Li-Dong Yuan's Ping Wei Lun: More Than Just the Spleen and Stomach

Course overview

Is Li Dong-Yuan really just about the spleen and stomach? Li Dong-Yuan has been known as the founder of the Earth School of Chinese medicine. His Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach is his most famous work. Yet, Master Li is quite misunderstood as focusing on the digestion as the source of all manner of illness. In this course, Sharon will show that Li Dong-Yuan offers a comprehensive view of physiology, pathology and treatment and that this is rooted in the Neijing. To put him in a category that limits his work to treating the digestion is an unfortunate error as he offers us unique views into many key concepts on Chinese medicine. Master Lis foundation for understanding is as a person standing on the middle earth. From this view point, he sees the ascending and descending movement of the elements and their associated organs in the surrounding four directions. Therefore, just as in the universe, the earth is the center around and in which transformations occur, the earth is his vantage point from which he understands the functioning of the whole body. Perhaps the most important contribution of Master Li is his understanding of ministerial fire, both physiologically and pathologically and his ability to treat its disharmony. Sharon will show that the ministerial fire, according to Li Dong Yuan, is none other than the life force itself and so its position and strength is key to understanding the promotion of life and prevention of illness.