Grasping the Donkey's Tail

Book excerpt: A scholarly yet practical account for modern clinicians of some of the key difficult questions arising from obscure passages in the classics of Chinese medicine. This book offers an interpretation of crucial sections from the classical Chinese texts which have continued to puzzle Western clinicians, and serves as a basis for more effective acupuncture treatments. The author discusses Sasang medicine interpretations of specific phenomena, showing where Korean medicine diverged from Chinese, and how the two traditions can inform each other, and the modern acupuncturist. Elsewhere, he discusses the Daoist roots of Chinese medicine, the fundamental differences between Oriental and Western medical approaches, as well as various important issues in pulse diagnosis, all of which have practical application for modern clinicians and students.