The Divine Farmers guide to Gardening Earth.

                                               Grandmaster James Shyun and Andrew Miles

Shen Nong the divine farmer taught farming and medicine and is regarded as a god for his contributions to Chinese society.  Health and environment are inseparable.  The application of feng shui, was originally used to harmonize the environment so that humans could live.  Draining swamps to kill mosquitos is seen as a larger application of draining “dampness” in the body typically done with diuretic herbs to reduce extra cellular fluid.  History has taught us that humans achievement and knowledge is cyclical and societies tend to come to ruin for failing to harmonize with their natural environment.  There may be a time when our descendants find themselves in caves as stone age people.  Holistic agro-medicine is essential not only for our own adaptation, but for those of future generations.  For these reasons methods of Shen Nong have been carefully preserved within Daoist temples so that people can harmonize with the climates of Earth with the Changing seasons of Heaven. 

Feng Shui means wind and water and these refer to heaven changes and earth sustenance.  Wind is said to come from heaven and water is said to come from Earth.  By living in an ecosystem which is balanced one can farm and be clothed.  When we look at the Chinese character for “fortune” this is the ancient Chinese ideal of success.  Every farmer who plants crops that do not freeze or wither has already done so according to feng shui principles.  They have observed the nature of the climate and the changing of the seasons.  Chinese fortune telling is likewise geared toward farming.   Certain blocks of 2 day periods predict things such as when insects will hatch and optimal days for harvest.  This is based on 60 year cycles and is remarkably accurate, particularly within the Chinese landscape.  These predictions will vary in accuracy depending on the distance from the equator and be reversed in the Southern hemisphere.

Every pestilence is related to the one of the six climactic factors: dampness, wind, heat, dryness, cold, and fire.  An ecosystem which is balanced for humans to dwell in is ideal for preventing diseases.  Stagnant water will create mosquitoes which may spread pestilence.  Rather than attempt to treat a pandemic it may be more useful to drain marshland to prevent mosquitoes from over controlling a region.  Another solution may be to use bats.  According to five phase theory, earth produces metal and so rocks produce bats.  Metal relates to dryness and can combat wetness.  Lizards are likewise produced from rock and eat mosquitoes.  By allowing dwelling places for those animals by piling up rocks one may also lessen a mosquito problem.  Birds are also attributed to metal and so restrictions on killing creatures attributed to metal may aid in keeping a mosquito population in check..     Rock is used to control water.  Water is used to moisten a dry climate.  Trees are used to control Earth.  Fire is used to control trees and produce fresh soil, metal is used to prune trees and to dig wells to find water.  Slash and burn agriculture also has its place.  We may look back at the Australian aboriginals and their slash and burn tactics as foolish, however it may be the only reason why Australian aboriginals are still around.  In a region which was damp and filled with some of the most treacherous creatures on the planet, fire was a way to check the dampness and carve out an environment suitable for human survival.  

This balance is critical for the survival of humans.  In accordance with yin and yang principles extreme climates contain an aspect of their opposite.  In icy climates the fire within ice is sought.  Geothermal heat makes lands like Iceland inhabitable.  One may also find snow in the equatorial regions on high mountain peaks.  Each climate produces creatures of its own nature and those creatures from other regions may keep them in check.  Snakes are from wood.  They look like roots and wrap around trees like vines.  Birds are from the white sky which is metal and can eat them just as metal can cut wood. 

Centipedes are attributed to metal due to their ominous exterior and prevalence in dry regions.  A snake of comparable size will be killed by a centipede because metal can control wood.  Frogs are from the damp regions.  Dampness can control dryness so frogs can eat centipedes which are double their size.  Frogs, however are afraid of snakes because the wind (associated with wood) can control dampness (earth), so wood controls earth.

This aspect of biological control is an important aspect of agriculture and medicine.  We can point to instances of failed biological control in the modern era such rabbits in Australia or foreign catfish the US that take over, but this is due to not introducing a species holistically and having a framework for understanding the checks and balances in nature.  In those cases humans created an environment with more food that they could keep in check and caused problems within that ecosystem.  In recent years the Chinese have forgotten the teachings of Shen Nong.  Looking for quick advantages they have fallen into the same trap.  Taken too far these advantages have always lead to the collapse of society and chaos.  When the dust settles, those who know how to live in harmony with their ecosystem will prosper.

Substances for Qi and Blood

Andrew Miles: Certain herbs enter the qi or blood levels.  Aside from identification based on colour and taste, how can one know if the herbs will enter the qi or blood?

Grandmaster Shyun: What is from water will transform into qi and what is from fire turns into blood.  This is because yin and yang create each other. Qi is from heaven and is yang.  Taste is from Earth and is yin. Strong scented herbs enter the qi level, strong tasting (rich or thick) substances enter the blood level.  Strong smell goes to the qi , strong taste goes to the blood  garlic has a strong smell and enters the qi while pepper has a strong taste and descends qi and enters the blood.  Those of strong fragrance go to the upper body, while those of strong flavour enter the lower body.

spicy tastes go to the upper body, strong tastes go to the lower jiao.  Ren shen, huang qi are light tasting that go to the upper area,

Andrew Miles: How about food?

