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Restoring the Chinese Calendar Li Fa and the Cosmic Breath Qi to the Real World A New Global Time System: The Stems and Branches Calendrical clock
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Dr. Rey Tiquia Technoscience Researcher University of Melbourne, Australia [email protected]
Abstract—In essence, the political demise of the traditional of various pre-modern traditional Chinese natural studies and Chinese calendar in 1911 fractured the “unified field of all exist- their corresponding practices including traditional Chinese ence” or metaphysics of pre-modern traditional Chinese natural medicine (TCM), chronoacupuncture, traditional Chinese studies and their corresponding practices including Traditional language, astronomy, calendrical-almanac studies, traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), chronoacupuncture, traditional Chi- Chinese painting, geomancy, organic farming, traditional nese language, astronomy, calendrical studies, geomancy feng Chinese sexual practices, ancient Chinese divination and shui, organic farming, traditional Chinese sexual practices fang traditional Chinese prognosticational systems of foretelling zhong shu, ancient Chinese divination zhan bu and traditional major climactic events (floods, droughts) epidemics, natural Chinese prognosticational systems of foretelling major climactic disasters like earthquakes, etc. events like floods, droughts, epidemics, earthquakes, etc. In the preface to his book, The Fabric of the Cosmos, Keywords—Stems and branches calendrical clock; cosmic Brian Greene observed that ―space and time capture the breath; reality; transmodernity; time zones imagination like no other scientific subject. For good reason, they form the arena of reality, the very fabric of the cosmos. I. INTRODUCTION Our entire existence—everything we do, think, and In essence, the political demise of the traditional Chinese experience—takes place in some region of space during some calendar and almanac in 1911 fractured the ―unified field of interval of time‖. 3 In this sense, we can say that the political all existence‖ or ―nature and humanity are one1 metaphysics2 demise of the Traditional Chinese Calendar and Almanac signalled the dawn of the era of modernity or modernisation in China.4 1. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/233936650_The_construction_of_a_ Modernity is a historical epoch characterised by the Chinesemedi- emergence of capitalism, industrialism, ratio-legal cal_lunisolar_calendar1_for_the_Southern_Hemisphere>Accessed. November 10, 2016 bureaucracies, and state control of military power and 2. According to Ian Coulter, metaphysics are ‗broad generalisations about the surveillance. Its cultural dimensions include discourses of nature of the world and are usually ontological (about the ultimate nature of rationality, scientism (―an uncritical faith in science‖) and reality). Unlike theories that try to make sense of observations, metaphysics progress through economic development, objectivity, and in are a priori in that they provide schemes in terms of which reality can be the field of medicine the culture of the randomised controlled approached before we even begin to think about theory. Examples of meta- trial (RCT). In his book, Cosmopolis the Hidden Agenda of physics in science include mechanism, dualism, realism, idealism, materialism and reductionism. These are all fundamental presuppositions whose truth or Modernity (1990), Stephen Toulmin aptly describes the falsehood cannot be established empirically through observation. They are also fundamental in the sense that the purpose of research done under their 66. Thomas Michael believes that the domain of metaphysics begins with the guidance is not to question or test these assumptions. To this extent, they are question of ontology: ‗what is there in the universe?‘ (minds? Bodies? Stuff? taken-for-granted guidelines for investigations. If they are challenged, it will Ghosts?Spirits?Angels?). It then asks the question of cosmogony: ‗whatever be through appeal to an alternative metaphysics. So for example, Descartes there is in the universe, how did it originate?‘ (Genesis? Brahma? Shunyata?). challenges the extreme notion of mechanism, and rescues mechanism by It finally asks the question of cosmology: ‗Whatever there is in the universe, establishing a dualism to deal with the order of the mind. Current chaos theory how do the pieces of it relate to each other?‘ (Mind body problem, how many challenges the metaphysic of determinacy.‘ According to Ian Coulter, Joseph angels dance on the head of the pin, reductionism). Theology adds a further Agassi in 1964 ‗proposed that metaphysics play a dominant role in working consideration with its soteriology: ‗Whatever there is in the universe, where out which scientific problems at any given time will be engaged with by sci- does it lead?‘ (Salvation or damnation? Utopia? Democracy, theocracy, or entists, a role given to paradigms in Thomas Kuhns (1962) theory‘. I. Coulter, socialism? T. Michael, The Pristine Dao: Metaphysics in Early Daoist Dis- ‗Integration and Paradigm Clash: The Practical Difficulties of Integrative course (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005), 6. Medicine‘, in The Mainstreaming of Complementary and Alternative Medi- 3 . Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos (Australia: Penguin Books, cine , ed. P. Tovey, G. Easthope and J. Adams (London: Routledge, 2004), 2004.ix) 103–21. Yan Fu (1854–1921) was one of the first generation of Chinese trans- 4. lators of European texts who used the Chinese term xing er shang 形⽽上 to https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311492235_Performing_the_Tradto translate Aristotle‘s metaphysics: R. Wang, YinYang: The Way of Heaven and al_Chinese_Language_and_Medicine_together_in_a_Transmodern_World Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Accessed: 28 January 2017.
