On Contradictions Between Chinese and Tibetan Pulse Diagnosis

Abstract

T he success of Chinese physicians, using the Chinese finger placement method on the radial artery, is well known as training in this art is taught throughout the United States, in acupuncture programs. This is a low-cost noninvasive diagnostic method sorely needed to balance the high-cost diagnostic tests performed in the United States, which often subject people to harmful radiation, exploratory surgery, or unnecessary procedures. There had been little advancement in treatment for healing in Occidental medicine.

During the 1970s, Yoshi Dhonden, the Dalai Lama's personal physician, came to New York three times and participated in a research project at the physician acupuncture training certification program seminars of Yoshiaki Omura, MD, DSc. His method and the Chinese method differed in finger placement, as noted in Dr. Omura's published book on Chinese medicine.

In 1985, Dr. Lobsang Rabgay, another Tibetan physician researcher, joined the International College workshop. The focus of this attempt was to test the Tibetan pulse diagnosis of organ representation points on the radial artery, as well as another finger-sensitive noninvasive diagnostic test, the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test. An independent physician wrote down the symptoms from a history of a patient who had depression. Dr. Rabgay had no knowledge of the patient. Using Tibetan pulse diagnosis, he was able to list 17 potential symptoms rather than establish a specific diagnosis. He was accurate on 12 of these symptoms. The results were excellent.

The B-Digital O-Ring Test was examined next. It showed abnormality at the back of the neck and top of the head. A blood pressure measurement on the supraorbital artery, using a head cuff and Doppler flow meter, indicated cephalic hypotension syndrome, with posterior cerebral arterial dysfunction, and cervical problems for which acupuncture induced a significant improvement.

Now, in 2012, an article from Chinese researchers attempts to specify the difference between a string pulse (hypertension) and from a weather-induced spring string pulse. The researchers build a robotic substitute hand to take away the subjectivity of the examiner, which presents a graph of pressure and time according to the various positions, three on left and right radial artery and three depths for each position. The subjects were (1) string pulses from heart hypertension, (2) spring string pulse, from weather conditions, and (3) a control group. This instrument tests from the Chinese modern placement position, proximal to the wrist crease. A difference was found between the string pulse and Spring string pulse on a graph display pattern.

Without a clear understanding of the various positions and organ locations in this scheme, this article is difficult to follow in the various organ representation finger pressure points. The main point, however, is that seasons are reflected in the pulse. This also shows the subtleties that Chinese physicians have found through the ages with pulse diagnosis.

The Tibetan placement position is 1 cm superior to the Chinese position on the wrist crease. If there are subtle differences between a location on the radial wrist of just 1 cm for the Chinese and Tibetan position, is it possible with the Tibetan placement that this robot will find the same thing as the Chinese placement? It appears that things will be relative to where one starts on the wrist from the first position. It might be possible to get the same results. To be sure, both systems discriminate between the left and right side of the body, presumably because some organs reside on different sides.

What about the difference in blood pressure between the top and the bottom of the body along with the left and right? Using a Doppler flow meter and ankle and temple cuff, the arterial and venous pressure can be recorded. For normal pressure of 120 mm (or normal venous pressure) at the brachial arm at the level of the heart, from experiments, for every centimeter up, subtract, and down, add, a 7.7-mm difference due to gravity. Using this formula, the experimental patient's brachial artery measurement at the level of the heart (fourth thoracic vertebra) showed low pressure in the brain as measured by pressure in the orbital artery.

Chinese medicine shows how the Jiao of upper, middle, and lower body can vary in temperature and spasticity. The Mu and Shu organ representation points on the front and back should also be palpated for whole body diagnosis. These organ representation points (also on the ear, hand, feet, etc.) can be used for treatment if stimulated by fingers, by mechanical pressure, acupuncture, laser, qigong, or gaussian and columbic fields.

The robotic arm cannot convert information into symptoms and healing treatment within Occidental modern practices. It only gives data, but has no real brain that interacts with historical memory to create an individualized treatment imagination. Human finger sensitivity is a creative process that can feel the heart or organ differences to the internal and external world that give one an understanding of the state of being of the whole person and organ vibration. Fingers hold a special evolutionary precise relationship to the brain, as is well known in music, art, writing, and of course, healing.

To add to this complex discrimination, the following is a quick historical analysis and evolution of the Chinese and Tibetan pulse diagnosis method. The texts only indicate superficial and deep.