Spicy chili peppers first cause sweating and then causes foul urine and burning anus, so we know it goes to qi level first and then blood.  By observing its colour, taste, and effect on the body we may know how to properly use this herb.

When we eat fish, which has a stronger smell than taste, we add chili peppers to balance it.

When we eat animal liver, the food it too rich and may go to the blood and cause stagnation so we must add garlic and ginger.

Andrew Miles:  When a patient lacks qi and blood, which should we boost first?  In TCM schools they say to start with qi.

Qi and blood can not be randomly boosted.  We must consciously decide on whether the body creates qi first of blood first.  In women the tendency will be to create blood, but in men it is often to create qi.  You can increase both by shifting qi into blood and back again.  For men, the TCM idea of boosting qi first is generally acceptable, but not always.  For women, you almost always boost blood first.  Even common people know that women should use dang gui and men should use ren shen.  Rules of thumb are the tools of the student, but the master abandons them.  You can use si jun zi to tonify blood and use si wu tang to tonify qi, it is a matter of timing.


Andrew Miles:  How can we see deeper into the patients relative levels of qi and blood.


The relationship between qi, blood and body fluids is more than a theory, it is a vital diagnostic concept, which is all, but lost.  Everyone knows yin deficiency or "qi and blood deficiency", but we must consider which one is predominant and which one we must address first as we form our treatment strategy.  Generally the pulse on the left should be stronger if the blood holds power and the right pulse should be dominant if the qi is more than blood.  Then we must ask why.  Did the blood deficiency cause qi deficiency or vice versa?  What happened first?  Without the causative factor we are just guessing and a warrior doesn't guess, he prepares and executes with success in mind.  Medicine and war are both grave matters and one should take the time to know yourself and know others.

Forbidden Acupuncture Points

Chapter 41 of the Huang Di Nei Jing Ling Shu

January, February and March- Ren qi is on the left.  Yang channels of the left are not to be needled.

April, May, June- Ren qi is on the right. Yang channels of the right foot are not to be needled.

July, August, September- Ren qi is on the right so yin channels of the right foot are not to be needled.

October, November, December, Ren Qi is on the left so yin channels of the left foot should not be needled.

While not taught in modern TCM schools, this principle is very important.  Test on the leg which holds the ren qi and you will notice this side is often more tender.  Mistakenly many low level acupuncturists will see this as a sign that it should be needled and inadvertently drain the patients yuan qi.  When they rise up, they may feel more light headed.  This is often mistaken as positive sign.  

When listed on paper it may seem complicated, but It can be easy to remember and its important to remember that all of these complicated celestial cycles have a down to Earth application.  It goes outside to inside just as the days are getting longer and shorter.  It goes left, right, right left and circling the legs in a counter clockwise direction  

Forbidden points are outside left after the Western New year, outside right at Easter, inside right through late summer and inside left through autumn.  For martial artists this is a preferred place to attack and obstructing it will quickly destroy an opponent's structure.

10 Heavenly Stems

甲Jia =left hand shaoyang san jiao channel  

己 Ji= right hand shaoyang san jiao channel

乙 Yi=left hand taiyang small intestine channel

戊 Wu=right hand taiyang small intestine channel

丙 Bing=left hand yang ming large intestine channel

丁 Ding=right hand yang ming large intestine channel

庚 Geng=right hand shaoyin heart channel

癸 Gui=left hand shaoyin heart channel

辛 Xin=right hand taiyin lung hannel

壬 Ren=left hand taiyin lung channel

12 Earthly branches.

子zǐ November left foot taiyin spleen channel

丑chǒu December left foot shaoyin kidney channel

寅yín  January  left foot shaoyang gallbladder channel

卯mǎo  February  left foot taiyang urinary bladder channel

辰chén  March left foot yang ming stomach channel

巳sì  April right root yang ming stomach channel

午wǔ  May right foot taiyang urinary bladder channel

未wèi  June  right foot shaoyang gallbladder channel

申shēn  July (yin begins to appear) right foot shaoyin kidney channel

酉yǒu  August right foot taiyin spleen channel

戌xū  September right foot jueyin liver channel

亥 hài  October and governs the left foot jueyin

What is Abimoxi?

Chinese Medicine developed with early records reporting Chinese living in trees in order to avoid wild animals.  Chinese medicine at this time was a matter of basic survival.  Moxibustion, single herbs and bian stone acupressure formed its most primitive branches.  From waking up on frozen ground to surviving dessert conditions the Chinese learned how to use principles from nature to survive.  Over time basic combinations of herbs were used to counter each other’s side effects and surgical techniques improved.  Herbs that promote clotting were mixed with those that improve circulation as a way to stop pain and promote healing of injuries.  Gradually they were mixed with herbs which improve bone density and provide anesthesia to form rudimentary formulas for emergency care.  At this stage Chinese civilization was only on par with medieval Europe.  They had the crossbow and many other aspects of culture that would not reach Europe for millennia.  Much of this can be credited to the pictographic nature of Chinese writing.  Even as language changed and dynasties fell the language of the ancients was perfectly legible and allowed for cultural exchange throughout East Asia in spite of spoken linguistic diversity.