1 | P a g e 978-1-5090-6435-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE Intelligent Systems Conference 2017 7-8 September 2017 | London, UK cosmology of ―High Modernity‖ as one ―which saw nature assumes the character of a ‗clotted assemblage‘, i.e., an and humanity as distinct and separate‖. This cosmology in obligatory passing node of various enterprises [Tiquia, 2015]. turn gave rise to the Cartesian credo of ―I think, therefore I am‖: which opened the way to the mechanical metaphysics or ―mechanism‖ which dichotomise the mind from the body, theory from practice, ‗heaven‘ from ‗man‘, ‗God the father‘ from ‗Mother Earth‘, ‗space‘ from ‗time‘ and a ‗gulf‘ or a ‗divide‘ between ‗people‘s expectations and their daily experiences of real life‘ [Tiquia, ― Paradigm,‖ 2015].
II. PERFORMATIVE PARADIGM OF THEORY-AS-PRACTICE I would like to suggest a way of ‗healing‘ this fractured metaphysics that separates the realm of ‗the abstracted theoretical world‘ (theory) from ‗the realm of the real world‘ (practice). In its place I propose the performative metaphysical paradigm of theory-as-practice. Taking this road can bring about the integration of humanity with nature; knowledge with action; mind with body; spirit with body; cause with effect, Fig. 1. Step-by-step Calligraphic Construction of the Chinese Script A sem- theory with practice and space with time. In addition, in this ‗unified field of existence‘, yin embraces yang, one element blage for the Chinese Word yi 醫 (Medicine) in 18 Strokes. embraces the other four elements/agents/phases and one trigram embraces the other seven trigrams of the Book of In many ways, the performance, representation or re- Change. In this way, the performance and mapping of the enactment of a transmodern world is similar to writing the cosmic breath in a four dimensional process which Chinese character in the sense that the Chinese script embeds encompasses the three spatial dimensions of length, breadth, a qi (the Life Force or Cosmic Breath or space time) which depth and the fourth dimension of time can be realised moves horizontally, vertically, slopes up, down and crosses in [Tiquia, 2015]. This view is similar to the concept of the accordance with a standard ordering to convey the right ―4D\block universe‖ (BU) in which the past, present, and meaning. In the Chinese language, writing the word yi future are all equally real. It is also referred to as ‗eternalism‘.5 (‗medicine‘) is practically ‗doing‘ it, bringing the actants in the assemblage6 to life stroke by stroke. From the ‗dot‘, the III. PERFORMING A TRANSMODERN WORLD inscription moves horizontally, vertically, crosses, slants downwards and upwards, and the agential figure comes to life At the present epoch of transmodernity where ‗modernity (please refer to Fig. 1). and its negated alterity co-realises themselves in the process of mutual creative fertilisation, a balanced and harmonious way In writing the Chinese script, this yang energetic qi of looking at the relationship between the realm of the abstract animates the yin actants in the assemblage to life stroke by theoretical world (theory) and the realm of the real world stroke. From the ‗dot‘, the inscription moves horizontally, (practice) is of utmost importance in the efficacious vertically, crosses, slants downwards and upwards, and the performance of the various pre-modern traditional Chinese natural studies and practices. Instead of separating the two realms, ‗theory‘ must be seen as embedded in these various 6. I see ‗assemblages‘ as a ‗medium‘ or intermediary through which ‗places, practices. ‗Theory‘ emerges, develops and standardises bodies, voices, skills, practices, technical devices, theories, social strategies practices. It is generated from the micro worlds, i.e., the and collective work‘ translate each other. Through this medium, translators, microcosmic nature worlds of these various traditional actors and actants ‗define‘ each other. If the mutual definition is satisfactory to each actants in an assemblage, then it can be considered a successful trans- Chinese natural studies. ‗Theory‘ will be seen as a lation. Otherwise it is a failure. [R. Tiquia, ―Traditional Chinese Medicine as standardisation of these various practices which in turn an Australian Tradition of Health Care‖, Ph.D. diss., University of Melbourne, standardises these practices. In this way, theory will be 2004, 83]. The term ‗assemblage‘ comes from the work of David Turnbull pictured as embedded in practice. Instead of a separated theory who saw it as an ―amalgam of places, bodies, voices, skills, practices, tech- and practice, there will be a connectedness, oneness between nical devices, theories, social strategies and collective work that together constitute technoscientific knowledge practices‖ [D. Turnbull, ― On With the theory and practice, i.e., theory-as-practice. Understood in this Motley: The Contingent Assemblage of Knowledge Spaces‖ (PhD diss., Uni- way, ‗theory‘ will become a logical extension, development versity of Melbourne , l996), 38-39]. It originated from the work of G. and standardisation of ‗practice‘. It will be transformed into a Deleuze, and F. Guatarri, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophre- standardised form of knowledge that connects locales and nia. (London:The Athlone Press, l987. An ‗assemblage' is a translation media achieves systematicity in the course of its development and upon which an equivalent version of an entity is rendered. It is made up of letters, characters, phonemes, ideograms, tongue, mouth, throat, teeth, pin yin, books, discrete signals, computers, the internet and so on. [R. Tiquia, ― Trans- lating Chinese and English languages as assemblages,‖ Poster presented at the LCNAU‘s (Languages and Cultures Network for Australian Universities) 5. inaugural Colloquium, held at the University of Melbourne in September https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226692771_Relativity_of_Simultan 2011. Poster availlable at http://www.lcnau.org/wp con- eity_and_Eternalism_In_Defense_of_the_Block_Universe Accessed 24 Janu- tent/uploads/2011/10/TIQUIA-Languages-asassemblages.pdf Accessed Feb- ary 2017. ruary 27, 2016.
