Section 1 Two Types of Meridian
Meridian is the movement of qi and blood. It is a cycle of nourishing blood and defending qi, which is clearly written in Neijing. Of course, meridians include two types-vascular meridians and non-vascular meridians.
If we can't distinguish between these two types of meridians, then the so-called meridian research can only be in the clouds or on paper, because the goal is just an imaginary enemy or a phantom. When a gun is aimed at two targets at the same time, the result is self-evident: fire!
The qi and blood circulation system of TCM is a dual circulation system, one is blood circulation system, and the other is gas circulation system. Even laymen like Joseph Needham have already seen it, but experts from China are still in the dark. What a pity!
First, the definition of meridians
At first, Mawangdui silk script only had pulse characters, and fifteen collaterals appeared after Lingshu chapter relayed twelve meridians. Collaterals are tiny branches of meridians, which were replaced by meridians in later generations. The evolution of this concept is as follows:
Vein-meridian, collaterals-meridian
From this process, we can see that it originally refers to pulse, including pulses with different sizes, thicknesses and lengths. However, the word meridian used now has completely failed to see the relationship with pulse, which naturally covers up the most important basic connotation of "pulse" when studying the essence of meridian, which makes the research work go astray. Using the word "pulse" can easily make people think that the pulse in the human body is blood vessel, blood vessel and blood vessel first. Both ancient people and modern people should think so, because the meaning expressed by the word "pulse" is an obvious blood vessel in both human and animal bodies. Although it may contain more than just blood vessels, it is blood vessels first. It is impossible for the ancients to ignore the obvious blood vessels and use the word "pulse" again.
Second, the establishment of the concept of pulse.
The concept of ancient contact should be based on three basic facts: one is to see something like a pulse with the naked eye, the other is to feel something like blood flowing in the pulse, and the third is to touch signs like a pulse with your hands. In addition to blood vessels, there are lymphatic vessels and nerves, but lymphatic vessels are not red blood, but milky white lymph, which is much smaller than blood vessels and should not be included; Nerves are long but solid, and water-like substances cannot run in them, so nerves visible to the naked eye should not be included; The veins on the surface of the human body are the easiest to see and must be included; The blood vessels of the lungs, heart, kidney, liver and mesentery in the chest and abdomen are also easy to see, and must be included. Things that feel like water or blood flowing, it is easy to think that the feelings of people who are sensitive to meridians are transmitted along the meridians, the movement of internal qi in Qigong and the strange feelings of some patients scurry. These phenomena are definitely not the flow of blood in blood vessels. What looks like a pulse from the physical signs, first of all, is the sense of flow and pulse feeling under the body surface. The pulse of artery is in wrist, elbow, armpit, throat, lower abdomen and lower abdomen. Nest, ankle and other places can be clearly palpable; Secondly, there is a cord-like feeling, which can be vaguely felt in the radial artery of the cunkou and the brachial artery of the posterior arm. According to these analyses based on classical epistemology, we can get two contents about pulse: 1. Blood path belongs to all arteries and veins visible to the naked eye in the body, including some superficial veins visible when filling and invisible when emptying. 2. The pathway of Qi-moving belongs to the pathway of sensation passing along meridians, the pathway of internal qi and the pathway of abnormal sensation passing through meridians belong to non-blood. Did the ancients recognize these two types of veins? The vein in Mawangdui silk book in Changsha is almost three-dimensional, mainly belonging to the larger internal vein. The pulse condition of Huangdi Neijing follows the plane pattern of Lingshu Jing Pian, and Lingshu Xie Ke Pian describes the three-dimensional course of Taiyin pulse of lung hand and Jueyin pulse of heart governing hand, which is completely consistent with the course of blood vessels. Functionally, in the chapters of Ling Shu, such as camp meeting and camp-guard movement, those running in the pulse are divided into camp-guard. In the movement of nourishing qi, besides the movement of defending qi, both nourishing qi and defending qi