The 24 best situations for drinking tea

The Chinese scholar and tea connoisseur Xu Cishu 许次纾 from Ming Dynasty describes in his book Tea Report 《茶疏》 these 24 most suitable situations for drinking tea:

  1.  心手闲适    when you are idle and relaxing
  2.   披咏疲倦   when tired of reading poetry
  3.   意绪棼乱   in time of confused thoughts
  4.   听歌拍曲   when listening songs and melodies
  5.   歌罢曲终   when the music has finished
  6.   杜门避事   when alone
  7.   鼓琴看画   when playing qin zither and looking at paintings
  8.   夜深共语   during conversations in a late night
  9.   明窗净几   when everything is bright and clean
10. 洞房阿阁     in the room of the newlyweds
11.  宾主款狎    when together with the beloved guests
12.  佳客小姬    when hosting distingquished scholars and young beauties
13.  访友初归    when visiting a friend who has returned from afar
14.  风日晴和    when the weather is clear and nice
15.  轻阴微雨    when the weather is cloudy and slightly raining
16.  小桥画舫    when watching the small bridges and the passing boats on the river
17.  茂林修竹    while in lush forests and bamboo groves
18.  课花责鸟    when the flowers bloom in the midsts of birds songs
19.  荷亭避暑    in a lotus pond pavilion during the summer heat
20.  小院焚香    while burning incence in a small temple
21.  酒阑人散    when the late tipsy guests leave
22.  几辈斋馆    when several generations gather in the fasting premises
23.  清幽寺观    when visiting a secluded temple
24.  名泉怪石    when enjoying the view of famous springs and strange rocks

Chanterelle mushrooms and Yunnan medicine

   The chanterelle is a nice forest mushroom with pleasant taste and nourishing qualities. However, according to Dian Nan Ben Cao ("Yunnan Materia Medica") 《滇南本草》, written by Lan Mao 兰茂 in 1436, the chanterelle has damp properties and that's why it is important to be cooked with ginger to counteract the dampness.
I found this citation from Dian Nan Ben Cao worth noting:
"The common people mostly boil [chanterelle] with garlic, thinking that if there is a poison, the garlic will turn black; they don't know that if there is a poison in the mushroom, the garlic not necessarily will blacken. But when ginger encounters the poison, it will surely turn black". 
"世人多以大蒜同煮，以为有毒蒜黑，不知蒜见毒未必即黑，姜见毒则必黑。” 《滇南本草》

Moon, Mars and Spica shining around the Gate of Heaven

Gazing at the stars makes us feel overwhelmed by the beauty and vastness of the sky. Look these several nights for the wonderful trio - Moon, Mars and Spica - gathered together and spreading their light towards all of us!

Spica (角宿一 in Chinese) is the brightest star of Virgo. In Chinese astronomy it is the major star of Horn constellation 角宿, located at the horn of the Azure Dragon in the East. If you make a line connecting Spica (α Virginis) and Heze ( ζ Virginis), then you will have the "Gate of Heaven" 天门, through which pass the ecliptic and the planets of the solar system. It was just two days ago that the Daoist temples throughout East Asia celebrated the Opening of the Gate of Heaven day 天門開日. Now, these days it's time for Mars to pass through the  Gate of Heaven. Enjoy the view!

 

4700 years ago the Nobleman star 天乙贵人 has been a North Pole star

.

The Nobleman star 天乙贵人 (Celestial Great One 天乙星) is one of the most auspicious stars in Chinese metaphysics. Generally it is believed that it brings good luck and blessings and transforms all obstacles and negativity in life. The famous classic San Ming Tong Hui 《三命通会》 says: "The Nobleman star is the spirit of Heaven... Its spirit is the most respected and wherever it reaches, all evil hides away".  The Nobleman star is a real star on the sky and... surprise!... 4700 years ago it has been the North Pole star! (together with another star - Thuban)

How is this possible? - one would ask. Well, it takes 25,800 years (one Platonic year) for the Earth’s axis to complete one clockwise circle. This causes the line of the North Pole to scribe a circle, thus our North Pole star changes with the time.
 