2 | P a g e 978-1-5090-6435-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE Intelligent Systems Conference 2017 7-8 September 2017 | London, UK agential figure comes to life. In the words of Wang Jing Hui, a the planet, i.e., a Unified Field of All Existence. And this Chinese Taoist calligrapher who appeared in the American global sphere embraces all hemispheres of this planet, i.e., television documentary ‗The Mystery of Chi‘ is shown here in Einstein‘s ‗Unified Field of All Existence‘.12 Australia in l993: IV. YELLOW EMPEROR‘S DOCTRINE OF RELATIVE MOTION, When I write the Chinese script for ‗water‘ shui, I become EINSTEIN‘S THEORY OF RELATIVITY AND THE STEMS AND ‗water‘. As I wrote ‗water,‘ it was like swimming in ‗water‘. BRANCHES SEXAGENARY FLOW OF YEARS, LUNAR MONTHS, And in the words of the late Pierre Ryckmans, through the DAYS AND TWO-HOUR TIME PERIODS medium or agency of the ―conjuring power‘, i.e., the qi Mr. Zhou Zhi Hua, a Taiwanese traditional Chinese artist, transformational power of the Chinese ―written word‖, a calligrapher and acupuncture practitioner in the United States 7 ―living reality‖ comes about. as well as a former secretary of the late premier of Taiwan In similar fashion, the assemblages constituting a Jiang Qing Guo, in his book Acupuncture and Science (1977), transmodern world is formed and performed by modernity and compared the Yellow Emperor‘s doctrine of relative motion‘ is negated alterity or alter ego. Together, they encompass the xiangdui yundong and Albert Einstein‘s Theory of Relativity various traditional and indigenous traditional knowledge xiagndui lun. According to Mr. Zhou, in acupuncture, the systems in Asian societies (including the traditional Chinese notion of the sexagenary cycle liushi Jia Zi is often used. It is natural studies and practices) as they were confronted by the also referred to as ‗60-Year Cycle‘ liu shi hua jia or the ‗six realities of modernity, science, and biomedicine as European decimal mathematics‘ liushi jinwe de shuxue. Since ancient Western colonialism and imperialism crashed unto their times, the sexagenary cycle has been used to mark the passing shores at the turn of the 18th century.8 of years. The Yellow Emperor Huangdi mandated Da Nao to construct the Jia Zi (sexagenary cycle) which is a ‗harmonious According to Dr. David Turnbull, in his book, Masons, matching of space and time shijian yu kongjian de peihe‘. This Tricksters and Cartographers: Comparative Studies in the system makes use of the duodecimal (duodenary) shi er jinwei Sociology of Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge (2000), a Terrestrial Branches: Chinese scripts of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, transmodern world is performed as a synthesis of both Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai which mark the passing modernity and postmodernity but without the excesses of of time shijian and the decimal (denary) Heavenly Stems shi jin wei either. It is a ‗third space time‘9, i.e., a non-hegemonic, inter- of Heavenly Stems Chinese scripts of Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, active and shared yin and yang space time where different Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui to mark ‗spatiality‘ kongjian, i.e., the ‗points of knowledge traditions coexist in their performance.10 the compass‘ fang wei. Transmodernity displaces the linear (therefore non-cyclical Since the dawn of Chinese history, philosophers and sages and geographically enclosed timeline of Europe‘s myth of knew how to harmonise and match time and space. In the autogenesis with a planetary spatialisation (i.e., a planetary Western world, Hermann Minkowski in an address before a temporo-spatialisation) that includes principal players from all science conference in Cologne Germany in 1908, entitled parts of the globe11 which thus embraces all hemispheres of ‗Space and Time‘, for the first time pointed to the harmonisation and matching of the two (space and time) and which he referred to then as ‗The Four Dimensions of Space‘. 7. Not so long after, Einstein used Minkowski‘s theory to https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311737346_Restoring_the_Chinese expound on his theory of relativity. It was only then (during _Calendar_lifa_and_the_Cosmic_Breath_qi_in_the_Performance_of_a_Trans the 20th century) that Western scientific culture and modern_World Accessed: 28 January 2017.Also please refer to Simon Leys, civilisation came to be what it is now. To this day, Western Hall of Uselessnness Collected Essays . Collingwood, Vic.: Black Inc., 2012, classical geometry, i.e., the Euclidean geometry, is still limited ix. 8 to the three dimensional space. Astronomers still use and . http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/mai/files/2012/07/reytiquia.pdf Accessed: 28 January 2017. apply Euclidean geometry to calculate interstellar motion 9. David Turnbull quoting Enrique Dussel sees the ‗transmodern‘ as a histori- within the solar system. It was only after Einstein‘s theory of cal era where ‗modernity and its alterity co-realise themselves in the process relativity that cosmological research transcended the limits of of mutual creative fertilisation.