are periodic movements. Ying-qi strictly follows the meridian, and Wei-qi also follows the meridian, but it is not specific, which shows that the author of Neijing recognizes two different aspects of pulse. It is easy to locate and characterize blood vessels, namely blood vessels and blood vessels. The pulse of activating qi, that is, the way of defending qi, feels like the blood flow or water flow mentioned above. Where should it be located? First of all, the movement of defending qi is still along the meridians, so it should be on the meridian line described in Neijing; Secondly, Wei Qi is Shui Gu's ferocity and wildness. Defending qi should be outside the blood vessels below the meridian line; Third, defending qi, defending qi outside, is also in vitro rather than in vivo, so the main way to defend qi is in the outermost skin of the body. Since then, the concept of meridian has evolved into two parts. One part is the blood running way below the meridian line, that is, blood vessels; One is to walk on the meridian of the skin, which runs through Wei Qi, and Qiwei can also walk between meat points. Meridian is the sum of two ways, some places only have blood circulation, some places only have blood circulation, and some places have both. The next question is: 1. Blood vessels are a part of meridians. Do they have functions similar to meridians? For example, besides bleeding, you can also receive acupuncture and pass on information. Blood vessels can receive and transmit information through sympathetic afferent and sympathetic reflex functions of blood vessel walls. The role of blood vessels in this respect has not attracted enough attention from modern medical biologists, but the ancients used the method of stimulating blood vessels to regulate the autonomic nervous function of the body, which is a new topic worthy of our vigorous study. It's not that meridians are blood vessels, it's nothing. 2. Is there an objective way for the flow of qi in the skin? Is this practice related to the function of meridians? For example, receiving acupuncture, transmitting information and so on. For details, see the column "Meridian Essence".
In fact, in retrospect, understanding the problem of meridians will become very simple and clear. The function of meridians is to promote the circulation of qi and blood, which is a common sense concept. Qi and blood, qi and blood, are repeatedly emphasized in Neijing. There must be two kinds of meridians, one is to promote qi and the other is to promote blood circulation. It is undoubtedly blood that promotes blood circulation, but it is not clear what promotes qi. Qi in meridians is defensive qi, and defensive qi is external. One is outside the blood vessel and the other is outside the body. Skin is the most important way. The operation of defending qi in Neijing lies in the skin first. From the origin of meridians, one is the way of sensory qi movement, that is, the way of sensory conduction, such as sensory transmission caused by stimulation and excited internal qi movement in qigong state; First, the blood circulation route we see is the blood vessels in the body and on the body surface.
Third, the evidence of blood vessels and meridians.
1. All body surface veins except the great saphenous vein are collaterals, and there are corresponding body surface vein branches in other places of the fifteenth collateral vein; Both pricking collaterals and pricking collaterals refer to pricking superficial veins for bloodletting. All the obvious superficial veins are contained in the collaterals (Lingshu Meridian). 2. The three-dimensional trend of Taiyin's hand lung pulse and palm main pulse is completely consistent with its underlying artery (Lingshu Xie Ke). 3. All three meridians move independently, which refers to the pulsation of its inferior artery (spiritual pivot transmission). 4. Impulse pulse is a sea of blood, which refers to abdominal aorta, femoral artery, posterior tibial artery, plantar artery and dorsalis pedis artery from chest to abdomen. 5. Stomach meridian of Foot Yangming is accompanied by or marked with arteries from beginning to end, such as Daying artery, preauricular artery, Ren Ying artery, paraumbilical artery and Qi Jie artery. 6. The gallbladder meridian of foot shaoyang has many branches in the head, and there are arterial branches under it. The injection sites of the subauricular branches are the branches of the carotid artery. 