I Have Seen the Enemy, and it is Yu

Google "yu stagnation" and you come up with all sort of interesting things, including this: Stagnation as a Distinct Clinical Syndrome: Comparing ‘Yu’ (Stagnation) in Traditional Chinese Medicine with Depression from the British Journal of Social Work. It's just an abstract, but still, pretty cool!

Caution: On Top of the Bed Wind

From our Malaysian friend, Ahpek:

Chinese believes that there are many kinds of 'wind'. When your joints ache during the wet spell they believe it is wind. When your toes swells and you can't even touch it, they say it is wind. When you cough, it is wind. Everything is blamed on the wind. Poor mr. wind. Then there is the mother of all winds. That is the 'On Top of The Bed Wind'. In Cantonese they call it "chong siong fung'. Now what exactly is this, 'On top of the Bed Wind' leh? Let me tell you.

'Top of the Bed Wind' occurs when a couple is fucking their minds out and when the male reaches orgasm and ejaculates, the ejaculation refuses to stop. He keeps shooting and unloading his load until he is dies of over ejaculation. Horrifying death isn't it? The dead man's face all contorted in eternal ejaculation and orgasm. Some of my friends beg to differ. They say that would be the ultimate way to die. Die fucking. What else could any blue blooded male ask for?

Read the full article for the etiology, pathogenesis and treatment plan for "on top of the bed wind"-->

Another Take on 脏躁 (Zang Zao)

America's Cowboys Suffering From Restless Heart Syndrome

ATLANTA, GA—Bouts of wanderlust and deep yearning have led a majority of RHS sufferers to head off in the direction of them twinklin' stars.

For Your Edification

The Embodying Perfection Website, a collection of academic papers on various self-cultivation traditions in China. As it says:

This is the website of Panel 7, "Embodying Perfection: Self-Cultivation Traditions in Pre-Modern China" (Sponsored by Society for the Study of Chinese Religions) held at the Association of Asian Studies Annual Meeting in San Diego, California (9-12 March 2000). The panelists are:

* Catherine Bell (Santa Clara University), Chair
* Donald Harper (University of Chicago), Discussant
* Vivienne Lo (University of London)
* Fabrizio Pregadio (Technical University, Berlin)
* James Benn (UCLA)
* Lowell Skar (Univertsity of Pennsylvania)

The website contains a panel presentation, followed by abstracts of the four papers. At the end of each abstract is a link to the full version of that paper.

Enjoy.

p.s. What is that picture of? It's the Neijing Tu, a map of the inner world. There's a map!

String Theory

Brian Greene's op-ed piece on string theory has some interesting things for us to chew on. Essentially the main problem in physics today is how to come up with a theory that unifies the laws of physics in the universe. Currently there are two sets of rules: general relativity for big things like planets and stars, and quantum mechanics for small things like the nuclei of atoms. To physicists, this doesn't make sense, and it doesn't make sense in terms of traditional Chinese thinking either. Daoist philosophy tells us that the body is a microcosm of the universe - do you think the law of yin and yang and the five elements doesn't apply to Mars and Venus just as much as it does to your Heart and Lungs? Don't be ridiculous!

Also, scientists have invented a cloak of invisibility. It's not exactly what you're thinking - it only works on the level of microwaves - in other words you can still see the object with your naked eye. But it's a step. Also it's not really a cloak. As one person associated with the project said, it's more like an invisibility shed. Still!

The Universe on a String -->
Experts create invisibility cloak -->

DIsgusting Tongues

The above disgusting tongue was taken from Steve Jackowicz's Herbs 5 website... public access, take a look bu clicking on the picture... do the homework, it's fun!

Dog Meat Soup

A prescription in traditional Chinese medicated diet. Ingredients: dog meat 1500g, seasonings in proper amount. Preparation: cut the meat into cubes, stew them in water with aniseed, tangerine peel, common fennel fruit, cinnamon bark, tsaoko, fresh ginger and salt, until they are thoroughly done. Administration: The meat is for eating and the soup for drinking. Functions: warming and reinforcing the functions of the lung, spleen and kidney. Indications: cold-deficiency of the spleen and the kidney, epigastric and abdominal distention, cold and pain of the loins and knees, light-colored urine, frequent urination, declination of sexual function, deficiency of both lung and spleen, asthma of insufficiency type, chronic cough, etc.

-From Chinese-English Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1996