George Monkhouse LicAc MBAcC is a fully qualified and insured member of the British Acupuncture Council, the leading self-regulatory body for the practice of traditional acupuncture in the UK.

BAcC

Recommendations

"I initially consulted with George to regain post-operative full health from bowel cancer. During the period of care George has provided excellent advice, dietary care and acupuncture treatments which has radically reduced the amount of pain and improved my lifestyle."
- Brigid

"One of the secrets of George's success is his ability to listen carefully to his patient and then provide the best treatment as a result of this analysis."
- Alan

"I have consulted George on various occasions over the last two years receiving acupuncture to help with pain relief for long term osteo-arthritis. Sciatica was treated successfully after only two sessions. Although the pain relief may take a few hours to take effect there is instant relaxation followed by a general feeling of well being that lasts for days. I would and do happily recommend George's services."
- Maggie

Dao

‘The Way’; the True Nature of All Things

Acupuncture Dulwich

Dao pictogram

Dao (Taoism) is one of China’s three fundamental schools of thought (with Confucianism and Buddhism) and has been a guiding philosophy for many centuries. It is a tool by which one can come out of suffering. Chinese Medicine is a medical system established through the concept of dao.

Dao has many meanings, all of which are inadequate. Dao is the supreme source of all existence. It is similar to the concept of God except it is not a Being, it is beyond Being (actually it both is both Being and Non-Being simultaneously) – it is indefinable, omnipresent, omniscient, it contains everything and is contained in everything, it is beyond time and space; all concepts of dao are inadequate because they are only concepts. Only the dao is equal to itself.

However, devoted study allows momentary glimpses of it (until the mind attempts to define and interpret it), experiencing of it, and ultimately to merge with it.

The ancient Chinese sages practised ‘the Way’, the method by which to become like dao, and in so doing, to live out destiny.The ‘Great Physican’, the archetype of the perfected practitioner of medicine, incorporates the dao into his or her every action: in tune with the rhythms of nature and with his or her own true nature.

Daodejing – [also known as Tao Te Ching] (this translation is by Stephen Mitchell – translations differ wildly, this one was chosen as most resonant with the research) Chapter 1:

dao de jing

And Chapter 25:

dao de jing

Zhuangzi Chapter 2 (ancient Chinese classic, trans. Yutang 1942 p244):

zhuangzi

“Dao is the great mystery behind all phenomena” (Newell)

“The meaning conveyed by the character dao is the continuous

progression and unfolding of nature along its evolutionary path… we may comprehend dao as ‘the way one comes to see and understand oneself’.”

(L. Jarrett, Nourishing Destiny 1998 p6)

So we can say that dao is both everything and nothing simultaneously; nothing and infinite possibility.

—

Dao is the source of all creation, synonymous in many ways with God, and in Chapter 42 the Daodejing describes the process of creation in numerical form – the simplest way to express the process:

dao de jing

In order to understand what this means, we can turn to sacred geometry, but to first deepen your experience of dao, you can explore next the concepts of wuji and taiji.