7. The acupoints of the 25th forbidden point are five inches below the armpit artery Tianfu and the superficial part of the brachial artery. If punctured, it will bleed to death or be seriously injured, so it is forbidden to stab. 8. The significance of economic cooperation between well and five Shu points represents the size and division of arteries according to the principle of forward and backward numbers. If it comes out of the well, it refers to the tip of the smallest toe blood vessel; Slippery as xing, when flowing through the toes, the blood vessels are small and the blood flow is slow and weak; Note: For the loser, the terminal branch of palmar blood vessel injects a larger blood vessel, enters the deep part and passes through the wrist and ankle joint, which is the first convergence of meridians; By the way, blood vessels pass through the meridians of the calf and forearm for a long distance; When entering the joint, the forearm blood vessels join the deep brachial artery at the elbow joint, and the calf artery joins the deep femoral artery at the knee joint, which is the second convergence of meridians (the original chapter of Lingshu Nine Needles and Twelve Needles). 9. Stomach Meridian of Foot Yangming, Spleen Meridian of Foot Taiyin, Gallbladder Meridian of Foot Shaoyang and Liver Meridian of Foot Jueyin all pass through the lower abdominal Qi Jie artery, and its depth is the external iliac artery of the abdominal aorta branch, which is the third confluence point of the meridians of lower limbs. The kidney meridian of foot shaoyin and bladder meridian of foot taiyang go up from the back of pelvic cavity, much like the internal iliac artery there. 10. There are many meridians passing through the supraclavicular fossa, which is particularly "crowded", similar to the blood vessels there, and very dense. There is no specific anatomical indication in Neijing, and it is likely that blood vessels enter the supraclavicular fossa. 1 1. The lung system and heart refer to the large blood vessels that enter and leave the heart and lungs. 12. Mesenteric arteriovenous, renal portal vein arteriovenous and hepatic portal vein arteriovenous are important foundations of meridian access. As blood vessels, the meridians meet at the wrist and ankle joints for the first time, at the elbow and knee joints for the second time, and at the pelvic cavity in the lower abdomen for the third time, possibly at the supraclavicular fossa in the upper chest. The aorta and vein in front of the thoracic and abdominal spine are the common channels of all meridians. It can be seen that the meridians as blood vessels mainly follow the blood vessels, which are basically the same as those described in the chapter on the distal ends of limbs in Lingshu Jing, except that the proximal ends of limbs are partially the same after the second meeting, and they are completely the common channels of thoracic and abdominal aorta and veins, lacking independent channels. In the past, when we understood the relationship between blood vessels and meridians, we paid attention to the blood flow in blood vessels and ignored the meridian-like function of blood vessel walls. Therefore, it is inconceivable to adjust the body function by needling the micro-bleeding of blood vessels, so as to deliberately separate the meridians from the blood vessels. The bigger misunderstanding is to compare the vascular access with the meridians drawn by later generations, and these meridians are not the same as the literal descriptions in Neijing. We draw and compare meridians strictly according to the description in Neijing. The wall of blood vessels is mainly dominated by sympathetic postganglionic fibers, and its distal end releases norepinephrine to constrict blood vessels. The preganglionic fibers of sympathetic nerve come from the vasoconstrictive center of medulla oblongata and sympathetic neurons in the lateral horn of spinal cord. Before reaching the blood vessel, the sympathetic nerves that dominate the blood vessel have experienced a lot of combination and intersection. The excitation effect of sympathetic nerve is usually systemic and holistic, and local stimulation usually causes extensive effects. Therefore, acupuncture of superficial blood vessels or deep blood vessels reaches the lateral angle of spinal cord and medulla oblongata through sympathetic afferent fibers, and the range of sympathetic reflex is far greater than stimulation, sometimes even systemic. The activity of sympathetic nerve can certainly play a role in regulating the function of autonomic nerve. while
However, this is only an acupuncture mechanism based on sympathetic reflex knowledge. In fact, the sensory and reflex functions of blood vessels themselves are much more complicated. For example, besides adrenergic endings, there are cholinergic endings on the blood vessel wall, and how the latter works is still unclear. In short, after establishing the concept of blood vessels as meridians, it is necessary to conduct in-depth and detailed research on the mechanism of vascular sensory and reflex regulation.
