Touches in Wang Shu-he’s Mai Jing

Wang Shu-he (王叔和) collected and organized the medical classics and doctor’s discourse of pulse diagnosis before the Wei and Jin Dynasties, therefore compiled the first monograph of pulse diagnosis in the traditional Chinese medical history. For a novice at pulse diagnosis, the key to advancing his pulse diagnostic technique is to identify the many touches of pulse accurately. This study attempt to research the descriptions of touches in Mai Jing (脈經) from the angle of “bodily sense”, investigating how to diagnose physical state through decoding pulse messages, grasping the “tacit knowledge” (Michael Polanyi, 1966) in the pulse diagnosis technique.
The second chapter expounded that since traditional Chinese Physicians aimed to “ cure by prevention ”, pulse diagnosis was not only a technique used to cure the already ill into the healthy, but also have the capability of bettering common people’s physical and mental state therefore enabling them to continue the path of self improvement and enlightenment.
The third chapter aimed to research the corresponding relationship between pulse positions and the viscera, and how to use fingers to feel the pulse. In the fourth chapter, we will investigate the method in controlling the force to enable touching the pulse deeply or lightly, and will explain the physiological and pathological meaning of the pulse depth. In the fifth chapter, we will find how traditional Chinese physicians diagnose patient’s chills and fever in addition to the deficiency and excess from the pulse rate.