Sebastian

How Do The 12 Meridians Connect To One Another ?

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Hey All,

 

Obviously I'm not a doctor or practitioner of TCM, as I wouldn't be asking this (dumb ?) question here, but I'm asking this is a random Qigong dude.

 

This kind of boggles my mind actually. So far, I know all the 12 meridians paths (internally, externally) and understand the meridian clock, so the flow from one meridian to another.

 

No one seems to explain how qi transitions from one meridian to the next.


For example

 

Gallbladder Channel connects to Liver Channel as per meridian clock

 

1) Gallbladder channel. I understand it ends in the second little toe.

 

2) Liver channel. I understand it starts at the big toe.

 

Of course, little toe ≠ big toe, unless you're Bigfoot, so where is the connection ?...

 

Here's my current theory. There are collateral channels in the foot that connect from one meridian to the next, from the second little toe to the big toe.

 

Is this right ?

 

Thanks Buddies

 

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From what I understand, please correct me if I'm wrong..."collateral" channels are the luo collaterals (these are the only type of channel called collaterals)...and the transverse luo do connect the yin and yang primary meridians (or actually, there is not a distinct vessel there, but pathology flows through the sanjiao (interstitial space) from one luo point toward the yin-yang paired channel, where some say it goes to that source point...so for instance from Kidney luo point to Bladder source point). But this is not the pathway through which the qi flows from primary to primary in the meridian clock. For instance, you have the spleen channel ending and then the heart channel beginning in the primary circuit: there's not a luo that connects those two.

So apparently there is actually a continuous pathway, from where one ends to where the next one begins. It's just not discussed clearly. Actually we can think of it like, there was always just this continuous circuit, and then people chose to divide it up into 12 meridians, points, etc.

There are also sometimes branches which form the circuit...for instance, in the Lung meridian, a branch goes from LU7 to LI-1 (which forms the circuit), and then the Lung meridian continues to end near the thumb nail as well. In that case, it's not that the qi goes from LU-11 and travels all the way over from the thumb through the webbing to the index then to its tip...although maybe it does, who knows...but there is actually a branch which creates a more direct pathway.

I don't recall the GB to LR thing...but it could very well be that it just travels across the toe area to reach the other point.

So basically...the connection is just not discussed, but one is there somehow.

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Interesting guys. So Aetherous is saying that there are collateral channels, but they do not necessarily path the baton from primary meridian to primary meridian.

 

What is doing it then ? I'm asking this from a purely western / logical standpoint.

 

Usually the Chinese system is very rigorous and logical within its own framework, but if you're going to define 12 meridians where the qi-flows, it would be important to know how one flows to the other.

 

Perhaps the movement is non-linear, in that it just "jumps" magically from one ending point to a starting point somewhere else in the body ?

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The connections are direct and well mapped out. For example, while the furthest extent of the 足少陽膽經 gallbladder channel is the between the 4th and 5th toes, if you look at the description of the pathway in the Lingshu it says that it has a branch that diverges from the top of the foot and enters into the big toe's interspace. It then travels along the inside of the phalangeal bones to situate at the toe's tip. It then reverses and penetrating the toenail it exits at "the three hairs" (the tuft on the big toe). When you look at the description of the 足厥陰肝經 liver channel it states that it arises at the big toe's hair border, right where that branch of the gallbladder meridian ended.

 

This level of detail is true for all of the regular meridians. It is not ambiguous in the texts.

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Thank you Kevin_Wallbridge.


It seems you're asserting that the primary meridians have sub-branches that most charts leave out for simplicity's sake. And these extra ramifications connect exactly as per the ending / starting points on the simplified charts. Can you confirm ?


I also really appreciate all the details, including the reference. What is the Lingshu, is there an English version somewhere that I could read ?


Sebby
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Interesting guys. So Aetherous is saying that there are collateral channels, but they do not necessarily path the baton from primary meridian to primary meridian.

 

What is doing it then ? I'm asking this from a purely western / logical standpoint.

 

Usually the Chinese system is very rigorous and logical within its own framework, but if you're going to define 12 meridians where the qi-flows, it would be important to know how one flows to the other.

