by Bob Flaws

Anyone who has ever taken a class with me has probably heard me say, "Mastery is always mastery of the basics." This is so, so true. Unfortunately, this truth is rarely accepted and acted on, which of course, is why true masters are few and far between. Whatever is the beginning or foundation of any art or skill is always the most important thing. When building a skyscraper, if the foundation is firm and true, the upper stories can reach the sky. But, if the foundation is shaky or "off," the building will eventually collapse or be unusable.

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As beginners of any new practice, we tend to have lofty goals which we are in a rush to achieve. We want to get to the top of whatever it is, and the quicker the better. We think that the "good stuff" exists at the top, whether that be some high degree of black belt, a Ph.D., or other title or accolade. Further, no one likes being a beginner. It's typically frustrating and uncomfortable. We feel awkward, confused, and inept. Although our teachers, if they are good teachers, tell us how important it is to lay a firm foundation in the basics, we want to achieve what we fantasize as higher levels and so we often rush over the basics thinking that they are less important than what's to come. This is what the vast majority of students of any art or skill do, and this is exactly why most practitioners of any art or skill are only mediocre at best.

If you've ever studied a Chinese martial art, you've probably been asked to repeat a few basic punches, blocks, and kicks thousands of times per day, and, frankly, such repetitive practice is boring and tedious. However, it is exactly that repetition that hard-wires the moves into your nerves and muscles. If you skip over such repetitive practice, rushing on to some more esoteric, higher form or set, you might fool the uninitiated, but you'll never fool a real master. One look and the master can see your punches lack focus, power, speed, and, ironically, naturalness or spontaneity. Similarly, when learning Chinese calligraphy or painting, you are typically required to practice a few basic strokes thousands of time per day, over and over and over again.

It's the same thing with Chinese medicine. We learn, or at least are asked to learn, all the most important facts of this medicine in our first year of school, if not the first semester. However, in my experience teaching Chinese medicine over the last 20 years, few Western students really learn this material the way it is meant to be learned in Asia. In Asia, there is an emphasis on rote learning and memorization. Unfortunately, here in the West, recent generations have come to look down on rote learning and memorization. We say that these kinds of activities are not "creative," but what I really think we mean is that they are not fun and that they are hard work. We have become a society of instant gratification and permissiveness, and, to put it bluntly, we have grown soft and lazy. So we satisfy ourselves and, unfortunately, too many of our teachers with hazy general concepts voiced in imprecise language as opposed to memorized standard facts using correct professional terminology. We love to spin our mental wheels and talk about esoteric theories and practices. Yet all too often, we lack a firm foundation in the basics.

In Western academe, beginners are typically called freshmen, those who are fresh or new to the study. Second year students are then called sophomores. Sophomore is Greek for "wise fool." It describes a person who has moved on to the second level or stage of their study and thinks they know more than they really do. Because of the permissiveness of too many of our schools, both Chinese medical and general at large, most Westerners never get any further than being sophomores.

I see this tendency all the time on various on-line forums, and I am confronted with this phenomenon live when I teach. Students and practitioners alike all too often try to "reinvent the wheel," looking for some hidden, esoteric knowledge they think will make them a master. We think that somehow we know better than more than 100 generations of Chinese doctors. Chinese medicine as it exists today is the evolution of 2,500 years of thought and practice. Over that time, there has been a constant positing and winnowing of ideas and techniques, all the time seeing what really works and what doesn't in clinical practice. In that sense, Chinese medicine has never been any better than it is today.

In my experience, true mastery of Chinese medicine is not based on any hidden or forgotten ideas or techniques. Rather it is knowing the basics so well that one can actually think and act creatively within this system. A common genre of Chinese journal article is Prof. So-and-so's "knowledge based on experience" in the treatment of this or that disease. These are typically the lead articles in Chinese journals, and the "old doctors" or professors tend to have 30, 40, 50, and even 60 years clinical experience. When I read these articles, I am not struck by some esoteric, formerly hidden and now rediscovered pieces of information. Rather, I am struck by the professors' use of well-known basic facts in a creative and clinically effective way. Chinese medical "sophomores" may dismiss such articles, thinking that there's nothing new or special contained in them. However, these articles are the creme de la creme of contemporary Chinese medicine and they always exemplify how "mastery is always mastery of the basics."

So, what to do if you now recognize that you rushed through your basic classes and that you don't really know your basics the way you should? (Believe me, I did this myself, and I didn't "wake up" until I had been in practice for 10 years. If you don't believe me, read anything I wrote during the 1980s -- all sophomoric crap.) Simply start over again at the beginning and really memorize each and every basic fact until you can spit it out verbatim at the drop of a hat. You really don't know what you think you know until you can verbalize it out loud. Recite these facts over and over and over again, just like a Chinese martial artist practicing his or her punches or a calligrapher practicing basic strokes. I absolutely guarantee you that the more you do this, the better you will understand and practice Chinese medicine. "Mastery is always mastery of the basics."

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