The study of Chinese medicine can be roughly divided into the following four stages:
First, the stage of ignorance;
Enlightenment is the focus of this stage. There are four classics that need to be studied in ancient times: medical three-character classics, lakeside pulse science, and medicinal properties of Tang Touqu. The content of modern Chinese medicine education is constantly enriched and the structure is constantly improved, which is divided into five core courses: basic theory of Chinese medicine, diagnostics of Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, prescription science and internal medicine of Chinese medicine. As a student at school, we need to study systematically, needless to say.
For self-learners, both contents and methods need to be adjusted appropriately. Because there are several common problems in systematically studying the above courses without the guidance of teachers:
The content of 1 is boring and difficult to read. Classroom explanation can be very rich, adding a lot of interesting things; Moreover, the teacher is alive and can be adjusted at any time according to the students' situation. This is completely different from facing a dead textbook all day;
There is no point. A basic theory of TCM is by no means that every chapter is equally important. As the theory of hiding images, the position of the five internal organs is by no means equally important in any state. It is the physiological function of the spleen, and its clinical guiding significance is absolutely different. All these differences and weights need the guidance of teachers;
3 easy to misunderstand. The theory of traditional Chinese medicine advocates "understanding" and "comprehension" very much. And all understanding and comprehension need a platform for understanding, that is, a basic understanding of concepts and relationships. Self-learners, due to the lack of guidance from their predecessors, tend to go astray from the starting point, leading to extreme understanding of the whole Chinese medicine.
In order to avoid the above problems to the greatest extent, it is suggested that self-taught Chinese medicine should adopt the following learning methods in the enlightenment stage:
1 Read more biographies of TCM predecessors and their articles on learning methods. The road they take seems clumsy, but in fact it is often the best shortcut for the introduction of Chinese medicine. It will be helpful to learn from previous learning methods. Here, I strongly recommend a book: The Road to Famous Old Chinese Medicine, the first series. After reading this book for three times, not only can the learning method be suddenly enlightened, but also you can learn a lot of valuable learning experience and clinical experience of these old gentlemen in the process.
Make good use of rich network resources. Nowadays, the information age has largely opened the door to schools. Anyone, in any corner, can easily get the opportunity to learn from famous teachers in various Chinese medicine colleges and watch videos of their lectures, and all of them are free. Although this kind of learning is more emotional than not hearing face-to-face lectures in the classroom environment, it is better than studying hard.
The choice of teaching materials should take into account the two principles of authority and interest. Learning is naturally inseparable from teaching materials and reference books. In terms of teaching materials, formal full-time teaching materials are still advocated. Every book has been strictly checked by dozens of experts, and the authority is the best. As for the edition, I prefer the seven-edition textbook. Except acupuncture, the overall level of the seventh edition textbook is very high. If you want to be detailed, the fifth edition of the textbook is also a good choice. Interesting reference books are an essential seasoning for self-study. It can make learning more interesting and less boring. I feel that several popular health books, such as Manual of Human Body, Seeking Medical Treatment is Better than Seeking Self, and Novel Chinese Medicine, are quite different from the formal academic school in the whole theoretical framework, but they are still competent as condiments. In addition, the book Thinking about TCM pays more attention to the interpretation of TCM theory and has many original opinions. Friends who have spare capacity can choose to read.
Finally, what needs to be emphasized is step by step. A Chinese medicine student has studied these courses for three years (and other courses, of course); It will take at least one year for the disciples of ancient Chinese medicine to learn more concise four books and five classics. Therefore, everyone must arrange their own time and progress in the early stage of self-study. Too tight or too loose will set the stage for giving up halfway in the future.
Two or four classic learning stages
After the early enlightenment and a preliminary understanding of TCM, we can further study the four classic works of TCM. Namely Neijing, Typhoid Febrile Diseases, Synopsis of the Golden Chamber and Treatise on Febrile Diseases.
Some students think that classics are old-fashioned, but in fact they are just talking about the holistic view of TCM and syndrome differentiation and treatment. We have studied the basic diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine. What is the need to learn these platitudes?
This is a very interesting question. I want to answer like this:
There are two different systems in the development of human history: one is the natural science system; One is the humanities system. The development of natural science is always forward, just like an arrow. After every scientific and technological revolution, emerging science and technology will inevitably replace the original and become the mainstream of the discipline until newer scientific and technological theories appear. But the development of humanities is completely different. Confucius can't replace the value of Laozi, nor can Mencius replace Confucius. Zhu is also a great scholar, but he always needs to draw nutrition from Confucius and Mencius. Of course, future generations can and must develop, but no one can deny the value of classics. Therefore, in the field of natural science, the latest theory will always be sought after, but in the humanities, if you want to master the most cutting-edge theory, it means that you need to revisit the path taken by the ancients in the shortest time, and then develop and innovate in practice.
Unfortunately, medicine is more about "human science", and doctors study people, not things. This determines the nature of medicine itself and is closer to the humanities. The value of classics is self-evident.
Some people think that since the classics are the best, future generations will never surpass them and reach the realm of the ancients. What is the need to take some detours in learning modern Chinese medicine textbooks?
This is another problem: if we want to communicate with the ancients and learn from them, we need at least one condition, that is, to know what the ancients are saying. As modern people, they live in an Americanized environment every day, and their lifestyles and ways of thinking are seriously westernized. This state makes us have a distance from the views of the ancients. Although they write the same words and speak the same language, they cannot understand each other. The value of Chinese medicine textbooks lies in trying to express the thoughts of the ancients in a language that modern people can understand. In other words, modern Chinese medicine textbooks have built such a language bridge for us. It makes it easier for us to have a * * * sound with the thoughts of the ancients.
So what problems should we pay attention to in classic learning?
As we all know, it is relatively easy to teach basic courses, but it is quite difficult to teach classic courses. The difficulty lies in the need to enter the classroom first to understand the so-called "original intention" that the ancients wanted to express, and then express it to students.
Then it is naturally more difficult for self-taught students to understand the classics.
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