 

Perhaps the movement is non-linear, in that it just "jumps" magically from one ending point to a starting point somewhere else in the body ?

Hello Sebastian,

 

If I might interject here, I study a slightly different school from yours though based on the same system with different terminology. I shall refrain from entering the technical side other than to justify your desire to understand this in an Occidental fashion.

 

The wording "magical jump" leads me to think that you are considering electricity as a flow inside of a wire; this will not aid your understanding, you might consider that electricity flows as a field around the wire and that between yin and yang it is a field carrying a signal that is (AC) and not a simple direct current. Not only that but that it is extremely low amperage but very high frequency oscillation; creating an effect like that of a tesla coil not a mains plug.

 

Obviously this is not electricity it is chi which is probably better described as light, but I feel that the analogy is good for this mental justification. MRI scans measure in a unit called a tesla; Think biological induction rather than a wired connection ...

 

Edited by iain
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Yeah, like some sort of electromagnetic coupling, nice analogy. And from a DC standpoint, there would be open circuits and nothing would flow if the two meridians we're not connected. Maybe you'd connect to earth, the body.

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In my tradition earth is at the tail bone; the head is the primary +ve the sex the -ve; the frequency generator is just beside the heart, the power source is the stomach.

 

Though come to think of it the earth may well be considered the sex and the tail bone the -ve; I'll need to think a bit on that one.

Edited by iain

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Forget DC, it is not a useful analogy, think of channels as being the route of least resistance for the flow of a field.

 

You can not play music on a DC current.

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Hello Sebastian,If I might interject here, I study a slightly different school from yours though based on the same system with different terminology. I shall refrain from entering the technical side other than to justify your desire to understand this in an Occidental fashion.The wording "magical jump" leads me to think that you are considering electricity as a flow inside of a wire; this will not aid your understanding, you might consider that electricity flows as a field around the wire and that between yin and yang it is a field carrying a signal that is (AC) and not a simple direct current. Not only that but that it is extremely low amperage but very high frequency oscillation; creating an effect like that of a tesla coil not a mains plug.Obviously this is not electricity it is chi which is probably better described as light, but I feel that the analogy is good for this mental justification. MRI scans measure in a unit called a tesla; Think biological induction rather than a wired connection ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vRcDLEiRaM#t=44

 

I studied Tesla coils to some degree and I really like the analogy you are drawing to bioelectricity. I wonder, is the idea all yours or do you have some source on this?

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Hello Michael,, yes they are fascinating aren't they and the man himself was fantastic.

None of my thoughts are mine, I draw on them from a bigger picture in my minds eye based on things that I have read and validated and I am terrible for forgetting sources, having validated a source I will remember its right justification and its consequential meaning but then tend to forget the name as being a waste of brain space; this is not a concious effort, my brain just does it. Happy to chat if it gives you any ideas.
I am trying to force myself to make references now to help express ideas.

Piezoelectricity is vital to this; bordering on the meeting of light and electricity; of course pressure is critical.

Edited by iain

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Iain, the German Tesla researcher Konstantin Meyl may have suggested something along these (power) lines. I can't look it up right now as most of my books are inconveniently still packed up in boxes since I have moved. :(

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The connections are direct and well mapped out. For example, while the furthest extent of the 足少陽膽經 gallbladder channel is the between the 4th and 5th toes, if you look at the description of the pathway in the Lingshu it says that it has a branch that diverges from the top of the foot and enters into the big toe's interspace. It then travels along the inside of the phalangeal bones to situate at the toe's tip. It then reverses and penetrating the toenail it exits at "the three hairs" (the tuft on the big toe). When you look at the description of the 足厥陰肝經 liver channel it states that it arises at the big toe's hair border, right where that branch of the gallbladder meridian ended.

 

This level of detail is true for all of the regular meridians. It is not ambiguous in the texts.

 

Would you recommend this translation http://www.amazon.com/Ling-Shu-The-Spiritual-Pivot/dp/0824826310

 

And would this detail all the connections between the 12 meridians like you did in your post ?