‘ [D. Turnbull, Masons, Tricksters and Cartog- the solar system and looked at interstellar motion beyond the raphers Comparative Studies in the Sociology of Scientific and Indigenous solar system. Knowledge (Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000), 227.] Refer as well to R. Tiquia, ―The 1911 Revolution in China, The Chinese Calendar, The Imagi- Looking back into China since the dawn of history, as far nary Qi and Healing:Translating Li Fa into an Australian Chinese Calendar as looking at the issue of cosmology, cosmological and into an English Edition of the Northern Hemispherical Chinese Calen- dar‖, Chinese Studies 1:3 (2012): 23-36., 35. mathematical calculations all along has been 10. R. Tiquia, ―Constructing a non-hegemonic Interactive Space for Tradition- al Asian Medicine.‖ 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Associa- tion of Australia (ASAA), The Sebel. Melbourne, 1-3 July 2008]. This is to say that in a transmodern world, a symbiotic yinyang image of modernity and it‘s alterity or alter-ego comes about . 11. Linda Martín Alcoff, ―Enrique Dussel‘s Transmodernism‖, TRANS- MODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso- 12. Hispanic World, 1(3), 2012, 60-68, 63. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311737346_Restoring_the_Chinese http://escholarship.org/uc/item/58k9k17t?query=Enrique%20Dussel‘s%20Tra _Calendar_lifa_and_the_Cosmic_Breath_qi_in_the_Performance_of_a_Trans nsmodernism‖ Accessed November 10, 2016. modern_World Accessed: 28 January 2017.
3 | P a g e 978-1-5090-6435-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE Intelligent Systems Conference 2017 7-8 September 2017 | London, UK carried out proceeding from a ‗harmonisation and matching of space and time‘. In previous times, the cosmological perspective (in the West) saw the Earth as fixed, while the heavens are in motion. On the other hand, in (pre-modern) China, the earliest cosmological outlook was ‗the doctrine of relative motion‘. Chapter 67 ‗On The Great Discourse on the Motion of the Five Elements‘ of the ‗Basic Questions‘ volumes‘ Su Wen: Wuxing yunxing dalun of the Yellow Emperor‘s Inner Cannons stated: High above, the movement is towards the right side, while down below, the movement is towards the left side shangzhe you xing, xiazhe zuoxing.
This means that ‗heaven‘ ‗turns towards the right side‘ tian (a) xiang you zhuan (i.e., turns clockwise) while the planet earth ‗turns towards the left side‘ di xiang zuo zhuan yunxing. Chapter 67 also added: The planet Earth is located under humanity‘s feet and in the midst of the universe. What does it rely upon to stay there suspended? The atmosphere da qi13 keeps it afloat there. This means that the planet earth is encircled by the atmosphere or cosmic breath and is held up (by it) in the universe.
V. COMPARING THE SEXAGENARY CYCLE AND (b) THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY Now, we‘ll try to make a comparison between the basic concepts of the sexagenary cycle and the theory of relativity. First we will discuss the basic concepts of the Theory of Relativity. Fig. 2(a) shows a car moving along a street in a particular city locality. The dotted line A, B, C and D shows the pathways through which the car is moving. Evidently, the figure does not indicate the speed of the moving car. This is because of the fact that the factor of ‗time‘ has been overlooked.
(c) Fig. 2. (a) ‗Factor of time was overlooked‘ [Provenance: Zhou, Acupunc- ture and Science Zhenjiu yu Kexue , 19] (b). ‗Vertical graph A1, B2, C3 and D4 as line of motion showing speed of car (time)‘ [Provenance: Zhou, Acu- puncture and Science Zhenjiu yu Kexue, 19] (c). ―Horizontal line representing distance, while vertical line represents ‗time‘ ‖ [Provenance: Zhou, acupunc- 13. And this ‗atmosphere‘ or ‗air‘ or ‗cosmic breath‘ or ‗ the cyclical matter in ture and Science Zhenjiu yu Kexue, 20]. motion‘ in the athmosphere da qi wuzhi shili yuan yundong [Peng Ziyi, Yuan yundong de gu zhongyixue (Ancient Chinese medicine‘s concept of cyclical mo- If speed has to be made evident, then the time element has tion). Beijing: Zhongguo zhongyiyao chubanshe, 2007, Outline of Book,1] is to be included. We have to take a series of diagrams M1, M2, ―constituted by atoms‖ [Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, p. 92]. Atoms M3, and M4. On each diagram, on a piece of transparent are the basic unit of a chemical element. It is roundly -10 (-8) centimetre in diame- ter consisting of a tiny, dense, positively charged nucleus made up of neutrons and plastic sheet of paper, draw (as shown in Fig. 2(b)) a dot on protons, surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Each chemical A1 taking the M1 position (equivalent to what is indicated in element consists of atoms that possess a characteristic number of protons. Atoms Fig. 2(a); a dot on B2 taking the M2 position (equivalent to are held together in molecules by sharing electrons. A New Oxford American Dic- tionary].The concept of Chinese medicine and yoga philosophy of ‗life energy that what is indicated in Fig. 2(a)); a dot on C3 taking the M3 we inhale with air and energy circulation within the body‘ may perhaps represent a position (equivalent to what is indicated in Fig. 2(a)); a dot on flow of electrons through the body.