What is the History Of acupuncture?!

What is the History Of acupuncture?

History Of Acupuncture :-

The Chinese healing art of acupuncture is one that can be dated back at least two thousand years. Some authorities maintain that acupuncture has been practiced in China for even four thousand years. Though its exact age is vague, what is certain is that up until the recent twentieth century, much of the population of the world was uninformed about acupuncture, its origins, and its capacity to promote and maintain good health. Even today in relatively "advanced" nations such as the United States there are many who hold acupuncture under the stereotype of a new or radical medicine, one which would almost always be a second choice after more familiar Western approaches to handling illness. Following a brief synopsis of the theory of acupuncture, the following text will, to a limited extent, elucidate the vast history of this ancient medicine and assert that it is neither new nor radical.

THEORY
One of the most important concepts of Chinese medicine is that of natural balance. From this idea of balance arises the fundamental theory of yin and yang. According to this theory, life takes place in the alternating rhythm of yin and yang.

Day gives way to night, night to day; a time of light and activity (Yang) is followed by darkness and rest (Yin). Flowers open and close, the moon waxes and wanes, the tides come in and go out; we wake and sleep, breathe in, breathe out. Yin/Yang is a constant, continual flow through which everything is expressed on the one hand and recharged on the other. They are an inseparable couple. Their proper relationship is health; a disturbance in this relationship is disease. (Acupuncture, p. 57)

The paradoxical nature of yin and yang is further illustrated in an excerpt from the Huang Di Nei Jing, or "The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine," which is considered to be the best known and earliest of Chinese medical texts:

Yang has its root in Yin
Yin has its root in Yang.
Without Yin, Yang cannot arise.
Without Yang, Yin cannot be born.
Yin alone cannot arise; Yang alone cannot grow.
Yin and Yang are divisible but inseparable. (Acupuncture, p. 58)

The well-known symbol of the yin-yang further demonstrates that nothing is pure Yin or pure Yang; black and white embrace and intertwine in perfect symmetry, each side containing a small seed of its opposite. The conclusion drawn from this theory is that good health entails the balance and harmony of all that is yin and all that is yang within the body.

When such a proper balance of forces exists, the body has achieved a healthy circulation of the life force qi (roughly pronounced "chee"). In Chinese medicine it is theorized that the human body, as well as every other living thing, has a natural flow of qi throughout it. Qi is said to travel the body along channels called "meridians," of which there are mainly fourteen. Qi flows constantly up and down these pathways, and when the flow of qi is insufficient, unbalanced, or interrupted, yin and yang become unbalanced, and illness may occur. An understanding of the relationship between the body, yin and yang, and qi is necessary to understand the utility of acupuncture.

On the most basic of levels, acupuncture can be described as the insertion of very fine needles (sometimes in combination with electrical stimulus or with heat produced by burning specific herbs, called Moxibustion) into the skin at specific acupuncture points in order to influence the functioning of the body. Traditionally, there are 365 acupoints on the body, most of which have a specific energetic function. Some are the meeting of meridian pathways while others are junctions with an internal pathway of the meridian. Some points tend to move qi towards the interior of the body while others bring energy to the surface. The choice of acupuncture points varies from patient to patient and from treatment to treatment and relies on very careful diagnoses of different kinds. Diagnosis entails the observation of the body through looking, touching, smelling and listening. One of the primary and fundamental diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine is pulse taking, which is far more intricate than pulse taking in the West. It has been said to take upwards of fifteen years to master this diagnostic art.

FOUNDATIONS
Examination of Chinese history will begin in a period known as the Early Zhou. This period, taking place from -1027 to -772, was a period of classic feudalism in China. The Zhou dynasty was established through military conquest, whose success was a result not only of inadequate opposing defense, but also of the Zhou's superior agricultural productivity. An increased production of crops due to communally managed irrigation systems allowed for more of the population to be fed by fewer laborers, which in turn allowed for the conscription of larger armies from the peasantry and a victory over the Shang.

The Early Zhou has little connection to acupuncture. In fact, the predominant feature of the period was the rise of the idea that demons were a harmful influence on humankind. Human health was left to supernatural powers and demonology. Popular belief maintained that a group of shaman leaders were possessed of magical powers and were responsible for "provision of rain, quieting violent storms, and purging poisonous creatures and evil influences" (UA, p. 8). This is not to say that the Early Zhou was unimportant in the genesis of acupuncture or Chinese medicine in general. The era is accredited with setting the stage for the next period in Chinese history, in which medicine began to establish itself as a valuable independent entity.

In -771 the feudal arrangement of the Early Zhou was disrupted when a foreign alliance backfired, forcing the Zhou capital further east and thus giving rise to a new period known as the Middle Zhou (-772 to -480). While it is safe to conclude that Chinese arts did not flourish in the midst of the ruthlessness of this new "farm and fight" state, this period did see a significant advancement in medicine. It is during the Middle Zhou that medicine, although still dominated by magical correspondences and demonology, began to develop as a separate activity and take "a place distinct from religion in the social order" (UA, p. 8). Evidence of this progression in medicine can be found in the descriptions of four different kinds of doctors in Zhou archives, including physicians, surgeons, dieticians, and veterinary surgeons. Another notable achievement of this period was the appearance of evidence of what would become the theory of the six environmental evils. This evidence appeared in -540 in a story of a physician's attendance on the prince of Jin, wherein yin and yang were represented as hot and cold. Together with wind, rain, darkness and brightness, the six comprised the influences that can cause disease. This concept of evil influences is referenced today when acupuncturists speak of "cold damp wind" et cetera during diagnosis.

