What Does “San” Mean?

San is the Chinese word for three. It is written as three horizontal lines stack one on top of the other. In the old books of East Asian medicine, numbers had a special importance. They organized information, and in so doing, shaped a way of thinking.

The number 1 is Dao 道 “Way”. This is the unifying principle of reality, the way that all things are in nature. Dao is that water always runs downhill. Dao is that hot air hitting cold air generates wind. Dao is that the Earth cycles around the Sun and the stars rotate precisely through the night sky, year after year without wavering in their paths. Dao is that every living thing proceeds from birth to growth, to death, and then to birth again, a part of something new…