Chinese Medicine Notes

The Eight Extraordinary Meridians

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Yael

It is a common fact that the information we have today in the west about the 8 extraordinary meridians is insufficient- at best.
Historically speaking, they are mentioned in the Su Wen and Ling Shu but separated from each other, or mentioned by pairs. It is in the Nan Jing that they were first mentioned as one group.
The loss of information has various reasons, and we are left with knowledge that is being passed from practitioner to his student.

The extraordinary meridians are the foundation for life from the beginning to end, as it is clearly stated in the first page of the introduction of the book by Elizabeth Rochat de la Valleeand Father Claude Larre.
They are the “blueprint” on which the human body is built on, and on the rest of the body are being added to- 12 meridians, organs and so on.
It is, therefore, very important to understand them, their functions and when to treat them.
And how are we supposed to know all that if we don’t read about it?
2 main books were written on the subject, one by Kiiko Matsumoto and the second by Rochat and Larre. I will discuss the latter.

I’ll start with the general fact that every book written by Larre and Rochat is worthy- period.
The knowledge of the French duo is endless, and we are very fortunate to be able to read their books.
Thanks to their work, we are able to penetrate the depths of old Chinese texts.
Like in their book- The Seven Emotions- the words are carefully chosen and the result is a beautiful text for us to read, which makes us understand just how clever Chinese philosophy is, and makes us understand important ideas from the Chinese texts. Thus we understand, why we talk about 8 extraordinary meridians and not, for example, 4 meridians.

The book starts with presenting the meridians as a group, and then we move on to read about each meridian on it’s own.
They present the main ideas of each meridians by exploring the radicals, the function of each meridian and they also address the connections the 8 extra meridians have with the “ordinary” meridians and the organs.
They also talk about problems one might see when there’s an imbalance and finally they talk about points, again from exploring the radicals, and sometimes by comparing 2 points, for example- CV4 and GV16.
As I read the book, I realized just how little I know about this subject!
For instance- I started to read about the Chong, and it says that the first and most important function of the meridian is the creation of good Qi circulation throughout the body.
Qi? I’m sorry, but isn’t the Chong all about Blood? (who was this teacher who failed to mention this highly important function?? Did *he* know about it?)

The Chong is so much more than treating a state of no period. After reading this chapter about the Chong, one realizes the crucial role of the Chong, we understand how important it is on all levels and all burners.
Suddenly one finds out the Heaven-Man-Earth within the first extraordinary meridians that are created- Du-Chong-Ren.
The more you read, the more you understand. The more you understand, the more questions you have.

The book is a project.
I feel, that one should read it and mark important sentences inside the book, one might even consider writing notes with a pencil. This way, when you re-read the book, you will be able to add yet another level of understanding, without forgetting what you already learned.

The Eight Extraordinary Meridians
Elizabeth Rochat dela Valle, Claude Larre
Monkey Press

Over to you
What are your thoughts about the book? Would love to read your thoughts and comments.