The Mysterious Gate: Yin and Yang in the Early Development of Acupuncture

Acupuncture is based upon the Pattern/Template system first explained in early texts such as the Daodejing and Yijing and then incorporated into the early medical texts. The Pattern/Templates were rediscovered by the pioneering psychologist, Carl Jung, who called them archetypes and made them the basis of his psychology. The idea of the Pattern/Templates stems from the Daodejing and other texts of early Daoism where Being emerges from Non-Being through an intermediary realm called Primal Chaos. Primal Chaos is comprised of certain tendencies that manifest in the world of form in different ways. These tendencies are the Pattern/Templates. They act like cosmic blueprints for the manifestation of material form. This book discusses, first, the ancient Chinese cosmology from which the Pattern/Template philosophy was developed and then how that cosmology is recapitulated within the human body through the structure and function of Mingmen/Dantian, the Center of Power within the human body. Detailed examination is also provided for the connection between this vital center and the function of the Triple Heater and Pericardium, which can then be understood and appreciated more deeply. Following chapters show how these ideas were developed into the various patterns that become the underlying basis for the theoretical foundation of acupuncture. These include Yin-Yang, the Eight Trigrams of the Yijing, the Five Phases, Numerology, and the Six Divisions.

This book discusses, first, the ancient Chinese cosmology from which the Pattern/Template philosophy was developed and then how that cosmology is recapitulated within the human body in the structure and function of Mingmen/Dantian, the Center of Power within the human body. Following chapters show how these ideas were developed into specific patterns that become the theoretical foundation of acupuncture. These include Yin-Yang, the Eight Trigrams of the Yijing, the Five Phases, Numerology, and the Six Divisions.

The goal of this book is to explain the underlying importance of logic and intuition in the practice of acupuncture for the Body, Mind, and Spirit with sufficient clarity to make them come alive in practice.