I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 70 - 63: Nine Suns Eye-Refining Technique

If you ask which group in Huaxia knows the most about health preservation, it would undoubtedly be the Daoists.

These people spend their days studying how to live longer and better.

The health knowledge Lu Jiu knew growing up partly came from traditional Chinese medicine, and partly from the old man.

Before he went to university, he would visit the old man every day.

"Haha, talking about health preservation, let’s talk about eyes," the old man chuckled.

Oh!

This is good!

In recent years, the rate of myopia among children and adolescents in our country has been skyrocketing, increasing significantly with age.

In 2010, the report on national physical fitness monitoring by the General Administration of Sport of China showed that the myopia rate among Huaxia primary school students was 31.67%, 58.07% for middle school students, and 76.02% for high school students.

By 2014, the "National Student Physical Health Survey" by the Ministry of Education indicated that the poor vision detection rate among Huaxia primary school students reached 45.71%, 74.36% for middle school students, and 83.28% for high school students.

Now it’s 2023, and Lu Jiu felt that the figures could only have gotten higher.

Such terrifying rates of myopia are essentially due to a severe depletion of life essence.

According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, there are generally three causes of myopia.

One is congenital myopia, where there is an insufficiency of life fire from birth, and an imbalance of the five viscera from the start. The second is damage to the five viscera due to dietary and lifestyle habits, leading to a deficiency of life essence. The third is organic changes in organs, like elongation of the eye axis, usually caused by excessive eye use.

The first is hard to resolve, as it is a problem from birth, even top traditional Chinese medicine practitioners can’t do much about it.

The second resembles what is currently known as pseudo-myopia, which usually returns to normal once the five viscera are regulated. However, many people choose to correct their vision with glasses at this stage, unaware that the cause of their myopia lies within their bodies.

The third is also quite troublesome, as excessive eye use damages the eyes, and consequently the five viscera, making it difficult for traditional Chinese medicine to treat.

Although the liver governs the eyes, a person’s ability to see is not solely dependent on the liver.

The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor, in the Spiritual Pivot, mentions: "The life essence of the five viscera all converge to the eyes, becoming its essence. The essence of bones forms the pupils, the essence of muscles forms the whites of the eyes, the essence of blood forms the webs, and the essence of their encasing forms the white eye, enveloping muscle essence to connect with the meridians."

This statement explains the connection between eye structure and the body’s five viscera. The liver governs the eye tissues, the heart governs the corners of the eyes, the spleen governs the eyelids, the lungs govern the whites of the eyes, the kidneys govern the pupils. These five viscera wrap and draw together the essence of muscles, bones, blood, and qi, merging with the eye’s meridians, enabling vision.

Moreover, the kidney stores essence, so damage to vision is most related to it.

This is similar to the phenomenon where people see darkness when they suddenly stand up after squatting for a long time, which can be understood as a temporary disconnection of qi and blood. The five viscera and the entire body’s qi and blood cannot supply the eyes. However, this situation usually resolves quickly and is not related to illness.

So declining vision cannot just be attributed to organic changes in the eyeball, as this view is quite incomplete.

Most myopia among children nowadays has little to do with genetics, and not much direct relation to excessive eye use either.

Many young people secretly play games at internet cafes from childhood, stay up all night often, sleep in class, and play sports after class. Yet when they go to college, they still have 5.0 vision.

Why is that?

An old saying goes, the kidney governs the bones, with strong bones, the ears are sharp and the eyes are bright.

Careful observation shows that active children, who love to run around every day, rarely have myopia, whereas children who stay home all day have extremely high rates of myopia.

Going out to play every day not only brings joy but avoids emotional accumulation in the body. When outside under the sun, the kidney qi is enhanced.

With both liver and kidney well-maintained, it’s like having an energy source in the body. In the Five Elements, water gives rise to wood, and wood gives rise to fire. With an abundance of water and wood, even if there are small issues with the other viscera, there won’t be major damage to the eyes.

Using a game metaphor, studying is like fighting battles in-game, while going out to play is like returning to a fountain to recover.

If all you know is to fight every day without recovering, wouldn’t you just end up losing?

Games can be restarted, but once the eyes are damaged, recovery becomes difficult.

At least Lu Jiu has never tried treating myopia, but according to traditional Chinese medicine theory, myopia is not an irreversible condition.

Unfortunately, many people are unaware of this and take children to vision correction institutions. To be honest, their effectiveness is truly limited.

Rather than spending money there, why not let children play more under the sun and exercise?

It relaxes the mood, strengthens the body, and prevents myopia. Why not?

"Quickly tell me, the best way to handle eyes that are already damaged!" Lu Jiu said.

The old man smiled, "My method is called Nine Yang Eye Refining, a cultivation technique that primarily uses the Yang Qi of the sun to maintain vision. Like in the current season, the sun rises around six, so you need to get up before six and be fully prepared to practice facing the sun."

Lu Jiu was surprised, "Facing the sun? Oh, right, the rising sun is not glaring."

Lu Jiu had been practicing the Eight Vajra Skills for many years, so he was quite familiar with the morning sun, he just didn’t react for a moment.

After all, the idea of not staring directly at the sun had become ingrained thinking.

The old man stood up with a smile and demonstrated while explaining, "After preparing, find an open place, rub your palms to heat them, and place them over your eyes, using your qi to perform the awakening action. After that, stand still with closed eyes, chanting the ’hei’ syllable nine times. Then rub your palms warm again, insert them upside down at the lower back, fingertips facing each other, thumbs pointing downward, look up and gaze at the sun."

Lu Jiu watched for a while, then put Xiao Tu aside and stood up to imitate the old man.

"After gazing at the sun, move your eyes around the upper eye socket in a clockwise direction for thirty-six times, then counterclockwise for another thirty-six times. After that, use a horizontal movement from left to right thirty-six times, and from top to bottom thirty-six times, not too fast, try to do it slowly. Once done, continue with horizontal movements, but this time from upper left to lower right, then from the upper right to lower left, each for thirty-six times, finally, focus on the sun for three minutes."

"That concludes the dynamic part, next is the static part, where we close the eyes for two to three minutes and focus the mind on the palms. After completing this half, we need to find a green plant, like a tree or grass, to replace the sun, and repeat the eye movements mentioned above. When finished, rub the palms over the ears up and down nine times and end the exercise, rubbing warm palms, left hand covering the forehead, right hand rubbing the back of the head, counting the yang number, as many times as you like."

"That’s the entire Nine Yang Eye Refining, practice it once or twice a day, but when the sun becomes glaring, stop practicing."

Lu Jiu tried it for a while just now, and he already felt tears in his eyes, "Old man, this cultivation technique makes the eyes so sore, it feels like the eyeballs are being squeezed out."

The old man laughed heartily, "You’ll get used to it."

Under the twilight, the old man’s eyes showed no hint of white, and the inky pupils shone with bright black light.

"Can you still practice when there is no sun?" Lu Jiu asked.

"Of course, the sun is merely obscured by clouds, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t risen," the old man replied.

"Alright, I’ll go back and study it thoroughly," Lu Jiu said while picking up Xiao Tu and bidding farewell to the old man.

The old man waved with a smile, watching Lu Jiu leave.

Lu Jiu knew the old man’s routine; this man truly rose with the sun and retired at sunset.

As for the Nine Yang Eye Refining he just learned, regardless of whether it is effective, he planned to practice it anyway. If it improves vision, that’s great. If not, it only wastes half an hour.

Some people spend entire days and nights on their mobile phones, aren’t they short of half an hour?

Saying there’s no time is nothing but laziness!