Fourth, non-vascular meridians-skin meridians
Are there meridians in the skin? Shallow veins are all collaterals, so there are a lot of collaterals in the skin, that is, superficial veins. The meridians after vascular differentiation should be mainly located in the skin, which can be understood from the following aspects: 1. There must be a lot of channels and collaterals circulating in the skin, only the skin and bones, and the channels and collaterals can only walk in the skin, such as the Du Meridian on the scalp, the Foot Taiyang Meridian, the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and the Foot Yangming Meridian in front of the head, the Ren Meridian in the chest, the Foot Jueyin Meridian on the inside of the tibia, and the meridians on the fingers and toes. 2. Wei Qi walks in the skin along the meridian, and Wei Qi descends from the hand Sanyang meridian and the foot Sanyang meridian, and returns from the yin meridian. Wei Qi "runs through the skin and divides into the body", as pointed out in Ling Xie Shu Ke. From the point of view of defending qi, we should walk in the skin; Pathological reactions of defending qi, such as sweating and hair bristling, are also skin reactions. Wei qi can also be used to divide meat, and there should be blood vessels between the meat. The function of defending qi has the function of warming and dividing meat, mainly referring to muscles, so defending qi also has something to do with muscles, that is, non-vascular meridians may have something to do with muscles, but it is by no means the mainstream. 3. The amount of qi and blood in each meridian can be distinguished from the skin, and the amount of qi and blood in each meridian can be known according to the thickness and color of skin texture (pivot bone degree). 4. Sensation along the meridian can only be located in the skin. Electroacupuncture stimulation of well points mainly acts on local skin; The stimulation of pressing acupoints with matchsticks mainly acts on the skin; According to the subjects, some feelings are deep, some are superficial, and some are between skin and subcutaneous tissues and organs. If you have skin scars, you can bypass the scars from the side or below. These phenomena not only show that sensation travels along the meridians in the skin, but also in the deep part, which is actually impossible, because the muscles, intermuscular connective tissues and internal organs in the deep part do not have the function of producing sensation like sensation. The feeling of human internal organs is mainly pain. No one feels that his gastrointestinal tract is moving, his muscles are contracting, his heart is beating and his lungs are expanding. The localization of internal pain is also achieved through the corresponding skin on the body surface. It is easy to have a feeling when brushing the skin with a hairbrush, but there is no way to simulate the feeling in the muscles. In short, the feeling transmitted along the meridians can only come from the skin. As for the depth of the position, it is because the feeling is not produced by the external stimulation on the epidermis, but by the internal stimulation in the dermis. Its nature and location are unknown. So I feel varied and my lines are vague. Acupuncture is bound to irritate the skin. A large number of analgesic experiments of acupuncture at Zusanli point in rats and rabbits show that only enough stimulation to the skin can produce good results. Sometimes skin irritation is paid attention to in clinical work, and the acupuncture effect is much better than the usual acupuncture method. 6. It can be seen that the meridian phenomenon is located in the skin. Meridian dermatosis is of course located in the skin, but also in the epidermis and dermis. Sweating, hyperemia, anemia, bleeding, rash and other phenomena in sensitive person, the meridian with sensory conduction, all indicate that a series of physiological and pathological positive reactions have taken place in the process of sensory conduction along the meridian. The above is only evidence beyond the author's textual research. In fact, our research focuses on the meridian conduction path of skin acupuncture signal, and we have obtained a series of reliable evidence, which finally shows the distribution lines of sympathetic substances, acupuncture vertical hairs and skin new hairs.
/kloc-in the 0/8th century, Harvey, an Englishman, discovered blood circulation, which is regarded as a great achievement in the history of natural science, especially experimental science. However, as early as two thousand years ago, China people clearly wrote in Huangdi Neijing: Blood is circulating (see two types of meridians)! This achievement spread to Europe long before Harvey, and relevant documents can still be found now.
"Soul Pivot × Meridian" says: the twelve meridians lies between the flesh, deep and invisible. Its vulgar, the foot above the ankle is too cloudy, there is nothing to hide. All the floating and connecting veins are collaterals.
According to the meaning of Neijing, the reason why meridians are invisible is not because they are too small or invisible, but because they are between the flesh. Collaterals are visible. Meridians are thicker than collaterals, so they should naturally look better than collaterals. It is only because of their deep position that they need to be dissected to see them (Lingshu Shuijing chapter: they can be measured from the outside and dissected to observe their death). What are the visible collaterals? According to a large number of descriptions in Neijing about the color of collaterals, the morphological changes, position and changes of uplift or subsidence, and the bleeding of pricking collaterals, there is no doubt that collaterals are blood vessels and meridians are naturally blood vessels. The only visible meridian-the medial malleolus of the foot Taiyin is the great saphenous vein, which passes through it. The fifteenth collateral vein contains obvious superficial veins all over the body, but there is no great saphenous vein because it has been used as a meridian. This is not to say that all meridians are blood vessels, but blood vessels must be a part of them, and there are other non-blood vessels-the way to defend qi is mainly located in the skin.