‖ [ Boguslaw Lipinski et al, ― Biological Signif- D4 taking the position of M4 (equivalent to what is indicated icance of Piezoelectricity in Relation to Acupuncture, Hatha Yoga, osteopathic in Fig. 2(a)). Then place and fix these series of diagrams on a medicine and Action of Air Ions,‘ Medical Hypothesis, 3(1) 1977, 11].And as Prof. Kuo Gen Chen of the Dept. of Physics, Soochow University Taipei, ― all physio- frame stand with one sheet folded and piled on top of each logical and pathological phenomena can in some manner be viewed as an expres- other, with each sheet separated from each other for about an sion of characterstic distribution of resident electron over any volume of organ or inch (as an example). The vertical graph signifies ‗time‘. Then tissue mass‖ [Kuo Gen Chen, ―Applying Quantum Interference to EDST Medicine connect points A1, B2, C3 and D4. In this way, one can obtain Testing,‖ IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, May/June 1996]. the line of motion which represents the speed of the moving
4 | P a g e 978-1-5090-6435-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE Intelligent Systems Conference 2017 7-8 September 2017 | London, UK car. In the Theory of Relativity, this ‗line of motion‘ is Earth surface overlooks the spatial segment of the Celestial referred to as ‗the world line‘. This is shown in Fig. 2(c) as the Stem Bing, the clockwise flow of time shifts on to the Yin curving line linking dots A1, B2, C3 and D4 and E5. We can double-hour time period (3:00 am-5:00 am or 03:00-05:00). simplify this into what is shown in figures that horizontal line The planet earth‘s continuous clockwise rotational movement or graph illustrates ‗distance‘ while the vertical graph can be arrayed unto a matrix or table in such a way that the represents ‗time‘.14 relative connection between that certain ‗point‘ spot on the earth‘s surface (represented by the Celestial Stem) and that We now compare the Sexagenary Cycle liushi jiazi with longitudinal or meridian jing segment (which is represented by the Theory of Relativity. In Fig. 3, the ‗great circle‘ da yuan the 12 Terrestrial Branches) along the Celestial Sphere can be zhou represents the celestial sphere. Tian qiu. In accordance viewed clearly [Please refer to Cycle of Cathay matrix/table, with ‗cardinal points of direction‘ fang wei, the ‗great circle‘ below] (Table 1).15 is divided into 10 equal segments represented by the Heavenly Stems Chinese scripts of Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, TABLE I. A TABLE MATCHING STEMS AND BRANCHES TO FORM A Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui. The Planet Earth is within the SEXAGENARY SPACETIME CYCLE Celestial Sphere. Rotating on its own axis in one temporal cycle, the planet earth‘s rotation is segmented and represented by the twelve Terrestrial Branches Chinese scripts of of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai i.
Fig. 3. Comparison of Stem and Branch Sexagnary Cycle and Eisteins‘s theory of Relativity [Provenance: Zhou, Zhenjiu yu Kexue, 20].
The planet earth and the Celestial Sphere are in a state of relative motion xiang dui yundong. Exactly at the very moment when a certain point or spot on the surface of the planet earth overlooks the spatial longitudinal segment of the Heavenly Stem Jia, the time of the day is the Zi double-hour time period (or 11:00 pm-1:00 am or 23:00-01:00). And as that spot on the planet Earth surface faces the spatial longitudinal segment of the Celestial Stem Yi, the flow of time moves on to the Chou double-hour time period, (i.e., 1:00 am-3:00 am or 01:00-03:00). And when that point on the In another part of the book, Mr. Zhou Zhi Hua, aligned the Celestial Sphere, planet Earth and humanity together to create 14. Please take note of the ‗curvature‘ of the vertical line in Fig. 2(c). Ein- the triad of Heaven, Earth and Humanity or the ‗Nature and stein's general theory of relativity, published in 1915, extended the theory to Humanity are one‘ tian ren he yi metaphysics or the ‗unified accelerated motion and gravitation, which was treated as a curvature of the space-time continuum. See ―relativity‖ in New Oxford American Dictionary, edited by Stevenson, Angus, and Christine A. Lindberg.: Oxford University 15. R. Tiquia, ―The Paradigm of Theory-as-Practice: Traditional Chinese Nat- Press, 2010. http://oxford refer- ural Studies and the Performance of the Cosmic Breath qi in a New Global ence.com.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/view/10.1093/acref/9780195 accessed Octo- Spacetime System,‖ The Journal of The Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA), ber 31, 2015. Vol 47, 2015.
