Since 13 years, my family and I have lived in the home we are now at. There is a cherry tree that has stood in the garden for almost 50 years. Ever Spring, we admire it, drink tea and sit under its blossoms, like they do in Japan; this practice is called Hanami. As we do this, we realize that we are not the only ones drawn there, to the beautiful white, pinkish blossoms, with their sweet scent. There is a buzzing hum, a vibration around this tree. As we look closely at it, we sense another presence – the bees and possibly other insects. They have also been attracted to this tree like us. The bees are busy, hovering over the blossoms doing their thing. This makes me realize how limited I am as a human being, imagining that this cherry tree is just simply an object. It is so much more - this cherry tree is an environment in itself.
Chapter 11 of the Dao De Jing (also spelled Tao Te Ching) states:
“We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
But it is the emptiness inside
That holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
But it is the inner space
That makes it livable.
We work with being,
But non-being is what we use.”
These wise words of Lao Zi often come to me when I contemplate space. In our modern world, we are so preoccupied with stuff, things, material, that we often forget to look in the spaces in and around the stuff, which actually are essential in the creation of the stuff. We become so obsessed with the object that we forget that without these spaces, there wouldn’t be the object.
This awareness of space is especially manifested in Chinese Medicine in its definition of the Sān Jiāo, Triple Burner, which is one of its 6 Yang organs. In the Western view there exists no such organ. The Chinese define this organ also as an “avenue for the Original Qi” and as “the three divisions of the body.” Sān Jiāo is considered one of the 6 Fu organs, which are in charge of transmitting and moving substance through them. Sometimes Fu organs are also defined as hollow organs; thus, they are space creators.
Chinese Medical diagnosis views the body as a “terrain,” an environment. Dr. Leon Hammer describes how his teacher, Dr. Shen used the analogy of a car to describe the body and how our body is a terrain:
“We are not all born equal. We each have a different quality of car: the interplay of genetics and the exigencies of conception, intrauterine environment and birth. This is our terrain, upon which the stress of life plays out. Terrain represents the totality of an organism, from what is created, to what is done with that creation, through the entirety of life, in all dimensions: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.”
As the sunlight shines in this phase of the Spring Equinox, I will look/sense the cherry tree in my garden and the space that surrounds it with renewed respect. I will remember that the cherry tree exists because of the space that holds it - above, below and all around. Just as I exist because of the space that holds me and within me that creates my internal universe.
References
Hammer, Leon I., M.D., Nash, Oliver. (2017). Contemporary Oriental Medicine Concepts. Gainesville, FL, USA: The Contemporary Oriental Medical Foundation.
Lao-Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell. (1988). Tao Te Ching, The Book of the Way. London, UK: Kyle Books.
Maciocia, Giovanni. (1989). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine. London, UK: Churchill Livingstone.
Image by GuangWu YANG from Pixabay
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