 

Thanks

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Sebastian, that should cover them. If I remember that book correctly it is a fairly literal translation and the language is not always helpful for clarity of the implications, but the basics of the connections should be there.

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This is a good, brief explanation on each one and their connections:

 

Shen Nong Website: Twelve Meridians

 

For example, if you look at the Gall Bladder:

 

. . .

After crossing the ankle, it goes over the foot to reach to the tip of the fourth toe. Another small branch leaves the meridian and terminates at the big toe to connect with the Liver Meridian.

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This is a good, brief explanation on each one and their connections:

 

Shen Nong Website: Twelve Meridians

 

For example, if you look at the Gall Bladder:

 

Thanks, shen-nong.com looks outstanding.

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The Luo channels do seem to be secondary branches that Kevin is referring too. The main meridians connect to each other via these Luo channels at specific points called Luo points. This article was pretty clear about it.

 

taoism.about.com/od/themeridiansystem/a/Luo.htm

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The Luo channels do seem to be secondary branches that Kevin is referring too. The main meridians connect to each other via these Luo channels at specific points called Luo points. This article was pretty clear about it. taoism.about.com/od/themeridiansystem/a/Luo.htm

 

Kevin will hopefully comment more (he is a professor of this stuff!), but in my understanding as a beginning student, they are not the same thing. The primary meridians have "branches" that are not luos, some of which connect to the next meridian in the cycle...for instance the Stomach meridian has 5 branches, if I remember correctly; this doesn't mean it has 5 luo collaterals. Branches are just five extra parts of the Stomach meridian which branch off. It has only one luo point, and that connects it to its yin-yang paired organ, the Spleen...that one connection is called the transverse luo collateral. One of the Stomach meridian branches connects to the Spleen, from the top of the foot at ST-42 to the big toe at SP-1...so it's still the Stomach meridian connecting directly to the Spleen meridian.

 

And here's kind of a confusing concept, but apparently the luo collaterals don't even exist, unless there is pathology. And the transverse luo simply pass the pathology from the luo point, to the source point of the yin-yang paired organ...it's not that a pathway is there to hold the pathology. It's only with longitudinal luos that there is a pathway created for holding (and these longitudinal luos do not connect the yin-yang pair). So the ying qi is definitely not continuously flowing from Stomach to Spleen via the stomach transverse luo collateral...it's Stomach meridian to Spleen meridian via a branch of the Stomach meridian.

 

Specifically, in Deadman's book, it is from ST-42 to SP-1. Whereas the Stomach luo is ST-40, and it doesn't travel down to SP-1, but simply connects over to the Spleen meridian. Some would say, connecting to the Spleen's source point, in which case it would travel down to the foot. So, in simply reading Deadman's manual, it becomes clear that the luos are not how the meridians connect to one another, in terms of the primary cycle.

 

The article you provided mentions LU-7 going to LI-1...but this is actually a branch of the Lung meridian, and is not the transverse luo. It just happens to begin at the luo point of the Lung (which is what confuses people). The luo collateral actually goes from LU-7 to LI-4 (if you're talking about it going to the yin-yang paired organ's source-point)...Deadman's book says it goes to the thenar eminence and palm, and then connects to the Large Intestine meridian in general. So it's not a clear pathway, and is not the same as the branch of the Lung.

 

So basically, the meridian flow (LU->LI->ST->SP->HT->SI->BL->KD->PC->SJ->GB->LR) is not continuous because of luo collateral connections...but is continuous because the meridians connect to each other.

Edited by Aetherous
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Aetherous is correct. There are branches of the main meridian pathways that are observable connections seen in acupuncture practice. The Luo 絡 are also connections between the meridians but at a more superficial level. The Luo are particularly accessible at the Luo points 絡穴, but it important to understand that the Luo of a meridian is its entire superficial aspect outside the main pathway 經脈, and inside the skin regions 皮布.

 

The flow of the main meridians is independent of Luo connections; though the Luo connections strengthen the relationship between the inside and outside 表里 pairs, they do not display a regular pattern of flow.

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