Shanghan Lun Pathophysiology and Basic Patterns

The Treatise on Cold Damage or Shanghan Lun is one of the most prominent Eastern Han-dynasty (circa CE 200) classics in Chinese medicine and the first clinical handbook in China’s medical history. It is also the center of the Canonical Chinese Medicine Training.

The differentiation system and consequent text is outlined along a grid of six channels or conformations. This course aims to provide an in-depth understanding into the nature of six conformation pathologies as well as their systematic treatment.

The introduction will present the book and its author in the social and geo-political setting of the Eastern Han dynasty. The concept of Cold Damage shanghan will be explained from the Inner Classic of the Yellow Emperor huangdi neijing and the Classic of Difficulties nanjing perspective as a class of externally triggered illnesses of potentially contagious and lethal nature.

The second part of the instruction will focus on providing clear insight in the core physiological functioning of the conformations. Various models from the Neijing will be used to analyze and explain the physiology and consequent pathology of the six conformations.

Following, the instruction will focus on the understanding of the conformation pathologies at hand. Insight will be acquired into the sequential time-based nature of the conformation pathologies and their passage patterns including pathological progression and therapeutic regression possibilities.

The remainder focuses on the core conformation pathologies. First we will study the standard or straight-up zheng patterns of all six conformations. The collective of these patterns forms the complete outline of the Shanghan Lun and its system of six conformation differentiation. The yang conformation patterns will be presented categorized as surface patterns biaozheng, conformation or channel patterns jingzheng and bowel or internal hollow organ patterns fuzheng along with their standard treatment scenarios as embodied by the archetypical formulas. The straight-up yin conformation patterns will be categorized according the nature of their presentation. The aforementioned patterns will be taught in the form of formula patterns tangzheng which will correspond to the pulse patterns maizheng as taught in the pulse course and the abdominal patterns fuzheng as taught in the abdominal diagnosis course. Each pattern will be presented from the perspective of its hallmark symptoms.

Lastly, the combined diseases hebing and co-existing patterns jianzheng, often identified as diseases due to mistreatment huaibing will be presented. Regardless of how the illnesses came about, the combined diseases will be categorized as yang conformation combined patterns, yin conformation combined patterns, and lastly yin-yang conformation combined patterns. In total, the sixty core conformation patterns, both simplex and complex, of the whole Shanghan Lun will be covered.

16 CREDITS (NCCAOM, CALIFORNIA, TEXAS)