Is catching the pulse through the thread in Journey to the West real or not?

1. Tracing the secret of the legend of “the legend of catching the pulse”

In episode 20 of the movie Journey to the West (1986) by pretending to be the god of medicine to enter the king’s palace to meet the king Zhou Zi, Emperor of Heaven – Sun Wukong made many audiences tilt their heads with the fact that there are 72 magical transformations that can still catch the pulse and diagnose “just like melancholy” based on only 3 golden threads caught on the king’s wrist and how patient through a curtain.

When watching the movie, many people will surely say that this is just a fictional episode Ngo Thua An – the author of the original work Journey to the west add embellishments to his novel. However, when learning in Chinese folklore, is the mysterious story about diagnosing diseases through silk threads – also known as “pulse-taking mysterious” is really true?!

Legend has it that in Chinese folklore, the above therapy comes from the imperial palace – where the royal family and concubines live. Unlike ordinary people, in order to be able to treat queens, princesses or beautiful women, Thai medical doctors cannot directly contact them because of the rule about “men and women receive whatever they want”. body” is strictly performed in the forbidden palace. So, they devised a way to diagnose and treat these nobles by tying a silk thread to the patient’s hand, away from a curtain or sitting in another room to be able to treat them.

Not only appearing thrilling and magical in the movie Journey to the westthis method is also used by the god of medicine Sun Si Mac During the Tang Dynasty, it was used to check the pulse of the Queen and Queen at that time.

According to legend, because the queen was pregnant for a long time but could not give birth, she invited her Sun Si Mac into the healing palace. As a person of noble background, the eunuch beside the Empress tried to test the famous medical god famous for his silk threading method – taking her pulse before prescribing and diagnosing her illness.

He used a silk thread to tie the pulse to the parrot’s leg to see if this famous doctor was really as talented as rumored. Sun Si Mac made that eunuch a moment of terror when he touched the thread and guessed that the pulse being diagnosed was not his. That’s why, he used the silk thread to tie the Queen’s hand to let Sun Si Mac treatment. Indeed, after that, the reputation of the medical god with miraculous therapy became more and more resounding when the Queen, after taking the medicine he prescribed, gave birth to the king easily. However, when asked about the secret of this method, the god of medicine did not say a word, only sneered and left.

2. Is “Myanium Catching the Pulse” believable?

If only relying on legends, legends from folk to talk about this magical method is true, it is somewhat forced. Therefore, researchers have studied and recorded in the ancient medical technique that “the occult pulse” is just a cunning therapy to cover the eyes of outsiders.

Indeed, with genuine famous doctors, they cannot prescribe medicine when relying only on such fragile threads. The use of “herbal medicine” is only an option to cure diseases for people with a noble status or against the prejudice of “male and female without being born” in ancient society.

But if saying “the occult pulse” is just a trick to cover the eyes, then how can famous doctors prescribe the right medicine for the right disease to the patients? According to medicine, this problem can be explained as follows: the gods are like Sun Si Mac or the real famous doctors are experienced doctors in medical examination and treatment. They may have asked about the patient’s condition through close people such as eunuchs, palace maids, family members as well as observed the patient’s symptoms through facial expressions, faces and gestures so that they could can prescribe and dispense the right medicine.