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Philosophy of Oriental Medicine
The general approach of modern western medicine and medical science directs at a welldefined target of the disease. It is a machine gun approach. If you are infected, the western doctors kill the bacteria by shooting them using antibiotic lethal bullets. If you suffer from a cancer, the doctors kill the cancer cells by the lethal radioactive or chemotherapeutic guns. Sometimes, they use multiple killing methods, a sort of all the killing machines combined and mobilized very often leading to the death of the patients. Western medicine is very fond of organ removal. They love to remove breasts, prostates, and any other organs they do not want. The list of the organ removals is in fact endless. Western doctors love also to replace the organs. Your heart, your kidney, and even your liver are all subject to the replacement. The list becomes longer and longer when time goes by. How far can it go? Where is the limit? Is it a triump and glory of the western medicine? It is not. Look at the dark side of the western medicine. While modern western medicine has looked so successful and omnipotent for decades, a dark side of the picture emerges. Each year approximately 180,000 people are killed by iatrogenic disease, the very disease caused by medical doctors and hospotals in the United States alone (Sheldon P. Blau, MD and Elaine F. Shimberg: How to Get Out of the Hospital Alive: A guide to Patient Power, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1998). Antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria also kill hundreds of thousand patients each year worldwide. Existing antibiotics are of no help (Stuart B. Levy, MD: The Antibiotic Paradox: How Miracle Drugs are Destroying the Miracle, Plenum Press, New York and London, 1992). His second book published in 2002, The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers ellaborated the first book in a completely new format and by a differeent publisher (Da Capo Press).
Statistics is frightening. Bacteria become smarter than biological scientists who combat the infectious diseases. Furthermore there is no discernible antiviral agents found in the western medicine. Organ removal and replacement are not the ultimate solution either. Not only ethical norm is greatly challenged, but the very question of human dignity is also blurred. Oriental medicine, on the other hand, is based on the wisdom of experience for millenia. The prime goal is to restore human body and mind to a homeostatic equilibrium. Human body and mind has a self-healing mechanism, and the oriental medicine helps human body to fight the diease. Use of medicinal herbs and medicinal plants is primarily for making your body and mind stronger. When body's nervous, immune, and endocrine systems are strong enough to fight disease and maintain a good health, then the target oriented approach is utilized if necessary.
Very often the lack of the knowledge on the oriental medicine creates confusion among people and suspicion particularly among western medical practioners. Let us take an example: Zizania is good for diabetes, cancer patients, thrombosis, dermatitis, and others. It is literally unconceivable to the eyes of the western medicine. How does one herbal medicine that cures diabetes also heal cancer patients? How can one medicinal herb alleviate so many unrelated symptoms? When you look at the immune system, you can arrive at the right answer with no difficulty. When immune system is restored in full capacity, most of the diseases will disappear, though they are seemingly so unrelated. Second confusion and suspicion is as to why the treatment should take so long because oriental medicine recommends use of herbs for eight weeks. Sometimes, 12 weeks to a year with or without interval inbetween are often recommended. If a symptom is very accute, then how can you cope with it? This is a different story. There are so many oriental medical treatments that alleviate acute symptoms in a few minutes.
Third question is as to why the same medicine works for Richard, but not for Joe. It is generally true whether the case is of western or oriental medicine. In the oriental medicine, however, one classifies human body and mind into eight or twelve somatotypes, which is completely alien to the western mind. While eight somatotypes theory prevails in Korea, it appears foolish to stick to it as the only one. The twelve Somatotypes have been coined by me in reflection of 12 animal signs of Zodiac constellation of Babylonian, Egyptian and Chinese origin, 12 Zodiac constellation (黃道十二宮), and 12 Nidanas 十二緣起法 from the doctrine of Pratityasamutpada in Buddhism and more general. The number is less meaningful because of infinite number of variations in genetics. Although the same medicine should work for the same symptom or symptoms in general, there is a diversity of genetic dispositions among people, which manifests differently for different indivisuals. These diversities of genetic disposition are being now slowly unfolded when the molecular biologists start unveiling non-coding RNA, SNP, CNV, and Epigenetics. Therefore, it is important that we approach the oriental medicine in this perspective. Such genetic disposition explains why this particular drug works wonder while other individual does not respond at all.
Oriental medicine or medicinal herbs are proven good from the experiences of many people for thousand years. It is not like a synthetic drug that was tested on animals and limited human individuals and immediately put on the market. Quick fix. You would not be surprised when so many prominent physicians advocate that prozac, zolof, and many other psychiatric drugs are disasters. You know also why so many physicians keep silent about the useless antibiotic resistant strains that kill so many people in shadow. One of the wonderful aspects of the oriental medicine or medicinal herbs is safety and has no side effect and no toxicity, yet works wonderfully. It is a holistic approach to restore and maintain homeostatic equilibrium to promote body's natual self-healing power. However it should be emphasized that both oriental and occidental approaches are combinded for the betterment of humanity.
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