I also want to educate my students who can merge benefits from Eastern and Western medicines.
By David Park, Founder, South Baylo University
“Organs that work continuously until the end of life are Yin, and the other organs that work only needed are Yang. Like the lungs and the heart are keep on working to maintain life, and they are Yin and such as the stomach, the large intestine, and the small intestine work only under the condition for digestion. Otherwise, the digestive tract is not working, and they are Yang.”
An explanation of Yin and Yang organs from ‘Fundamentals of Acupuncture for Us All.’ The famous book was first printed in 1936 in Korea, written by Cho, Hun Young(1900~1988). The author Cho, Hun Young, was an acupuncturist and politician, and he self-educated acupuncture theory. He also protested the Japanese government’s policy to disparage Korean acupuncture during the Japanese occupation (1910~1945). The book, ‘Fundamentals of Acupuncture for Us All’ is still considered the best book explaining acupuncture theory in modern natural language and Western scientific point of view.
During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese colonial government tried to educate Korean people that Korean acupuncture was not a scientific and old-fashioned skill full of a mixture of non-logical thinking and superstition. ‘Fundamentals of Acupuncture for Us All’ confronted head-on against the Japanese policy.
The best of Cho’s book is explained acupuncture theory in common and modern language to make people who do not have acupuncture background understand. The author made acupuncture theory easier by comparing it to Western medical science. The author emphasized that Eastern and Western medicines are all great and have their benefits, but the two medicines share one ultimate goal to preserve human life as free from illness and diseases. Due to the medicines deal with the same object, there should be ways for Eastern and Western medicines are in accordance.
As I found the South Baylor University and started giving lectures, it was tough to find textbooks for the English program students. It is not hard to find suitable books, but back then, it was not simple to find any.
It was hard but manageable for the operation of Korean and Chinese programs by inviting professors from Korea and China. But I could not find a professor or a single textbook for the education of acupuncture theory.
The book I introduce earlier, ‘Fundamentals of Acupuncture for Us All’ was a solution for my English program. I started to translate the text for my lecture and seemed the contents of the book were accepted as I planned.
I felt I need to have a more professional translation of the textbook that I had used for my English program. I traveled to visit Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea, which first started education acupuncture and herbal medicine in 1971 for a licensed acupuncturist in Korea. During a meeting with the school principal, I asked for help. Unfortunately, things were not done as I wanted. I failed to get help from Kyunghee University.
Five years later, of meeting with the school principal of Kyunghee University, acupuncture and herbal medicine related textbooks were started to be imported from Shanghai, China. I did not have a choice of using books from China. At that moment, it was not strange that Traditional Chinese Medicine represented and considered as all acupuncture and herbal medicine.
I felt something was wrong calling TCM as representing all acupuncture and herbal medicine. So I asked the acupuncture board for changing names from TCM to Oriental Medicine, which had a broader meaning. I tried to change the name of the medicine for ten years. Then, the name changed officially from TCM to Oriental Medicine. Laster, the name Oriental Medicine turned to the current term for acupuncture and herbal medicine as Asian Medicine.
It has been 43 years since I found South Baylor University. Things have been changed, and now I have more choices for textbooks for my students and hiring a professor. In the beginning, I had difficulties from professors from Korea and China. Because practicing environment and relating laws were different from here California. I tried hard to educate professors from Korea and China to inform my students to cope with laws and regulations of the California Acupuncture Board and culture in California.
Now, I have professors who graduated from South Baylo University and are lecturing courses in the school. Alumni professors and students seemed comfortable with each other, and they share a common culture.
I have achieved a lot more than I dreamed of 43 years ago. Recently, I have new goals to achieve. First, I would like to educate more students capable of merging merits from conventional medicine and traditional medicine. The second goal is that I would like to publish a textbook to introduce more in-depth knowledge of acupuncture and herbal medicine.
