Mouko-rita—A Remedy for Everything

After reading this issue celebrating the long life of Shudo Denmei you may find that the phrase mouko-rita (忘己利他), or one
of its many English variations, is stuck in your head like a Beatles song. “Forget Self, Serve Others.” “Forget yourself, benefit
others.” “Forget Oneself, Profit Others.”

This ancient Buddhist remedy for society’s ailments was Shudo Denmei’s motto. He posted it on the sign outside his clinic,
sent it to friends in his own handwritten calligraphy, and planted it like a seed in everyday conversations: “Forget Self, Serve
Others” was his gentle, consistent, reminder of the way forward.

As Stephen Brown writes, “Beyond theory and approach to treatment, what was unique about Shudo Sensei’s teaching was
his placement of philosophy (practitioner’s spirit) front and centre.” Or as Jens Vanstraelen puts it more simply, “compassion
trumps technique.”

This is not what we might expect to hear from a contemporary journal of medicine borne of a society hungry for tools and
techniques. We do have tools, and techniques, but the message from Shudo Sensei, echoed by every one of our
contributors, is that we must align their use with the greater good, not only for our patients, but for society as a whole. This is
the medicine we need now more than ever.

Our tribute to Shudo Denmei begins with professor Katai Shu-ichi’s overview of his colleague’s unparalleled theoretical
contributions to our field over the past six decades. Then, from Shudo’s acolytes come deeply personal accounts, revealing
as much about the students as their teacher. Stephen Brown, possessing invaluable skills as an acupuncturist and native
speaker of Japanese and English, worked closely with Shudo for 40 years as a translator and champion of his approaches.
Mizutani Junji, who moved to Canada as a fledgling acupuncturist, broke his lengthy dependence on self-study after
attending a Shudo seminar in the US: this led ultimately to the birth of NAJOM, and a lifelong friendship. Takashima Masa-
aki and Seki Katsuyoshi chronicle the gritty process of their apprenticeship with a revered teacher. Ehrland Truitt places
self-treatment high on the list of lessons he learned from Shudo Denmei; Yamamoto Yuko writes of her affinity for Shudo’s
gentler treatment methods; and Jens Vanstraelen contemplates the ways we learn from our role models, including
“consciously or unconsciously – [taking] on their character traits and outlook on life.”

Each of these writers maintained a student-teacher relationship with Shudo Denmei that is uncommon in the West and
becoming increasingly so in the East. Whether or not they chose to fully adopt his signature style of acupuncture, whether
they met with him regularly or not, theirs were enduring connections that supported the cultivation of compassion, humility,
generosity, hard work, and trust in the teacher—ethical and moral qualities that can be distilled into Shudo’s motto, “Forget
Self, Serve Others.”

It is not incidental that these same qualities are infused into the classics of Oriental medicine underpinning Shudo’s
theoretical and clinical work.

His emphasis, particularly on Chapter 69 of the Nan Jing and five elements theory, inspired articles from several of our
regular NAJOM contributors. Peter Eckman writes about his and Shudo’s mutual fascination with Constitutional theory. Mark
Petruzzi walks us through a seminar, live-streamed by Shudo, then aged 91, on the treatment of visceral imbalances.
Takahashi Daiki honours Shudo in his 33 rd NAJOM article, “Shakuju Theory and Nanjing Chapter 69.” Pamela Ferguson
presents a host of colourful ways to teach five elements theory, and Eric Michaelsen innovatively combines Chapter 69 and
Bazi (birth) charts to facilitate diagnosis.

As NAJOM 97 reveals, Shudo Denmei’s legacy as one of the greatest teachers of our time will endure in countless ways,
but first and foremost in the values he has instilled in practitioners worldwide. This passing of the torch is intrinsic to our
medicine, and can be seen even as we shift our attention to other TJM methods covered in this issue — by Oran Kivity (with
Manaka’s eight extraordinary vessels), Thomas E Duckworth (Nakazono’s Kototoma Life Medicine), Komatsu Hiroaki
(Hashimoto’s Sotai), Stephen Brown (Tamai Tenpeki’s Shiatsu Ho), Tomita Yoshifumi (Yamamoto’s New Scalp Acupuncture),
Faruk Sahin (Y Zhang’s ECIWO system), and Michael Max (Petruzzi and Dann’s Qi, Blood, and Fluids). Also, in this year’s
Moxafrica Report, where we see Yuki Itaya and her colleagues in Durban, South Africa, training “moxa captains” in the
provision of basic moxibustion and ear-seed protocols to ease the daily lives of fellow street residents.

All of this leads us to our theme for NAJOM 98: The student-teacher relationship in a world permeated by the internet
and AI. How do we learn in this new age? Does faster access to more information help us, or confuse us? Are we less
inclined to meet in person with teachers and colleagues? What do you see as possibilities, costs, and cautions for this new
age? Deadline for submissions: September 1, but please send your proposals as soon as possible.

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忘己利他,
Cheryl Coull, editor