Pulses - descriptions

Question 1

felt with a light pressure of the fingers, just resting the fingers on the artery

Answer 1

floating (superficial)

Question 2

• stops at regular intervals

Answer 2

intermittent

Question 3

feels rather big but soft (actually rather big but feels empty on slightly stronger pressure and is soft)
weak + soft, “like a partially filled water balloon”
felt at the superficial level and is often slower than normal

Answer 3

empty (deficient, vacuous)

Question 4

• extremely fine + soft, but lacks the clarity of the Thin pulse
• barely perceptible and seems about to disappear

Answer 4

minute (faint)

Question 5

• feels smooth, rounded, slippery, as if it were oily, slides user the fingers

Answer 5

slippery (rolling)

Question 6

• short + tight + slippery + rapid
• no definite shape, having no head or tail, just rising up in the center
• round shape like a bean, it is short and it “temples” under the finger
• feels as if it is shaking and also somewhat slippery

Answer 6

Moving (spinning bean)

Question 7

• thinner than normal

- fine thread but is very distinct and clear

Answer 7

thin (fine, thready)

Question 8

• slow, irregular pulse that skips beats irregularly

Answer 8

knotted (bound)

Question 9

distinct only at the third level, when heavy pressure is applied

Answer 9

deep (sinking)

Question 10

5 beats per respiration cycle

Answer 10

rapid

Question 11

• rapid pulse that skips beats irregularly

Answer 11

hasty (abrupt, hurried)

Question 12

• opposite of the Leather pulse and it is a form of the Hidden pulse: very deep + wiry + long + strong
• described as wiry pulse at the deep level
• felt only at the deep level - feels hard and rather wiry

Answer 12

Confined (prison, firm)

Question 13

• surges with the strength of a big pulse but it leaves the fingers with less strength, like a receding wave
• feels big, it extends beyond the pulse position
• superficial and generally feels as if it overflows the normal pulse channel like “a river overflows during a flood”

Answer 13

surging (flooding)

Question 14

• cannot be felt on the superficial level, but only at the deep level, also Soft
• soft + weak + thin

Answer 14

weak (frail)

Question 15

• perceptible beyond the first and third positions

Answer 15

long

Question 16

• extreme form of sinking/deep pulse
• intense pressure must be applied to feel it
• feels as if it were hidden under the bone

Answer 16

Hidden

Question 17

• 4 beats for each respiration cycle
• normal in depth, speed, strength, and width
• pulse arrives leisurely

Answer 17

slow-down (moderate)

Question 18

3 beats per respiration cycle of the practitioner

Answer 18

slow

Question 19

• feels very small and is relatively superficial
• instead of feeling like a wave, the pulse feels as if it were “broken into small dots”
• larger but much less distinct that the Empty pulse, tends to be felt primarily as it recedes

Answer 19

Scattered

Question 20

big + strong, pounding hard against the fingers at all 3 depths
feels full, rather hard and rather long

Answer 20

full (excess, replete)

Question 21

• feels rough under the finger, as if it has a jagged edge to it, instead of a smooth wave
• sometimes irregular in strength and fullness
• ” a knife scraping bamboo or a sick silkworm eating a mulberry leaf”

Answer 21

choppy (hesitant, rough)

Question 22

• feels twisted like a tight rope
• strong and seems to bounce from side to side like a taut rope
• fuller and more elastic than the wiry pulse
  vibrating and urgent, it seems faster than it actually is

Answer 22

tight (tense)

Question 23

occupies a space shorter than the normal position

- does not fill the spaces under the 3 fingers and is usually only felt in one position

Answer 23

short

Question 24

• felt at the superficial level, but if one presses harder to find the middle it is not there, felt again at the deep level (empty in the middle)
• “like the stem of a green onion”
• often Floating as well

Answer 24

Hollow (scallion)

Question 25

• taught-feeling, like a guitar or violin string, really hits the fingers
• strong, rebounds against pressure at all levels, and hits the fingers evenly, no fluidity or wavelike qualities

Answer 25

wiry (string-taut)

Question 26

• wiry + floating + empty, feels like the tight skin on the top of a drum
• feels hard and tight tat the superficial level and stretched like a drum, nut it feels completely Empty at the Deep level

Answer 26

Leather (drumskin)

Question 27

• felt only on the superficial level

- slightest pressure makes it disappear, “a bubble floating on water”

Answer 27

soggy (soft)