Core Patterns of the Shang Han Lun
— A Clinical Approach
A Three Weekend Seminar Series with Dan Bensky, Craig Mitchell, and Arnaud Versluys
Background and Overview
The Shang Han Lun (‘On Cold Damage’) is among the oldest surviving and most revered of China's traditional medical texts. It was compiled by Wang Shu He (210-285 C.E.) from the no longer extant comprehensive clinical manual, Shang Han Za Bing Lun (‘On Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Dis.’), written by the Eastern Han physician Zhang Ji (circa 150-219 C.E.1). Of all China’s early medical classics, the Shang Han Lun is undoubtedly the one of greatest relevance to the modern practice of Chinese medicine, and the one most deserving of Western attention.
In the Shang Han Lun externally contracted disease in all its diverse manifestations and possible courses is understood in terms of evils, most notably wind and cold, which invade the body from outside and pass through the channels and network vessels, causing disturbances of aspects of bodily function that can be recognized by distinct constellations of signs known as "patterns" (zheng). Each pattern is created by a variety of methods, using medicinal drugs that are combined in a limited number of formulae whose constituents can be changed to address variations in patterns.
The Shang Han Lun is noted for being the first attempt to incorporate medicinal therapy into the medicine of systematic correspondences and channels and network vessels. It is a seminal work in the development of an holistic understanding of disease conditions that considers not only the offending disease evil but also the patient’s resistance to it; an understanding of disease in which the disease pattern rather than "disease" is the main focus of attention. The Shang Han Lun was far ahead of its time in both theory and practice; not surprisingly, the prescriptions it contains comprise an important part of today’s medicinal formulary.
The Shang Han Lun (‘Discussion of Cold Damage’) has had a tremendous impact on all facets of traditional medicine. In fact, it has influenced the very foundations of diagnosis, pattern identification, and treatment strategies, all of which are intimately linked to concepts that originated in or were developed within the text. It has not been given its due in most training programs in the West. There are those even in China today who mistakenly perceive it as a relic of an earlier age, not a vital clinical text.
In this seminar, three practitioners who have long-term engagement with this text and the tradition surrounding it, will discuss in depth the core elements of this seminal work, delving into its structure and design, and presenting some ways in which its approach to diagnosis and treatment can be of great use in the modern clinic.
The Seminars
Seminar One: Arnaud Versluys will teach the first weekend. He will provide an introduction to the SHL to frame the later material, so that participants will have the necessary construct into which they can fit more complex information. He will start by presenting a clear perspective into the core physiological qualities of the confirmations as rooted in the five movements (wu yun) and six qi (liu qi) in nature. This will be explained through two important concepts from the Huang Di Neijing, namely Manifestation-Root-Middle Qi (biao ben zhongqi) and the Opening-Closing-Pivoting (kai he shu). These fundamental theories will allow the student to gain insight into the dynamics behind the clinical manifestations of the conformation diseases as well as their rules of pattern transmutation.
The basic lines of the SHL are considered to form an “outline” of the text. These will be explained from the aforementioned perspectives paving the way for more
clinical explanations during the second weekend. In these lines, the reader discovers the basic presentations, including the pulse and main symptoms associated with each
of the primary patterns. Having a detailed understanding of these lines is critical to understanding the SHL, because it is through this focused lens that both beginners
and practitioners with experience in Chinese herbal medicine can grapple with the understanding of physiology that is unique to the SHL.
In the latter part of the first weekend, Arnaud will introduce some of the core views on pulse diagnosis as employed by the SHL. He will use strategically chosen excerpts
from two of the original introductory chapters of “Methods for Pulse Differentiation» and “Methods for Pulse Assessment.” Arnaud will provide a
basic introduction to the concept of pulse patterns that form the core diagnostic parameters in the establishment of the formula patterns by which the SHL practitioner
categorizes disease and therapy.
