How do we cultivate the ability to hold two opposite experiences of reality at the same time and thereby somehow get closer to the truth in between? How do we overcome the limitations of language in describing the ineffable while still appreciating its analytic function? If we can use language in communication with others like multiple fingers pointing at the moon, to literally “round out” all of our understanding, how do we handle alternate voices that may not even be pointing at the moon but at the sun or at birds flying by? And how is this issue relevant to the transmission of authentic but ever-changing Chinese medicine to the West, and to its biomedicalization?

On a totally different note (sorry, can’t help it), what do you do when a person won’t stop singing? Is the Western mind different from the Eastern mind? Or are there different levels of truth and complexity to be found in any scientific and medical paradigm? And how do postmodernism, differential diagnosis, Daoist cultivation, authority, samadhi and Humpty Dumpty, and the “Six Warps” 六經 fit into this conversation? How do we express, cultivate, revise, and share our expertise with compassion rather than righteousness?

That is the topic of today's episode of A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond, titled “Truth in East and West and in Between.” I am your host, Dr. Sabine Wilms, and I am joined today, as so often, by Leo Lok, resident Purveyor of Multiple Perspectives, and our resident Daoist sage Dr. Brenda Hood among the Seven Fools of the Bamboo Grove that make up the core of our Pebble in the Cosmic Pond team.

Please remember to sign up for my newsletter to stay in touch. Also, please rate, review, and share this podcast wherever you can and check out the show notes if you want to learn more.

And two more things: If you can’t wait until the next new moon for the next episode to drop, you can always become an Imperial Tutor member to listen to the exclusive “Imperial Tutorial” episodes that drop every full moon, in addition to all sorts of other benefits. And second, my two-year-long Triple Crown classical Chinese training program starts this September 14 with the Foundations course.

Additional Information

• Dr. Wilms' free course: Introduction to Classical Chinese — Translating Chinese Medicine
• Triple Crown Training Program — Translating Chinese Medicine - Dr. Wilms' 2-year training program in classical Chinese, starting every two years in September
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• Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms
• Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website)
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors

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What does it mean when the Yellow Emperor mourns and why might that matter to you? Does he “lord it over” his subjects and discuss medicine and needles because the exploitation of a healthy population yields more taxes? Or does he love and care for the people like a parent for their children and is heartbroken about their suffering? How do we read and translate a text like the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic that was compiled two thousand years ago but references figures from what was even then a mythological past of many centuries earlier? What tools do three experienced translators turn to when we get stuck and our “spidy sense” tells us that we are just not getting it? That our finger is no longer pointing at the moon but quite possibly at the sun? And how do we cultivate this spidy sense that alerts us that we may be misunderstanding a phrase or passage? A teaser: It involves a book called “Beware of Chicken”!

The process and pitfalls through which we find meaning in the classical texts is what we are discussing in today’s episode of A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond, titled “The Yellow Emperor’s Broken Heart.” I am your host, Dr. Sabine Wilms, and I am joined once again by Leo Lok, self-proclaimed Purveyor of Multiple Perspectives, and Dr. Brenda Hood, our resident Daoist sage, among the Seven Fools of the Bamboo Grove that make up the core of our Pebble in the Cosmic Pond team.

If we have inspired you and you want to learn more, you can join my Imperial Tutor mentorship to listen to the more clinically oriented and EVEN NERDIER Imperial Tutorial bonus episode, released on the full moon on 8/30, and also receive some related translations. Or you can explore learning classical Chinese at "translatingChinesemedicine.com" by signing up for my free "Introduction to Classical Chinese" course, my membership, or join the new cohort of my two-year-long Triple Crown intensive training program, which starts on September 14 with the Foundations course.

Additional Information

• Dr. Wilms' free course: Introduction to Classical Chinese — Translating Chinese Medicine
• Triple Crown Training Program — Translating Chinese Medicine - Dr. Wilms' 2-year training program in classical Chinese, starting every two years in September
• Subscribe to my newsletter!
• Translating Chinese Medicine: Dr. Wilms' website for learning classical Chinese
• Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors

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A quote from Sun Simiao (translation by Dr. Wilms):

Inspired by that quote, we look at the following questions:

How can we use food as medicine? How do we nurture essence? What makes food nourishing? How can we help our patients, friends, and family decolonized their experience of embodiment by rediscovering their innate ability to sense what is good or bad for the body, and for their jīng 精 “essence” in particular? What does that mean for immigrants in the US who are craving the taste of home? Lastly, what are some of the dangers of popular diets and fads, in particular the Keto diet and elimination of carbohydrates, or of nutraceutical extracts? What is the difference between a carrot and a carrot, and between losing weight and losing jīng “essence”? What are some of the other magical aspects of flavor or wèi 味 in Chinese, which the Nèijīng already mentions as the key to supplementing jīng Essence?

We have fun as we look at factors ranging from love and fermentation to refrigeration and round-up, and even Mexican Coca-Cola and, of course, German “Gummibärchen.” And as a special bonus, our conversation concludes with Z’ev’s favorite breakfast congee recipe so make sure you listen closely all the way to the end…

For today’s episode of A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond, titled “Food as Medicine,” I am your host, Dr. Sabine Wilms, as usual supported by Leo Lok, our resident Purveyor of Multiple Perspectives among the Seven Fools of the Bamboo Grove. In addition, we are joined by Z’ev Rosenberg who you may be familiar with from Episode 2 of our podcast on the “True Medicine of Yangsheng.”

