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Master Sa-Am was one of the Three Great Physicians of the Chosun Dynasty. But for 400 years, his Art of Acupuncture was forgotten. After meditating for 13 years in a cave, Sa-Am opened his mind's eye, and saw through to the core of Acupuncture's mystery. It is said that Master Sa-Am was either the Great Monk of Samyong Dang, or else his disciple. According to his only surviving clinical record, he claims to have cured in a single treatment a patient who had been suffering from an ailment for dozens of years. Yet, despite its wondrous power, the true principles behind Sa-Am Acupuncture's power was fated to remain hidden, without having the chance to see the light of day. 16 years since the resurfacing of the Master's Medicine, and now in the hands of over two thousand students of the Art, Sa-Am Acupuncture is at last receiving the attention of the public it deserves throughout the nation.

1. Conventional acupuncture observes the particularities of a given symptom, and then treats the ailment by affecting the meridian related to the symptom. Sa-Am Acupuncture differs from the conventional approach. Sa-Am Acupuncture treats and observes the patient as a holistic subject, and thus treats the ailment at the point of its real origin.

2. Sa-Am Acupuncture has proven that the meridians serve as the path by which the mind manifests its various dispositions. Sa-Am Acupuncture is essentially Mind Acupuncture.

3. In each of the Meridians there are sixty meridian conduits in which the particular characteristics of each of the Five Elements (Metal, Water, Earth, Wood, Fire) are concentrated. Sa-Am Acupuncture is effective because it treats only those sixty conduits.

4. Sa-Am Acupuncture is safe because it treats primarily those conduits which are found at the ends of the limbs, and at the elbows and below the knees.

5. Sa-Am Acupuncture is an acupunctural art unique to Korea.

6. Sa-Am Acupuncture has gone beyond the limitations of conventional acupuncture and has opened a new horizon of possibilities.

"Observe the rising and falling of emotions". Joy, anger, sorrow, delight, greed and fear.

Gh'm Oh, meaning 'Golden Crow', is the literary name of Dr. Kim Hong-Ghyoung, and was given to him by his Zen Master, Hye-Ahm. Gh'm Oh is the man through whose labors Sa-Am Acupuncture was resurrected in our time. Author of 12 books, many of which are now considered classics, Gh'm Oh is a master healer who puts into practice the insight that the mind is the ultimate seat of all ease and dis-eases. Sa-Am Acupuncture is a wondrous medical technique, and its powers are described in the text, Chim Gu Yo Gy l. However, the principle behind its theory was hidden behind a veil of mystery for 400 years.

In 1967, Kyoung-Hee University established the nation's first department of Han Medicine, and the young Gh'm Oh entered the department as its most outstanding student. However, the chaos of the times took its toll on his morale. Society held Han Medicine in low esteem. And while there was a case of a disk patient being cured using the Sa-Am technique, there was no way of securing an insight into the true nature of the science of Sa-Am Acupuncture. Struggling against despair, Gh'm Oh resolved to follow in the footsteps of the Master in order to obtain the real insight that founded the principle of Sa-Am technique.

In October of 1975, Gh'm Oh entered Song-Kwang Sa Temple, and lived as a monk for six months. Afterwards, for several years he roamed the country in search of men of wisdom from whom he might learn the I Ching and Zen. Gh'm Oh even studied under the great I Ching scholar, Master Ah-San. In leading the life of a roaming scholar, Gh'm Oh was able to broaden and deepen his understanding of medicine. And in 1983, Gh'm Oh was hired as a lecturer at Dongguk University's department of psychopathology. Gh'm Oh stressed that the way to Han Medicine was through observing the mind in its operation. He stressed the importance of spiritual disciplines as come down through the tradition of perennial philosophy and religion. Gh'm Oh minced no words in criticizing the curriculum then in practice, which was structured along the standards as established by Western Medicine. Friction with the school was unavoidable.

Around this time, Gh'm Oh became the disciple of Master Hye-Ahm who entered Nirvana at the age of 102, in May, 1985. Master Hye-Ahm was the direct spiritual heir in the Zen patriarchal lineage after Masters Gyoung-Huh and Mahn-Gong. Through his apprenticeship under Master Hye-Ahm, Gh'm Oh underwent the most radical experience of his life. While meditating on a koan, Gh'm Oh began to grasp the real principle behind Sa-Am Acupuncture. Gh'm Oh came to realize that without fully understanding the mind and its movements, one would not be able to cure any disease. Eventually, he was able to discover the relationship between the 12 meridians and the mind. And in 1984, he opened his private practice near Kwang-Hwa Mun. Master Hye-Ahm bestowed the clinic the name Shin Nong Baek Ch'o.