If meridians are blood vessels or contain blood vessels, then the periodic circulation of meridians or qi and blood is blood circulation or contains blood circulation. In the west, in the second century, Galen proposed that arteries and veins fluctuate like tides, and the function of the heart is to send the heat generated to the whole body. This fallacy ruled in the west for 1500 years until Harvey discovered blood circulation in 17 century, so the discovery of blood circulation is of great scientific significance. Needham's History of China's Scientific Civilization (Volume VI) affirmed that the circulation of meridians is blood circulation, which was first discovered by China people. Later, China, written by American Robert, once again affirmed the absolute leading position of China people in this field. After summarizing and analyzing all the contents of acupuncture and moxibustion meridians in Neijing, we have made it clear that meridians include vascular meridians and non-vascular meridians in classical collaterals and modern collaterals. Unfortunately, there are still many researchers who are opinionated and out of context. They insist that meridians are not blood vessels, and they should look for meridians that are not blood vessels in the depths of blood vessels, or look for so-called non-blood vessels in the connective tissue between muscles. Some researchers simply regard meridians as blood vessels, and naturally they will face insurmountable difficulties such as sensory conduction along meridians, acupoint characteristics and acupuncture effect. What is commendable is that Robert has clearly called the circulation of qi and blood the concept or theory of double circulation. In a word, we can't distinguish vascular meridians from non-vascular meridians, so we can't study meridians.
Demonstration of blood circulation theory in traditional Chinese medicine
1. When was the theory of blood circulation put forward?
The word Physiology originated from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, and16th century was used to express the subject of physiology. The establishment of modern physiology originated in William Harvey in the17th century, which is a consistent view. Harvey is considered as the founder of modern physiology because he established the theory of blood circulation through experiments. It is very important to establish the theory of blood circulation, because before Harvey, westerners always accepted the wrong theory established by Galen in the second century. According to this theory, arteries and veins fall together like high tide, and the function of the heart is to transport the heat or vitality they produce to the whole body. Accordingly, the brain becomes an organ that radiates heat. This theory has dominated the West for 1500 years. Is it true that Harvey first put forward the theory of blood circulation? Among the ancient civilizations in China, the most successful one was medicine, which is now called China traditional medicine or traditional Chinese medicine. His classic work Huangdi Neijing (hereinafter referred to as Neijing) is divided into Lingshu and Suwen. In fact, China clearly realized that blood was circulating more than two thousand years ago. Blood can be divided into arteries and veins. Blood flows out of the artery and back to the heart from the vein. Arteries and veins exchange in limbs, head and viscera. The function of blood is to transport nutrients absorbed from gastrointestinal tract to muscles and internal organs. In the book Classical Collaterals and Modern Collaterals, the author made a detailed classification, comparison, discussion and experimental study on this issue, and divided meridians into vascular meridians and non-vascular meridians, which were named as meridian veins and meridian belts respectively. Here are some basic concepts about blood vessels and meridians.
Second, the concepts and research methods of heart, blood and pulse in traditional Chinese medicine.
