INNER CANON

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES

1. Introducing the Inner Canon
2. At first, treating illnesses by stimulating acupuncture points seems like something
3. rather straightforward and easy.
4. In world history,
5. many different peoples practiced medicine this way.
6. But acupuncture is not so simple.
7. First, the points on the body have to be identified,
8. and then organized in a systematic way
9. that can serve as the basis for a theory of medicine.
10. This process began in China over 2000 years ago,
11. and the results were recorded in the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon.
12. This book is a series of dialogues
13. between the emperor and the doctor Qi Bo and others.
14. They discuss medical theory,
15. the functioning of the channels and tracts,
16. human longevity,
17. acupuncture,
18. and various diagnostic techniques.
19. In the Warring States period (BCE 475-221),
20. Chinese scholars had a custom of attributing
21. their own writings to great men of the past,
22. as a way of boosting their own reputations.
23. The legendary Yellow Emperor is believed to have lived over 4000 years ago,
24. long before the Chinese writing system was invented,
25. not to mention acupuncture or medicine.
26. Scholars have established the fact that the Yellow Emperor’s
27. text dates only from the Warring States period,
28. and that it consists of two parts,
29. the “Basic Questions,”
30. and the “Spiritual Pivot.”
31. The “Basic Questions” describes the 12 regular tracts,
32. the 15 junctions, 12 cross-connections, 12 muscular inter-connections,
33. and other particulars about the system of acupuncture points,
34. tracts and channels.
35. The “Spiritual Pivot” goes into greater detail about
36. the practical aspects of acupuncture therapy,
37. as well as theoretical questions.
38. These books are the first to present the entire
39. corpus of acupuncture knowledge,
40. and are still regarded as classics today.
41.