Study On Meridian Theory Of Exterior-interior Relationship

The meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship earliest established in Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》The Yellow Emperor s Cannon of Internal Medicine) is one of the key research contents in Acupuncture and Moxibustion or even Chinese medicine. It is significant for the understanding of connection laws in human organizations on the basis of exterior-interior meridians, the mastery of diagnosis and interactions among meridians, zangfu organs and syndromes, and the expansion of acupuncture therapeutic thoughts and acupoints selections, etc. The medical scholars in previous dynasties have studied on this issue from different aspects and made a great development or innovation on some points. From the literature research, the meridian therapy of exterior-interior relationship hasn't been specially deeply and systematically studied.In light of an understanding of two meridian models, the relevant contents of ancient literature theories are analyzed and explained; the connotation and the essence of the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship are interpreted from both longitudinal view such as theoretical sources and academic evolution, and transverse view of relationship among different theories, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the development and application of acupuncture treatment, and a reference of a new concept for the exterior-interior relationship of zangfu organ study.Five parts are included in this paper.In chapter one, the relevant ancient literature theories are systematically discussed, and the historical development overview of the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship is studied in time sequence.In chapter two, the relevant meridian theories of exterior-interior relationship based on an understanding of initial meridian models are explored from theoretical model, theoretical constitution and theoretical application.In chapter three, the theory of exterior-interior relationship based on zangfu-meridian model is discussed, which focuses on the parallel and comparative research in terms of the contents of chapter two.In chapter four, the characteristic and clinical significance of the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship is summarized under different models; the universality and individuality of the six meridians of foot and hand are explored without the limitation of different models.In chapter five, the reveal or thinking is put forward on Chinese basic medicine study, fundamental theories of traditional Chinese medicine, clinical thinking of acupuncture and the understanding of complexity and systematization of human body.The contents of each chapter are correlative, contrastive and progressive.The literature or works related with meridian theories of exterior-interior relationship in or before Qing dynasty are first systematically collected and studied; and the origin, establishment, development, application and evolution, etc. are briefly expounded. It is found out that, the theories discussed by the works (or masters) in previous dynasties are not only the zangfu-meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship characterized by a combination with zangfu, but also the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship simply manifesting the understanding of meridian essence; both theories above have been showed in early meridian theories, and formed into two theoretical systems which are quite different in theories and applications. For this reason, the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship based on an understanding of different meridian models is studied in this paper.In this subject study, the contents manifesting hidden laws and overlooked by the predecessors in the meridian theories of exterior-interior relationship at an early stage are focused on, and the different views in Huangdi Neijing are distinguished and explained; besides, combined with the views of medical scholars in later dynasties, the self-exterior-interior relationship of meridian is discussed, and the theoretical constitution and application of exterior-interior relationship of meridian dominated by the combination of both zangfu and meridian or zangfu only are explored. The universality and individuality of exterior-interior relationship of six meridians of foot and hand are systematically compared and analyzed for the first time, and a new angle of view is provided for the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship study. The new viewpoints such as "there are intermediary structures in exterior-interior subsystem of zangfu-meridian (structure medium, acupoint medium and zangfu-meridian medium)" and "the research of meridian theories based on different models favors the interpretation of meridian tropism and the understanding of essence of meridian tropism" are presented.The research methods are systematic, in which, literature research and theoretical study are associated, the equal importance is attached to principle exploration and application analysis, and the longitudinal view and transverse view are combined. In this study, the historical development of the meridian theory of exterior-interior relationship is expounded, theoretical structure and application are recognized and compared with various methodologies, and the regularity expressions and modern interpretations of the relevant contents in ancient literature are completed. In order to correctly understand the traditional acupuncture theory, explore and express on scientific views of meridian theory, carry on the modern clinical and experimental studies established on Chinese medicine and acupuncture, the literature and theoretical research bases are provided.