Navigating through the sea of medicine

As acupuncturists, we all wish to provide quality treatment and patient satisfaction, and each time a patient praises our healing abilities it reaffirms our belief that we are doing something right. However, what makes a patient happy is not always our level of competence in meridian diagnosis, but also various interpersonal and esoteric skills that some tend to identify and cultivate better than others. In this article, I will speak about the patient-doctor connections as described in the classical theories of Chinese acupuncture. According to the early Confucian traditions, when doctors exercise compassion and benevolence, they can become not only successful healers but also restore faith in the medical field. This is why a doctor-scholar should embark upon a meticulous study of the classics, and as Chen Shi Gong advised: “learn the contents by heart and understand them with the eyes”. The Confucian ideas about benevolence, compassion and seeking deeper understanding, were also evide