Five-Phases Acupuncture

 The Eight Mai

0. Introduction

The Eight Mai, generally surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery, are generally not very well known.  Some schools briefly go over them in one or two lectures.  Some teachers affirm with the utmost seriousness that they are not part of the Classics.  Others stipulate with gravity that they only used them once or twice in twenty years of carrier.  And others simply say that they are too powerful to be touched.

Here are some of the most interesting think that I heard about the extraordinary vessels:

“8 precedes 12, the 8 Mai are thought to be primordial to the 12 Jings.”
“There is something magical about number 8.”
“Only Ren Mai and Du Mai are important, the rest of them are not used.”

Students and practitioners should have some brief understanding of the evolution of Chinese Medicine, both in China and in the country where they practice.  This provides the minimum understanding about Chinese Medicine and reduces erroneous statements.  Teachers should have the honesty to present a material they know and to teach techniques they have some experience in.

It is true that the theoretical understanding of the Mai is neither easy to understand nor easy to present.  It requires some knowledge of the other parts of Chinese Medicine and some intellectual work.  One needs a light to see in an obscure room.

It is true that 8 precedes 12, so do 6 and 5.  And if something is magical about number 8, what about 1, 2, 3 and the others?

And if Ren and Du Mai are important, why do the classics say that they are eight Mai, not two.  Is it because 8 minus 6 is equal to 2?  Or is it because Ren and Du are more accessible on an intellectual level?

This annex is just a brief introduction to the Mai.  It is the responsibility of any serious therapist to have some understanding of them.

1. History

The mai are mentioned in both the Nei Jing and the Su Wen, the Canonical books of Chinese Medicine written about 300 years B.C. 

The Nan Jing, written about 100 BC to 100 AD, gives an important explanation of them based on energies and transformations.

 Around 300 AD, Wang Shu He, author of the Mai Jing, described some of the pulse types associated with each of the extraordinary vessels. 

Both the Nan Jing and Mai Jing are stepping stones in the understanding of these vessels.

The first complete and systematic treatment description of the Mai is found in the Zhen Jiu Da Quan, written by Xu Feng in 1439 AD.  The Master points are mentioned for the first time.

In 1570 AD, Li Shi Zen wrote the Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao (An examination of the eight extraordinary vessels).  In this text the theory and herbal treatment of extraordinary vessel energetics is covered.

A precise and thorough approach for them was established by 1601 AD, the time of the great Zhen Jiu Da Cheng. 

In France, the works of Nguen Van Nghi and Tran Viet Dzung in the seventies and eighties, add a new understanding to of the eight Mai, bringing their contributions from their understanding of the Chinese and Korean classics. 

At about the same time, Maurice Mussat, also in France published his books on Energetics where an original and fascinating understanding of the Mai is presented.

Still at the same time in Japan, Yoshiso Manaka presents his understanding of the Mai and the stems and branches and develops a new therapeutic approach using modern electromagnetic procedure and Classical knowledge together.

Still at about the same time, in U.S.A, Kiiko Matsumoto and Stephen Birch publish Extraordinary Vessels and Hara Diagnosis: Reflections on the Sea bringing to the English spoken acupuncturist community an understanding of the Mai from a Chinese Classical, Japanese and Occidental point of view.

The dynamic of the development of Chinese medicine throughout the centuries shows a rapid acceleration in the understanding and use of the Mai.  This phenomenon cannot be neglected by any dedicated acupuncturists.

1. General Overview

The Curious vessels, numbering eight, are more superficial than the Jing-meridians.  Consequently, in comparison with the meridians, they are Yang, since closer to the exterior, Yang by definition.

Except for Du and Ren Mai, they do not have points on their own.  According to the Classics, “they are overflow channels into which the Energy goes when the Qi in the meridians is in excess.”

They are eight special energetic states that respond to none of the others.  They are separate and apart from the rest.  They are Celestial Yang by definition.  They travel from Yin to Yang, from bottom to top, from inside to outside and from the past to the future.

Since they are in man, they must be materialized, than denominated.

All begins with Total Yang and all is created by its contrary and complementary, the Total Yin, “mother of the 10,000 beings.”  In this way, “the Yang sets the Yin into movement.”

It is the “thrusting vessel” that fecundates the Yin.  It is the Chong Mai.

And the Total Yin, under the “assault” of the Chong Mai, insures the “movement of Yin.”  It is the Yin Qiao.

What preceded is the is the Heaven and Earth fecundation, the axle by which “all energies arrive.”

Its complementary axle is Terrestrial, concerning the “actions of Man.”

Conception occurs at the level of Earth.  We are at the level or Ren Mai.

And the Heavenly fecundation took place at the level of the Yin Qiao.

Symmetrically, the Earthly conception takes place at the level of the Yang Qiao.

As the Chong Mai is the “signal” of the Yin that it puts into movement, this transformation triggers the movement of the  three Yin, or “Yin Wei.”

Similarly and symmetrically, the “Yang Wei” is triggered by the transformational movement of the Yang  resulting from the action of Ren Mai on Yang Qiao.

The symmetry is complete and all falls into place.  A first sets of relationships appears:

There is a Heavenly axle composed by Chong and Yin Qiao Mai.
There is a Earthly axle composed by Ren and Yang Qiao Mai.
There is creation from the first axle, leading to Yin Wei.
There is a fecundation from the second axle, leading to Yang Wei.

And from the various movements of Yang and Yin, creation and fecundation, appears the necessary notion of hinge of the Yin and Yang, between the bottom and top.  It is the Dai Mai.

Finally the entirety of the movements must gather and recapitulate. 

It must be governed in order for the whole to be coherent.