In December of 1984, Gh'm Oh began to share his insight into the fundamentals of Sa-Am Acupuncture with medical students. His 40-Day Lecture on Sa-Am Acupuncture was enormously influential. Students from every corner of the country came and packed his small clinic to hear his lectures. The crowding got so bad, many had to listen in the stairwell. Eventually, Gh'm Oh had to rent an empty school building so as to accomodate his growing audience. Over the years, Gh'm Oh has held 21 of the 40-Day Lectures, and still continues to hold one during every semester-break. Over 1,000 students have successfully finished the draconian 40-Day Lectures since its inception. Gh'm Oh's lectures do not end with words. When the 40-day period is over, Gh'm Oh takes his students on a national tour of volunteer service. The passion with which he continues to teach and serve is peerless in the field. The name Gh'm Oh has already secured itself a place of honor in the annals of medical history.

From an article in Magazine X, Kyoung-Hyang Shin Mun

Books written by Dr. Gh'm Oh Kim Hong-Ghyoung

Revolution in Eastern Medicine : An Introduction
Revolution in Eastern Medicine : Detailed Exposition
An Invitation to Eastern Medicine
Eastern Medicine : A Symposium
The New Classics
Health and the Book of Changes
Yes! No! Let Me Think About It...
The Legend of Gh'm Oh
Damn the X-Rays! Full Speed Ahead!
A Book of Songs : In the Key of Health
Memoirs of a Med Student
For 'S'

The system of meridians, the non-physical conduit by which Chi flows throughout the body, is called Gyong-Laak in traditional Eastern Medicine. In addition to Dokmek and Immek, there are 12 meridians. Gh'm Oh defines the meridians as the Mindpath. In modern times, the nature and the identity of the meridians came to be forgotten. The meridians remained merely as diagrams of Chi flow.

The name of one of the meridians piqued Gh'm Oh's curiosity. Su Tae m Pyae Gyong Laak. Hand Major-Yin Lung Meridian. Gh'm Oh focused on the strange names written next to the visceral organs: Gahn, Liver. Shim, Heart. Bee, Spleen. Pyae, Lungs. Shin, Kidneys. Major Yin. Minor Yin. Majestic Yin, Yang Brightness. Major Yang. Minor Yang. The six forms of Chi. The very key that would unlock the mystery of the meridians and open the door to the inner chambers of Sa-Am Acupuncture.

Gyong Laak is a matrix of Chi in six forms which are contained in twelve "vessels", known as the internal organs. Concentrating on the vessels, but forgetting about what they contain was the reason for the atrophy of modern acupuncturology. In order to recover the understanding of the function of the six forms of Chi, Gh'm Oh resorted to the I Ching, the Book of Changes, "the Indispensible" of Eastern philosophy and cosmology.

"The Ultimate Supreme begat Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang begat the Four Forms. And the Four Forms begat the Eight Trigrams."

Gh'm Oh systematically aligned the eight trigrams that form the basis of the system of the Book of Changes, with the six meridians, plus the Dokmek and the Immek.

Each of the eight trigrams has two sets of names. Reflecting the material world, the trigrams are called Heaven, Earth, Pond, Mountain, Water, Fire, Wind, and Lightening. The other set of names is G n, Tae, Li, Jin, Sohn, Gahm, Gahn, and Ghon. These names reflect the spiritual world.

The the system of the trigrams may be seen in terms of the structure of the written language. For example, the trigrams Tae(鷚), meaning 'joyous' and the trigram Gahn(忡), meaning 'to go astray'. Add the prefix for mind (裶), and you get respectively the character yol(緱), which means 'to be delighted'; and the character hahn(鸝), 'to be anguished'. The first refers to a mind open and positive in outlook, whereas the second refers to a mind in a negative disposition. Just as the trigrams reflect the state of the cosmos in relation to the mind at any given moment, the six meridians serve as the path by which the mind moves in its 'yea' and 'nay' with regard to the three aspects of the phenomenal world.

The three aspects of the phenomenal world in question are the very ones that came to a head in the intellectual history of the modern West with Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche: Property, Sexuality, and Power. In the East, the realm of desire was analysed by men like Yongsu Daesa who divided it into Attachment, Non-attachment, and Non-Attached Attachment. And Yi Jemah separated desire into Property, Sex, and Power. With the advances in the study of bio-rhythms, we now know that the life-cycle of the human being operates on three types of rhythm: physical, emotional, and intellectual.

