These courses are the recordings of Dr. Versluys’ monthly Canonical Salons which started in 2021. If you have missed previous blocks, or if you wish to catch up with the ongoing Salons by studying the past sessions, you may sign up for the salons at the bottom of this page. To sign up for the ongoing live salon, click the button below. The Salons are an ongoing series of webinars, occurring in monthly intervals, and exploring fundamental topics too deep and complex to investigate during regular seminars.

The popular practice of Qingtan 清談 was originated after the Han dynasty and involved a forum for lively discussion on philosophy and metaphysics in group setting. This is not too dissimilar from the Western tradition of the Salon, which is often defined as a ‘gathering of people, presided over by an inspiring host which allowed participants the opportunity to amuse one another while increasing their knowledge through conversation and debate’. These gatherings were popular in Renaissance Europe. And a similar format was popular in late 19th and early 20th century Chengdu. Dr. Tian Heming often attended and participated in such salons organized by his Shanghan peer Lu Zhuzhi盧鑄之. These meetings were attended by many great Shanghan masters of the time.

For the initial two years, the topics have been set to Canonical Formula Science. Some of the topics are:

Formula Architecture: Herb Combination peiwu
Formula Architecture: Herb Hierarchy jun cheng zuo shi
Formula Architecture: Neijing Seven Formula Structures qi fang
Formula Architecture: Three Classes of Formulas san pin
Herb Characteristics: Three Classes of Herbs san pin
Herb Characteristics: Thick, Thin, Qi, Flavor hou bo qi wei
Herb Characteristics: Ascending, Descending, Sinking, Floating sheng jiang chen fou
Herb Characteristics: Channel Tropism guijing
Herb Characteristics: Dosages liang

Please refer to the appropriate block of six sessions to learn about which topics are discussed.