and transmitted. Likewise, the pulse has its own, specific language, and the doctor, to the best of his “interpretative” abilities, explains to the listener - patient or reader, what, in fact, he managed to “read” and what theoretically can be “read” in the body in the language of pulse diagnostics. The generally accepted medical terminology does not always correspond to the symbolism of the language of pulse diagnostics, but what can be translated - designated, the author will do.
It is not difficult for the pulse researcher to determine the localization of the inflammatory process in the organs and systems of the body. Whether it is bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, cholecystitis, adnexitis or prostatitis. Moreover, the doctor-pulsologist can quite accurately note in which segment of the lung the inflammatory process has nested, how deeply it has penetrated into the tissue of the organ, and what is the nature of the inflammation. The infectious agent of inflammation is not determined: staphylococcus, gonococcus or other scoundrel behaves outrageously in the ovary, gallbladder or prostate gland. But the necessary antibiotic or other drug is easily determined to suppress elements that are unnecessary to the body. Pulse diagnostics allows you to determine almost any metabolic disorders in tissues: bones, joints, spine, etc., internal organs: lungs, liver, kidneys, heart; in mucous membranes: gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, nasopharynx, genitals. Without any problems, neoplasms in the uterus, mammary glands, thyroid gland and, in general, dysfunction in the endocrine system are diagnosed. The state of the vascular system is also amenable to analysis, both its arterial and venous components. Naturally, the state of the nervous system does not go unnoticed. And so on and so forth. But we emphasize once again, since the origins of pulse diagnosis are located in the system of traditional medicine, where such nosological forms or diagnoses as cholecystitis, for example, or hypertension or pancreatitis, are not provided, the pulsologist formulates a diagnosis that conditionally corresponds to Western generally accepted clinical terminology. However, any thinking doctor, not up to having fallen into widespread dogmatism, he knows that any, the most impeccable and beautiful diagnosis, involves a certain amount of conventionality. Often this proportion is very significant.
And people are waiting for the exact wording. And in vain. We have not yet been able to clearly define what "life" is? We find it difficult and painful to define what “health” is. We cannot say unequivocally how many years a person should, is obliged to live. We find it difficult to answer what is old age? Disease? Or the natural state? We do not know the causes of cancer, hypertension, baldness. We don't know why we get flu epidemics almost every winter. We don't know... we don't know... we can't answer... And so on, on, on.
And because medicine and health care, in the broad sense of this term, as usual, are either at a crossroads or at a dead end, the author proposes to look at medicinal plants from a different angle. Maybe it will come in handy in the fight for self-preservation.
First, you need to define the basic terms of Chinese medicine. Then consider its structure, functional systems. And then see how the medicinal plants of our pharmacy affect these systems. Goals are defined, the path is chosen, on the horses!

Part 1.

Chapter 1.

Modern interpretation of the main philosophical terms used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese medicine, unlike other medical systems, is not overloaded with symbolic terminology. A symbol, as we have defined above, is a designation in oral, written or any other sign form of some images, ideas or concepts. There are several such symbolic terms in Chinese medicine. The five elements, or the system of five elements, qi, is sometimes pronounced as chi or ki. We will say qi. And also yin and yang. And also the principle of change, or just change.
Everyone has heard about the elements, since in vain they are mentioned almost daily by all kinds of printed and non-printed publications. In vain, because they do not really understand the meaning and meaning of these terms. In different cultures, among different peoples, there are often terminological refinements on the subject of the elementary components of being. But the historical aspect of the problem is not our topic, so we will limit ourselves to the ancient Chinese version.
People are not the first millennium watching each other and for universe, and, of course, noticed the components of the world around them. These components they identified as five, and named as fire, metal, earth, water, wood. Why was it called that? And what's the difference what to call it, if it is almost impossible to give an exact definition of these categories. We, now, call these components of the world differently, but the essence and meaning of these concepts are no more clear to us than then, thousands of years ago. Today we denote the components of the world as energy, space, time, information, matter. In the past they called it water, fire, earth, metal, wood. From the change of names, the essence of objects, of course, does not change, but delve into reference books and you will be disappointed. There are no indisputable, clear, unambiguous definitions for the concepts "matter", "energy", "space", "information" and "time"! Well, isn't it funny? The main questions of life do not have a satisfactory answer! It would seem that it was from this that knowledge should begin, but it was not so. So what is the temple of science based on, and what is science itself, if the fundamental questions have not been resolved? Well, okay, let's consider the question rhetorical.
The thinkers of the past were wiser than us, they did not ask empty questions, and therefore they were considered great philosophers. Why talk about things, the meaning of which is difficult to express in a word, very difficult, almost impossible. But the situation is not hopeless, and there are always happy or not so happy exceptions. An example of this is the Tao Te Ching. A magnificent monument of culture and philosophy, on twenty-five pages of which answers are given to the main questions that so occupy some restless minds. The author of the Tao Te Ching, the great philosopher Lao Tzu, a mythical and legendary figure, but no doubt real, has left us his thoughts on the subject. But a detailed analysis of the main issues remains outside the scope of today's topic, and the author directs the curious directly to the text of the Tao Te Ching.
So, the current matter, space, time, information and energy are ancient Chinese water, wood, earth, metal and fire. We emphasize that the world, nature, the universe does not consist of elements, no. Because the elements are essentially completely different things. They, the elements, are precisely the components of the universe. Everything is made up of qi. This is how ancient Chinese thinkers defined the totality and relationship of the five elements. Qi term usually translated as energy, which is not entirely accurate and not at all true. Energy is a part, one of the components of qi. No more and no less significant than other components: matter, space, time, information. That is, everything is made up of qi, and qi is made up of elements. Everything is very simple.
Examining the pulse, the doctor, just determines the state of qi. How quickly, with what speed it, that is, qi, changes. In what direction are the changes taking place, does this process have sufficient power, how and in what order does it proceed. These parameters are studied both in relation to the whole organism and in relation to each system or organ, or part of an organ.
Next moment. Qi is a dynamic substance. Of course, the elements that make up qi are also mobile. That is, the state of qi is a process. This process is called change, or the principle of change. Naturally, the changes themselves take place in different ways. If the process accelerates, becomes more active, becomes more powerful, more dynamic, more aggressive, more chaotic, there is a yang tendency. And vice versa, if the situation calms down, is ordered, organized, weakens, slows down, one can speak of a yin tendency. That is, yin and yang are different versions of the same process. That, in fact, is all that should be said about the philosophical foundations of traditional Chinese medicine. Now let's move on to the structure of medicine itself.

Chapter 2

The structure of traditional Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese medicine is the study of functional systems. If the Western doctors paid and pay great attention to the anatomical structure of the human body, both at the macro and micro levels, then the Eastern doctors were more concerned with function. Anatomy in the east is not held in high esteem. Probably, the doctors there reasoned like this: “Why should I remember that a thousand people have seven cervical vertebrae, if the thousand and first may have eight or even nine? Why do I need to know that the human stomach has an antrum, fornix, etc., if it is known that they do not function individually? And what is the use of representing and naming the gyri in the brain of my patient or other structural formations in the same brain, if it is not clear to you, my respected descendants, how these gyri actually work? “Yes,” descendants must answer with a sigh, “we don’t know how our convolutions work, dear ancestor. Indeed, the stomach or any other anatomical object does not function independently of the others. And citizens have a different number of vertebrae. But the saddest thing, dear ancestor, having dissected a person,