八奇脉 What are eight extraordinary meridians
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奇脉 What are the extraordinary meridians? They were mentioned first time as different meridians in separate chapters in Nanjing, text of difficult issues. So what 奇脉 Qi Mai or extraordinary vessel means? What is the extraordinary in them?
奇 extraordinary or more correct the ODD. So we have 12 even meridians and some odd. Clearly there are Du mai and Ren Mai going through the front and the back of the body, these meridians have no pair, so they are odd, really 奇 vessels. So what is the function of these odd or uneven vessels? They are running through the centre of the body connecting right and the left sides. According to the first difficulty of Nanjing there is a 衛 Wei Qi and 榮 Rong Qi circulation happening simultaneously which may be observed by palpation of the pulse. Same pulse palpation shows that when 榮 Rong is on the right side of the body, 衛 Wei is on the left. Excess of the 榮 Rong produces 衛 Wei deficiency and 衛 Wei excess produces 榮 Rong deficiency. These excesses fulfil 奇 extraordinary or odd meridians as stated in NanJing. It is a defence mechanism to send excess from one execcive side Rong to another deficient Wei side or vice versa from excessive Wei side to deficient Rong. Archaic acupuncture uses this natural mechanism to normalize balance between Rong and Wei using exact moment when Rong and Wei are exchanging. It happens during 50 yin and yang cycles also mentioned in Nanjing. During yin period puncture is done on Ren meridian and during yang period on Du meridian. Pulse show instant change towards balancing between excessive or deficient Rong and Wei. As Archaic acupuncture uses natural Qi flow controlled through the pulse, no need to use of stimulation or sedation techniques, Qi restores naturally in time of few seconds. Only after this balancing procedure acupuncturist provides the treatment, which ensure immediate result as it is done on absolutely levelled Qi without excesses and deficiencies. So how another six extraordinary meridians were added to these two? Nanjing first explains Du mai, Ren mai, Yin and Yang qiao mai. Only later chapters include also Chong mai, Yin wei amd Yang wei mai vessels. So these different vessels were added to Ren Mai and Du Mai later as only Ren and Du may do not share same points with 12 pared meridians and only Ren and Du have no pare, they are literally odd. If we will look deeper in the nature of number eight, which for ancient Chinese also was a word, not only number. Wieger in his book "Chines Characters, their origin, etymology, history" states that "八 Ba, eight etymological sense, to divide, to partake. It is primitively representing the division in two parts, the separation." Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字, most ancient Chines analitical dictionary states that 八部: Sign 八 八： 八 別也。separate 象分別相背之形。appearance of the form which is cut in parts to be separated or divided 从八从刀，separated by knife 刀以分別物也。knife cuts object in separate parts So eight extraordinary meridians are actually separating odd vessels. So they can't be a part of 12 pared meridians as it was added later to fulfil artificially meaning of number eight. Shuowen Jiezi even doesn't mention 八 as a number. |
This explanation perfectly fits in archaic acupuncture's explanation, early Nanjing's explanation of the function of odd meridians and this mechanism is observed by pulse.
These two odd meridians separate Wei on one side from Rong on the other side. Separate yin from yang. These meridians are important for normal Qi circulation through 12 paired meridians. Excess of qi in paired meridian produces deficiency in another paired meridian. Circulation of Qi as described in acupuncture classics would become disrupted with any excess or deficiency. For each breath Qi moves 6 cun, making 13500 breaths or 81000 cuns in 24 hours. More qi in one meridian would do more then 6 cun, making circulation faster, qi would pass more distance; lack of Qi would move Qi slower, circulation would stop as qi would pass lesser distance.
Odd vessels open to receive excess of Qi, levelling deficient and excessive meridians. It is protective mechanism, which may produce specific symptoms known as disease of extraordinary vessel. Acupuncturist using archaic acupuncture reduce Rong excess transforming it into Wei and reduce Wei excess, transforming it into Rong. This transformation occurs after puncturing active Du or Ren odd meridians, which activity depends of 50 yin of yang periods detected through the pulse. This reaction takes place in few seconds, instantly normalizing excess and deficiency in pare meridians and odd vessels, reflecting in pulse.
These two odd meridians separate Wei on one side from Rong on the other side. Separate yin from yang. These meridians are important for normal Qi circulation through 12 paired meridians. Excess of qi in paired meridian produces deficiency in another paired meridian. Circulation of Qi as described in acupuncture classics would become disrupted with any excess or deficiency. For each breath Qi moves 6 cun, making 13500 breaths or 81000 cuns in 24 hours. More qi in one meridian would do more then 6 cun, making circulation faster, qi would pass more distance; lack of Qi would move Qi slower, circulation would stop as qi would pass lesser distance.
Odd vessels open to receive excess of Qi, levelling deficient and excessive meridians. It is protective mechanism, which may produce specific symptoms known as disease of extraordinary vessel. Acupuncturist using archaic acupuncture reduce Rong excess transforming it into Wei and reduce Wei excess, transforming it into Rong. This transformation occurs after puncturing active Du or Ren odd meridians, which activity depends of 50 yin of yang periods detected through the pulse. This reaction takes place in few seconds, instantly normalizing excess and deficiency in pare meridians and odd vessels, reflecting in pulse.
