Probably my favourite novel of all time and one which undoubtedly inspired my interest in all things oriental (back in the sixties) was “Monkey” or “Journey to the West” by Wu Cheng’en. Monkey (published in 1592) is considered to be one of the Four Classic Novels of Chinese Literature. It tells the story of a monk’s journey to bring a set of Buddhist Scriptures out of China. The monk ,Tripitaka, is accompanied by a group of unlikely fellow travellers, a wise but mischievous monkey, 8 Precepts Pig, a White Dragon Horse (a descendent of the Dragon king of the Western Seas) and a river ogre (an immortal skilled in the 18 methods of transformation).
As a TCM practitioner another text which has (of course) inspired me is “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine” (Huangdi Neijing – approx 250 B.C.). This is largely a discourse between the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) and his acupuncturist/advisor Qi Bo.
Do I digress? No! All will be revealed!
The Yellow Monkey Emperor’s Classic of Chinese Medicine is obviously inspired by both the above classics. It includes a myriad of colourful characters including a pig (boar) a singing dragon, a hoarse (deliberate spelling mistake) and ,of course, a yellow monkey.
It begins (as does the Neijing) with the main characters query:
“Why do people no longer live for more than 100years?”
This question is asked by the Yellow Monkey Emperor when meeting Bee Bo, a wise Bumble Bee, who answers:
“Things were different in ancient times; the animals of the world practised the way of Dao…. In contrast, the youth of today are irresponsible and have stepped away from the natural rhythm of the universe….”
This leads us into an investigation of 78 imbalances in the main Zhang Fu organs, using amusing and colourful cartoon drawings to illustrate what are often difficult syndromes for the average western student to understand such as: “Small Intestine Cold and Deficient “– described in the text as “Banana Cheesecake, Spleen and Stomach Syndrome”.
The drawings in this profound “picture book” have been beautifully crafted by Spencer Hill, a long term student of the Daoist Arts. Who co-ordinated on the development of the idea, the text and the concept with Damo Mitchell, the technical Director of the Lotus Nei Gong School of Daoist Arts and the author of several books.
The Yellow Monkey Emperor’s Classic of Chinese Medicine was published this year by Singing Dragon and printed and bound in China.