Hunyuan Research Institute for Chinese Classics

Hunyuan Medicine by Yaron Seidman DAOM

Chinese medicine has been treating disease for thousands of years, yet all throughout it
was unable to cure one disease; the disease of the doctor. Century upon century,
doctors have become ever more dependent upon following texts and words of others to
justify their actions, give credibility to their thinking, and prove their theories. Over time,
this has created a crippling gap where the ability to form ideas based in principle should
be. This is the most significant disease from which Chinese medicine suffers.

Questions about knowledge versus belief arose for me as early as my TCM education,
and as I made my way into practice, the realization of the disease of the doctor and
Chinese medicine became more unsettling. For example, our textbooks depict the paths
of the meridians, explain the effects of acupuncture points and we believe their words
and images must be accurate because it is printed on the page, but what if they are
wrong? Throughout school we were told that centuries of experience and trial and error
had proven its efficacy and accuracy. I find that this notion, however, has limitations.
The theories are abstract, even illogical, therefore the only way to lean the medicine is
to have faith and memorize. Being unsettled in these explanations, I took up the study
of Classical Chinese medicine to look for more answers. Here, I found that rather than
blind belief in abstract theories in textbooks, the focus was on blind belief in the words
of the so-called enlightened doctors such as Zhang Zhongjing and Bian Que. These
enlightened doctors are said to transcend the human ability to understand medicine
and life and see a truth that others cannot see, thus those unenlightened doctors must
blindly believe their words.

What I discovered after all the education was the most prominent disease of Chinese
medicine, the flawed pairing of medicine and belief. So my path for truth in medicine
took me on to research the history of Chinese medicine from ancient times through
today, during which the disease causation was finally unveiled. Throughout ancient and
modern times Chinese medicine has been lacking a principle, or rather the coherent
understanding of that principle. Principle is not the same as theory. Chinese medicine
has always been full of theories, most of which, wrong or right notwithstanding, required
blind belief. Believing in something means that there is no true understanding , the
actual knowledge is not within. Thus in order to justify a theory, we say The Neijing said
it, or Zhang Zhongjing said it. The theory is without principle, instead there is only a
theory with reference to other sources or people as justification.

After identifying the disease and the causation, I came to a resolution, one that will
require vast effort, dedication and time to realize. I resolved to find a Chinese medicine
principle, to understand how human life works and affects the function and health of our

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body. With a clear and defined principle, we can shift the Chinese medicine paradigm
from believing to knowing. In this article, since the pages are short, I will attempt to be
concise to describe my or the Hunyuan principle clearly, and then further expand to
introduce diagnosis and treatment.

Hunyuan Principle

The Hunyuan principle begins with the image of a circle, the circle exemplifies the
cyclical patterns of nature and the human being. The natural cycles we see around us,
the four seasons, the day-night cycle, the astrological changes throughout the year,
these cycles repeat over and over indefinitely, and the circle represents this action.
Looking at the 24-hour cycle, we have day and night and the apexes of midday and
midnight which I call separation and unification, respectively. At nighttime, everything
goes into unification, the sun disappears as the energy of daytime goes into storage and
it becomes dark, and the temperature drops. This correlates to the time of sleep and in
the state of sleep there is stillness and quietness, which we call unification. To the
contrary, in the morning when we wake up everything goes out of unification and into
separation, we start thinking, eating, talking, the sun rises and shines and warms the
air, we call this state separation. Within the context of the circle, unification or midnight
is at the bottom of the circle, separation or midday is at the top of circle; the right side of
the circle is the movement inward toward unification, while the left side is the movement
out of unification toward separation. This cycle is same with the four seasons: spring,
summer, autumn, winter. In the winter, at the bottom of the circle, we have unification as
energy goes into storage underground, there are very few leaves and flowers, the days
are short and the nights long. Then spring arrives and the earth wakes up, new sprouts
and buds appear, this time resides on the left side of the circle moving away from
unification and toward separation. Arriving at the top of the circle is the season of
summer, flowers are open to their fullest, the temperature is the warmest and the days
are the longest, this is the time of separation. Continuing clockwise around to the right
side of the circle comes autumn, the leaves turn color and fall from the trees, fruits
ripen, the days begin to shorten as winter and unification approaches again.

