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@玉庐 has extensive experience interacting with folk practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This article summarizes some practical tips to help you quickly identify the abilities and character of folk TCM practitioners.
Original Link
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/hHlr9F2nmMnEP7gL2amLQA
Main Text
New readers, please read in advance 《Reading Instructions for This Public Account》 and 《Who Am I?》.
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Recently, because a certain famous folk TCM influencer was banned,
it has entangled a lot of unclear-interest farces
and made many TCM students, self-media, and even laypeople
once again see the true face of folk TCM.
One can only say that some things done by certain folk TCM practitioners
really keep refreshing your lowest limits of cognition again and again.
Some friends have been urging me to write about those matters concerning folk TCM,
but firstly, my heart didn’t really want to ride this hype,
and secondly, I was afraid that at this critical moment,
saying too much might get my account banned.
So I postponed writing for about a week.
In fact, the draft was almost completed.
I know everyone is very concerned about
which folk TCM practitioners are worth learning from and how to learn from them.
Therefore, today I am dedicating an issue
to talk about this problem
and teach you what to pay attention to before apprenticing under folk TCM practitioners.
Since I myself have come up this path,
I deeply understand
that for a beginner entering the door of TCM,
wanting to continuously advance medical skills,
especially aiming to walk on the “bright path,”
is very difficult.
This circle is a mix of good and bad,
you could even say “fish and shrimp mixed together.”
If you act rashly:
First, let’s talk about the most fundamental question:
Should you apprentice under a folk TCM practitioner?
Even though I verbally say every day that folk TCM practitioners are “fish and shrimp mixed,”
I still firmly support all TCM students to learn from folk TCM practitioners.
I won’t persuade you with lofty platitudes like “Among three people, there must be a teacher.”
I will tell you the following reasons:
- I am not a saint.
Although I speak critically about folk TCM practitioners,
you still have to discover
for yourselves what folk TCM practitioners are really like.
“No investigation, no right to speak”
is my consistent view
and I hope all readers will abide by it.
- University teachers at the undergraduate level are the last truly diligent teachers
willing to sincerely teach you whom you can meet.
But still, there are some things that cannot be learned in university life.
Many medical experiences and social experiences teachers cannot teach you.
Folk practitioners of TCM can provide a relatively good environment
for you to learn these experiences.
Here I share a joke:
“Most employment guidance teachers themselves have never been employed.”
You should understand what this means.
- My evaluation of university TCM theory is
“full of holes but still the best among the mediocre.”
Folk TCM practitioners may offer
some alternative theories, ideas, and perspectives
to help you fill the gaps in university TCM theory
and form your own unique theoretical system and clinical experience.
These things are your greatest assets.
Of course,
do not expect too much.
- The purpose of university education is “seeking stability,”
educating based on not making mistakes.
Folk TCM can tell you what benefits patients may get
or what risks you might bear
when mistakes happen.
After watching calm theater performances,
I also hope everyone can observe a tightrope walking show.
After all, some tightrope walking skills
are absolutely impossible to learn in the theater.
- At worst, even if this folk TCM practitioner knows nothing,
is just a lump of nonsense,
at least you can learn
communication skills with patients from them.
In other words,
if medical skills can be learned, then learn medical skills,
if no medical skills, then learn communication skills,
(which is basically the “buying” and “selling”
specialized terminology in folk physiognomy).
Even if you learn nothing else, you can still improve your confidence.
Everyone should be confident;
Most folk TCM practitioners are really poor in overall skill,
If even they can survive,
then students who study seriously will do even better.
As long as you learn their communication skills
and experience dealing with people,
you will definitely do better than them.
Having explained the basic principles,
let’s directly start talking about what conditions
you need to consider before apprenticing under folk TCM practitioners.
Note: The following ranking is in order of importance!!!
1. Character
This is the most important.
Interaction between people begins with character.
Medical skills are relatively secondary.
Even if this person knows nothing,
but has noble character,
you can still be their student or even friend.
On the contrary, if the person’s character is poor,
even if he has high medical skills,
he will look down on you and PUA you
(some university graduates are like this too,
not to mention folk TCM practitioners,
because most have the mentality of a “cult leader”).
Also, they may not teach you.
Studying under them is pure waste of time.
Why not look elsewhere?
Even wandering in the sea of medical literature
is more efficient than suffering around such people.
So how to identify a person’s character?
