What Is “Kuidu”? The Mirror Classic’s Diagnostic Algorithm Begins Here
Earlier sections established many tools: breath, tone, lü, Shou, She, Hou, and Qiheng. In “Kuidu,” these tools are for the first time explicitly organized into a diagnostic procedure.
The text says:
Gui, Cang, Sheng, Dong, Zhang, Yu, Zhi, Zhuang, Qian are shifts in qi. An, Fu, Gong, Ge, Zhi, Ling, Jie, Bian, Sui, He are properly positioned in tone. Hou are used to observe their response; She are used to determine their position. Tone, lü, Hou, and She constitute the Dao of Kuidu.
These sentences read almost like the input fields of an algorithm.
Nine Qi: what kind of transition is occurring now?
Section titled “Nine Qi: what kind of transition is occurring now?”Gui, Cang, Sheng, Dong, Zhang, Yu, Zhi, Zhuang, and Qian describe stages and shifts of qi transformation.
Ten tones: is the present state in proper degree?
Section titled “Ten tones: is the present state in proper degree?”An, Fu, Gong, Ge, Zhi, Ling, Jie, Bian, Sui, and He encode relations of tonal concord and degree.
Hou: where can it be observed?
Section titled “Hou: where can it be observed?”Hou are observation windows that give pulse-and-breath change a palpable location.
She: where is the deeper qi-interaction position?
Section titled “She: where is the deeper qi-interaction position?”She locate deeper relations of channel interaction.
Lü: what are the qi-movement scale and victory-recovery relation?
Section titled “Lü: what are the qi-movement scale and victory-recovery relation?”The text directly says: “the high and low of tone are the depth of She; the long and short of lü are the victory and recovery of She.”
Kuidu therefore does not inspect one variable. It combines state, position, scale, and relation.
How is this different from simply “identifying a disease name”?
Section titled “How is this different from simply “identifying a disease name”?”Within this framework, a disease name is one possible final result. Earlier questions are: which qi is shifting, at which Hou does it appear, which She does it correspond to, are tone and lü properly positioned, and what is the relation of victory and recovery?
This is one of the most distinctive features of the Mirror Classic: it attempts to write diagnosis as a stepwise inverse procedure rather than relying only on an experiential pulse mnemonic.
The next article distinguishes “proper position” from “response position,” a distinction central to understanding the relation between disease location and the origin of change.