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submissions to | Home > Reviews > Chinese Pulse Diagnosis, a Contemporary Approach |
Chinese Pulse Diagnosis, A Contemporary Approach |
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By Leon Hammer Published by Eastland Press Reviewed by Douglas Eisenstark, L.Ac. - www.taiqi.com John H. F. Shen's influence on understanding Chinese Medicine in the West was considerable. Although by his death there are precious few documents directly attributed to him, his work directly influenced many, including Giovanni Maciocia. Leon Hammer, (author of Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies) trained intensively with Shen for 8 years and then continued on for another 15 years to continue their relationship. The pulse diagnosis system, which Hammer outlines in Pulse Diagnosis, A Contemporary Approach is the result of this training with Shen as well as pulse workshops given by Hammer and his students over the last decade. Many Western TCM practitioners feel that the pulse, in comparison to the tongue, is either of lesser importance and/or remains an enigma. Chinese trained TCM doctors, from whom we in the West have often learned, insist that their own education was not that much more detailed than what is taught in Western TCM schools. (As one China trained colleague laughed when he saw me lugging this 800-page book, "We learned a lot about the pulse in China but not that much!") Leon Hammer's system takes the "bull by the horns" saying that the pulse means everything or more precisely everything is contained in the pulse. Hammer writes, "The pulse should also tell us much about the mind and the spirit, in terms of mental status and behavioral style, methods of coping, stability, worry, guilt, fear, depression, mania, tension, and frustration, recent and past emotional (and physical) trauma, recent and past sadness, psychotic and/or epileptic tendencies, disappointment, and unexpressed anger. Central nervous system and auto-immune diseases can also sometimes manifest on the pulse. (p.11)." Ok, honestly, can you do that with your pulse taking? Dr. Shen was renowned for being able to tell a patient about the precise date and nature of their past accidents and illnesses. Shen himself however put less emphasis on the pulse and viewed the pulse as just one of the "observations" of diagnosis. Hammer has spent the last decades codifying Shen's observations about the pulse and expanding them. The degree to which this is a valid elaboration of ancient ideas or what is popularly referred to as MSU or Making Stuff Up lies at the crux of endless debates. Certainly this tension arises in the West whose strength lies in constant innovation as opposed to the East's honoring of tradition. That Chinese Medicine can be "improved" upon is open for discussion. "Going back to the Classics" is problematic for those who can't read the original Chinese or those who can but haven't spent years studying thousands of years of literature. Dr. Hammer is certainly aware of the controversies surrounding this work. He gives a few examples of pulse "schools" or styles. He writes about Li Shi Zhen first whose writings have informed much of what has been transmitted as TCM pulse descriptions but doesn't go into much detail about other systems. Many references to the different positions will find some support in classic texts. (The late Yi Tian Ni mentions the "special lung pulse" in her book.) Dr. Hammer and those who follow this system will have a huge task ahead to integrate this system within TCM (if that is their desire). Much of this work will entail going back to the vast Chinese language archive. It is not going to be resolved by simply validating one or two pulse positions and claiming that the rest of the system follows. In addition, most of Dr. Shen's oral and written transmission was done in English, further blurring issues of terminology. Hammer says on page 98, "Dr Shen stated that the twenty-eight principal pulse qualities can be reduced to 19 in practice. This belies the extraordinary number of qualities that I have recorded during the years in which I followed him. He has indicated that he simplified his message so as not to discourage students from pursuing this complex discipline. I see my function differently from his. My purpose is to chronicle the subject in all of its intricacy and let future generations choose for themselves. Having stretched the frontiers himself, Dr. Shen's work must be seen by others as a stepping stone to further knowledge, and not as the final work on the subject." So where then does "Chinese Pulse Diagnosis" by Leon Hammer fit into this picture? Certainly students and practitioners of his system will have to buy the book to keep up with this complicated and subtle system. Those who haven't taken the workshops will find the book daunting. Learning this system is the difference between being able to see a tree and becoming a botanist. Practitioners who have not taken the workshops should not expect to read this book and easily "plug-in" new information about the pulses. It really should be learnt with a teacher and student in the same room feeling the same pulses. Many of these concepts are outside of the TCM 8 parameters. TCM has a hierarchy of diagnosis, starting with Yin and Yang, and progressing through the entire process and ending in treatment. In a sense, Hammer invites such problems by virtually creating a new Chinese Medical Paradigm and not handing the reader a key as to how to either apply it or integrate it within other more established (and accepted) systems. 
This is not to say that for those who haven't taken the classes, the book will be uninteresting. Dr. Hammer certainly tries in his book. In 800 pages Dr. Hammer presents many, many charts of the pulse which attempt to elucidate this system. Careful reading will introduce the reader to a number of fascinating and exciting concepts. A good place to start would be the Appendixes, which summarizes some of Dr. Shen's concepts. Then go back to Dragon Rises and see how this new information changes the context of that book. I can't say whether Dr. Hammer's system is forward progress or a tangent that will eventually further confuse the process of transmitting pulse information to the West. Without clear organizing principals (at least to me, and I've taken several workshops in this method with Dr. Hammer and Will Morris), the book, if not the system itself, suffers. If students and practitioners of Chinese Medicine complain that they are not getting enough information from the pulse, with this book they might complain that they are getting too much. Certainly Dr. Hammer has done us a great service by attempting to bring these concepts of the pulse to the surface (so to speak). Your own view of the Hammer book may depend on whether you view the title itself, Chinese Pulse Diagnosis, a Contemporary Approach, as an exciting new development or simply as an oxymoron. |
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