Acupuncture

詳細資訊

The so-called "acupuncture and moxibustion" (Zhenjiu) consists of needling (acupuncture) and moxibustion. However, large hospitals in Taiwan currently do not perform moxibustion due to safety and air pollution concerns. This book is a compilation of notes taken while I was learning acupuncture, combined with my subsequent research insights. The sources of information are extensive, including several acupuncture courses at China Medical University (CMU), various seminars in the Taichung area, nearly all related books in the Taichung Municipal Library, acupuncture-related videos available online, discussions on Facebook, and so on. Originally, I had no intention of publishing it, but one day someone on Facebook inquired about related information. Unwilling to give away my insights for free, I uploaded the file as an e-book. That person looked down on it and did not purchase it, but subsequently, others continued to buy it. I then had to reorganize the originally cluttered data. This book is currently the top-seller among my e-book sales.
Why am I interested in Chinese medicine? Because Chinese medicine, like physics and astrology, is a type of theoretical model. Although there is currently a trend in Taiwan where everyone strives to enter medical school, and even though I have been interested in metaphysics such as Chinese medicine and fate-telling since childhood—even ranking second in a school-wide (Taichung First Senior High School) academic competition in biology during my first year—I never considered studying medicine during my high school years or even later.
My mother was a teacher at Taichung First Senior High School. During high school, one of her colleagues (named Xu Jinghui, as I recall) was also quite fond of these arts and had moxa sticks and books on the I Ching (Book of Changes), so I had some exposure to them. During university, there was a notice in my department about free acupuncture lessons offered somewhere. Unfortunately, after signing up, I only went once and never returned. They gave me a very thick book on meridians and acupoints. Around my senior year, there was an elderly gentleman practicing martial arts on campus in the mornings, and I followed him to learn the Taiji Thirteen Sword technique. During my postdoctoral years, I remained interested and attended some lectures at the National Taiwan University Traditional Medicine Club; the most insightful was Hu Naiwen's lecture on "Ziwu Liuzhu" (Midnight-Noon Ebb and Flow). Later, fate led me to work in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Strasbourg. However, during those days, I was entirely devoted to physics.
My father was hospitalized for a fracture in 2004, which led me to consult the secret Shaolin formulas I had collected previously. In 2009, during my father's second hospitalization, observing the behavior of the doctors made me begin to doubt the profession I had respected since childhood. They are, at best, university graduates who only know how to perform duties according to set regulations. R. Day noted that they are not much different from plumbers[1]. On my birthday that year, my father died in the hospital after being forcefully fed by doctors.
In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Tao studied medicine because of his mother's illness and authored Waitai Miyao (Secret Essentials from the Imperial Library). When Li Gao was in his twenties, his mother, Lady Wang, fell ill; despite having several local doctors attempt to save her and trying a hundred different medicines, she passed away without the cause of her illness ever being known. Li Gao grieved deeply over losing his parent due to medical ignorance. He vowed: "If I meet a good physician, I shall study hard to account for my failure." When Wu Tang was 19, his father passed away. In his extreme grief, he purchased and read numerous medical formula books. Inspired by Zhang Zhongjing's philosophy of setting aside worldly honor and self-preservation, he resolutely abandoned his pursuit of the imperial examinations to specialize in medical arts, eventually becoming a student of Ye Tianshi.
Although my father had passed away, my mother was gradually growing old. For a child not to study medicine is considered a lack of filial piety. Around 2017, I thought of the famous China Medical University in Taichung (though locals know it originated as an obscure private college). Despite my maternal grandfather being an acquaintance of the founder, Chen Gu, I had never previously considered stepping into this school to hear what the professors had to say. That year, for about one semester, I attended every lecture I could. Although my mother always looked down on the Chinese medicine I studied, the little I knew did indeed help solve some of her problems.
In 2022, my mother was in a car accident, suffering a subdural hemorrhage that left her paralyzed and unconscious. After surgery to remove part of her skull for decompression, I knew Western medicine could do nothing but wait for the patient to wake up naturally. Therefore, while she was still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), I requested a consultation with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners, which Western doctors often dismissed or even refused. However, through the TCM principle of "cultivating earth to generate gold" (strengthening the spleen to benefit the lungs), she was weaned off the ventilator, and through acupuncture, her eyes opened. I consistently massaged her according to the "Ziwu Liuzhu" (Midnight-Noon Ebb and Flow) theory. Her condition improved from only opening her eyes when caregivers turned her over, to opening them upon hearing a call. After six months of hospitalization, Western doctors forced our discharge, demanding we use an ambulance to carry her out, which interrupted her TCM treatments. I then researched how to use high-back wheelchairs and sliding boards to get her out of bed. I thought of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking, who lived into his seventies and even married and had children despite total paralysis. I do not know everything, but like Li Ke, I learned while doing, eventually leading my mother out of the ICU, the respiratory ward, the general ward, and finally home. Every ward tried to push us out, and upon leaving, they warned us not to come back. Thank God, we indeed never looked back. My next goal was to enable her to speak. Western medicine is a total blank in this regard, but Chinese medicine has many theories; perhaps some might sneer at this, just as some in Taiwan want a nuclear-free homeland while in another corner of the world, people are constantly searching for nuclear technology that guarantees no explosions, eventually developing a new generation of nuclear power plants. On December 8 of that year, I purchased a high-back wheelchair, and the whole family brought my mother home with great dignity.
This book is the result of my research insights. Regrettably, while I was still working hard, on November 1, 2023, a nurse surnamed Cai from Taichung Hospital filed false reports of sexual assault and domestic violence with the Domestic Violence Prevention Center. On October 31, after I had notified the ward that my mother had recovered her strength and we would depart the next morning, she forged evidence to report to the police and the Health Bureau for violating the Medical Act. On the night of November 1, eight people, including my uninformed brother from afar, the police, and social workers—broke into my home without an emergency protection order or a search warrant, taking my mother away while I was resting upstairs after caring for her. Since then, I was prevented from seeing her. Reporting this or filing lawsuits was not only useless but resulted in manufactured cases against me in an attempt to silence me. As for the lawsuits I filed to rescue my mother, they invariably sent administrative closure letters immediately after the hearings. During the period of my mother's illness alone, they manufactured four cases to fine or sentence me. They have been using the same tactics for at least ten years. This inhumane behavior is legally termed "malfeasance in office." On April 3, 2024, as if heaven and earth were enraged, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan. My mother passed away on May 1, 2024, after being neglected in a nursing home for six months.


Julian Ting

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