y u n i t y
CATALOG
愈 界
� 言
fo re word Philosophies underlying Taoist herbology have fundamental and indispensible connections with food and dietary decisions. With an increased emphasis today on the right attiudes towards eating in addition to holistic, healthy living, these ancient Taoist beliefs are helpful in attaining a greater and more grounded understanding of food properties. When applied to the modern diet, the Taoist perception of food has extensive benefits.
道 教 All such dualities (of male - female, excess - defect, dark - light) are thus embodied in the YinYang philosophy, which emphasizes harmony and balance. Also, an important concept is Qi 气– Breath energy, an active principle that is believed to permeate all life. Taoist herbology and dietary teachings are centered around this specific concept of ‘energy’.
The beginnings of Taoism, with its most famous proponent and founder Lao Tze who wrote its major work- the Dao De Jing 道德经, coincided with the beginnings of herb research. Underlying the religion is the concept of Tao 道, which essentially means ‘The way’. Tao is understood as the process of reality itself and how things come together while constantly mutating. Hence, Taoists believe that the only constant in life is change 变化.
起 源
origins
According to Chinese mythology, Emperor Shen Nong 神农 of the Shen Nong Dynasty (3494 B.C.) and his administration researched the properties of herbs and their relation to mankind. Since then thousands of herbs have been researched and herbal formulas developed, credit to the Taoists who regard herbal knowledge as most essential in the attainment of immortality. Known as ‘The Divine farmer’ and the Emperor of 5 grains 五 谷先帝 Shen Nong sought to impart knowledge of agriculture and medicine to his people, as he believed it was everyone’s right to have access to medication and nutrition.
Hence for more than 6,000 years Taoists have kept written records of the herbs they used and their experiments with them, as in Shen Nong’s Materica Medica 神农本草经 ,an olden chinese manuscript. These written records are the basis upon which the theories and principles of Taoist Herbology were developed to make possible the formulation of herbal combinations with very little chance for error. These writings also explain how the herbal raw ingredients must be processed and prepared to obtain maximum healing results with minimum waste.
道 家 哲 学
While Taoism is a religion, it is first and foremost a philosophy. Therefore familiar concepts appear throughout, pertaining even to food. As such, ancient ‘Dietary wisdom teachings’ are known as the right arm of Taoism, innate to the Taoist way of life. This particular attiude to ingested food is peculiar to Taoists because it is in part due to their want for longevity and wish to gain the highest form of enlightenment.
Taoist herbology is a 2-part study of herbs, involving the analysis of plants and animals to determine their nutritional value, energy levels and other chemical compositions, as well as determining which parts of the human body each herb affects most. The preparation of the part of the herb most suited for utilization is also involved in the above study.
Food is separated into ‘strong foods’ that include plants, animals, and minerals that are ingested or applied externally to the human body to prevent and heal physical illnesses by adjusting the flow of vital energy and ‘weak foods’ such as one’s daily diet. A regular food diet is taken as ‘weak’ because of its short life span after harvesting and thus needs to be mitigated by ‘strong foods’.
Clearly, Taoist belief systems like the Yin‐Yang philosophy is inculcated in the treatment of food. All food is believed to contain Energy (Qi, 气) and is either Yin, which is negative, weak, sedative and reducing, or Yang, which is positive, strong, tonifying and increasing. They will fall into a category within the Scale of 5: being Hot, Warm, Neutral, Cool, Cold, as shown.
热
温 中
性 凉
寒
Hot and Warm food are more Yang 阳 and Cool and Cold food are more Yin 阴. There are also specific energy directions of food, namely being Lifting (to lift congestion in the rectum), Floating (expelling fever, causing perspiration), Lowering (Downward action, relieving vomitting for example) and Sinking (to move from the outside inwards, to relieve swelling etc.)
food types
adzuki beans
walnut
beef
apricot
barley
chilli
mustard seed
mussels
longan
rice
dog meat
artichoke
ginger
tobacco
full egg
sesame seeds
yam
red dates
coffee
soybean
corn
starfruit
cabbage
bitter gourd
cucumber
grape
mango
yoghurt
crab
frog
olive
water melon
cheese
spinach
mulberry
royal jelly
lily bulb
loquat
jellyfish
bamboo shoot
But of course, the list is non窶親xhaustive. Some guidelines in determining whether food is more Yin or Yang would be as follows : If it is soft, wet, cool or grows in darkness, it is most probably Yin. If it is hard, dry, spicy, or
needs heating up, as in the instance of meat, or it grows in the air and sunshine, it is most probably Yang. Also do take note that most roots (like ginger or sweet potato) are Yang food items.
草 药 学 概 念
The basis of the Taoist attude towards food is to gain a clear understanding of food’s energy levels and thereby promo>ng their effective usage in order to have one’s body in a properly balanced, healthy condition. Taoists also apply the 5 element Theory and PH Balance in their evaluation of the properties of food. The 5 element Theory basically involves a categorization of food based on the relationship between herbs & internal organs. The Taoists used 5 tastes to represent each organ with every herb listed under one of 5 tastes. For example, Ginseng is sweet and thus affects the Spleen-pancreas. One can refer to the table below. The Taoists also recognised the positive and negative sides of herbs. Therefore they ascertained that herbs must always be used in a combina8on or recipe and never used singularly as a sole ingredient. For example, Ginseng energises body but has strong side effects if used alone. It tightens the arteries. In order to offset or neutralize this side effect, ginseng is used with Astragalus, which is able to effectively relax blood vessels. Finally, PH Balance simply refers to the knowledge of acidity or alkalinity of particular food types and balancing the amount of acidic or alkaline food that is ingested.
In essence, Taoists believe that healing must be total in order to elevate the cultivator to a greater spiritual level. For that to happen, Clear thinking is necessary to trigger or arouse reliable intuition and hence enable the achievement of a higher divine connectkon. As such, the Taoists believe that keeping the liver and heart in good condition will lead to an increase in spiritual evolution (according to the 5 Element theory earlier discussed). This is where the Taoist diet comes into play to balance and strengthen one’s body thereby fulfilling a complete Taoist lifestyle. The Taoist understanding of Total Healing stems from the interrelationship and interconnectedness between the physical, mental and spiritual areas. Not only have the Taoists incorporated various theories to be.er understand food and one’s condition, they believe that there is no need for a psychiatric approach in Taoism and Traditional Chinese Medicine (which itself is heavily influenced byTaoism).
Total Healing
Since Physical imbalances are seen as a manifestation of internal imbalances, Taoist treatment is aimed at curing the disease from an energetic viewpoint instead of suppressing symptoms (as in Western Medicine). Strengthening something at the physiological level can contribute to mental wellness. Therefore a change in daily diet is prescribed to someone who is sick along with other treatments. For example, a mental condition can be aided by strengthening the wood element (liver and nervous system) which will aid in improvements in thinking and assuaging anger, but at the same time strengthen the gall bladder and eyes. Or a person sick with a heaty cough will be prescribed traditional chinese medicine and also asked to avoid consuming chilli and chicken because they are Yang food items and will worsen his condition.