The meridian matrix is what carries the energy produced by the mind as it assents and dissents in dealing with the phenomenal world. Negative and positive energies, described in terms of the three types of bio-rhythm, are: hunger and satiation; grief and affection; diffidence and confidence.

Man's primal and therefore primary desire is for clothing, food, and shelter. The feeling of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with regard to meeting the basic needs is carried by the Major Yin and Yang Brightness Meridians. Secondary desire is for sexual and aesthetical gratification. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction with regard to this desire are carried by the Minor Yin and Major Yang Meridians. Tertiary desire is the desire for honors, fame, power, and knowledge. The degree of satisfaction here is carried by the Majestic Yin and Minor Yang Meridians.

The six forms of Chi perform a function in the physical world as well as in the mental. Major Yin, Yang Brightness, Minor Yin, Major Yang, Majestic Yin, Minor Yang can be paired with Moistness, Aridity, Warmth, Coolness, Wind, and Lightening, respectively. All the colors, sounds, odors, and tastes in the universe are modulated on a shared system of rhythm. And each of the rhythms has a direct influence on the meridians. The mind and the things of the world exist independently of each other no more than do anger and fire.

When one loves, one feels warm all over as the energy flows through Hand Minor-Yin Heart Meridian, which runs through the heart. Would a child who is feeling cold and unloved not feel better if his Minor Yin Meridian were to be boosted?

When one feels sexual excitement, one feels 'hot', and that sensation of desire is carried by the Minor Yin Meridian (Foot Minor-Yin Kidney Meridian). While the content - the six forms of Chi - may be the same as the heart in their disposition toward warmth, the vessel of the six Chi is different. In terms of the Five Phases Theory, the heart is related to Fire, but the kidneys are related to (Cold) Water.

Minor-Yin Heart Meridian may be described as a situation in which the Fire Chi is contained in the hot Fire Vessel. But with the Minor-Yin Kidney Meridian, we have a situation in which the Fire Chi is contained in the cold Water Vessel. Therefore, the Foot Minor-Yin Kidney Meridian is the conduit of that most subtle energy which will drive one to seek passionate pleasure no matter how much fear should accompany that seeking. The color of this meridian is burgundy: a mix between black, the color of fear, and red, the color of love.

Prior to Gh'm Oh's resurrection of Sa-Am Acupuncture, the study of the meridians focused solely on the related organs, that is to say, only the vessels of Chi. Thus, the science of acupuncture failed to see the relationship among the meridians in their connection to the organs under the sign of Water. In accordance with the Five Phases Theory, Water is the element in common between the Bladder and the Kidneys. However, the Bladder Meridian can be likened unto Water contained in a Water Vessel, whereas the Kidney Meridian contains both Water and Fire Chi's. Gh'm Oh's discovery of the interwovenness of the mind and the meridians was the central key that unlocked the mystery behind Sa-Am Acupuncture. Gh'm Oh's achievement lies in his ability to correctly observe the body's reactions to the interaction between the mind and the 12 meridians. The "chill" running up or down the spine when frightened; the placing of the hands on the hips when feeling belligerent and defiant; sticking up the thumb

when feeling confident and victorious, etc. These are some of the universal subconscious human behavior patterns that are deeply related to the position of the affected meridians.

Another discovery which resulted from Gh'm Oh's Mindpath Meridianology is called the 'Theory of Shimpo and Sahmcho'. The identity of an organ traditionally called Shimpo has caused and continues to cause unnecessary confusion and misunderstanding in Medicine. Because the name literally means 'heart membrane', it is translated as 'pericardium', and taught as such. But nothing could be more wrong. While the pericardium does exist, Shimpo has nothing to do with any physical membrane which wraps the heart. It is a non-physical organ, unavailable to anatomical scrutiny. So then, what is Shimpo? Resting his theory on the foundation of Buddhist epistemology, Gh'm Oh professes the importance of understanding the necessity of emptying the mind as much as filling it. What goes in, must go out. As with food, so with knowledge. Shimpo is defined then as the "storage for knowledge", and Sahmcho as the "duct of oblivion".

Recently, Gh'm Oh has successfully explained the remaining variables of Sa-Am Acupuncture by systematically categorizing the 60 arteries into the meridian systems. At last, after 400 years of silence, Sa-Am Acupuncture is ready to speak the truth it holds.