanese Acupuncture |