This group is the “Sea of the Yang meridians,” gathering all the rivers like the ocean does.  The Du Mai appears.

Therefore the system is coherent, materialized and denominated.

It is no surprise that some practitioners view them as mysterious.

And yet this system is elegant and primordial.  It even responds to a high logical disposition incorporating logical series, symmetries, contraries.  It furthers and refines the system of meridians.  It “borrows” points on them and a linear pathway emerges to facilitate the didactic presentation.

In all reality, the points on which these didactic pathways travels are systems of modulation of the energy carried by the extraordinary vessels as well as modulation of the meridians through an action on the extraordinary meridians.

It is no surprise that some practitioners consider them dangerous to use.  They are powerful in their actions.

2. Accessing the Mai

As mentioned above, the Zhen Jiu Da Quan is the first work to cite the Master points. 

Eight of them exist, they are polar points and are classically denominated Luo points as they are passage points from one meridian to the shu points of the coupled meridian.

These Luo points, used in combination with a coupled point act as modulation program for the Mai.

Each Mai has a master point and a coupled point.  A coupling of Mai appears here as one Mai has a master point which corresponds to the coupled point of another mai, and the coupled point inversely corresponds to the master point.

Thus four couples appear.  For example, Ren is coupled with Yin Qiao.  The Master point of Ren is Lu-7, the coupled point of Yin Qiao is Lu-7.  The Master point of Yin Qiao is Ki-6, the coupled point of Ren is Ki-6.

Since four of the eight mai have the same “accessing” points, confusion exist as to how do we trigger one and not the other.

Some mention the order of insertion and removal of the needle.  Apparently, this goes even further by differentiating man and women.  When taking the gender into account, the right and left are important.[1]

Another way to differentiate which Mai is triggered is by using some of the other points they access.

Finally, some authors also mention that the needle depth is different.[2]

According to the works of Dr. Mussat on Energetics, each Mai is compared to a program and has a specific “equation” including the Energetic levels of the meridians.  His works bring insight and clarity to both the composition, function and use of the Mai.

The next table shows the composition of the Mai according to Energetics

The following table gathers both the classical information and the information provided through Energetics, showing the Medial and Implicit points.  According to Energetics, these points are crucial in the final design of the activation of the Mai.

We immediately see that even if the master and couple points of a couple of Mai are the same, their “Total” program is not.

Thus, the activation of Chong is [Sp-4, St-30, MH-6] while the one of Yin Wei is [MH-6, GV-8, Sp-4]. 

3. Symptomatology

1. Du Mai:  

Stiffness; contortion; back disturbance; dazing (Excess Yang); seizures.

2. Yang Qiao Mai: 

Deficiency: Fatigue; powerlessness of Yin Officials.
Excess: Spastic tension of Yang Officials; myalgia.
Myasthenia of the medial side of the limbs and myospasm of the lateral side of the limbs.
Insanity, insomnia and pain in the inner canthus.  Inability to close the eyes.

3. Ren Mai:

Disturbances of male sexual functions (testicular pains, . . .) and female menstrual cycle.
Menoxenia, sterility, profuse leukorrhea.
Pain and masses in abdomen.  Hernia.  Heat.  Flushes.  Epileptiform manifestations. 

4. Yin Qiao Mai:

Fatigue of the Yang; tension; excess in Yin Officials.
Spasms; clonic seizures.
Kidney symptoms.
Myasthenia of the lateral side of the limbs and myospasm of the medial side of the limbs.
Laryngalgia.  Somnolence.  Inability to keep the eyes open.

5. Dai Mai: 

Sensation as if one is sitting in water.  Soreness and debility of the waist.
Profuse leucorrhea, irregular menses, abortion, hystero-ptosis, abdominal distension and pain.

6. Yang Wei Mai:    

Excess: superficial symptoms on the surface.
Headache migraines.
Alternate spells of chills and fever.

7. Chong Mai:

Menstrual disorder.  Uterine bleeding, sterility, hypogalactia.
Spitting blood, abnormal rising of Qi.  Abdominal spasms.
Heat flushes in head (menopause) with frozen extremities; diaphragm pain.

8. Yin Wei Mai: 

Chronic pain; Chest pain, stomachache and precordial pain.

3. The Conception and Governor Vessel Block

According to the Five Elements style, a symptomatology based on manifestations and pulses (fatigue, accumulation of fluids and extremely deficient fluids) indicate a block between CV/GV.

A specific technique consisting on needling (in/out, in direction of next point) successively [CV-1, CV-24, GV-28, GV-1]. This technique removes the block.

4. Conclusion

The overview presented above introduces the reader to the basics of the extraordinary vessels.

These “vessels” called “signal-programs” by Maurice Mussat actually have a deep and wide range of action and do not limit to two main vessels.  The Chong Mai is actually the “root” of all the others, saying that only Ren and Du are important is actually a demonstration of lack of understanding of the inner organization of the human body according to the Chinese conception as it has been presented in the Classics.  It is also a demonstration of a lack of knowledge of the evolution of Chinese medicine in our century.  A physician, who wants to be called as such, should practice a system of healing that is progressive.  A Western physician who has knowledge of the 17^th century medicine may not keep his or her license for a long time.  This opinion does not extend to practitioners of pure traditional styles such as shamanist healing.  Shamanist healers, even if they use acupuncture as a tool incorporated in their techniques apparently fall into another realm of therapeutic understanding.

The Mai have been used in different ways and very successfully both according to traditional information and according to modern interpretation.

Chinese techniques involving the Stems and Branches are accessible in English.  Japanese techniques such as that of Iko and have been presented and French techniques such as Tran Viet Dzung and Mussat are also available.