The current North Pole star is Polaris 勾陳一, the next one will be Al Deramin (around 7500 A.D.). Then, as the precession continues, Deneb 天津四, Vega 织女星, Thuban (Alpha Dragonis) 右樞 and Kochab 北極二 will also become North Pole stars, like they have been already thousands of years ago.
  
Thuban  (α Draconis) of constellation Draco was the North Pole star in and around 2700 BC. The red dot on the map below shows the current location of Thuban on the sky:

Celestial Map showing the constellation Draco. Image credit: Torsten Bronger.

In Chinese astronomy Thuban star is known as 右樞 (You Shu "Right Pivot") and it is located at Zi Wei Right Enclosure (Zi Wei You Heng 紫微右垣). Just next to it is the Celestial Great One 天乙星 (Nobleman star 天乙贵人 Tian Yi Gui Ren).

In modern astronomy, both Thuban and Nobleman star (天乙贵人) are part of the constellation Draco. Thuban is Alpha Dragonis; Nobleman star is 10 Dragonis (also named CU Dragonis).

Prof. Jim Kaler, a respected astronomer and science writer from University of Illinois,  points out that during the time when Thuban was the pole star around 2700 BC, there were actually TWO pole stars - Thuban and 10 Draconis (the Nobleman star 天乙贵人):

"Indeed, there were not one, but TWO pole stars, though the other one, fifth magnitude (4.64) 10 Draconis, which lies just 1.4 degrees to the west of Thuban, is never mentioned alongside its far better known neighbor. And too bad, as of the two it may be the more interesting. If not, it certainly is the more colorful, a red giant that through binoculars or a wide field telescope contrasts very nicely with white Thuban... From a distance of 390 light years 10 Draconis shines with the light of 840 Suns, though the great majority of the radiation lies in the invisible infrared part of the spectrum."

This is so amazing to have had one of the most auspicious stars as the North Pole star, powerfully shining with the light of 840 suns! Even if its radiation is invisible, the beneficial effect of the Nobleman (Celestial Great One) star still reaches all of us.

Visiting the Tibetan Astrology Institute in Lhasa

Last September I visited Tibet with a group of friends. Our program was quite full, but I still managed to find some time in the last day in Lhasa to find and have a talk with the scholars of the Tibetan Astrology Institute, just 2-3 hours before my flight back to Shanghai.

The Tibetan Astrology Institute 西藏天文历算研究所  is part of Mentsekhang - the famous Tibetan Medicine Hospital in Lhasa. Mentsekhang (sman rtsis khang) literary means "Medicine and Astrology House", where 'sman' is medicine and 'rtsis' stands for  astrology and divination calculations. Astrology and medicine have always been very close together, considered by some as one whole body of knowledge. As the Tibetan saying goes, "‘In order to be a good physician, one has to be a minor astrologer, and in order to be a good astrologer, one has to be a minor physician". No wonder some of the greatest doctors in Tibetan history are born into families of astrologers.

There are twelve scholars working at the Tibetan Astrology Institute. Every month they have to prepare a meteorology forecast report for the whole Tibet area, which is then sent to the Meteorology Department of Tibet. This monthly report is highly prized by the meteorologists, because it surpasses in accuracy the modern scientific methods of meteorology forecast. It gives valuable information for the weather forecast for every day, including information for possible natural disasters that may occur in certain direction during the certain time of the month. 

The scholars of the Institute have predicted the Great 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in Wenchuan well long before it happened. One year earlier they have already sent their written report to the Meteorology Department, with all the specific information of the scale, direction and most possible location of this devastating earthquake. 

Astrological manuscript from Potala Palace, Lhasa

 One of the main current projects of the Institute is to collect all astrological manuscripts from monasteries from all over Tibet. 260 astrological manuscripts have been collected and scanned from Potala Palace for further research.

Every year the Tibetan Astrology Institute issues a Tibetan Almanac, which exceeds 200,000 copies annually. The Almanac is used in the Tibetan regions in China as well as in many other countries. It provides a valuable information for the farmers and other people of different spheres of life.