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To take this to a deeper level, let us examine why sleep is so important for health, why
rest alone isn't enough to recharge the body and spirit. The emphasis here is that
unification happens during the night, at the bottom of the circle, this is the time our body
and spirit can recharge to the fullest extent. As we go about our day working and being
active in separation, we use up our energy and by evening time we feel tired. At this
point we start our sleep going into unification and when we wake the next day we feel
refreshed, we've recharged our batteries, our spirit comes back and we are revived. If
we don't sleep at night and don't go into unification, recharging doesn't happen, our
spirit doesn't come back and we don't feel refreshed. Consider those who suffer
insomnia, they lie in bed all night without much sleeping, often their eyes are open for
much of the night remaining in separation mode, unification doesn't happen in this case,
even when lying completely still and quiet. When the morning comes, they are still tired
instead of refreshed.

Unification means the bodys ability to recharge. Recharging takes place not only with
sleeping, but every time we bring nature into our body we are undergoing an act of
recharging; when we eat, drink and breath, absorb sunlight etc. Our body cannot
sustain life on its own, without energy from nature, for more than 2 minutes. The 100
years of life we have are actually only 2 minutes plus endless energy borrowed from
nature. When we live and die the energy supply in nature does not change, only our

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ability to absorb it changes. The difference between being alive, and a lifeless cadaver,
is the ability or inability to absorb energy from nature. In the classics, the ancients called
this submerging heaven principle in the body or man contains heaven and man
conforms to heaven, he reacts to the sun and the moon these all describe, the same
principle explained here.

These are the foundation blocks for understanding the Hunyuan principle and Chinese
medicine. If we depart from this principle and instead start with the human body, Zangfu
organs, meridians etc, than forever it remains a theory and not a principle. Forever, we
have to keep believing in it and not knowing it.

Life was created at conception, before there was a body. Life is a cyclical motion of
unification and separation that the embryo has without the physical body yet. But this
embryo cannot survive in nature for more than 2 minutes. It has no body to borrow
energy from nature and make it its own, no lungs for air, no stomach for food etc. If you
remove the living embryo from the mothers body than it has only 2 minutes to live.
However, if the baby has fully developed and after 9 months it comes out to the world,
then it will borrow energy from nature for many, many years to come. The function of
the body is to capture natures energy and cycle it throughout the body using all the
different organs and systems to create an appropriately timed cycle of
unification/separation, reaching out to nature in separation, and bringing energy in for
unification.

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When we diagnose in Hunyuan medicine, asking about the exterior symptoms as well
as the interior, the organs, the pulse, the tongue, we are in the pursuit of information
about the state of unification and separation. It is not anymore about Liver Qi
stagnation or kidney Qi deficiency, which are concepts that stem from the body being
the source point of our life, excluding our connection to nature. These are theories
without principle, for if we ask: What is kidney Qi deficiency? There is no possible
answer to this in the know realm, there can only be a belief answer.

Advancing with our principle a step farther, one realizes that unification-separation is not
an action derived from the body itself, but rather a conforming action to natures cycles.
When heaven and earth create unification-separation than my body conforms to it. This
in Hunyuan medicine we call being on time. When all the different organs and systems
in the body conform on time, a person is pain free and disease free. I wake up, I go to
sleep, I eat, I drink, I feel, I act, all happen smoothly without hindrances. I simply feel
well. On the other hand when the body is not on time, the Heart recognizes a sense of
disharmony. Not being able to sync with natures cycles ultimately reduces the bodys
ability to recharge, which means life becomes shorter. The reason that we are able to
feel pain, which is perceived by the heart, is to send an alert that life is now becoming
shorter. It is not simply to alert that, for example, the head is hurting. A headache is not
a head problem but rather a life problem. This is where Chinese medicine is different
than modern Western medicine.

In researching Chinese medicine modern history, it appears that a group of practitioners

in favor of modernizing Chinese medicine to make it scientific had actually very similar
attitude to mine. They wanted to know, rather than believe. Yet for lack of principle,
political pressures and other, not related to medicine circumstances, opted to Western
scientific principle. In other words, they wanted to make Chinese medicine like Western
medicine, which then stripped Chinese medicine of its own principle. In Hunyuan
medicine we discover our own unique Chinese medicine principle, but we still dont
allow beliefs to enter. Remarkably so, I learned that there are many parallels between
Hunyuan principle and Shang Han Lun principle. I find the Shang Han Lun to be not a
book of formulas for various and unrelated symptoms, but descriptions of a principle to
be grasped and followed. Unfortunately, in the past centuries in China, they did not see
the need to further develop the Shang Han Lun principle and make it coherent to
modern practitioners. Believing in it was just fine, thus it is often still seen as a text to
be memorized and copied. However believing in it is inadequate. It has to become
tangible coherent principle, not one only reserved to the enlightened ones. Medicine is
for the people, and it is done by doctors who know what they are doing, not ones that
copy what others are doing.

