A letter concerning the questions on pulse and tongue

tutor

Dear xx,
Now, let's discuss the questions.
1). The kidney meridian doesn't pass the wrist, but let's focus where we are taking the pulse, which meridian is involveed, I'm sure you know well of it, it's the lung meridian.
So, let's review the functions of lung, one of which, I think, is to dominate the Qi of the whole body, is that right?
Thus, it's apparent the Qi of kidney meridian could be manifestated through the lung meridian. So could the other meridians.

2). Personally I think to take the pulse, we do need all the long fingers to take it since there are 3 places for us to take.
Then, what would you do to place your fingers?
As the Guan position is in the middle, shall we use our little to take the Guan position? (joking)
Simply speaking, it's just the point of convenience, nothing really VERY mysterious.
Or, maybe there are some opinions related with the running or connecting of the flow of Qi in different meridians, that's quite possible, but I think the ordinary practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine don't need to understand them, maybe the Qigong practitioners could try to figer out by themselves.

3). Yes, you are right, it's not the gray or black tongue, it's the gray and black coating!!!
Indeed the exam asks the tongue coating, not the tongue proper!!!
I think something's gone wrong with your exam paper, mostly probably due to the email communication. I couldn't read the answer of this question very well, so I cleared it up.
Sometimes, the tongue could be looking dark-purplish, so maybe looks a bit gray, but we still say it's dark-purplish and would never say the tongue is gray. In any case, we wouldn't say the tongue is black, never.
So, I confirm that it's the gray or black coating, not the gray or black tongue.

Very few students have redone their exam for nearly nobody failed the exam.
So far as I have remembered, there have been only twice failures of the exam, the one is a young guy, he was not really interested in the study, but just bit curious about traditional Chinese medicine, and doubtlessly he's failed the exam, but he didn't take the second chance but gave up the study spontaneously. The other was a bit older lady, she was very interested in the study, but didn't quite understand the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine at the very beginning, so she's taken it for the second time, and of course passed it. Later, she did very well for the all the other exams.
There is no general examination at the end of the study, just twice for each course.

Hope my explanation is clear and reasonable to you.
Bye!
Best regards
Dr. xxxx



Hello Dr. xxxx

hope this letter finds you at your best,yes its been a while since I last tested or chated with you.
I went ahead and spent extra time on this section as I see its the important stuffs.
my last test was a dissapointment ,as I studied the meridians mostly and just didnt cover other areas as I have done with this first section
IM amaxed at the feast of info.since beginning my study it has changed many things in my life,I know pay more attention to, my diet,water consumptio sleep patterns,I really do practice obsevation of other people as well
each morning I wake up and read my tongue,this is great as a persons begins to reallly put the teachings to work,I still dont quite get the pulses,in theroyes ,but seems to be my week ness thus far.I do have a question about these pulses,one is why is there a kidney pulse on both wrist?also I dont understand how the kidney is palpated as it doesnt run thru the wrist,please do explain ,I also have the same question about thespleen being palpated on the wtist as well, another question is why do you place middle finger on the guan region first? and my last question is on this test of course b midterm the very last question in the test,ask to explain the tongue that has a grey and black color,should that not be grey and black coating? I only ask as I dont recall reading that there is a grey or blak tongue color, i do recall reading that there are grey and blak coats,just wondering,
so in closing just want to say I do love this study and feel like medboo has much to offer,sorry I didnt do my test last week I was just inspired to get a better grade,you take care hope to hear from you soon as well as find out what my score is,one more question? do people ever get the oppertunity to retest in the end? let me know.

respectfully,xx