INTRODUCTION
'Channels and collaterals' is a translation of the Chinese
term 'jingluo'. ‘Jing’ has a geographical connotation and
means a channel (e.g. a water channel) or longitude. In
this book it is translated as ‘channels’, elsewhere as ‘meridians’.
Using the image of a tree, the ‘jing’ are like the
trunk and main branches of the channel network. They
generally run longitudinally through the body at a relatively
deep level, and connect with the internal zangfu.
Specifically they comprise the twelve primary channels,
the eight extraordinary vessels and the twelve divergent
channels. ‘Luo’ means ‘to attach’ or ‘a net’, and refers to
the finer branches of the channel network which are more
superficial and interconnect the trunk and main branches
(jing), the connective tissues and cutaneous regions. In
this book they are referred to in general as the collaterals,
and more specifically as the luo-connecting channels.
There are fifteen luo-connecting channels, the twelve that
belong to the twelve primary channels, the luo-connecting
channels of the Conception and Governing vessels,
and the great luo-connecting channel of the Spleen. The
general category of the collaterals also includes the myriad
‘minute’ collaterals that are distributed throughout the
body. In addition to the jing and luo, there are twelve
sinew channels and twelve cutaneous regions.
Whilst a typical chart of the acupuncture channels,
therefore, illustrates only the superficial pathways of the
twelve primary channels, we should remember that the
channel network is considerably more complex than this,
and there is no part of the body, no kind of tissue, no single
cell, that is not supplied by the channels. Like a tree, the
trunk and main branches define the main structure, whilst
ever finer branches, twigs and leaves spread out to every
part.
The study of the channels in traditional Chinese medicine
can be said to be the equivalent of the study of
anatomy in Western medicine. Chinese medicine paid
scant attention to the physical structure of the interior of
the body, and references to the shape and location of the
internal zangfu in classical texts are few and very brief.
Furthermore there was no study of the distribution of the
nerves, or the origin and insertion of the muscles. Traditional
Chinese medicine did, however, describe in minute
detail the pathways of the wide variety of channels that
serve to circulate the qi and blood to every part of the
body. The channels penetrate the zangfu and the extraordinary
fu in the deepest levels of the body and connect
with the skin, muscles, flesh, tendons, and bones, the head,
body and limbs, and the sense organs, linking all the tissues
and structures of the body into an integrated whole.
'Channels and collaterals' is a translation of the Chinese
term 'jingluo'. ‘Jing’ has a geographical connotation and
means a channel (e.g. a water channel) or longitude. In
this book it is translated as ‘channels’, elsewhere as ‘meridians’.
Using the image of a tree, the ‘jing’ are like the
trunk and main branches of the channel network. They
generally run longitudinally through the body at a relatively
deep level, and connect with the internal zangfu.
Specifically they comprise the twelve primary channels,
the eight extraordinary vessels and the twelve divergent
channels. ‘Luo’ means ‘to attach’ or ‘a net’, and refers to
the finer branches of the channel network which are more
superficial and interconnect the trunk and main branches
(jing), the connective tissues and cutaneous regions. In
this book they are referred to in general as the collaterals,
and more specifically as the luo-connecting channels.
There are fifteen luo-connecting channels, the twelve that
belong to the twelve primary channels, the luo-connecting
channels of the Conception and Governing vessels,
and the great luo-connecting channel of the Spleen. The
general category of the collaterals also includes the myriad
‘minute’ collaterals that are distributed throughout the
body. In addition to the jing and luo, there are twelve
sinew channels and twelve cutaneous regions.
Whilst a typical chart of the acupuncture channels,
therefore, illustrates only the superficial pathways of the
twelve primary channels, we should remember that the
channel network is considerably more complex than this,
and there is no part of the body, no kind of tissue, no single
cell, that is not supplied by the channels. Like a tree, the
trunk and main branches define the main structure, whilst
ever finer branches, twigs and leaves spread out to every
part.
The study of the channels in traditional Chinese medicine
can be said to be the equivalent of the study of
anatomy in Western medicine. Chinese medicine paid
scant attention to the physical structure of the interior of
the body, and references to the shape and location of the
internal zangfu in classical texts are few and very brief.
Furthermore there was no study of the distribution of the
nerves, or the origin and insertion of the muscles. Traditional
Chinese medicine did, however, describe in minute
detail the pathways of the wide variety of channels that
serve to circulate the qi and blood to every part of the
body. The channels penetrate the zangfu and the extraordinary
fu in the deepest levels of the body and connect
with the skin, muscles, flesh, tendons, and bones, the head,
body and limbs, and the sense organs, linking all the tissues
and structures of the body into an integrated whole.
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