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For me personally, developing Hunyuan is a process of humility. At the beginning I

knew it all, then by luck I started realizing that I dont know and I shouldnt blindly
believe it, only then did the real learning start, at least so it was for myself.

Hunyuan Treatment

Now that the principle is becoming clear we can proceed to treatment. The treatment
principle is forever one; restore harmony. Harmony means that my bodys organs and
system need to work on time, they need to sync with nature on time. Even though there
are many details we cannot go into within a short article, the principle is clear. If the
system works on time the person feels well. Therefore when a person complains of
pains and aches and other ailments, it means that his/her system involving unification
and separation does not work on time. For not working on time there are only two
possibilities; it is either too fast or too slow.

The human unification-separation action is divided into six parts, not surprisingly the
same parts one finds in the Shang Han Lun; Shao Yang, Tai Yang, Yang Ming, Tai Yin,
Shao Yin and Jue Yin. These six parts, in reality, are not stand alone entities but rather
six segment composing the whole. The different organs, meridians and actions within
are nothing but a part of the puzzle. They compose together one picture we call human
life, a unification-separation action.

Each one of the six parts can act too fast or too slow, which will present itself in clinic as
different symptoms. Facing the patient, this is what the Hunyuan doctor diagnoses. After
the diagnosis is established, and the parts out of sync are identified, then comes the
treatment. But before selecting the specific treatment there is one more step. We call
this in Hunyuan question number one and question number two. All the symptoms that
the patient describes mostly point to the state of the entire circle and its six parts. It
shows which part of the unification-separation process does not work on time, this we
call question number two. What the doctor then must ask himself/herself is: how is the
state of recharging within the patient? How much did all the symptoms in question
number two impact the ability to live and recharge? This is our question number one.
This means that we bring all the superficial symptoms pains and aches that the patient
experiences, and we boil down to one question, what impact does it have on the
patients life short and long term?

This is again, the difference between Chinese and Western medicine. Without question
number one, no matter how much we use Yin Yang, Zangfu, meridians and other
foreign language terminology, the theory remains in the image of Western medicine.

Treatment in Hunyuan follows the ARC principle, standing for Adding, Resolving and
Conserving. We use adding when question number one demonstrates a lack of
recharging. In these cases, we use unification style formulas to add recharging ability to

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the body. Resolving we use when question number two demonstrates that the six parts
are too fast or too slow, the treatment is to adjust the speed of any of the six parts and
restore its timeliness. Conserving relates to treating the Heart and what we call Xinfa or
Heart method. The Heart and Xinfa is a topic of its own and outside the short scope of
this article, but in one sentence, if the Heart constantly loses too much energy so that
the unification ability is impaired, we teach the patient a training method for the Heart to
repair this problem and Conserve their energy.

Acupuncture and herbs

Contrary to TCM coming out of the Peoples Republic of China, in Hunyuan we dont
think that acupuncture is a cure all treatment modality. Following the ancient
perspective that acupuncture treats the exterior, while herbs the interior, we realize that
acupuncture is a good modality to treat the separation principle of the body, while herbs
are better choice for treating the unification principle. Herbs, like food, enter the body
through the mouth and assimilate into the body via the unification instrument, which
includes Yang Ming, Tai Yin and Shao Yin systems and organs. Acupuncture stimulates
the exterior separation aspect; skin, flesh, muscles, tendons and bones, into further
separation. Keeping in mind that restoring harmony means regulating the speed of
separation and unification, acupuncture and herbs need to be applied accordingly.
When separation is too slow one needs to increase the speed of separation and strong
acupuncture stimulation might be a good option. When separation is too fast, then
slowing down separation is the best approach, however reaching this effect with
acupuncture is rather difficult, and generally, strong stimulation is discouraged.

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Herbs, on the other hand, enter the unification instrument and instigate a reaction within
the body. Individual herbs each have a unique impact upon the six segments of the
unification-separation process. Some herbs increase the speed of separation or
unification, while other herbs slow it down. In Hunyuan we investigated, contemplated
and experimented with a small group of herbs, selecting only the optimal herbs that
behave according to our understanding of the principle. With these selected group of
herbs we can tell exactly which herbs, for example, slow down Jue Yin and which speed
it up, which herbs slow down Yang Ming and which ones speed it up. With a small
group of herbs we are able to reach the ultimate strategy of slowing down or speeding
up each one of the six parts, according to the patients needs: Shao Yang, Tai Yang,
Yang Ming, Tai Yin, Shao Yin and Jue Yin, and thus resolve our question number two,
namely all obstructions on the circle causing pains and aches.