If this has got you really interested, check out my follow-up conversation with Leo Lok in the Imperial Tutorial episode on "Jing and Wei: Essence and Flavor," exclusively produced for the members of my Imperial Tutor mentorship. Find out more at happygoatproductions.com/imperialtutor.

Additional Information

• The True Medicine of Yangsheng - A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond
• Can Kyoto's Buddhist Cuisine Teach us All to Eat Better? | Saveur
• What is Macrobiotics? | Ohsawa Macrobiotics
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• Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website)
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors
• Z'ev Rosenberg's website

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As just one example of the dynamic polarities, and the sweet spot in between, that we so love in Chinese medicine, this episode explores the difference between responsibility and fault.

How does our perspective shift when we consider placing or accepting responsibility as opposed to faulting ourselves or others in our attempts to explain outcomes that we do not like? Can we perhaps see responsibility as an opening to healing, to stepping forward into a better future, to repairing past damage, while fault keeps us mired in the past through toxic judgment and blame? What is the sweet spot between recognizing where there is room for improvement and slipping into a dead-end negativity? And what does any of this have to do with meditation, diet and lifestyle, karma, the spiritual marketplace, heavenly punishment, American litigiousness, Western and Eastern concepts of purity, and spilling hot water?

This is the topic of today’s episode of A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond on “Responsibility Versus Fault.” Our host, Dr. Sabine Wilms, and Leo Lok, resident Purveyor of Multiple Perspectives among the Seven Fools of the Bamboo Grove, are joined by Dr. Brenda Hood and Josh Paynter, both of whom are practitioners of Chinese medicine and specialists in Daoism, Brenda with a PhD in Daoist philosophy and Josh as one of the eminent teachers of Daoism as a spiritual practice in the West.

Additional Information

• Subscribe to my newsletter!
• Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms
• Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website)
• Parting Clouds Daoist Education
• Josh Paynter's website
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors

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In this episode of "A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond," I am joined by my two dear friends Leo Lok and Z'ev Rosenberg. Both are experienced practitioners of Chinese medicine in the US with a strong classical foundation and shared commitment to not only practicing but also LIVING Chinese medicine.

It is fascinating to me to hear how they arrive at their shared ideals from very different backgrounds, as a New York Jew (Z'ev) and a Malaysian Chinese Buddhist (Leo). As usual, today's conversation takes us in some unexpected directions as we talk about

• medicine as a living philosophy, both for practitioners and patients;
• the meaning of life and death;
• the embodied teachings of Zhuangzi to treat cancer;
• the human role in "Harmonizing Heaven and Earth";
• medical practice in the context of multicultural diversity, environment pollution, plastic surgery, and much more; and
• the role of the intestinal biome, constitutional types, and the importance of the Spleen-Stomach school.

Additional Information

• Subscribe to my newsletter!
• Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms
• Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website)
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors
• Z'ev Rosenberg's website
• 氣血不通生腫瘤
• A Chinese presentation by Prof. Cai with Chinese subtitles: 癌症歸來的解藥
• 穴道導引功法 (includes another miraculous healing case)
• Biography and Resume of Associate Professor Cai Biming 蔡璧名
• Yojokun: Life Lessons from a Samurai by Kaibara Ekken | Goodreads

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In this inaugural session of the podcast, my co-conspirator Leo Lok and I introduce our new podcast by comparing it to two activities: flying a kite and completing a circle. Find out how we use these two metaphors to explore different directions for future conversations, such as:

• the fertile relationship between oral lineage transmission and textual transmission, between Heaven and Earth, and between planting ourselves in solid ground and catching the wind of inspiration to fly high;
• the parallels between Buddhist transmission from India to China many centuries ago and the current transmission of Chinese medicine to the West;
• our vision of collaboration in the creative pursuit of academic and clinical knowledge;
• the importance of honoring the "voices of our medical ancestors" (in Leo's beautiful phrase); and
• the challenges in translating and communicating what is ultimately the inexpressible wisdom of the ancient Chinese sages.

As you can see, we have an endless repertoire of topics, to pursue and rope our wise friends into discussing with us!

If you liked this episode, subscribe to my newsletter at https://www.happygoatproductions.com/connect to get notified of new releases (coming to you on every new moon) and other offerings by Dr. Sabine Wilms.

To catch the biweekly bonus episodes released on each full moon for members of my Imperial Tutor mentorship, learn more at imperialtutor.com/membership.

Learn more about Leo Lok's "Voices of our Medical Ancestors" on his THINKIFIC page or stay tuned for a future episode on "Meditation Sickness and Qigong Psychosis."

Additional Information

• Subscribe to my newsletter!
• Translating Chinese Medicine: Dr. Wilms' website for learning classical Chinese
• Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms
• Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website)
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors

Support A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond

... to make you laugh...

This is just a short trailer to introduce you to our podcast.

Here are some RESEARCH LINKS:

Additional Information

• Subscribe to my newsletter!
• Translating Chinese Medicine: Dr. Wilms' website for learning classical Chinese
• Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms
• Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website)
• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors