Response to Does this match your experience?

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My article was a commentary on the English version of Li Shi-zhen.

The rapid/slow indications you were taught are the general classical

ones, found in the Li Shi-zhen. These are general indications and

descriptions for beginning students. The Chinese version of the Li

Shi-zhen was written in poetic verse for succinctness and easy

memorization. Unfortunately, that form is unrenderable in English,

which is why the Hoc Ku Huynh (Paradigm, 1985) and Bob Flaws (Blue

Poppy, 1998) versions are in prose. You should choose one of those

texts for your class. When the pulse range goes over 6 or below 3

consistantly, there are usually dire metabolic circumstances; hence

the warning. You would probably see them in the ER, not in your

office. Although you might see a speeding pulse (8 per breath) or a

racing pulse (7 per breath) in a woman about to give birth.

 

In any case, there's three important concepts underlying these

indications.

 

The first concept is that the reference is in relation to a resting

base line. While the heart has been known to beat over 200 times per

minute, you shouldn't see them in your office. You usually have

figure out the context of what is being said in the classics. They

may change their perspective and not indicate it. This is often the

case when two contradictory or unrelated statements appear together.

 

The second concept is that we never see a single type of pulse. Even

when there is a predominance of one type, it's always a mixture of at

least two. This is what is referred to by Li Shi-zhen as a composite

pulse.

 

The third concept is about the ratio of yang and yin. In a normal or

balanced pulse they should be about even. When yang and yin are in

such extreme ratio to each other, it means that there's is a danger

of yang and yin separating. That final separation is the moment of

death. Because there's so many variables in a living systems any one

indication may not be decisive.

 

You are correct about the classics not being the final authority on

reality. My article on the Li Shi-zhen points out some of

contradictions you'll also see throughout the classics. Often unclear

and contradictory, the classics are not nearly exhaustive on the

their subjects; and we should extend or modify their theories for

contemporary information. Also many things were left out. For

example, many of the pulses you want to observe in clinic are

communications between different organs, different levels, or

different positions, even when separated by space and/or time.

 

In the Dong Han system (a Korean system based on the classics), for

example, our basic model is to look at each position and divide it

into zang and fu. Then divide each of those into a cube of 27 sectors

(a 3-D rubic's cube). Then read in each of those sectors any of the

27 basic pulse types. At that level of detail most disorders have

their own characteristic pattern or " signature. " For example, from

the pulse alone, you can distinguish hypoglycemia from diabetes, or

observe breast cancer then check to see if it is metastasizing to the

lung.

 

What I'm teaching in my pulse class at CSTCM is simply how to employ

and combine the methods of the Nan Jing and Li Shi-zhen. Not just

only looking at 27 basic pulse shapes in each position but looking at

how each position can be divided into 5 levels (sometimes 10 levels).

Later, I hope to get into advanced topics.

 

 

James Ramholz