Last preparations and editing of he Tibetan almanac for 2014

Feeling thankful for the Tibetan almanac I got as a present 
from the Tibetan Astrology Institute

Calculation of the sun eclypse of 26 April 2013 (in the Tibetan almanac)

Tibetan astrology originates more than 2000 years ago. It incorporates three main astrological systems:
1. nagtsi 黑算 - "black calculations", based on the Chinese astrology and metaphysics
2. kartsi 白算 - "white calculations", based on the Indian astrological system Kalachakra Tantra.
3. local Tibetan astrological methods.

The principles of  Yin and Yang, five elements, 10 stems and 12 branches, the planets of the Solar system, rahu & ketu, Yi Jing 易经, 9-star ki, 28 constellations all are used in Tibetan astrology. A Tibetan system of symbolic stars 神煞 was developed as well. It is a complex method, which deserves more attention and research.

Yi Jing trigrams used in the Tibetan astrological manuscipts

Zodiac information for every month and day in 2013 (in the Tibetan almanac)

Information of 'luck' in the different aspects of life for the 12 zodiac signs (in the Tibetan almanac)

     It was a honour to talk with Mr. Tsetop - la, deputy director of the Tibetan Astrology Institute and a very kind and humble person.

  Mr. Tsetop-la  showing some old Tibetan manuscripts, which are using different metaphysical methods.

Tibetan sand tray board used for astrological calculations.

 The scholars of the Tibetan Astrology Institute are working on several interesting books, which would be available in both Tibetan and Chinese language. It's important to mention - they need financial support for their further publications, so any help in this regard will be appreciated.

Location of the main 14 stars in Zi Wei Dou Shu 紫微斗数

In Pole Star Astrology (Zi Wei Dou Shu 紫微斗数) there are 14 major stars. It's very interesting to see where is their location on the sky.

 Here is a simple chart, which I have used for my Zi Wei Dou Shu class some years ago:

 
And here are the proper names and positions of the 14 stars:

The Little Dipper constellation
The Pole star 紫微 - Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris)

Big Dipper constellation
Tan Lan 贪狼 --- Dubhe (Alpha Ursae Majoris)
Ju Men 巨门 --- Merak (Beta Ursae Majoris)
Lian Zhen 廉贞 --- Alioth (Epsilon Ursae Majoris)

Po Jun 破军 --- Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris)
Wu Qu 武曲 --- Mizar and Alcor (Zeta Ursae Majoris)

Sagittarius constellation ♐
Qi Sha 七杀 --- Polis (13 Mu Sagittarii)
Tian Xiang 天相 --- Kaus Borealis (Lambda Sagittarii)
Tian Tong 天同 --- (Phi Sagittarii)
Tian Ji天机 --- Nunki (Sigma Sagittarii)

Tian Liang 天梁 --- Hecatobolus (Tau Sagittarii)

Tian Fu 天府 --- Ascella (Zeta Sagittarii)  

Tai Yang 太阳 --- Sun 
Tai Yin太阴 --- Moon

Searching for the lost spirit of Chinese medicine

  

Searching for the Lost Original Spirit of Chinese Medicine 《寻回中医失落的元神》 by Pan Yi  潘毅 is a new book, which I found during my recent visit in Beijing.

The book is in Chinese and has two parts: the first one is on Yi Jing 易经 and Dao 道, and the second part - on symbols and phenomena 象 related to the concepts in Chinese medicine.

Pan Yi is a professor at the University of Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou. When in the 1990s he started teaching Chinese medicine classes to his students, he wanted to add more content beyond the textbooks, so he started reading Yi Jing (the Book of Changes) and other classics, and then found that the standardized content in the textbooks is very shallow and have lost the original way (Dao 道) and spirit of Chinese medicine.  The current textbooks are serving to accomodate the technical approach to modern science and make it easy for the students to pass the exams, however they don't reach the level of effective depth that is inherent to the classical Chinese medicine.

In this book Pan Yi has made a thorough study of  how the Yi Jing hexagrams and the principles of the five elements integrate with Chinese medicine, i.e. the characteristics of the inner organs, the properties of herbs, the making of herbal formulas and many other related topics, using examples and quotations from different classics.

I highly recommend Searching for the Lost Original Spirit of Chinese Medicine to all who are interested in the topics of Chinese medicine and Yi Jing.

Here is a link to the author's blog with the table of contents of the book in Chinese:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_9617bd9e0101ahdj.html