However, this is not sufficient to call it medicine until question number one has been
addressed. It is only after assessing the strength of recharging that we can determine
the course of treatment, and on this point one can differentiate success from failure. For
example, if the patient suffers cold injury at the exterior, then this means that their Tai
Yang moves too slow. If we only consider question number two then the answer is to
speed up Tai Yang with acupuncture and herbs like Ma Huang, which speeds up Tai
Yang. However, if we add question number one, and now we also assess the patients
ability to recharge, and we find out that this is very weak, then this completely changes
the strategy. Depending of the severity of the recharging deficiency we may choose only
to Add and not to Resolve, or do both simultaneously. These calculations are clearly
described in the Shang Han Lun, for instance examining the principle behind the uses of
Ma Huang Tang versus Ma Huang Fu Zi Xi Xin Tang or Ma Huang Gan Cao Fu Zi
Tang. One easily can see that Zhang Zhongjing held onto this principle and was not
dispensing herbs in random to target symptoms.

When we calculate question number one and question number two then as doctors we
can reach optimal result, not only short term but also long term. Let me give another
example. Say a patient presents painful menses with many blood clots. Just for
comparison purpose, in modern TCM this may be considered blood stagnation, in
Hunyuan we call it slow down of Jue Yin. If we only consider question number two, then
the two approaches will possibly use similar herbs, one resolves blood stagnation while
the other speeds up Jue Yin. One will call it blood moving strategy, while the other will
call it speeding up Jue Yin strategy. Different name for the same treatment strategy. In
Hunyuan we add question number one and this makes a significant difference that may
impact the patients life further. First, if the recharging is diminished then speeding up
Jue Yin will exhaust it further, and prevent the body from fully recovering. In clinic this is
seen when the patient seems to recover but then deteriorates again. Second, even if
the recharging is strong, considering question number one means that we know that

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using speeding up Jue Yin herbs over long time will deplete the recharging ability, and
therefore the Hunyuan strategy will take a different course, speeding up Jue Yin
temporarily and thereafter strengthening unification. Without this consideration one will
encourage Jue Yin separation (or blood moving) and continue to speed up separation
again, convinced that if it was successful the first time, it should be successful again,
meanwhile, unknowingly exhausting the patients recharging capability. The Hunyuan
doctor always goes back to question number one, evaluating the recharging ability of
the person and it is the adherence to this principle first and always that makes Chinese
medicine distinct. Here I call it Hunyuan medicine, an identifiable unique, principle of
Chinese medicine.

Hunyuan Herbs

Like everything else in Hunyuan we make things simple, simple yet superior. In modern
day and age one gets accustomed to the notion that complex is superior, while simple is
inferior. In reality, this is not the case. The mere fact that something is complex does not
make it superior, and at best it makes it confusing. I personally dont think that making a
topic so complex that no one else can understand is beneficial. To the contrary being
able to truly grasp 1 thing is far superior to being unable to grasp 10 things. Hunyuan
herbal medicine is rather simple. We normally use no more than 25 different kinds of
herbs, and most frequently 8-10 herbs. Rather than quantity, we have found that the
quality of the herbs, their preparation and the dosage used is paramount. The difference
between using 10 grams Bai Shao versus 150 grams Bai Shao in exactly the same
formula is very significant. The method of modifying the dosage and why is all within the
Hunyuan treatment principle.

When we treat patients who are older than 30 years old, most often we use unification
style formula with modifications, but we dont have thousands of formulas. It is however
clearly defined when to use unification and when not to use unification. Every single
herb in a formula is clearly and easily defined. Therefore if there is a reaction to a
certain formula, the Hunyuan practitioner clearly and easily knows which herb is
responsible. For example, if there is Bai Zhu in a unification formula and suddenly the
patient presents a Yang Ming slow down symptom, like thirst, feeling hot etc, the
practitioner knows that this one herb needs to be removed, or modified with the addition
of another herb to speed up Yang Ming. The modifications of the formulas become clear
as day and night. It is not guessing anymore, no longer trying to match formulas to
symptoms, there is no more jumping from one formula to the other in a trial and error
kind of an experiment, instead it is simply based on the principle.