Around 600BC Abimoxi branched as a guarded medical tradition surrounding Xia or Chinese Knights who often worked as bodyguards.  Without hospitals, emergency medicine was a necessity in their line of work.  They also found that increased medical knowledge made it easier to kill their targets.  As a result the two began to develop together each one lending deeper insights into the other.  Chinese torture methods became instrumental in extracting military and medical information.  Mountain temples served as Universities within ancient Chinese society and were largely left aside from politics.  As a result they became gathering places for Xia during political shifts in Chinese history.  It was through this dynamic that many of the best martial art and medical systems found their way to Taoist temples.  

At the time of the Han dynasty Emperor Wei Qing expelled the Turks from their native China and they were forced to fight with the Persians and later the Greeks where they took control of Anatolia and introduced Chinese medical techniques into Greco Medicine.  The double snake symbol used by the Greeks and Egyptians draws its roots from medical traditions in China using the double dragons wrapped around a pole.  This symbol is also seen in the oldest medical traditions of India.  Each intersection of the wrapped snakes represents a chakra or one of the 9 Chinese heaters.  During the Sui dynasty the influx of Buddhism brought increased medical and martial influences from India.  Da Mo, also known in the West as Bodidharma was a part of the physician knight tradition that still exists in India.  He brought the Indian martial and medical arts to the Shaolin temple.  The influence created an arms race within the Xia of China.  As a result of this the medicine was often the most closely guarded aspect of their warrior tradition.  Poisons, antidotes, and surgical techniques were passed down and influenced by new theories arriving from Greco-Arabic medicine and from European sources from the time of the Mongolian Yuan dynasty onwards.  Herbs with origins in Africa such as frankincense and myrrh became indispensable.  Hui Arabs brought Gerco Arabic medicine back to China with the new additions made by Greek and Arab doctors.  Today this medicine is still practiced within China as a minority medicine.  

At the end of the Ming Dynasty China faced Manchurian invaders.  Under the new threat Xia from the 17 most advanced systems of the time gathered at Shaolin.  The son of the rebel leader was Wang Lang. Faced with certain death, they poured their knowledge into Wang Lang who amalgamated these systems into mantis boxing.  Afterwards their was a cultural revolution in the Qing dynasty which served to purge kill the Xia continued to act as guerrilla fighters in order to preserve their culture..  Mantis was preserved at a daoist monastery at Lao Mountain and later, taught privately as the dynasty stabilized an was eventually taught and then in martial art colleges.  Martial arts at this time were trade schools, rather than exercise clubs.  As the dynasty became more stable and the Manchurians became Chinese many systems of martial arts medicine became divided focusing more on injuries sustained from martial arts.  This bone setting branch of medicine is called “Die Da” or Dit Da” medicine and is particularly prevalent in regions of China famous for their martial artists such as Guangdong, Hong Kong and Shandong.  These were also some of the first areas to suffer under Western occupation the first Chinese in modern times to travel to western countries.  Following on the railroad workers and miners, Chinese doctors were able to fix so called incurable disease and set bones using trigger points and were often the only doctors in the region.  The Chinese techniques passed onto allopathic doctors who would rename Dit da techniques “Chiropractics” in the US and “Osteopathy” in France.

Those that practiced abimoxi were the most famous doctors.  Up until the early 1900s Xia like Wong Fei Hong and Feng Huan Yi were renowned both for their Robin Hood like characteristics and for their medical skills.  The top martial artists served as military instructors and it was their renown which lead to the near destruction of this tradition.  After the communists took control of China in 1949, MaoZedong, being a student of Chinese history attempted to purge the Xia tradition by destroying the temples and abolishing religion.  Very few were able to escape before being executed.  Mantis master Wei Xiao Tang was barely able to escape to Taiwan.  Today it is rare to find the complete transmission of the physician knight traditions.  There are perhaps two branches in India and only a few from the Chinese branches left on Earth.  Many that survive today do so precisely because they avoided reputation.  As a result of such secrecy, many traditions have been watered down or the medical traditions have been lost.  Historically these traditions open once every millennium.  

While we are not the only tradition of Abimoxi, we are the first in modern times to open this body of knowledge publicly so that they can continue to benefit people into the future.  The xia tradition is very much alive.  Our instructors teach military and police throughout the world, many serve in the armed forces, while others practice the medicine of the system.  In 1999, One of our instructors Peter Ray MD coined the name Abimoxi combining the Greek abios meaning the absence of life and moxi as a shortened version of moxibustion, which is the earliest form of Chinese medicine using warmth.  Since that time Grandmaster Shyun and Michael Cimino have published numerous books on the subject and have been teaching through the Abimoxi Institute of Health and ACMAF schools where students study both nurturing and martial arts in order to benefit themselves and society.