(**This identification method applies to all teachers,
whether university or folk,
whether graduate advisors or others**)
If this person is close to you
and easy to inquire about,
then try as much as possible to investigate from four directions:
1. The person’s colleagues or fellow apprentices
2. The person’s patients
3. The person’s teachers
4. The person’s other students (if any).
Ensure you have information from no fewer than two channels
telling you “this person has acceptable character.”
If this person is far away
or difficult to inquire about,
I recommend paying for an appointment to see them in person.
You can refuse medicine,
just experience their clinical habits
and observe the state of their students (if any).
Of course, if you can apprentice for free,
you can directly try.
Personal experience is better.
2. Cost
Yes, you read it correctly.
I put cost second only to character
because I know
all TCM students
are either poor, or treasure time, or both
(otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this public account).
Therefore, the chosen program must have very high cost performance.
Folk TCM practitioners roughly fall into these charging categories.
I will explain my scoring standards:
- Providing teaching free to TCM students,
or using indirect teaching methods like copying or memorizing classics or dispensing herbs
to provide teaching free to TCM students,
I give such folk TCM practitioners no less than 80 points.
- Providing paid teaching to TCM students
but exempting part of the fee,
making tuition cheaper than for social students,
I score these folk TCM practitioners between 60-90 points.
- Providing paid teaching to TCM students
with tuition equal to that of social students,
not willing to give discounts,
I score these folk TCM practitioners no more than 70 points.
- Providing paid teaching to social students
but using harsh methods to indirectly forbid TCM students from learning,
I generally think these people are either brainless or guilty
and not worth following.
At first glance, some readers might find this method
too rigid and inflexible.
But I still say,
“No investigation, no right to speak.”
If you don’t trust me,
you can pay folk TCM practitioners to learn and then compare with my experience.
Many folk TCM practitioners often train social students
and many social students are their patients.
They rely on this to gain favors
and under heavy flattery,
gradually develop a “cult leader” mentality.
From the first class, the fees are exorbitant;
Selling their teaching materials,
sometimes a thin booklet
costs hundreds.
(This can actually be reported to the authorities for illegal publication according to internet censorship laws.)
Their teaching attitude is often arrogant and condescending.
Sometimes the entire class is just
picking some medical cases for bragging,
while the truly teachable techniques
80% are clearly written in university textbooks.
Because of this, many university students
complain and want refunds during apprenticing with folk TCM,
which also makes many folk TCM practitioners unwilling to teach university students,
feeling like their work is being sabotaged.
Now I will introduce
how to identify the clinical skills of folk TCM.
3. Medical Skills
First, I need to be honest with everyone:
The basis of identifying folk TCM skills is still yourself
Why do many TCM novices and laypeople
willingly follow some obviously poor folk practitioners?
For example, some TCM influencer “XXX,”
or certain “XXX” from a certain province,
because their own foundation is too weak,
they are unaware of some basic medical knowledge,
nor do they know the average level of TCM and Western medicine in treating certain diseases in China.
Therefore, I suggest you,
before trying to learn from a folk practitioner,
first visit the teaching hospitals of various universities,
see the level of department chiefs and teachers,
they may not be very high in skill
because of overall scientific writing, research environment, etc.,
but at least you have a baseline in mind,
oh, this is roughly the level of teaching hospitals nowadays
oh, this is the average treatment effect of a certain disease in big hospitals.
And teaching hospitals are certainly free to learn from.
Then read related disease books more,
know how ancient people treated diseases,
what new discoveries modern people have made,
what improvements have been implemented,
learn about the latest techniques,
also read the latest guidelines,
see how foreign countries view this disease,
how this disease differs in different patients,
how treatment principles change accordingly.
Then you can apprentice.
Of course, you can also do these things while apprenticing.
Believe me,
this will be a huge improvement for you.
The premise is that
the folk practitioner you learn from
actually teaches techniques that can be applied (practical skills).
(This is the principle of this public account: techniques that can be applied.)
Nowadays many folk TCM practitioners
wrap themselves with various traditional culture and religion
and boast greatly in classes or clinics.
Especially some who talk about treating diseases before they occur and health preservation,
or Five Movements and Six Qi,
or feng shui and six lines divination, etc.
They explain theories thoroughly,
but fail to cure diseases.
That is all useless.
If it cannot be applied, no matter how metaphysical it is, it is useless.