5 | P a g e 978-1-5090-6435-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE Intelligent Systems Conference 2017 7-8 September 2017 | London, UK field of all existence‘. Zhou wrote that with the person at the Celestial Stems gan and the 12 Earthly Branches zhi constitute centre, the Celestial Sphere moves around him/her. At the Zi a system of space time codes21 or symbols. He said: two hour time period (11:00 pm-1:00 am the following day), the person‘s nose tip is directed towards the Celestial Sphere‘s The celestial stems gan symbols are: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, longitudinal segment of Jia; at the Chou two hour time period Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui. While the terrestrial branches (1:00 pm-3:00 am) the person‘s nose tip is directed towards zhi are Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, the Celestial Sphere‘s Yi longitudinal segment; at the Yin two and Hai. The Gan [Stems] and Zhi [branches] are symbols or hour time period (3:00 pm-5:00 am) the person‘s nose tip is codes that the ancient people in China used to record the passing of time as well as one‘s spatial position (cardinal directed towards the Celestial Sphere‘s Bing longitudinal 22 segment. 16 In other words, space time is in the ‗nose‘ of the direction) in the universe ji shi he ji fangwei de fuhao. beholder (humans ) as well as in Heaven and Earth.17 In the Stems and Branches Calendrical Clock SBCC (Northern and Southern Hemispheres), yin embraces yang, VI. PERFORMING VARIOUS KNOWLEDGE TRADITIONS IN one element embraces the other four elements/agents/phases ACCORDANCE WITH THE STEMS AND BRANCHES CALENDRICAL and one trigram and hexagram embraces the other seven CLOCK trigrams and sixty three hexagrams of the Book of Changes; The Stems and Branches Calendrical Clock is a new global north embraces south, east embraces west, the heart-mind 23 space time system whereby the 60 (sexagenary) stems and embraces the body while the physical embraces the spiritual; branches‘ cyclical symbols representing the flow of the years, the 24-hour astronomical time system embraces the 24 sub lunar months, days and 12 double-hour time periods of the seasonal phases or solar term ershisige jieqi; the Gregorian traditional Chinese calendar are arrayed in tandem with the Calendar months embraces the sexagenary lunar months of the years, months and days of the Western Gregorian calendar and traditional Chinese calendar and the human endogenous the 24-hour system of Coordinated Universal Time, (Temps organ systems wu zang liu fu and their corresponding universel coordonné, abbreviated as UTC). merdian/acutract embrace the triad of the Earth, Heaven and Humanity tian di ren. In this way, the performance and In the paradigm of theory-as-practice, space time qi or mapping of the cosmic breath (qi) in a four-dimensional cosmic breath [Tiquia, ―Paradigm‖ 2015, 215] is ‗forever process encompasses the three spatial dimensions of length, flowing without beginning or end‘. And ‗traditionally, it is breadth, depth and the fourth dimension of time 24 can be customary for the Chinese people to use the Gan-Zhi (10 realised, i.e., the realisation of space embracing time. Celestial stems and 12 terrestrial branches) system‘18 to mark the passage of space time. There are 10 Heavenly stems shi ―The basic unit for measuring time is the second. The tian gan and 12 Earthly Branches shi er di zhi. An alternating second multiplied evenly by 60 gives us minutes, or by 3600 and sequential combination of the two sets of Chinese scripts gives us an hour. The length of days, and even years, is 25 make a cycle of 60 (sexagenary) lunar years, months, days and measured by the basic unit of time, the second.‖ The two-hour time periods in a day.19 Southern Hemisphere Calendrical Clock has two hands: a shorter hour hand as well as a longer second hand that both According to Thomas Michael, ‗time and space in early 20 turn in a counter-clockwise direction. This is the directional China tend more towards cyclicity than unilinearity‘ . In his flow of the motion and transformation ab initio of space time master‘s degree thesis (2004), Li Shao Yao from Taiwan Xuan qi in the Southern Hemisphere [Tiquia, ―Paradigm‖, 212]. To Zang Institute of Humanities and Culture argued that the 10 complete an hourly cycle, the longer second hand of the SHCC has to move round the clock in a counter-clockwise direction in 3600 seconds <
6 | P a g e 978-1-5090-6435-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE Intelligent Systems Conference 2017 7-8 September 2017 | London, UK hour and a second hand that move in a clockwise direction. version29 of the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time i.e. temps This is the directional flow of the motion and transformation universel coordonne).30 ab initio of space time qi in the Northern Hemisphere. This sequence is used to explain the principle of space time qi For the years 2016 and 2017, I have manually translated motion and transformation in the Northern Hemisphere and transcribed data on the years nian, lunar months yue, universe yuzhou and was the basis for the development of the days ri, and the 12 two-hour time periods shi chen of the Chinese calendar in the Northern Hemispherical region of traditional Chinese sexagenary time system on to my personal China.26 To complete an hourly cycle, the longer second hand computer Google Calendar with its settings fixed on GMT+ of the NHCC has to move round the clock in a clockwise 11:00 AEST Melbourne, State of Victoria, Australia. Now, I direction in 3600 seconds am proposing to extend this to all time zones in all <
