TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2007
Taoism: Energy, Meditation, and Medicine
One of the basic working planks of practical Taoism, as it informs Chinese medicine, is that there are streams of energy that go through the body, called meridian lines. In the normal theory of Western medicine, there is no basis for energy lines, so acupuncture is theoretically baseless. If studies of acupuncture’s effectiveness show only the level of placebo effect, that would be confirmation that the treatments are based on not much more than wishful thinking.

The whole issue of the placebo effect is kind of spooky in itself, if you think about it. Why should the expectations of the patient effect a cure? Mind over matter, as they say, but how does the mind control matter? And what are the limits of the mind controlling matter?

Taoism has a very active meditation method, unlike Buddhism. Whereas pure Buddhist meditation is designed to empty the mind, Taoist meditation is designed to harness the energies of the body. Like the monks who can withstand hours of freezing weather using only a “fire meditation.” I think they are Buddhist monks, but I guess they got bored meditating on voidness after awhile, and they decided to see what else was possible!



Acupuncture 'more than a placebo'
Scientists say they have proof that acupuncture works in its own right.

Skeptics have said that any benefits gained from acupuncture are merely down to a person's expectation that the treatment will work. But researchers at University College London and Southampton University say they have separated out this placebo effect.

Read the whole article at news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4493011.stm