In the Footsteps of the Yellow Emperor

by Peter Eckman, MD

  Figure 151: DE LA FUYE, LECTURING

  at the 1955 S.I.A. Congress in Paris, with translation by Dr. Sakaguchi.

  Figure 152: YANAGIYA

  (A) demonstrating the use of moxa on the handle of the needle (kyutoshin) in Europe. Compare to Figures 100-102 in which the Chinese version of this technique is shown. (B) demonstrating “cupping,” another traditional component of Oriental medicine with which European practitioners were relatively unfamiliar.

  Figure 153: GERHARD BACHMANN,

  disciple of De la Fuÿe and first President of the German Acupuncture Association.

  Figure 154: HERIBERT SCHMIDT

  and “colleague” in Hong Kong (the colleague to be identified in this chapter). Schmidt, originally a disciple of De la Fuye, subsequently studied with many teachers in Japan and Hong Kong, principally those from the MT tradition.

  Figure 155: SCHMIDT DEMONSTRATING

  European acupuncture techniques for Yanagiya and colleagues in Tokyo in 1953. Yanagiya is just to the left of Schmidt, while above and behind Schmidt are Honma and Inoue.

  Figure 156: SCHMIDT

  preparing to treat while Manaka Yoshio looks on. Schmidt’s mystery colleague of Figure 154 is seen again.

  We’re inching our way closer to uncovering the roots of LA, but we should first take an overall look at the origins of acupuncture in England. I’ve mentioned Lawson-Wood’s initial publication in 1959 of De la Fuÿe’s and Stiefvater’s teachings. Lawson-Wood was actually commissioned by De la Fuye to translate his writings into English, but this project collapsed with De la Fuÿe’s death in 1961.(325) In 1962, Dr. Felix Mann began publishing his series of books on acupuncture, again incorporating the Soulié de Morant-De la Fuÿe-Bischko tradition, but bolstered by his studies with the Vietnamese Dr. Van Nha in France (1958), and his own attempts to learn to read medical Chinese for access to both the classical and contemporary works on acupuncture. The influence of his writings on LA can be seen most clearly in the “Function of Acupuncture Points” given in his second book, The Treatment of Disease by Acupuncture (1963). This listing is derived from mainland Chinese texts written in 1959 and 1960, and interestingly has many spiritual and emotional indications not usually found in TCM writings. The Leamington course syllabus originally included this list of Point indications as the major resource for therapeutic reference. Graduates of Leamington will recognize, for example, the indications of Heart 9 for expressionless voice, Small Intestine 5 for talkativeness, Circulation-Sex 4 for fear of people and Gallbladder 39 for bad temper. These all came from this text by Felix Mann. It is also tempting to attribute a number of the other components of LA to Mann’s influence: in sequential order in his first book he introduced the Law of Five Elements, the Mother-Son Law, the Husband-Wife Law, and the Midday-Midnight Law, the identical sequence and terminology used by Worsley in the title of his rendition of Honma’s chart as previously shown. One must keep in mind however, that this grouping of the laws of acupuncture (which is no longer taught for the most part in TCM) is directly derived from Soulie de Morant. Mann also introduced the use of Entry and Exit Points, Window of the Sky Points, the Four Seas and the Four Needle technique—all components of LA which are easiest to account for as being adoptions from Mann’s first book. These aspects of traditional acupuncture can all be referenced historically, and the only one for which I have not personally seen an Oriental source is the use of the Entry-Exit Points; however, Bob Flaws has claimed that he learned the use of Entry/Exit Points from Dr. Eric Tao(326) (Fig.162), who in turn claims to have learned them in China, although he couldn’t remember where–possibly from his uncle in Beijing. In a personal communication to me, Mann explained that he got that piece of information from the French literature, but he believed he had seen it in Chinese as well. In fact, the use of Entry-Exit Points is presented in Compléments D’Acupuncture (1955) by Jean Niboyet (Fig.163) (1913-1986), an associate of Soulie de Morant who studied intensively for a number of years with an unnamed Chinese doctor. (First a lawyer, then a doctor, then an acupuncturist, Niboyet’s work was very structured, reflecting a legalistic mind.) Niboyet presents the Entry-Exit Points as part of the Zi Wu Liu Zhu style of practice used to regulate Yin and Yang, especially in terms of the Horary sequence of Meridian Qi flow. He also introduced the use of General Luo, Group Luo, Center Reunion General and Center Reunion Particular Points, information which Mann transmitted but Worsley chose not to incorporate in LA. Niboyet’s approach was a combination of energetic regulation and symptomatic treatment, but based on a Yin/Yang rather than Five Element paradigm. In this context he clearly teaches the principle of “transferring” Qi from Excess to Deficient Meridians (using secondary vessels) a subject I will be examining in more detail. Finally, Niboyet should also be remembered as having done some of the initial work in researching the electrical properties of acupuncture Points and for trying to develop an objective method of measuring the pulses.

  Figure 157: SCHMIDT TEACHING

  Akabane’s examination and treatment methods in Europe in 1955.

