馬王堆發掘經脈書臂陰經硏究: 經脈의 直接知覺

Hand-Yin Meridians of Unearthed Mawangdui Medical Texts Were Described by the Haptic Exploration

The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that some early Chinese meridians were described by haptic exploration of the arterial pulse. The method is as follows: First, the relevant passages of the Mawangdui medical texts, the oldest meridian monographs, are translated based on perceptual anatomy. Second, the pulse is haptically searched for in the palm, lower arm, upper arm, armpit, and torso of the human body. Finally, their locations are compared with the translation. As a result, It was confirmed that the pulse locations detected on the body were mostly consistent with the routes of the meridians described in the texts. So meridians were haptically detectable pulse routes. What is known today as the flow direction of hand-yin meridians is actually the direction of searching the pulse. Our result runs counter to Huang Longxiang's claim that the route of the meridians are virtual routes set by speculation. Our findings also dispute Vivien Shaw's claim that the meridians of Mawangdui medical texts were discovered by anatomical dissection. They also refute the claim that meridians were discovered by the extrasensory perception of the inner sight (內 觀) and the subjective experience of the meridian sensitive person. The hand-yin meridians of Mawangdui medical texts are well described so that anyone can find them by touching them with their fingers.