The silk book written by Mawangdui in Changsha has no concept of meridian, which is earlier than Huangdi Neijing. They are all called "pulse", such as "arm Taiyin pulse" and "foot Yangming pulse". At the beginning of introducing the twelve meridians, Lingshu Jing only used the words "pulse", such as "lung hand pulse of Taiyin" and "stomach foot pulse of Yangming". After introducing the twelve main veins, in order to distinguish them from the small veins, the main longitudinal thick veins are called "meridians" and the complex fine veins are called "collaterals". The so-called meridians originally refer to all kinds of long and short veins, which are collectively referred to as thick meridians and fine collaterals. When we only use adjectives "Jing" and "Luo" to express this concept, we can't see the relationship between "Meridian" and context from the literal meaning, which has become a major obstacle in the research. "LingShu. Meridian "Meridian is supplied by blood. ..... can be measured from the outside, and its death can be dissected. ..... the length of pulse, the turbidity of blood, ... all have big numbers. " This passage first expresses the basic starting point of ancient people's understanding of the human body-measurement, touch and anatomical observation, which strongly shows that Chinese medicine is based on objective observation of the human body. Observation and experiment are the basic methods of modern science, and traditional Chinese medicine uses scientific observation. Huangdi Neijing describes in detail the anatomical and physiological parameters such as the length of bones, the size of bone marrow cavity, the length of blood vessels, the size, weight and capacity of internal organs, daily respiration and pulse rate, and the ratio of respiration to pulse (1: 6). The author puts forward the concept of "classic anatomical physiology". At the same time, this passage also clearly points out that meridians are operated by blood, and the veins vary in size, and the blood is clear and turbid. Size should refer to the length and thickness of blood vessels, while turbidity probably refers to the color difference between arteries and veins. What is blood? "LingShu. Expired ""What is blood? Qi Bo said, "The middle energizer gets its juice from qi, but when it turns red, it is called blood. "refers to the gastrointestinal tract in the abdominal cavity to digest food and absorb its essence and turn red. this is blood. What is the relationship between blood and heart? " "Blood belongs to the heart" in Genesis of Su Wen's Five Zangs, that is, the whole body's blood belongs to the heart and is dominated by the heart. What is the relationship between pulse and heart? "Ling Shu Ben Zang Zhang" "The liver needs bravery, ... the heart needs pulse. "The relationship between the heart and the pulse is like the relationship between the liver and the gallbladder. It can be seen that the pulse is a blood vessel connected with the heart. What is the relationship between blood and pulse? " Supplementing qi and nourishing yin, secreting body fluid, injecting it into veins and turning it into blood "Ling Xie Shu Ke" explains that the essence of food enters blood vessels and turns it into blood, that is, blood runs in veins. Evil guest ""there are twelve waters in the land, and people have the twelve meridians. "That is to say, there are twelve rivers on the ground, and correspondingly, people also have twelve meridians, comparing the meridians or blood vessels of the human body to the flow of the river. It is not difficult to explain that the relationship between heart, pulse and blood is the relationship between heart, pulse and blood in modern medicine. This is an important intersection of classical physiology and modern physiology, which strongly shows that the so-called eternal mystery-meridian-pulse must include blood vessels. In the spiritual pivot. Meridians, "the twelve meridians lies between flesh and blood, deep and invisible; It is common that the foot is too cloudy to be above the medial malleolus, and there is nothing to hide. Floating pulse and Tongmai are collaterals. "refers to the thick longitudinal blood vessels-meridians-running in the deep tissue gap, but there is one exception-the foot Taiyin vein runs in the shallow layer, which can be seen on the medial malleolus. It is actually the great saphenous vein here-the largest superficial vein on the body surface. Other blood vessels that float on the body surface and are often visible are collaterals-tiny blood vessels, that is, superficial veins. " Uncle ling. "Wei Ying will be born" says: "The camp is in the vein, ..., the camp is endless, ..., and the yin and yang are intertwined, like an endless ring." "Lingshu Qi Ying" says: "Qi Ying's way, ..., a camp that will never have self, will start again. "That is to say, Qi Ying runs endlessly in the pulse. With the above concepts, we can think that the journey of meridians is the anatomical structure of blood vessels, and the circulation of meridians is the blood circulation. This is China's theory of blood circulation more than two thousand years ago, which is basically correct according to anatomy and observation.
