Huangdineijing for self cultivation

Chinese medicine has gone trough an often fragmented history of development, and thus there is not a truely unified form of medical science available for practitioners. If it seems like that, this is due to the universalist thinking of most translators and interpretators.

Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth underlying everything is another important tenet in universalism. You see that coming back in most cultures, often manifesting as Nationalism in modern times: other cultures are in fact similar like yours. But that is ofcourse nonsense. If that would be so then the whole world would speak the same language and believe in the same things. But in the west for instance many people believe in the existence of a soul, while the concept of soul is imported in many other cultures through colonialist and christianizing activities.

It is for this reason that learning with a teacher about these classics is essential. A teacher has to point you towards the importance of differences. In our generation people need to be transculturally inclined to be able to do so.

I myself am gratefull for the explanations the different teachers I had were able to support me with. This free video and the followup in this series is is part of the charitable activities we daoists are developing throughout our lives.