Course B versus Course D pulse terminology

tutor

There seems to exist some inconsistency in the use of pulse terminology throughout the Medboo courses. Several pulses are mentioned in [b:8de02d8e45]Course D[/b:8de02d8e45] ([i:8de02d8e45]Therapeutics of Acupuncture and Moxibustion[/i:8de02d8e45]) which have not been explained in [b:8de02d8e45]Course B[/b:8de02d8e45] ([i:8de02d8e45]Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine[/i:8de02d8e45]). Those pulses are: [b:8de02d8e45]smooth[/b:8de02d8e45], [b:8de02d8e45]feeble[/b:8de02d8e45], [b:8de02d8e45]retarded[/b:8de02d8e45], [b:8de02d8e45]bounding[/b:8de02d8e45], and [b:8de02d8e45]forceless[/b:8de02d8e45].

While the [b:8de02d8e45]smooth[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse seems to be the same as the [b:8de02d8e45]rolling[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse (described in Course B as "[i:8de02d8e45]smooth and flowing like pearls rolling on a dish[/i:8de02d8e45]") and the [b:8de02d8e45]forceless[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse seems to correspond to the [b:8de02d8e45]pulse of deficiency type[/b:8de02d8e45] (explained in Course B as "[i:8de02d8e45]the general term for all the forceless pulses felt on the three regions at the three levels of pressure[/i:8de02d8e45]"), the correspondences between the other three pulses of Course D mentioned above and the pulses of Course B is not so clear to me, although it might, of course, be due to the fact that English is not my native language.

In any case, what does the [b:8de02d8e45]feeble[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse of Course D correspond to? Is it the same as the [b:8de02d8e45]hesitant[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse, or rather the same as the [b:8de02d8e45]weak[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse?

Is the [b:8de02d8e45]bounding[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse the same as the [b:8de02d8e45]surging[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse?

Is the [b:8de02d8e45]retarded[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse the same as the [b:8de02d8e45]slow[/b:8de02d8e45] pulse? If not, what the correspondences between the pulses of the Courses B and D are?

In addition to answering the above questions, I would appreciate it if you could indicate the Chinese ([i:8de02d8e45]Pinyin[/i:8de02d8e45]) names for the 16 pulses mentioned in Course B (as well as for the other pulses of Course D, if they are different from those of Course B), which would make it possible to understand the correspondences between the Medboo Course English TCM pulse terminology and the TCM terminology in other languages, which often use Chinese names for different pulses.

Thank you.

tutor

It is indeed a hard job for me!!!

For I don't have the Chinese version of the courses.

Just let me try best to figure them out.

[b:43f4bfcd84]Smooth[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse coud be the equivalent translation of [b:43f4bfcd84]rolling[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse, but it could also be an independent pulse known in Chinese as [b:43f4bfcd84]huan mai[/b:43f4bfcd84], juse meaning the pulse is smooth. As we know,[b:43f4bfcd84] rolling [/b:43f4bfcd84]pulse could be also an abnormal pulse, but [b:43f4bfcd84]smooth[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse is not abnormal at all.
Sometimes [b:43f4bfcd84]huan mai [/b:43f4bfcd84]indicates a [b:43f4bfcd84]slowish [/b:43f4bfcd84]pulse, be sure, slowish is not slow at all, but one does feel the pulse is slower. So at this moment, it is also translated as [b:43f4bfcd84]retarded[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse. Or, [b:43f4bfcd84]retarded[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse could be another way for [b:43f4bfcd84]slow[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse.

[b:43f4bfcd84]Feeble[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse might be referred to different situation, it could be the equivalent translation of the [b:43f4bfcd84]xu mai deficient type pulse[/b:43f4bfcd84], or it just means the pulse is very weak, it is hardly palpable.

[b:43f4bfcd84]Forceless[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse, as you said, can be the another way of translation for the [b:43f4bfcd84]xu mai[/b:43f4bfcd84].

[b:43f4bfcd84]Bouncing[/b:43f4bfcd84] pulse, herein, is most probably the equivalent for string[b:43f4bfcd84]-taut [/b:43f4bfcd84]pulse. I'm not quite sure.


I suggest you try to see what syndrome in the situation is, so you might figure out the pulse.

It's not so easy to translate traditional Chinese medicine into a foreign language. That's also why just about 20 years ago, the TCM practitioners in Europe would thought traditional Chinese medicine was no more in China for they had some wrong ideas that what we are practicing is far from the Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic, so they tried to blame us.
Later, it is clear, they had the wrong translation from the early priests in China, 200some years ago.

tutor

Dear tutor,

Thank you very much for your explanations, although I did think that you would know exactly what the text of the Medboo courses meant. Maybe David King could add something to your explanation?

As for the [b:a7c354dea0]smooth[/b:a7c354dea0] pulse, it could not probably be a translation for [b:a7c354dea0]huan mai[/b:a7c354dea0] in Course D, because, as you have mentioned, the latter "is not abnormal at all" and, according to the description of the [b:a7c354dea0]huan mai[/b:a7c354dea0] in the book of Dr. med. Klaus Schnorrenberger (considered one of the best TCM books in German), this pulse is neither big nor small, neither superficial nor deep, has approximately four pulse beats per breath, and is mostly seen in healthy people. The [b:a7c354dea0]smooth[/b:a7c354dea0] pulse in Course D, on the other hand, corresponds to phlegm-dampness syndrome (in Cough), excess syndrome (in Asthma, "the phlegm moves upward, blocking the airway and causes asthma"), accumulation of phlegm-dampness (in Amenorrhoea), and retention of food (in Abdominal pain), so it is clearly used there as a synonym of the [b:a7c354dea0]rolling[/b:a7c354dea0] pulse.

As for the [b:a7c354dea0]bounding[/b:a7c354dea0] (it is not called [b:a7c354dea0]bouncing[/b:a7c354dea0] in the text) pulse, it is only mentioned once in Course D under Sore throat, and corresponds to "heat in the lung and stomach" (bounding and rapid pulse), that is why I thought it was a synonym for the [b:a7c354dea0]surging[/b:a7c354dea0] pulse ("a surging pulse indicates excessive heat, and often occurs together with a rapid pulse"), and not for the [b:a7c354dea0]string-taut[/b:a7c354dea0] pulse, which "indicates disorders of the liver and gallbladder, painful syndromes, and phlegm and retained fluid" and seems not to be related to the "heat in the lung and stomach".

tutor

Dear Sergiy,
To tell the truth, even I could memorize everything in course D, sometimes I still couldn't make quite sure about the translation.

In China, everybody has his way of translating, so it's very hard.

In fact, I consulted several books for the translation of pulse, but there's no unified way of translation.

So, what I could do was to list more possibilities.

I know that's not the best way of solving the problem, but let's presume it's better than nothing.

Bounding or bouncing, there might be the misprinting, so in that case as you mentioned the sore throat, it coudl be neither the string-taut or the surging. For string-taut, it signifies the pain while for the surging, it denotes the heat.

Surging pulse is not frequently found, and mostly it occurs in high fever, so that's why I presumed it could be string-taut.