Chen Chiu the Original Acupuncture

Combining his personal experiences as a practitioner of Western and Eastern medicines with the ancient wisdom of the Ling Shu, the author (an honorary professor at the Lifu International College of Chinese Medicine in Freiburg, Germany) presents a new model for the practicing acupuncturist.

Chen-Chiu: The Original Acupuncture is based on an historic Chinese acupuncture text that remains vital to this day: the Ling-Shu-Jing. Dr. Claus Schnorrenberger, who has produced a well-known translation of Ling-Shu-Jing, here applies his personal medical experience-as a lecturer, and moreover, as an orthodox Western physician and Chinese acupuncturist/herbalist-to the principles of the text.

The result is a new view of the prevailing Western perceptions of Chinese medicines. The author calls into question such concepts as Chi, the meridians, and even acupuncture itself, in order to correct erroneous translations still in use by many to this day. Chen-Chiu provides an epistemological reflection on what Chinese medicine and acupuncture really mean, and adds new contrast and insight into Western
and Eastern views of healing. This, the author rightly contends, is essential for the successful integration of Chinese medicines in the West.

Schnorrenberger's book is well-balanced and much-needed, appropriate not only as a reference for students and practitioners of Chinese medicine, but also as a learning aid for patients, health-care workers and administrators, Western physicians, and more.

Reviews


"Professor Schnorrenberger brings out the full depth of Chinese medical concepts in CHEN-CHIU. He further describes modern scientific research proving that genuine physiological changes occur when acupuncture is correctly applied. Furthermore, the author compares early Chinese and Western philosophical concepts in an exquisite way pointing out the many ideas both have in common. A must for both trained acupuncturists and beginners."
-- Journal of the Danish Medical Acupuncture Society



"A very readable text, exactly as erudite as you would expect from the author's background. The very title, CHEN-CHIU, illustrates the limitation of the word 'acupuncture' in representing this part of Chinese medicine, which includes moxibustion as well as needling. Schnorrenberger's scholarship shows in many ways, especially with the careful citation of Chinese classics, and the setting of the discussion in a background of philosophical development from the Greek era to modern thought. In particular, the author is in an authoritative position to describe and demonstrate clearly the mistranslations and distortions perpetrated by Soulier de Morant in the last century. The author ends his revisionism here: he accepts the traditional concepts such as the five elements, the Chinese organ concepts, and ideas of external influences such as heat or wind associated with disease. He is able to maintain Chinese and Western approaches to medicine in parallel, without any difficulty. [ . . . ] This book will be welcome and well worth reading for anyone who is remotely interested in a readable but authoritative academic approach to acupuncture and moxibustion."
-- Acupuncture in Medicine



"A unique synthesis of East and West, the result of genuine original effort, a milestone for future research and thinking."
-- Prof. Dr. Ioannis E. Antoniou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, former head researcher and main assistant of Prof. Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Award Winner in Physics, 1978.