HEAVENLY STEMS AND EARTHLY BRANCHES – TAOIST ACUPUNCTURE

“The earliest, and in the long run the most influential kinds of scientific explanation, those so basic that they truly pervaded the ancient Chinese world view, were in terms of time.” Joseph Needham

Stems and Branches Acupuncture explores the effects of time in relation to health, and as such is essentially chronotherapeutic. The most fundamental life processes such as sleep, appetite, digestive function, menstruation and reproduction, and a host of more subtle changes in hormonal and neurotransmitter levels, seem to have very distinct timed cycles. All living creatures are physiologically time sensitive. Interrupting these timed cycles, for instance through sleep deprivation, is one of the quickest ways to catastrophically affect a person’s health.

Huang Di, the eponymous Yellow Emperor of the Nei Jing, is referred to in his human manifestation, as Earth Emperor, throughout the Neijing. However, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) , Huang Di had a celestial counterpart and represented the Sun Lord, and as such was the Lord of Time. Huang-Lao Daoism held the view that everything between, and including, the Heavens and the Earth were created out of one original energy, and that all of creation was interconnected. There was a pattern to this universe and the most visible and reliable pattern was that seen in the eternally recurring movements of the sky, of the stars, the sun, moon and planets. By these patterns one could establish time and in turn the effect that time had on natural cycles in the plant, animal and human kingdoms. 

These basic patterns, so prominent and with such an obvious and undeniable impact on life, provided a foundation for scientific theories and acupuncture philosophy. These theories were described in Huainanzi, a text on daoist philosophy, compiled by the grandson of the first Han Emperor, and applied to astronomy, the medical sciences including acupuncture, and topography. The Neijing often uses ideas and passages from this book, and in combination with the prominence given to Huang Di throughout the Nei Jing, underscores the Huang-Lao philosophical basis for this most important medical text. 

Concepts of time are woven into the fabric of acupuncture theory. Yin and yang were early on depicted in relation to the Sun (the Sun rising over a flag, or the sunny and shady side of a mountain). The five elements are expressions of the qualities of the seasons. The number of the main acupuncture points (idealised as 360 in the Nei Jing, and presently complete at 361) is related to the calendar, the Jupiter cycle and the interaction between the Sun and Moon.

Stems and Branches is a basic calendrical counting method used by the Chinese for millennia to count the hours, days, months and years. It groups ten stems and twelve branches into the same polarity (yin or yang) pairings to provide a recurring sexagesimal sequence. The twelve main acupuncture meridians are attached to the twelve branches, and the ten organs are attached to the ten stems. Certain acupuncture methods have focused on selecting points according to the specific celestial stem and terrestial branch of the hour or day. This is widely known as Stems and Branches acupuncture.

Huang-Lao 'Daoist' Stems and Branches acupuncture is different in that it explores time in the context of a wider philosophy and through this exploration we come to a profound understanding of the basic principles of Chinese medicine.

My forthcoming book, The Complete Stems and Branches: Time and Space in Traditional Acupuncture sets out the philosophy and practical applications of Huang–Lao Stems and Branches Acupuncture. 

Here are some preview responses to my book.

“This is amazing work and I thank you for sharing it with me. Much of what I read here is new to me. There is a great wealth of information here … I find the discussions of time, elements, lunar phases and natural cycles to be very illuminating and reveal more of the depth and breadth of Chinese medicine with each paragraph.…I have found what I have read so far to be very helpful in connecting me with those wisdoms which are inherently contained within Chinese medicine.”  Dr. Stephen Gascoigne, acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, author.

For more information on Huang Lao Taoist philosophy see: John Major. Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought, Chapters Three, Four and Five of Huainanzi.