  Figure 158: AKABANE KOBE,

  an associate of Yanagiya’s who developed the test which bears his name and which is used in LA, is shown on the left with Yanagiya and Barat Dupond, a travelling companion of Schmidt’s.

  Figure 159: SCHMIDT AND DUPOND

  are granted honorary professorships at Tokushoku University, while Yanagiya observes from the far right side of the picture–1954.

  Figure 160: HONMA’S FIVE ELEMENT CHART IN GERMAN,

  translated by Schmidt. Compare to Figures 128 and 123.

  Returning to Felix Mann,(327) he unfortunately later recanted his initial belief in the traditional style of acupuncture, and now advocates a style of treatment based on Western medical concepts. He is also a major force behind the animosity between the medical and non-medical acupuncturists in England–the former represented by the British Medical Acupuncture Society which Mann founded. Mann’s personal odyssey is a curious one, coming from a family (his mother specifically) with a strong interest in Rudolph Steiner’s anthroposophical approach to medicine. He initially studied both homeopathy and herbal medicine before encountering acupuncture. In a perfect example of the Yin/Yang transformation of opposites, he has now become one of the more bitter opponents of traditional, and with it, non-physician, acupuncture. Mann, however, still takes pulses, “because it works.” He charmingly describes how he chose his main teacher, Bischko, by looking for someone with the most sensitive hands, and my own personal observation is that Mann’s hands are remarkably similar to Worsley’s, with almost hypertrophic looking fingertips. This similarity leads me to wonder if focusing one’s Qi in the digits over many years could account for such morphology.

  So where were we? I was trying to set the scene for the emergence of acupuncture in England in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s.(328) Lawson-Wood’s book came out in 1959, Mann’s starting in 1962. At just this time, several naturopathic practitioners began attracting the attention of their colleagues because they had been studying acupuncture in Germany (from 1958-1962, principally under Bachmann) and were applying it successfully in their practices back in England. I am referring to Sidney Rose-Neil (Fig.164) and Kenneth Basham (Fig.165). They were prevailed upon by their colleagues to offer a three day seminar on acupuncture in 1962 which was attended by 68 doctors, naturopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors and physiotherapists. Leslie Korth, Denis Lawson-Wood and Nicholas Sofroniou gave short presentations at this seminar which was attended by Jack Worsley, Dick Van Buren, Malcolm Stemp and Mary Austin among others (Fig.166). Sofroniou (Fig.167) had also studied acupuncture in Germany, especially the Meridian Therapy style of Honma Shohaku, whom Dr. Heribert Schmidt had brought over from Japan. When he was asked to teach at the 1962 seminar in London, Sofroniou confined his remarks to pulse taking and Five Element theory, as these were the most coherent aspects of what he himself had learned. The seminar generated so much excitement, that there and then the British Ac
upuncture Association was formed, and the seeds of the British College of Acupuncture were sown. The College was originally established in Kenilworth in 1964. One can see that at its inception, the British Acupuncture Association and the College were umbrella organizations that included all the British figures I’ve mentioned except Felix Mann. As an interesting aside, in Figure 165 the reader may notice that Dr. Basham is seen taking his wife’s pulses with his hands in the “handshake” position, and this manner of pulse-taking became the standard at the British College of Acupuncture, and later at the College in Leamington established by Worsley. The origin of this method of taking pulses is unclear—I have personally never seen anyone from the Orient use it, and Basham could not remember where he learned it, although he hypothesized that it may very well have been a reflection of his previous osteopathic training in the subtle styles of manipulative medicine which require a delicate hands-on technique. The more common style of pulse and tongue examination, typically used in TCM, is shown in Figure 168.

  Figure 161: OTSUKA KEISETSU (1900-1980),

  the leader of the kampo style of herbal medicine, another of Schmidt’s teachers.

  Figure 162: ERIC TAO, a traditional acupuncture teacher from Taiwan, now living in Denver, was the first acupuncture teacher of Bob Flaws (the founder of Blue Poppy Press which publishes many books on Oriental medicine) and the translator for Worsley on his 1966 visit to Wu Wei-p’ing (see Figure 98).

  Figure 163: JEAN NlBOYET (1913-1968),

  who expanded on the work of Soulie de Morant by incorporating material from an anonymous Chinese teacher, including the use of Entry and Exit Points. He founded the Mediterranean Acupuncture Society (S.M.A.) in 1955.

  Figure 164: SIDNEY ROSE-NEIL, (center), the first President of the British Acupuncture Association who helped to spread the traditional teachings from Germany to the U.K.

  Figure 165: KENNETH BASHAM, an osteopath who organized the first acupuncture seminar in England with Rose-Neil in 1962.

  Figure 166: REUNION

  of attendees of the 1962 seminar at Worsley’s sixty fifth birthday in 1988. From left to right: Rose-Neil, Mary Austin, Worsley and Stemp.

  Figure 167: NICHOLAS SOFRONIOU,

  one of the earliest acupuncture teachers in England, is still in practice in London in 1994. He was strongly influenced by Honma, and in turn influenced Worsley, both directly and through establishing a later seminar Worsley attended at which Okabe and other Japanese practitioners taught.