Third, the description of pulse in traditional Chinese medicine
The concept of "artery" is clearly described in Neijing and Lingshu. "Dynamic Biography" said, "the twelve meridians, why are your hands not too cloudy, your feet not too cloudy, and Yangming moves alone?" In particular, it points out why the "Taiyin pulse of the hand", "Yangming pulse of the foot" and "Shaoyin pulse of the foot" will continue to beat, that is, the dorsal wrist pulse of flexor artery, the paratracheal pulse of carotid artery and the ankle pulse of posterior tibial artery. Neijing points out that the posterior malleolus pulse is the pulse that the impulse pulse passes through it, not the pulse of foot shaoyin, because the venous blood flowing in foot shaoyin is centripetal. Which arteries can be judged from the flow direction and the intersection of meridians? What is a vein? The Sanyang meridian of the hand starts in the chest and pulsates in the armpit, elbow and wrist, so it is an artery. Ling Xie Shu Ke especially points out the three-dimensional direction of the three yin meridians of the hand, which is quite consistent with the way that the upper limb runs from the fingertip through the wrist and elbow joint to the upper limb artery under the armpit. This alone is enough to marvel at the anatomical level reached by scholars at that time and how capable and accurate the description of words is, but now few researchers pay attention to the content of this article. Generally speaking, the Sanyang Meridian of the hand is considered to start from the hand, which is certainly not a route of blood circulation, but it is clearly pointed out in Lingshu. The meridians of the three Yang meridians of the hand run from the hand to the chest, and only its branches (branches from the chest to the head) end. Meridian runs on the outer side of upper limb, which is very similar to superficial great veins (cephalic vein, basilic vein, etc.). ). So the Sanyang Meridian of the hand should be the pulse. The Sanyinjing of the foot runs from the foot to the chest and enters the interior at the groin, which is considered as a vein. The foot Taiyin passes through the medial malleolus, and it can be seen that the meridian is obviously the great saphenous vein passing through the medial malleolus. The three yang meridians of the foot run through the foot from beginning to end, which is obviously inconsistent with the blood vessels, but after careful investigation, it is found that the so-called "from beginning to end" is only a general generalization. Neijing clearly points out that the stomach meridian of Foot Yangming first goes up from the chest and then down to the foot; The gallbladder meridian of foot shaoyang starts under the armpit, not in the head. Moreover, the whole line of stomach meridian: face, neck, chest, lateral abdomen, front of calf and dorsum of foot all have arterial pulsation, so as to judge the path and function of stomach meridian. Impulse is a sea of blood, from head to toe, which actually refers to the largest artery of the body-aorta and lower extremity artery. In a word, the twelve meridians, plus pulse condition is the channel of blood circulation. The reason why Neijing often uses "invigorating qi" or "nourishing blood" is just as Neijing said. Although we know that bone marrow has hematopoietic function, we don't know why blood turns red ("I don't know why"), so we often use the nutritional function of blood to express the concept of blood and avoid possible mistakes.
Fourthly, the concept of pulse condition or meridian as skin information transmission channel.
Another connotation of channels and collaterals is the way of Wei-qi operation, and Neijing clearly puts forward that Ying-Wei should go together. The so-called defending qi is very similar to the internal qi movement in Qigong and the sensory transmission along the meridian. Many facts show that there is a signal transmission pathway in the skin of higher mammals, which is a chain transmission mechanism centered on the release and action of catecholamine. Compared with blood circulation, the meridian circulation path described in Neijing is more similar to a signal transmission in the skin (Wei Qi mainly walks in the skin). In fact, this is a serious problem faced by the author of Neijing. The movement of defending qi can be felt in patients or qigong, but there is no morphological evidence. Although you can't feel the blood circulation, you can dissect it, touch it from the body surface or observe it with naked eyes ("you can measure it from the outside, and dissect it to observe its death"), which brings great trouble to the authors of Neijing, causing them to confuse the two, linking the linear motion they feel with seeing the pipeline structure, but trying to distinguish it. Therefore, in some chapters, the difference between camp and guard and their operation mode are described respectively, and the word "qi and blood" is also used as a general term in some places. When we distinguish the different functions and ways of camp guards, we can truly see the outstanding achievements and great practical significance of ancient people in life science-the skin signal transmission pathway has not been valued by modern scientists. To sum up, in the field of human life sciences, the ancients in China have an unshakable dominant position, and they have gained many important understandings by using Su Su's natural science methods. The author sums up the concept of "classic anatomical physiology", which should become the common sense of anatomical physiologists in China and be proud of it. With the in-depth study and reconfirmation of some life phenomena in Huangdi Neijing that have not been recognized by modern science, it will certainly reshape its historical position and modern significance in the world. As physiologists in China, we should know our own history. Finally, it is worth pointing out that in the History of Science and Technology in China compiled by Joseph Needham, meridians have long been regarded as vascular system, and it is clearly pointed out that China first discovered blood circulation. Later, in China, a continent of invention and discovery written by Mei, this judgment was further affirmed, and the topic "Who first discovered blood circulation" was specially discussed.