29. Digital |ˈdɪdʒɪt(ə)l| adjective 1 (of signals or data) expressed as series of the digits 0 and 1, typically represented by values of a physical quantity such as voltage or magnetic polarization. Often contrasted with analogue.• relating to, using, or storing data or information in the form of digital signals: digital TV | a digital recording.• involving or relating to the use of computer technology: the digital revolution. 2 (of a clock or watch) showing the time by means of displayed digits rather than hands or a pointer. Three relating to a finger or fingers. ORIGIN: late 15th century: from Latin digitalis, from digitus „finger, toe‟. [Angus Stevenson and Christine A. Lindberg (eds) New zOxford Ameri- can Dictionary Oxford University Press, 2010.Accessed November 10, 2016. http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/search?source=%2F1 0.1093%2Facref%2F9780195392883.001.0001%2Facref- 9780195392883&q=digital. 30. The system of ‗Coordinated Universal Time‘ (UTC) has now replaced 26. Jou Tsung-Hwa, The Dao of Taijiquan Way to Rejuvenation, ed. Sharon Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). With UTC, time (in various spatial zones on Rose and Loretta Wollering (Scottdale, Ariz: Tai Chi Foundation, 2002), 119. earth) is coordinated or synchronised well within 100 nanoseconds or 100 27. R. Tiquia, ― Constructing and Performing a Yinyang ChinaWorld,‖ paper billionths of a second. Time is synchronised or coordinated through a network presented before the Chinese Studies Research Group (CSRG) Research Day of 24 satellites that emit signals as they ―orbit the earth at the height of 20,200 Conference ‗Local, National and Transnational : Interpreting China on Multi- km in six fixed planes inclined 55 from the equator. The orbital period is 11 h ple Scales‘20th November 2015, Yasuko Hiraoka Room, Sidney Myer Asia 58 min, which means that a satellite will orbit the earth twice per day‖. A GPS Centre, University of Melbourne. (Global Positioning System) transceiver (mobile phone, computer) receive 28. ― The binary numeral system, or base-2 system , represents numeric values these signals from the satellites which then specify its position with an uncer- using two symbols, ‗0‘ and ‗1‘…Owing to its straightforward implementation tainty of <10 meters [Lombardi, M. A., Nelson, L. M., Novick, A. N., & in digital circuitry using logic gates, the binary system is used internally by all Zhang, V. S. (2001). Time and frequency measurements using the global modern computers.‖ ―Binary numeral System‖ Accessed November 10, 2016. positioning system. Paper Presented at the Measurement Science Conference, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_number. A Walk Through Time. http://www.nist.gov/pml/general/time/index.cfm]
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HRONOACUPUNCTURE APPING DING WEI OF THE the cosmic breath qi along the human meridians/acutracts of VII.C M 32 COSMIC BREATH QI FLOW IN VARIOUS TIME ZONES OF THE the human body. WORLD VIII. FUTURE WORK AND SCOPES In premodern Chinese philosophy, spatial positions or Having an eternalist performative metaphysical view of compass directions like north, south, east and western the universe (whereby the past, present, and future are all compass directions simultaneously indicate the temporalities equally seen as real), the Stems and Branches Calendrical of those particular space time positions or compass directions Clocks (Northern and Southern Hemispheres) are constructed. [Tiquia, 2012]. In Section V of this paper, we saw how Under their guidance, we can now surf the oceanic waves of Taiwanese acupuncturist Zhou Zhi Hua made an astronomical the cosmic breath qi and in the process bridge the gulf division of the celestial sphere into ten equidistant longitudinal between nature and humanity; body and mind; theory and segments. In order to enhance the precision of spatial practice; God the Father and Mother Earth; between people‘s measurements, we are now expanding the longitudinal expectations and their daily experiences of real life and more segments from 10 to 64 spacetime longitudinal sections. In importantly mind the gap between ‗space‘ and ‗time‘.33 this way, we can map with pinpoint or genomic nucleotide base accuracy the space time location of the flow and infusion REFERENCES liu zhu of the cosmic breath yang qi as it moves along the [1] I. Coulter, ‗Integration and Paradigm Clash: The Practical Difficulties of acupuncture meridian system of the yin human body Integrative Medicine‘, in The Mainstreaming of Complementary and Al- 31 ternative Medicine , ed. P. Tovey, G. Easthope and J. Adams (London: structure (please refer to Fig. 4). Routledge, 2004). [2] R. Wang, YinYang: The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2012). [3] T. Michael, The Pristine Dao: Metaphysics in Early Daoist Discourse (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005). [4] Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos (Australia: Penguin Books, 2004. [5] Simon Leys, Hall of Uselessnness Collected Essays (Collingwood, Vic.: Black Inc., 2012. [6] D. Turnbull, Masons, Tricksters and Cartographers Comparative Stud- ies in the Sociology of Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge (Harwood Academic Publishers. [7] D. Turnbull, ―On With the Motley: The Contingent Assemblage of Knowledge Spaces‖ (PhD diss., University of Melbourne , l996). [8] G. Deleuze, and F. Guatarri, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. (London: The Athlone Press, l987. [9] R. Tiquia,‘ The 1911 Revolution in China, The Chinese Calendar, The Imaginary Qi and Healing:Translating Li Fa into an Australian Chinese Calendar and into an English Edition of the Northern Hemispherical Chinese Calendar, Chinese Studies 1:3 (2012). [10] R. Tiquia, ‘Constructing a non-hegemonic Interactive Space for Tradi- Fig. 4. The 64 Spatio-temporal Longitudinal Sections of the DNA & Binary Yin tional Asian Medicine.