  In the year following Rose-Neil and Basham’s seminar (i.e. 1963), a group called the Naturopathic Research Association sponsored a two week course in acupuncture taught in London by the French acupuncturist, Jacques Lavier, whom I’ve already mentioned. Lavier’s acupuncture education included several months of study in Taiwan with Wu Wei-p’ing in the 1950’s but he clearly had numerous other teachers. Lavier had initially met Wu at one of the International Acupuncture conferences in Paris arranged by De la Fuye. Lavier’s initial two week course in London was followed at a later date by a second two weeks of classes. This format is the same as that adopted by Worsley for teaching LA to his American students, so it should come as no surprise that he was in attendance at Lavier’s course along with Dick Van Buren, Royston Low, Denis Lawson-Wood, Nicholas Sofroniou and others. I’ve already shown a picture of that class (Fig.106), and the reader might note that Lawson-Wood and Sofroniou are not in the picture. That is because they were asked to leave the class after the first week when Lavier discovered that they were already writing and teaching about acupuncture–an authoritarian approach to sharing knowledge that has unfortunately been too common in the history of acupuncture education.

  Lavier, as I’ve indicated, was to a large degree responsible for introducing the Five Element approach in acupuncture to England,(329) where it took root the strongest, in contrast to the Rose-Neil—Basham material which had primarily reflected the Yin Yang tradition of Soulié de Morant, De la Fuye, and Bachmann. Unfortunately, Lavier died in 1987 leaving more or less unsolved one of the biggest mysteries concerning LA—the origin of the methodology of transferring energy via the Creative and Control cycles of the Five Elements, from Meridians in Excess to those in Deficiency, which was one of LA’s central tenets from the outset. In addition to being presented at Lavier’s London seminar, this methodology was also described in Lavier’s rendition of Wu Wei-p’ing’s writing, in a book called, Chinese Acupuncture, which is an annotated compendium of several of Wu’s writings that was first published in English by Philip Chancellor in 1962. What’s of prime interest here is that the section on the Five Elements, part 5 of the book, was not written by Wu, but by Lavier himself. Here is Lavier’s own testimony: “The last section of this book is dedicated to the Law of the Five Elements, the veritable keystone of Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, my friend Dr. Wu Wei-P’ing wrote nothing on this subject. I have taken the liberty of writing this part myself, the Master having given his warm approval of the contents.”(330) Figures 169 and 170 show Lavier’s rendition of this material, and how reminiscent it is of Worsley’s presentation. Following Lavier’s introduction of this material, the Five Element transfer methodology later appeared, with minor variations, in works by Lawson-Wood (1965) (Fig.171), Mary Austin (1972) (Figs.172 and 173) and Pennell and Heuser (1973), but none of these provide any further insight into the history of this methodology. Lavier’s personal history(331) casts further doubt on a Wu to Lavier lineage. Lavier began learning Chinese calligraphy at age eight when he was immobilized for four years for health reasons. His Chinese was mostly self-taught from dictionaries, and although he became proficient in written Chinese, specializing in the ancient forms of the characters, he never learned to speak any of the dialects, beyond a few pleasantries. Thus, it seems unlikely that he would have learned the Five Element style orally from Wu. Professionally, Lavier had originally planned to study medicine, but World War Two interrupted his training, and he instead became a dentist, serving in this capacity as a medical officer in Vietnam during World War Two when he had his first exposure to acupuncture. It was only after the War that he went to Taiwan to study acupuncture.

  Figure 168: TCM STYLE EXAMINATION OF THE TONGUE AND PULSE.

  Note the cushion which supports the patient’s wrist in lieu of being held by the practitioner’s free hand.

  Figure 169: FIVE ELEMENT CHART PER LAVIER

  from Wu Wei-p’ing’s Chinese Acupuncture. Note the error in designating left and right pulses which is undoubtedly a proofreader’s mistake.

  How then, can we account for the Five Element transfer tradition? Let’s look at several hypotheses:

  1. Unlikely as it may be, perhaps Lavier did indeed learn it from Wu. On the negative side, in addition to Lavier’s personal contrary testimony, are many accounts of Wu’s treatment style, notably by Fox, Chen and Tao among others.(332) On the positive side, in addition to Lavier’s version of Wu’s book and the climate of popular belief it created, I might cite the testimony of Professor Paul Lepron, a colleague and disciple of Lavier’s who claims that the Five Element style was an oral tradition dating back to Liu Wan-Su (1110-1200) the first of the “four great physicians of the Jin and Yuan dynasties,” who is primarily remembered for starting the “cooling school” of internal medicine. He is often cited by Bob Flaws for his theory of “similar transformation” to explain the development of “evil heat” in the body. Lepron claims that Liu Wan-su’s oral tradition of Five Element acupuncture was preserved only in Taiwan, presumably indicating Wu Wei-p’ing, but there is nothing to exclude the possibility of another unnamed Taiwanese source.(333) Van Buren, who knew both Wu and Lavier, claims that this transmission definitely did not come from Wu, but from two other anonymous Chinese teachers, in France.(334)