By far the most important outcome of the Middle Zhou was the establishment of Confucianism as the first of the Three Pillars of Chinese thought (Confucianism, Daoism [Taoism], and Buddhism). Among the significant contributions to Chinese culture by Confucianism was the establishment of a solid connection between "responsible human behavior and desirable outcomes" (UA, p. 9). This social connection found parallel expression in the progression of medicine by developing a link between human well-being and human action, a link which was important for the origin of the qi paradigm because it shifted thinking away from demonic causation of illness. Though Confucianism is not solely responsible for the rise of the medicine of qi, qi could not have existed without this link.

While the Middle Zhou is noted for the birth of Confucianism, the Late Zhou (-480 to -221) is accredited with the rise of Daoism. At this time in China there were two movements in medicine. Aspects of the older magico-demonic tradition were being survived as magical correspondence while new ideas of prior periods were the groundwork of the new systematic correspondence. The interesting point to note regarding the simultaneous existence of two systems of medicine is that neither system required the elimination of the other. Unlike Western intellectual history where success of a new model involves the replacement of a previously dominant model, Chinese thinkers tended to accumulate their models, retaining previous ideas. Such behavior permitted the application of whatever model worked best in a particular situation. This also permitted the unbiased acceptance of new ideas. Thus, the emergence of the five-phase doctrine, which is a crucial concept in acupuncture, and of Daoism during this period in Chinese history eliminated neither Confucianism nor any earlier religious traditions. It is in this period, with the power of Confucianism and Daoism, that medicine began its development as an institution.

The subsequent period in Chinese history is the Qin dynasty (-221 to -206), also known as the period of book burning. This period was marked by unceasing unrest and witnessed little progress in the field of medicine. Though wealth- and power-driven, China's new Legalist government did have its triumphs, without which future advancement in medicine might not have been possible. Emperor Shi Huang-di ended China's long tradition of small, self-reliant towns and unified an empire of interdependent, currency-driven population centers. His government standardized weights, measures, and writing, set the value of coinage, and imposed the construction of a transportation system throughout this kingdom. Through his ruthless drive to wealth and power, Shi Huang-di inadvertently laid the foundations for the prosperity and creativity of the Han.

The Han dynasty (-206 to 220), the period of systemization, was certainly a very climactic and exciting period in the history of acupuncture. Socially, too, and especially after the harshness of the Qin, the Han was a period of a thriving Chinese culture. Taxes were lowered, government control was loosened, power was decentralized, policies were humanized, and the social and political elite was broadened to include more of the population. Cultural barriers were eliminated, and all classes of society benefited from an increasing wealth from trade and ordered economic interdependence.

In the midst of this flourishing society, medicine, too, advanced in leaps and strides. The Ma Wang-dui scripts, the Nan Jing (The Classic of Difficult Issues), and the Huang Di Nei Jing were all products of this period. These three documents collectively trace over four hundred years the development of the major conceptual features and theories of the medicine of systematic correspondence including anatomy, physiology, and pathology.

Traditionally dated from -2698 to -2598, but now agreed to have been completed in the -2nd to the -1st century, the Nei Jing is truly a cornerstone of acupuncture. It is comprised of 162 articles divided into two sections, each composed of multiple books. In the first book, Su Wen, or "Fundamental Questions," the conversation clarifies points of medical theory. The second book is named Ling Shu, or "Spiritual Axis/Pivot" and is essentially an acupuncture manual. These two texts together not only explain the assimilation and extension of the yin-yang theory and the incorporation of the five-phase doctrine, they also provide a focus on individual symptoms as somatic rather than supernatural events. By the time of the Nei Jing, all of the currently defined 12 regular channels as well as 135 bilateral acupoints were identified. Together, about 295 of the 670 presently accepted acupoints were known. Furthermore, the channels were illustrated as carrying qi, described partly as a product of the body and partly as a product of the environment. Either the disruption of "healthy" bodily qi or the "evil" external qi were said to induce illness.

Assigned to a date between the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Nan Jing is a composition of 81 articles and is considered "the mature development of the medicine of systematic correspondence, because it integrates for the first time all aspects of health care into the yin-yang and five-phase doctrines" (UA, p. 18). By the time of this text, two front and back midline channels expanded the 12 regular channels to 14, the channel system itself was further elaborated, and the idea of circulation of qi took a dominant role in the medicine. Moreover, the art of pulse diagnosis finds its origin in the Nan Jing. The author of the text structured the idea that the "hand great yin channel," the channel associated with the lung, was the key junction of all the channels of the body. Careful assessment of the many qualitatively distinct patterns at the radial arteries near both wrists consequentially provided diagnosis of the entire body. Although today a more generalized pulse diagnosis is taught where classroom teaching is dominant, classical Nan Jing pulse diagnosis survives today, especially in Japan where acupuncture training retains more of the apprentice tradition.

It is during the Han that the human body came to be seen as relationships between functional units (organs). "The organs were divided into zang ("depots" in the language of the time) and fu ("palaces"), reflecting their role in a complex system of functional interactions" (UA, p. 13). The idea was developed and accepted that qi is the ground substance of the human organism and of all that is, and that human well-being relied on the balanced flow of qi in channels throughout the body. It is clear that by the end of the Han, the essentials of disease and treatment had reached maturity, and the medicine of systematic correspondence had come of age.



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