Charles Luk - Ancient Medical Science

[Shi Da Dao]

Ancient Medical Science

In ancient times, a medical practitioner had to be experienced in the art of self-healing before he could cure others. The art of healing consisted in transferring the physician’s own psychic power to his patients to energise their inner prana and to remove all obstructions in their bodies, thereby restoring their health. Even today this healing art is still practiced but experienced Taoists are extremely rare and are not easily accessible because they seek neither fame nor fortune and shun sceptics and blasphemers.

Acupuncture and Cauterisation

In view of the rareness of experienced Taoist masters and of their reluctance to meet outsiders, the ancients devised a medical science based on the Nei Ching, the oldest book on the art of healing, compiled by Ch’i Pai, a minister and noted physician, by order of emperor Huang Ti, also an expert in this science. Its method of treatment is b means of acupuncture and cauterisation which remove obstructions in the organic and psychic centres. We know already that the heat of prana sets up vibrations which open psychic channels and dislodge all obstructing impurities in the psychic centres. Since the patients were inexperienced and were unable to accumulate the vital principle to produce the required heat, appropriate means were devised for this end; a silver needle was used to pierce the skin above the obstructed psychic centre or above the psychic channel leading to it, and moxa was burned on the puncture so that the heat reached the affected centre, thereby restoring its vitality and removing its obstructions, the cause of the illness. If the puncture was accurate, the illness would disappear instantly. According to the ancients, silver is soothing and moxa antiseptic. However, the physician had to be well versed in the art of diagnosing the illnesses and very familiar with the exact locations of the psychic centres and the channels connecting them. There are books on acupuncture and cauterisation and bronze statues of the human body showing the location of the various channels and centres.

Spirit Over Matter

The ancients advocated the perfecting of the spirit for the mastery of matter and great spirit comes from the vital principle being able to flow freely through all the psychic channels. Whoever can so circulate prana is free from all illnesses. The best voice comes from a singer’s belly which is full of the vital principle. In boxing, physical force is no match for the hidden strength of prana which enables a little man to defeat a giant. In ancient times, the enlightened masters lived without fear in the mountains infested with wild beasts because powerful psychic waves from their strong minds overcame all hostility. And so when Hsing Ch’ang came with a sword to murder Hui Neng, the patriarch stretched out his neck to receive the fatal blow; the assassin struck thrice but failed to harm him and was so terrified that he fell to the ground. When the late Ch’an master Hsu Yun returned to China from Burma with a jade Buddha carried by porters, they thought it contained precious gems and while passing through an uninhabited region, they put it down and refused to proceed further unless the master gave them a substantial reward. Seeing a large boulder on the roadside, he pointed to it and asked them if it was lighter than the statue. He then moved it with his hands and the porters were so scared that they carried the Buddha to its destination. There was nothing miraculous in this for Hsu Yun merely used the power of prana in his hands to displace the boulder. In her book With Mystics in Tibet, Mrs Alexandra David-Neel relates the story of an ascetic who was displeased with her interpreter’s disrespectful attitude and who, without rising from his seat, used his psychic power to ‘push’ violently the latter who staggered and fell back against the wall; she did not see the hermit do anything but the interpreter felt as if he had 2received a terrible blow’ (1), A friend of mine who began his Taoist meditation when he was only a child, can kick for a few feet a bag of rice weighing about 135 Ib. A few years ago, a young Taoist here cured his father’s illness by transferring his psychic power to the old man.

Rejuvenation and Immortality

Rejuvenation is the first objective of Taoist training and Immortality is its ultimate aim. Taoist practice requires a sound mind in a sound body, for a student should have excellent health to undergo the difficult training. Excellent health comes from perfect harmony of prana, or of the element fire with that of water in the human body. When fire is in excess of water, there will be tears, bad breath, parched throat, thirst, uneasy respiration and dizziness. For this reason, Ch’an practisers drink more tea than most people and sometimes take potions of calming herbs to reduce the effect of the element fire. Taoist students roll their tongues to produce an unusual secretion of saliva which they swallow for the same purpose of reducing the scorching effect of the vital principle. Only when the elements of fire and water are in equilibrium can perfect health be achieved and rejuvenation be possible. When rejuvenation is attained, the span of life easily exceeds the usual limit of three score and ten years. Experienced Taoists know in advance the time of their death and can leave this world when they like. When they meet, they easily recognise each other because of the red glow on their faces which shows their spiritual and physical attainment.

As to Immortality which all Taoists seek, it also has a limit according to the Buddha’s Teaching, because immortality and mortality are the two extremes of a duality which has no room in the absolute state. The Surangama Sutra lists ten classes of immortals who, though living thousands and tens of thousands of years, are not yet free from the illusion of space and time and are, therefore, unable to escape from the wheel of birth and death. They usually leave their physical bodies in grottoes on high mountains and their consciousnesses roam about in the great void to enjoy freedom and happiness which imply the existence of subject and object.

In the first volume of our Ch’an and Zen teaching Series – pp. 81-3 – we presented the story of Lu Tung Pin, an immortal, who threw his sword at Ch’an master Huang Long. The master pointed his finger at the sword which fell to the ground and could not be picked up by the thrower. This shows the spiritual power of the Ch’an master which was superior to the psychic ability of Lu Tung Pin who, though a famous Taoist, conceded his defeat and vowed to protect the Buddha Dharma.

Omnipresence and Omniscience

The mind expands when it is not stirred by thoughts and is free from bondage. When a meditator wipes out the one half of one percent of his ignorance, he awakens to one half of one per cent of bodhi; this is a minor awakening (Chinese, minor wu; Japanese, minor satori). If he eradicates five or seven per cent of his delusion, he realises a major awakening or major satori. After achieving several major and minor satoris, there may remain only ten to fifteen per cent of ignorance which he eliminates at one stroke, this is ultimate awakening or final enlightenment. There are, therefore, many minor and major satoris before his complete enlightenment and the number of these successive awakenings depends on his slow or quick comprehension and realisation of the Dharma.

When the late Ch’an master Hsu Yun had a major satori, his mind expanded and embraced his surroundings; he saw everything inside and outside the monastery, and far away, the boats plying on the river and the trees on both banks. Two nights later, he wiped out all that remained of his delusion and achieved ultimate awakening when he said: “Mountains, rivers and the great earth are but the Tathagata.” He perceived his self-nature (Chinese, chien hsing; Japanese, kensho) which was all embracing. This stage was attained by Hui Neng when he exclaimed: “Who would have expected that the self-nature is fundamentally pure and clean, beyond birth and death, complete in itself and immutable, and creates all things?” This is omnipresence.

A Taoist practiser, by stilling his mind, also expands it to see and hear those living nearby or in distant places, but his achievement is limited and he cannot reach the ‘other shore’.

When the mind of an enlightened master is all embracing, he perceives and knows everything. This is omniscience. Though the knowledge of an experienced Taoist is vast and extensive, it does not go beyond the field of the eighth consciousness for it cannot reach the absolute; hence its limitation as compared with the omniscience or sarvajna of the Buddha.


(The Secrets of Chinese Meditation: By Charles Luk – Pages 209-214)