Humming with Elephants: A Translation and Discussion of the “Great Treatise on the Resonant Manifestations of Yīn and Yáng”
Adams Parker
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This book is a guide on how to fulfill our most basic human role of harmonizing Heaven and Earth from the perspective of classical Chinese medicine, offering a radically different way of looking at, being in, and interacting with the world from the perspective of ancient Chinese medicine, philosophy, and cosmology. Dr. Wilms combines her elegant literal translations with a wide selection of medical commentaries and quotations from philosophical and cosmological texts, as well as her personal insights, based on three decades of sinological scholarship and many years of teaching Chinese medicine students. Intended as an introduction to authentic classical Chinese medicine and philosophy, it aims to translate ancient Asian wisdom on living in harmony with the universe for contemporary readers.
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The Great Treatise on the Resonant Manifestations of Yin and Yang”. Sabine Wilms just released what I consider to be a companion book to my own, “Humming With Elephants: The Great Treatise on the Resonant Manifestations of Yin and Yang”. I was honored when Sabine (who wrote the forward for my own book, “Returning to the Source”) asked me to write the forward, review the text, and write some case histories/commentaries for her own book. These two books were written concurrently, so there was a lot of back and forth on our two projects, like brother and sister books. Now that the book is in print, my perspective has changed; this book is simply a masterpiece of translation, design, and most importantly, inspiration. It is a fine example of what Sabine calls ‘macrocosmic medicine’ or 藥yao. I find reading the text, going back and forth from the Chinese text, to Sabine’s translation, to the commentaries to be healing in the truest sense. While I am, of course, biased by my friendship with the author, and my collaboration on this text, I cannot recommend this book more highly. It is the perfect compliment and followup to my own text…
Yes and Yes. Sabine Wilms has given us a brilliant, lovingly translated exploration of the Chinese medical classic, chapter five of the Huang Di Nei Jing text, one of the essential medical texts that lays out the fractal resonances of yin-yang-five-phase relationships. Sabine is careful to provide us with multi-dimensional explanations of classical Chinese terms and phrases, recognizing that context always matters. By adding commentaries from some of the great scholars through the ages, she deepens our understanding and helps round out our perspective of the concepts embedded in ideogram-based language. As she advises; “I encourage the reader to contemplate the potential meanings of the following pairings from a variety of angles instead of just reading them quickly. “Left and right” – is this a reference to the flow of yin and yang Qi in the human body? Or to the movement of the heavenly bodies, the rising and setting sun and moon in particular, from the perspective of the ruler facing south? The answer should always be yes and yes, and to innumerable other microcosms that we simply may not think of in the current moment.”Tai-chi master Cheng Man-ching, when asked if the arms should be heavy or light would always answer “Yes” with a big beaming grin on his face. This “ability-to-be-whole,” as Zhuangzi calls it, is akin to our own Uncle Walt’s “I am large, I contain multitudes.” It is this “yes and yes,” this capacity to contain multitudes, that produces the emergent properties of all self-organizing forms of life in nature. Their miraculous bian-hua transformation takes place at the edge of comfort and the edge of chaos, where life’s diversity burgeons forth. I think it is Sabine’s own experience as a farmer that brings her translations to life, making them accessible to us in clear poetic language that expresses the down-to-earth, life-affirming dao-process so precisely. Reading “Humming with Elephants” becomes a kind of spiritual practice, helping us heal by teaching us how to resonate with the wide world around us. This is what makes it such a treasure worth revisiting again and again whenever the practitioner/reader needs a lift of inspiration from the ancients in order to tap into the great potency for growth and creativity that comes “from a variety of angles instead of reading them quickly.” Take your time savoring this book and it will, as old Laozi says, “open your mind and fill your belly.”
A Great Treasure. Humming with Elephants: The Great Treatise on the Resonant Manifestations of Yīn & Yáng is a must have book for anyone currently in the field of acupuncture both students and seasoned practitioners; as well as those interested in knowing more about Chinese medicine, philosophy and cosmology. Sabine Wilms is one of the best translators we have today of Chinese medical texts. Humming with Elephants is a wonderful addition to her other translations which you can get at Happy Goat Productions. Humming with Elephants not only gives her beautifully translation of Sù Wèn chapter five (which is one of the most important and fundamental chapters on Chinese medical theory which lays out the principles of yīn yáng and wǔ xíng五行/ the five phases) but gives both a vast collection of commentaries by scholars and clinicians both historical and contemporary. This book is a true gift, and is worth reading over and over. So please buy this book for yourself and/or gift it to a friend/loved one/student of Chinese medicine as well as donate a copy (or two) to your school’s library….but buy it from her so that it supports her to translate more and put out more amazing books…
I really enjoyed reading this book-clear,precise and accessible. If you are a practitioner or Scholar of Chinese Medicine then you are going to love this book
Accessible translation of Su Wen Chapter 5. This has truly been a fun book to read. The translation is quite understandable and there are many explanations as to why the translator choose the words she did. She also provides many commentaries from various authors that elaborate and explain the concepts. The commentators are from different eras and as you sit with this book, it feels like they are in the room with you. Although I have been studying Chinese Medicine for many years, I have only recently delved into the Classics. This book gives me confidence to read other Classical Chinese Texts. I also look forward to reading Sabine Wilms other translations. A wonderful book to have on your shelf and review frequently.