You must remember,
you first and foremost learn real medical techniques,
then communication skills.
Of course, I have also met some
who use traditional culture to package themselves,
but the methods they use to treat diseases
are still the standard university teachings,
just with changed jargon.
Some massage practitioners claim origin from certain schools,
but secretly study foreign overall techniques and human anatomy.
I admire the intelligence of such people.
To be honest, these people are indeed worth learning from.
After confirming that this person actually offers applicable clinical skills,
then you can, during apprenticing,
tentatively ask the folk practitioner some questions.
For example, when the folk practitioner is bragging loudly,
you can catch some key points you know,
challenge and ask them to see if they really have real skills.
A more fierce trick is called “structural adjustment.”
Take a medical case the folk practitioner boasts about,
you slightly change one or two parameters.
For instance, if the case is a child,
ask how they would treat an elderly person with the same disease.
If a male patient came for consultation,
ask what to pay attention to if a female patient came.
If a patient has certain tongue or pulse signs,
ask what to do if the chief complaint and history remain unchanged,
but the tongue/pulse changes.
Or tongue/pulse remains the same,
but the chief complaint or history changes.
You can immediately judge the folk practitioner’s level.
A truly skilled master
answers logically,
how to handle A, how to handle B.
Then, those without skill might get angry and embarrassed,
rarely say “I don’t know.”
Those with high character are almost no longer folk practitioners.
Skilled readers here probably understand what I am asking.
Exactly, I am digging into their system.
Many folk TCM practitioners actually have no system.
They rely on some experience to deal with patients,
cheating ignorant novices.
Or although having a system,
it’s a variation of university theory,
just wrapping unexplainable parts with university theory
as their discoveries.
If you look at medical literature,
you should know
teaching a man to fish is better than giving him fish.
Individual pieces of experience can never be fully learned.
It’s like prescriptions in medical books,
which can never run out.
I admit many folk TCM skills
are ignored by university teachers and students
and are indeed effective.
But the most precious thing
is always system and theory,
which can be adjusted as needed.
Not simply knowing how to treat elderly people,
but not knowing how to treat children.
Knowing how to treat feet,
but not how to treat hands.
Denying system and theory
is equivalent to denying the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon),
since even this book
is a collection summarizing multiple medical systems.
Everyone must pay attention,
don’t be fooled by the idea that
“system doesn’t matter, experience doesn’t matter,”
“theory doesn’t matter, only effectiveness matters,”
which is just a way to cheat you.
You know many modern outstanding medical masters,
like the popular XX,
or the prolific author XXX,
although coming from folk TCM backgrounds,
their disciples secretly recruited
are genuine masters and doctors,
even many with Western medicine backgrounds,
with logic stronger than yours.
Their book writers are also real graduate students.
Their students seriously summarize their experiences
and systematically publish books.
If they did not value theory,
why publish books?
Why summarize experience?
If these words were not lip service,
all would be to cheat you for money.
To put it bluntly,
real capable folk TCM practitioners
have already started their own schools of thought.
The best among them even make universities pay respects to them
(I am talking about the XX school).
Only incompetent folk TCM practitioners keep singing “don’t care about theory.”
Because their butts can only sit here
and they can only rely on this for publicity to attract patients.
No power to do anything grander.
I hope all readers can see this clearly.
Finally, this part is a warning.
When you see the following promotional language from folk TCM practitioners,
please stay far away.
(This part is modified according to teacher Zhao’s lecture.)
-
Anyone directly promoting mysticism;
-
Anyone directly promoting supernatural powers;
-
Anyone asking you to do “yin-yang dual cultivation”
(regardless of language or theory decoration, as long as it essentially means physiological intercourse);
-
Anyone wanting you to “believe in them” rather than in the time-tested ancient sages;
-
Anyone claiming to have invented a new theory unknown for three or five thousand years, even to ancient sages;
-
Anyone anti-party or anti-society.
If you see these six points, just turn around and run,
because those are cults; reporting them guarantees a crackdown.
In closing,
this article can be said to be a labor of love,
more than four thousand words full of experiential advice,
with no falsehood whatsoever,
but it may still be incomplete due to the short time to write and revise.
If there are other additions, I may supplement in future articles.
If readers find it useful, please follow.
I especially suggest all readers bookmark this article.
You never know when you might need to identify a teacher.
If readers have other questions, feel free to leave a message backstage.