|
THE NAME "WELLSPRING"
The name "WellSpring" came about after my friend
and calligraphy teacher Winston Ma presented me with some
beautifull calligraphy for my office (at the time, my future
office). He and another calligrapher friend had come up with
a Chinese name for my office, a name with allusions to classical
Chinese literature -
Hui Chun Tang
"Return Springtime Hall"
There is a classical phrase in Chinese that says, in essence,
that what a doctor should do is return or restore (Hui) Springtime
(Chun) to their patients. In attempting to translate it effectively
into English, the word "wellspring" came to mind,
and the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it started
to become:
1. It is a pun on the meaning of "hui chun",
well = healthy
spring = springtime
Thus "WellSpring" meaning "Healthy Springtime".
2. In classical Chinese/Daoist cosmology, which provides
the theoretical basis for Chinese medicine, the source of
all existence is sometimes discussed using a Chinese character
that is a picture of a spring of water emerging from a cliff
(yuan). The name WellSpring, in this sense, is evoking this
image of the mysterious source of all existence.
3. In one sense, all of the major acupuncture meridians start
at the tips of the fingers and toes and flow towards the head
and center of the body. The image of how Qi flows through
the channels is that of water bubbling up from a well, gradually
turning into a spring, then a stream, river, and finally collecting
at the elbows and knees in a deep pool or ocean. The first
two points on every channel are therefore called the "Well"
and "Spring" points.
4. Because of the relative scarcity of sounds in the Chinese
language, homophones and puns are very important. That is,
words are often used both due to their own meaning, and the
meanings of other words that are pronounced the same. Taking
the Chinese words for "'well" (jing) and "spring"
(ying), we can then look at other meanings of the phrase "jing
ying" :
"The acupuncture channels are thriving"
"the nutritive Qi that flows through the channels"
"Life Essence is abundant"
"Classical texts are abundant"
"glittering and translucent"
"brilliant and lustrous"
"to manage, to have control over, to carry through to
completion" ( a business, managing an illness, etc)
All of which are images and ideas I am happy to have associated
with WellSpring Acupuncture.
After telling my calligraphy teacher about translating "Hui
Chun Tang" as "WellSpring", he decided to come
up with an even more appropriate name in Chinese -
Jian Quan Tang
"Healthy (Jian) Wellspring (quan) Hall (tang)",
or, "Well Spring Hall", which still retains the
pun on "well". It is this name that is hanging inside
the entrance to Wellspring Acupuncture.
|
.jpg)