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In Hunyuan style herbal medicine, herb quality is very important. My meaning of quality
goes beyond the herbs being organically grown, pesticides free etc, but also their
clinical efficacy and action must be proper and accurate. For example, in Hunyuan we
cannot use regular grade honey fried Zhi Gan Cao, even if it is pesticide free, because
the stickiness of the honey obstructs the Tai Yin ability to assimilate energy. In modern
style of Chinese medicine Zhi Gan Cao is often used in 5 gram dose as an agent to
harmonize all other herbs. In Hunyuan we may use up to 100 grams in a formula as a
submerging fire agent. Honey fried Zhi Gan Cao in such high doses cannot be tolerated,
it immediately obstructs the actions of the other herbs and the person feels bloated.
Instead we prepare our own organic molasses baked Gan Cao, which is not sticky thus
high doses combined with cinnamon and other fiery herbs a person can easily tolerate.
The same goes for the other herbs. As long as the dose is small then one can get by
unnoticed, but if one were to increase the dose to high level, herbs of uncontrolled
quality or not properly prepared will result in side effects and poor results.

When one understands the principle of the medicine and the actions of the herbs then
one can develop the medicine further. One does not need to copy others anymore, nor
does one have to believe in the herbs actions. One example is our Si Ni Bei and Fire
Water development.

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In the past following the fire spirit originator Zheng Qinan I have often used Fu Zi
(Aconite) in my unification formulas. I went to great lengths to research the Fu Zi quality,
production, preparation methods etc. Its effect on unification if combined properly in a
unification formula with proper quality herbs is excellent. However, at one point I had to
think it over, what if Fu Zi is not available anymore, like for example when the
earthquake in Sichuan struck in 2008. Will my medicine have to perish without this
herb? I first contemplated, according to our principle, what is the action of Fu Zi in
unification? It is fiery, so it goes in and then rises, creating agitation of the Heart.
However if submerged with proper Zhi Gan Cao (not the sticky kind) and stimulated with
fresh ginger, then after going in the fiery action does not rise anymore. Then it becomes
a submerging fire. It is not simply an herb containing aconitin alkaloids, which cannot be
substituted. I therefore researched the topic and experimented with different
combination of herbs with the potential to yield a similar action. The result was two
different kinds of cinnamon, Ceylon and Vietnamese (Lan Gui and An Gui respectively).
Both have fire quality, though the Ceylon cinnamon does not rise as much as the
Vietnamese, but neither could match the aconite fierce rising, and so I added the best
candidate, Gan Jiang, which when combined with cinnamon has a fierce rising action.

Rising fire here is only half the story, this fire also needs to submerge in the formula and
when combined with proper Zhi Gan Cao it does indeed submerge. Following the
Hunyuan principle that after adding a lot one must also subtract a little, I added Xiao Hui
Xiang to complete the Si Ni Bei preparation. This preparation is a very effective

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substitute to Fu Zi, but it is not perfect. It turned out that when Yang Ming had a
tendency to slow down, Si Ni Bei caused it slow-down more than Fu Zi, making Si Ni
Bei somewhat inferior to Fu Zi. After further investigation and experiments I found out
that if I soak the Si Ni Bei (powder) in pure organic alcohol and extract it, this Si Ni Bei
extraction does not instigate Yang Ming slow down, and compared to the powder is also
more appropriate during cold injury as a Fu Zi substitute in formulas like Fu Zi Ma
Huang Gan Cao Tang.

After all of the research, questioning and experimenting, I suddenly realized that
Chinese medicine is not a dead art that must only be copied and can never be
developed. To the contrary this medicine is alive and must be developed. In the past I
was at the epicenter of Fu Zi-using-practitioners, now I am not using it anymore. I only
use Si Ni Bei and Fire Water in the unification formulas. My medicine did not change, it
only improved.

Conclusion

People always say that I am a mellow and soft-spoken guy, I have to agree. But, when it
comes to Chinese medicine the softness disappears. I ask my students nothing more
and nothing less than what I demand from myself. In the years of developing Hunyuan
medicine I have encountered many difficult moments confronting myself, trying to
decide if what I am doing is true or not. Sometimes I had to decide against myself,
namely realizing that past actions were wrong. This was the only way for me to improve.
The easy, ego-satisfying method is to always think that I am right, that I can never be
wrong. But in my experience this is the method of staying still, never progressing. In this
article at times I might be too direct, maybe uncomfortable, but this is the reality of what
I have been directing at myself, the tough questions and the hard realizations. This is all
part of Hunyuan. It is simple, yet not simple at all. So let me finish in a very Chinese
manner. If there are any errors in this article, it is all my fault. I hope that Chinese
medicine scholars who can see my deficiencies will point me in the right direction.

In Connecticut, USA

July 2014

Yaron Seidman

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