Dear Friends,
image from www.askix.com
When we look at the outside world, we have a tendency to give conclusion :
- this’s nice, that’s not nice
- i like this, i hate that
- this’s right, that’s wrong
- this’s white, that’s black etc
There’s a guy. He keeps lots of cash and valuables in his high rise apartment. He forgot to lock the window and went down for a walk.
From the street, he saw a man climbed into his apartment through the window which was open. He panic, his heart sank, the thief was bad, the money gone, these things flashed through his minds.
Then there is another guy. He hardly got much valuables in his apartment. He too forgot to lock the window and went down for a walk.
From the street, he saw a man climbed into his apartment through the window which was open. He was calm, wondered how the man can climb that well, and even pity the man as there isn’t much in the apartment, these things flashed through his minds. The man is “bad” did not flashed through his mind in the first instance.
莊子 (“Zhuang-zi”) said in chapter 2 of 《莊子》:
- “… 夫隨其成心而師之，誰獨且無師乎？”
- (“… we follow our own value system (prejudice) when judging others, who doesn’t have value system (prejudice) ? (i.e. irrespective of whether we think we are smart or stupid)…)
Most of our daily reactions are along these lines.
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Filed under: All, Getting Started
Hi xy2,this is not a direct comment on right and wrong, but I remember you had an article on eating more ginger to balance the middle qi? I was trying to search for it to amke my comments there, but could not find it.
Anyway, it is because I found some ginger juice for sale here. Nicely packaged. The japanese first had a craze for drinking all kinds of vinegar for health purposes (black wine vinegar, apple vinegar, lychee vinegar, and the list goes on). Now they are selling ginger juice packaged with lemon and honey and I bought a bottle. It tastes great.
Does it serve the purpose ?
Would like to hear your comments on vinegar too, if you ahve any, according to TCM.
CH,
yes, ginger has may properties. It is divided into raw or dried ginger. Ginger juice falls under raw ginger.
Ginger has “acrid” and “warm” characteristics and penetrates the Lung, Spleen and Stomach meridians well.
It has “dispersing” properties, good for digestive system, alleviate nausea, coughing, phlegm.
It is therefore use for the following :
1. early stage of common cold, dispelling the cold element from the body and alleviating coughing,
2. alleviate nausea and vomitting,
3. neutralises food poisoning caused by sea-food in particular,
In addition, raw ginger skin improves the Spleen system therefore improves the water circulation, improving edema and urination.
Notes : for people who expresses heat symptoms (say with very red tongue), then ginger should not be administered.
If ginger is boiled with green tea leaves, it nbe used to treat vomitting and diarrhea.
For dried ginger, it has different properties, mainly warmth that stays but not dispersing. It is therefore used for patient expressing internal cold, such as cold feet and hands, especially at night.
With regards to vinegar, it’s obvious for digestion.
Generally, fermented stuff contains good nutrients for the body, amino acids, weak acid, minerals, simple sugar etc which are easily absorbed by the body.
There are many uses of vinegar, will try to write something in future.
xy2, thanks so much. Very useful info.
The Japanese are sort of rather health conscious people and there are lots of information in health magazine, TV and the media on food that are good for health.
They highly promote yogurt, miso (japanese fermented soy bean for soup) and natto as foods that will help with circulation and digestion/reducing cholesterol and fats form the body and therefore good health; as mentioned by yourself in the earlier comment.
Green tea, ginger, vinegar are also much promoted as per health reasons you mentioned.
Some of my Japanese friends and I think my grandma use raw grated ginger and honey for early symptoms of cold, like you mentioned.
Thanks for your imput. Really helpful for other readers of the blog too.
ch,
about natto, theorectically (as per TCM), beans are associated with kidney system, more so the fermented beans.
Kidney system is involved in the growth and healthiness of bones, hair, brain, and good for incontinence.
Therefore, natto (appropriate amount of intake) is good for under-developed kids, improving incontinence, for brain development, for keeping healthy hair, teeth, preventing/slowing down osteoporosis, and most importantly, the brain. Little wonder why the incidence rate of alzheimer is quite low in Japan ?
xiaoyao2,
Thanks for the additional imput on natto. Yes, there is now a renewed awareness on natto, tofu and bean related foods.
Will continue to eat more! In fact a few years back, I replaced my morning cup of milk with soy milk (unsweetened soy), for health reasons. Errr, got to watch out for all the problems related to aging!!
Hmm, I am not so sure if the incidence of Alzheimer’s is lower among the Japanese population. Would be interesting to check on that one, say compared with US or European countries and also places like HK and S’pore where lifespan and standard of living are similar.