The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence

Description

Although in the United States the scientific value of acupuncture is only now being clinically evaluated for the first time, needling is only one of a number of therapeutic disciplines which have proved effective in China for over two thousand years and which today provide common remedies for more than one quarter of the world's population. Why, asks Dr. Porkert, shouldn't medical men everywhere have access to the premises and results of this medical knowledge? In this book he presents a coherent and systematic account of Chinese theories – the system of correspondence that underlies all of Chinese medicine – using a new and precise Latin terminology with English equivalents provided for most terms) that he devised over the past decade. The book is based directly and exclusively on Chinese sources, including recent Chinese secondary literature. Chapter 1 introduces the concepts that are the foundation of the system of correspondences – the polar combination yin-yang which phenomena into complementary groups, and wu-hsing, which Dr. Porkert calls the “five Evolutive Phases,” and which are used to resolve cyclic processes into five temporally and qualitatively distinct parts. In Chapter 2 he takes up concepts which relate the body to the cosmos under the title “Phase Energetics” (yün-ch'i); these define meteorological, climatic, and immunological factors in health and disease. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on systems of concepts concerned with the body itself. The author has named these systems orbisiconography, sinarteriology, and foraminology. Orbisiconography (tsang-hsiang), the “imagery of functional orbs,” describes the relationships of the functional systems within the body. It is not, as Dr. Porkert points out, analogous to but the opposite of Western comparative anatomy. Sinarteriology, the study of energetic conduits (ching-luo), and foraminology, the study of sensitive points (shu-hsüeh), indicate the functional relationships manifested at the body's surface as well as within it. The book's systematic description of these disciplines involved in acupuncture is a powerful antidote to basic misconceptions prevalent in earlier Western writing on the subject. The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine Contents Tables Table 1. The Sixty Emblematic Combinations in Phase Energetics Table 2. Associations of the Six Energetic Configurations Table 3. Combinations of Deversant Circuit Phases Table 4. Periodic Configurations (chieh-ch’i, Configurationes articulatae) Grouped into “Steps” (pu, Gradus) Table 5. Dominant Configurations for the “Steps” Table 6. Occurrence of the Conventus annorum Table 7. The Three Energetic Configurations of the Circuit Phases Table 8. Yin flectens imperat caelo Table 9. Yin minor imperat caelo Table 10. Yin mator imperat caelo Table 11. Yang minor imperat caelo Table 12. Splendor yang imperat caelo Table 13. Yang maior imperat caelo Table 14. Occurrence of the Congruentia caelestis maxima Table 15. Occurrence of the Congruentia caelestis communis Table 16. Supervention of the Conventus annorum communis Table 17. Couplings and Inflections of Circuit Phases and Energetic Configurations Table 18. Comparative Synopsis of the Principal Functions of the Orbs Table 19. Comparison of Energetic Terminology Table 20. The Topology and Physiological and Pathological Functions of the Cardinal Conduits Table 21. Distribution of Energy among the Cardinal Conduits Table 22. The Foramina rimica and Their Locations Table 23. The Foramina nexoria and Their Reticular Conduits Table 24. Locations of the Five Inductories and Their Correspondences Table 25. The Five Inductories of the Yin Cardinal Conduits Table 26. The Five Inductories of the Yang Cardinal Conduits Table 27. The Foramina [ch’i] originalis and Their Cardinal Conduits Table 28. The Eight Conventus and Their Foramina conventoria The M.I.T. East Asian Science Series Foreword Introduction: Systems of Correspondence in Chinese Medicine 1 Basic Standards of Value: Yin and Yang and the Five Evolutive Phases Yin and Yang The Five Evolutive Phases (wu-hsing) 2 Standards of Value for Phenomena of Macrocosmic Dimensions: Phase Energetics General Preliminaries Historical and Bibliographical Preliminaries The Basic Conventional Value Standards of Phase Energetics The Systematic Inflections of the Basic Conventional Standards of Phase Energetics and the Consequences of These Inflections The Coupling (Contactus, hsiang-lin) of Circuit Phases and Energetic Configurations Empirical Inflections in Phase Energetics The Problematic Scientific Character of Phase Energetics 3 Standards of Value for Phenomena of Microcosmic Dimensions, I: Orbisiconography General Preliminaries Historical and Bibliographical Preliminaries The Elements of Orbisiconography: Terminology Iconography of the Yin Orbs (Orbes horreales, tsang) The Iconography of the Yang Orbs (Orbes aulici, fu) The Paraorbs (ch’i-heng chih fu) Comparative Synopsis of the Principal Functions of the Orbs The Forms of Energy (Energetics) 4 Standards of Value for Phenomena of Microcosmic Dimensions, II: Sinarteriology and Foraminology General Preliminaries: Terminology Historical and Bibliographical Preliminaries General Characteristics of the Sinarteries The Twelve Cardinal Conduits (Cardinales, ching) and Their Sensitive Points The Eight Odd Conduits (Cardinales impares, chi-ching pa-mo) The Cardinal Branch Conduits (Sinarteriae paracardinales, ching-pieh) The Reticular Conduits (Sinarteriae reticulares, luomo) The Twelve Muscle Conduits (Sinarteriae nervocardinales, ching-chin) General Theory of the Sensitive Points: Foraminology Functional Categories of the Foramina cardinalia Conclusion Selected Bibliography Index