Seminar Two: Upon this foundation, Dan Bensky will expand on the main patterns associated with each of the six channels and their related formulas. Dan will help the participants understand these patterns in a way that brings them to life and makes them recognizable in the modern clinic. By drawing upon his many years of practice, engagement with the medical tradition, and access to a variety of modern approaches, Dan is able to make the connections between theory, text, and practice clear. These formulas represent a treasure trove of approaches to many commonly occurring problems, including those that do not respond to other approaches. Through these discussions, participants will continue to develop a deeper understanding of physiology and pathology as seen through the prism of SHL thought.
Seminar Three: In the final weekend, Craig Mitchell will go back through the six channels discussing the transmuted patterns and combined patterns associated with each of the six channels. In a sense, this class can only occur with the structure provided by the first two classes. The complexity associated with changing and developing patterns can only be fully appreciated once one has spent time with the basic physiology and the basic patterns of the SHL. In that context though, the richness of these transmuted and combined patterns can then be not only grasped, but also comprehended in a clinically useful manner. Craig will draw upon his years of teaching and clinical practice to help participants grapple with the difficulties of the text, and to make the leap from textual understanding to clinical efficacy.
These courses are a unit. Each weekend interlocks with the others and the latter two weekends build on the concepts and materials from the previous ones. Thus, the weekends should be taken in sequence and viewed as one course. Case analysis will be an integral part of all three weekends and participants are invited to bring written cases with them for possible discussion during the classes.
Instructors:
Arnaud Versluys has studied both in a formal academic setting and in an apprentice-style training in China, both of which were focused on the Shang han lun. He is one of the few Western scholars who have completed all of their Chinese medical education in China. In 1994 he commenced his study of Chinese language and TCM at Hubei College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Wuhan/China, which he completed in 1999. He continued with six years of postgraduate study at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese medicine, and completed his thesis on classical prescriptions of the Han and pre-Han period. As such, he brings a detailed, structured, and quite unique understanding of the text to his class. Arnaud specialises in immunological diseases such as Crohn disease, Hepatitis, Scleroderma, Lupus and Raynaud’s disease.
Dan Bensky graduated in 1975 from the Macau Institute of Chinese Medicine and in 1982 from the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He holds a Master’s degree in classical Chinese from the University of Washington (1995). He is currently director of the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine and in private practice. He is medical editor of Eastland Press and co-author of Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies and Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica. The Shang Han Lun has been an area of persistent interest and focus for him for the last 15 years.
Craig Mitchell, a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, obtained his B.S. degree in psychology from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. and his Master's degree from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1997, following a year of internship under the tutelage of Feng Ye at China Medical College Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, he undertook translation of the Shang Han Lun. He was an instructor at the New York College for Wholistic Health Education and Research, and is currently teaching at the Seattle Institute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He maintains a private practice in Seattle.
Together, these three physicians have over 50 years of clinical experience and each person represents a different way of relating to and engaging the material from the Shang Han Lun.
Course Details
MELBOURNE — 2009 March 14-15, May 2-3, July 4-5
SYDNEY — 2009 March 21-22, May 9-10,July 11-12
These courses have been designed as a unit. Each weekend interlocks with the others and should be taken in sequence and viewed as one course. Case analysis will be an integral part of all three weekends and participants are invited to bring cases for possible discussion during classes.
Seminar Fee
Three lecture package Early Bird Special*
Full – $900
Student – $800
Lantern Subscribers & AACMA member – $850
* Early Bird Special ends on January 31,2009
Regular fee
Full $1100
Student $975
Lantern Subscribers & AACMA member $1025
Single lecture
Full – $450
Student – $400
Lantern Subscribers & AACMA member – $425
Registrations close Tuesday prior to the seminar
Enquiries & Registration
Enquiries & Registration:
CHINA BOOKS Melbourne
2nd Floor, 234 Swanston St,
Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9663 8822
email enquiries
Enquiries Sydney:
CHINA BOOKS
Level 1.683 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
(02)9280 1885
email enquiries
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