I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 252 - 113: Mastery of Acupuncture Arts, Revealed Again (Part 3)

Zhou Jiande nodded gently; indeed, when it comes to the advance and retreat of needles, the acupuncture books all say the same thing, without any doubts, naturally requiring no further discussion.

"The issue lies only in the differing views on divisions. According to 'shallow first, then deep,' it means to advance slowly and retreat quickly; whereas 'deep first, then shallow' could be considered as advancing quickly and retreating slowly, a word transformation essentially indicating that the insertion and extraction for Mountain Burning Fire and Heaven-piercing Cold should follow the principles of slow and rapid replenishing and draining.

Therefore, if we consider the mechanism, interpreting 'shallow first, then deep' as 'two advances and one retreat' or 'three advances and one retreat,' and 'deep first, then shallow' as 'one advance and two retreats' or 'one advance and three retreats,' does not contradict the principles of slow and rapid replenishing and draining.

However, if we aim to correctly interpret the original meaning of the "Golden Needle Poem," I believe the three-part needle advance and retreat should be the standard.

Because another section of the "Golden Needle Poem" mentions: 'For replenishment, one advance and three flights,' 'For drainage, one flight and three retreats.'

Using this text to explain the meaning of 'shallow first, then deep' and 'deep first, then shallow,' it's clear that the book's original intent was to perform the operation in three steps."

Zhou Jiande frowned slightly. This part of his understanding differed from Lu Xuan's, but as Lu Xuan mentioned it, the light in his eyes grew brighter.

Clearly, Lu Xuan's interpretation gave him a new understanding of Mountain Burning Fire and Heart-piercing Cold.

He vaguely felt that Lu Xuan's understanding of this part was indeed correct.

With this thought, Zhou Jiande couldn't help but take a deep breath. When he looked at Lu Xuan again, the thought of taking Lu Xuan as a disciple disappeared, replaced by an impulse to become his apprentice.

Although Lu Xuan was not as skilled as him in needle insertion and manipulation techniques, his understanding of acupuncture was far ahead.

As for the needle insertion and manipulation techniques, with diligent practice and given Lu Xuan's talent, catching up with or even surpassing him was only a matter of time.

In one or two years, he could definitely master it.

But the understanding of acupuncture is the hardest part.

It must be known that he had been researching Mountain Burning Fire and Heart-piercing Cold for several years, yet still couldn't grasp it. Meanwhile, Lu Xuan, with less than ten days of exposure to acupuncture, had developed such a deep understanding of Mountain Burning Fire and Heart-piercing Cold, far exceeding what he had achieved in over a decade. This gift is beyond human capability.

In this scenario, how could he still dare think of taking on a disciple?

In fact, if Lu Xuan were willing to accept disciples, he would want to become his apprentice.

Thinking of becoming his apprentice, Zhou Jiande's eyes sparkled. This, it seemed, wasn't impossible either.

Although Lu Xuan was much younger, he didn't mind at all. If one day, under Lu Xuan's guidance, he could become an acupuncture grandmaster-level physician, he wouldn't feel that becoming Lu Xuan's apprentice was disgraceful; rather, he would take pride in it.

As soon as this thought occurred, Zhou Jiande couldn't wait to immediately bring it up with Lu Xuan. However, seeing that Lu Xuan still had more to say, he had to suppress his inner impulse and listen quietly.

"Next, let's talk about my understanding of 'Nine Yang,' 'Six Yin,' 'Three Advances and Three Retreats,' 'Three Exits and Three Entries,' and 'Slow Lifting and Tight Pressing,' 'Tighten and Slow Press.' It's actually difficult to understand these terms in isolation, but if we connect them with the context, it becomes much simpler.

To clarify the significance of these two sections in the poem, we must first analyze the operations of needle insertion and retreat.

The so-called 'advance,' I think, should refer to the entire process of the needle reaching a certain depth beneath the skin; the so-called 'retreat' includes the entire process of withdrawing the needle from a certain depth to under the skin.

This entire advance and retreat is called a 'degree.' Any needle action necessarily includes one or several processes of complete advance and retreat, that is, called one degree or multiple degrees.

Considering that in clinical practice, to meet the needs of slow and rapid replenishing and draining, a process of one needle advance or one needle retreat is often divided into two or three, which is the two-part or three-part advance and retreat method.

Therefore, speaking overall of the three advances and one retreat of Mountain Burning Fire and the one advance and three retreats of Heaven-piercing Cold, it is better to regard each as a process of advance and retreat, thus called one degree.

In the poem, 'Three Advances and Three Retreats' and 'Three Exits and Three Entries,' following my understanding, means three degrees of needle advancement and retreat.

Thus, 'Use Nine Yang and Three Advances and Three Retreats,' 'Use Six Yin and Three Exits and Three Entries,' imply that 'Nine Yang' and 'Six Yin' must be applied in the three-degree advance and retreat process.

However, each degree of Mountain Burning Fire is three advances, and each degree of Heaven-piercing Cold is three retreats. All three operations add up to nine counts, without significant distinction.

Therefore, by linking it with 'Slow Lifting and Tight Pressing' and 'Tighten and Slow Press,' the problem could be easily solved.

Because the process of needling, besides the essential needle advance and retreat actions, must meet certain stimulation quantity requirements.

Various needle maneuvers, including insertion and extraction, are necessary for this. Insertion and extraction replenishing and draining method considers 'Slow Lifting and Tight Pressing' as replenishment, 'Tighten and Slow Press' as drainage.

The amplitude of insertion and extraction can be large or small, the frequency can be many or few. Therefore, the application of the Nine Yang count and Six Yin count, in essence, refers to combining with the frequency of insertion and extraction during the three-degree advance and retreat process. It means Mountain Burning Fire must slow lift and tightly press nine times per part during needle advancement, and Heaven-piercing Cold must tighten and slowly press six times per part during needle retreat.

The meaning within the poem essentially refers to this."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiande was truly amazed.

He originally intended to ask Lu Xuan for insights into Mountain Burning Fire and Heart-piercing Cold without much expectation. Unexpectedly, Lu Xuan's depth of understanding of these two acupuncture skills was so profound that he even believed Lu Xuan's interpretation of Mountain Burning Fire and Heart-piercing Cold was approaching the truth and could even be put into practice without any problems.