‖ 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies ‗0‘ ______and Yang _____ ‗1‘ Qi [Provenance: Yang Li, (1992), Zhouyi yu Association of Australia (ASAA), The Sebel. Melbourne, 1-3 July 2008. Zhongyixue [The Book of Changes and traditional Chinese Medicine], Beijing: [11] Linda Martín Alcoff, ―Enrique Dussel‘s Transmodernism‖, TRANS- Bejing kexue jishu chubanshe, p. 516]. MODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso- Hispanic World, 1(3), 2012. As John S. Major, (former professor of history at [12] Peng Ziyi 彭字益, Yuan yundong de gu zhongyixue 圓運動的古中醫學 Dartmouth College, an independent scholar and writer and (Ancient Chinese medicine‘s concept of cyclical motion). Beijing: author of Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Zhongguo zhongyiyao chubanshe, 2007 Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi) stated in his general [13] Boguslaw Lipinski et al, ― Biological Significance of Piezoelectricity in introduction to early Han cosmology: Relation to Acupuncture, Hatha Yoga, osteopathic medicine and Action of Air Ions,‘ Medical Hypothesis, 3(1) 1977. ―Everything is made of qi. Qi is both a process and a [14] Kuo Gen Chen, ―Applying Quantum Interference to EDST Medicine substance, and comes into being as a concrete manifestation of Testing,‖ IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, May/June 1996. space time‖ [Major, 1993, 27]. [15] (2000) R. Tiquia, ―The Paradigm of Theory-as-Practice: Traditional Chinese Natural Studies and the Performance of the Cosmic Breath qi in Mapping chronoacupuncture acupoints is in reality a a New Global Spacetime System,‖ The Journal of The Oriental Society mapping of the spacetime location of the flow and infusion of of Australia (JOSA), Vol 47, 2015.
32. R. Tiquia, ― The Use of Chronoacupuncture and Chemotherapy in Treating Lung Cancer as Kesou (‗Cough‘) in Melbourne, Australia A ClinicRal Case 31. R. Tiquia, ― The Paradigm of Theory-as-Practice: TraditionalChinese Nat- Report,‖ (Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Advances in ural Studies and the Performance of the Cosmic Cancer Medical Research (ACMR 2013), Singapore, November 18-19, 2012, Breath qi in a New Global Spacetime System,‖ The Journal ofThe Oriental 19. Society of Australia, Vol 47, 2015, 223;226. 33. Tiquia, ―Paradigm‖, 229-230.
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[16] Zhou Zhi Hua‘s book Zhen jiu yu kexue [Acupuncture and science], ClinicRal Case Report,‖ (Proceedings of the 1st International Confer- Taipei: Palace Publishing Company, 1978. ence of Advances in Cancer Medical Research (ACMR 2013) . Singa- [17] Shu-hsien Liu, ―Time and Temporality: The Chinese Perspective‖, pore. November 18-19, 2012. Philosophy East and West 24:2(1974). [24] John S. Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought -Chapters [18] Li Shaoyao, Huangdi Neijing yunqixue yanjiu [Research on the Doctrine Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi, (Albany: State University of of Periods and Qi], Master‘s thesis, Centre for Religious Studies, Xuan New York Press, 1993). Zhuang Humanities Institute , Taiwan, 2004. AUTHORS PROFILE [19] James Jespersen and Jane Fritz-Randolph, From Sundials to Atomic Clocks Understanding Time and Frequency [Mineola: Dover Publica- Dr. Rey Tiquia is currently a technoscience researcher with the School of tions, 1999]. Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne. He is a quali- fied practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). He took his BA [20] Jou Tsung-Hwa, The Dao of Taijiquan Way to Rejuvenation, ed. Sharon degree from Manuel Luis Quezon University, Manila, Philippines, and his Rose and Loretta Wollering (Scottdale, Ariz: Tai Chi Foundation, 2002). MSc and Ph.D. degrees in History and Philosophy of Science from University [21] R. Tiquia, ―Constructing and Performing a Yinyang ChinaWorld,‖ paper of Melbourne, Australia. His dissertation was entitled, Traditional Chinese presented before the Chinese Studies Research Group (CSRG) Research Medicine as an Australian tradition of health care (2005) wherein he proposed Day Conference ‗Local, National and Transnational : Interpreting China the construction of a symmetrical translating knowledge space between tradi- on Multiple Scales‘20th November 2015, Yasuko Hiraoka Room, Sid- tional Chinese medicine and Western scientific medicine in Australia. He has ney Myer Asia Centre, University of Melbourne. lectured on the history and philosophy of TCM at both University of Mel- [22] Lombardi, M. A., Nelson, L. M., Novick, A. N., & Zhang, V. S., Time bourne and Victoria University of Technology. In 2000, the Wellcome Trust and frequency measurements using the global positioning sys- tem. Pa- invited him to facilitate a workshop for the Closed-Door Research Conference per Presented at the Measurement Science Conference, A Walk Through on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in London, UK. Since 1997, he Time, 2001. has been an Honorary Professor at Shanxi College of TCM, Taiyuan City, China. [23] R. Tiquia, ― The Use of Chronoacupuncture and Chemotherapy in Treat- ing Lung Cancer as Kesou (‗Cough‘) in Melbourne, Australia A
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