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Volume I · Mawangdui Manuscripts (马王堆帛书)

Cauterisation Classic of the Eleven Channels of Foot and Arm

One of the earliest channel texts, from Mawangdui: eleven channels, all treated by moxibustion.

Mawangdui Manuscripts (马王堆帛书)Origins and Lineages
ENGLISH TRANSLATION

The English is translated from the Chinese vernacular. The original text and its pinyin sit beneath each sentence in smaller type; hide them whenever you prefer to read the translation alone.

The arm taiyin vessel runs along the upper border of the sinew, passes up the inner upper arm, emerges at the inner side of the axilla and enters the heart. Its illnesses are pain of the heart and vexation of the heart with sighing. For all disorders of this kind, moxa the arm taiyin vessel.

ORIGINAL臂泰阴脉:循筋上廉,以奏臑内,出腋内廉,之心。其病:心痛,心烦而噫。诸病此物者,皆灸臂泰阴脉。

bì tài yīn mài:xún jīn shàng lián,yǐ zòu nào nèi,chū yè nèi lián,zhī xīn。qí bìng:xīn tòng,xīn fán ér yī。zhū bìng cǐ wù zhě,jiē jiǔ bì tài yīn mài。

The arm taiyang vessel emerges at the little finger, runs up along the lower border of the bone, emerges at the lower edge of the upper arm and at the outer shoulder, emerges at the nape and goes up to the head. Its illness is pain of the outer side of the arm. For all disorders of this kind, moxa the arm taiyang vessel.

ORIGINAL臂泰阳脉:出小指,循骨下廉,出臑下廉,出肩外廉,出项,□头。其病:臂外廉痛。诸病此物者,皆灸臂泰阳脉。

bì tài yáng mài:chū xiǎo zhǐ,xún gǔ xià lián,chū nào xià lián,chū jiān wài lián,chū xiàng,□ tóu。qí bìng:bì wài lián tòng。zhū bìng cǐ wù zhě,jiē jiǔ bì tài yáng mài。

—— 马王堆三号汉墓帛书《足臂十一脉灸经》(释文节引)

Recovered from a Han dynasty tomb at Mawangdui in 1973, this text records eleven channels rather than twelve, with pathways that do not yet form a closed circuit and no mention of acupuncture points. Its treatments are exclusively by cauterisation, the direct burning of moxa on the body.

Its importance is historical. It shows that channel theory and moxibustion existed before the systematic point theory and before needling became the dominant technique. The absence of points, and the absence of the heart channel, are among the strongest evidence that the meridian system developed gradually rather than being revealed whole.

ANNOTATION

Tai (泰): the same as 太. The arm taiyin vessel is the hand taiyin lung channel.

Zou (奏): the same as 走, to run.

Lian (廉): edge or border.

□: a character lost from the silk manuscript.

COMMENTARY

The great lesson of reading the silk manuscripts is that “classics” are not made in a single act. The system of twelve channels now treated as authoritative was built up over several centuries. This genetic view explains the nature of channel theory better than reciting the received text alone.

MY NOTES

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