Chinese Right Wrist

In the first position, the Su When (27–26 bc) shows lung, superficial, and deep, chest; the Nan Ching (407–310 bc) shows large intestine and lung; and the I Tsung Chin Chien (1749 ad) shows chest and lung (a reversal of the Su When). The second position stomach and spleen is the same for the Su When, Nan Ching, Nan Ching Pen I, Mai Ching, Che'en Chin Fang, Mai Ching Tu Shou, Lei Ching, and I Tsung Chin Chien. The third position has three burner and pericardium superficial and deep for the Nan Ching while the Su When has Kidney and Urinary Bladder; the Mai Ching (300 ad) reverses this and after this all historical Chinese book changes.

Chinese Left Wrist

First position, Nan Ching, Small Intestine and Heart; Su When Heart and Pericardium (although the recent Su When reverses this). Second position, Su When Diaphragm and Liver, all the rest Gallbladder and Liver. Third position Su When Kidney and Abdomen; Nan Ching Bladder and Kidney, after that, Life Gate, triple burner and Small Intestine as a complement to Kidney.

The Tibetan historical authors only disagree on the second position, which is reversed, but the rest are the same. Ignoring finger placement, the Tibetan technique in first finger position is similar to the Chinese third finger position. The technique is also different. The Chinese press down for deeper positions, whereas the Tibetans roll the finger to one side.

The Tibetan placement more closely represents the Su When for the first and third, and the second is reversed. The Stomach and Spleen, Gallbladder, and Liver reverse according to Tibetan and Chinese. Certain Tibetans and Chinese reverse wrist according to gender. Beyond the Su When, the Chinese books change quite often throughout history.

Oriental pulse diagnosis from the 1500s to the present influenced Occidental understanding of the heart. Galen wrote about the pulse in 139–200 ad. His work is as contradictory as Chinese pulse history. He thought it too complicated for anyone to understand. In 1484, Aegidiucus Corboliensis (a Catholic priest) wrote an extended work on pulse diagnosis on all the variations of superficial, deep, rapid, and slow. In 1630, it was Roberto Flud who differentiated pulse according to the North and South winds, which changed the pulse according to the season. The pulse was taken on the temple and resulted in a thermometer-like scale (the first such in Western medicine) of hot on the top and cold below, swift on the top, sluggish on the bottom, according to season. Meridians have been used for stars, the sun, planets, magnetic fields, and the earth's axis. According to European understanding, the Meridian of the season is reflected in the pulse. Flud did discuss pulse diagnosis on the radial artery with the hand coming from the opposite direction; thus, the fingers reversed. The influence of Chinese medicine in Europe is reflected in many doctoral dissertations and publications from medical schools for 300 more years. Yet pictures show Tibetan finger position in most of the manuscripts.

Consistent data show that the art of pulse diagnosis discriminates between sides of the body and also seasonal influences such as the Spring string pulse. One should also discriminate between possibilities of abnormal blood pressure based upon location and how much this deviates from a normal pressure taken at the heart level calculated by the formula mentioned. It is known that this is a part of Chinese medicine with the Jiao of upper, middle, and lower body that can be determined by finger sensitivity for temperature and spasticity.

The brain is a very sophisticated organ that picks up all sorts of subtleties from internal and external influences such as internal micro-organisms (fever) and external weather influences to the whole organism, such as season, location on earth, and also episodic sudden weather changes during the day. The Bi-Digital O-Ring Test can also test for the type of microorganism in the body and location. It can also test for compatibility to drugs or herbs. Nogier's pulse diagnosis of single finger placement perpendicular to the radial artery also has such capabilities.

Daily extreme temperature intervals are experienced due to the common use of air conditioners and heating systems in the summer and winter. It might be called the meridians of gaussian fields, which artificially lower or raise natural temperatures of climate Meridians. This must influence blood pressure. In China in 1976, buildings were not heated indoors. The pulse should reflect all of this. For example, stiff necks from cold air blowing from air conditioners can restrict cerebral blood pressure.

The fluctuations and confusions in the Chinese understanding might have originated from books being written in different parts of China, climate differences, and historical changes in the same region over time.

As for Tibet, the similarities are seen with the Su When of 2000 years ago. Chinese and Tibetan finger placement were the same during certain periods of history. Perhaps Tibetan pulse understandings reflect a more distant China and different historical and climatic conditions. Tibet, being land locked from external cultural influences, and having a mountain climate that probably did not vary that much, might have allowed for a more stable pulse rhythm through time.

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