The Taiyin-Type Person: Three Out, One In, and a Nine-Fen Pulse

The normal baseline of the Taiyin-type person is clearly different from that of the Shaoyin type:

Three out, one in: this is the Taiyin-type person, whose pulse lü are Huangzhong and Nanlü. The Taiyin pulse oscillates nine fen… when inhalation and exhalation complete one breath, the pulse moves five times and qi travels six cun—this is normal.

On the surface it returns to “five movements and six cun,” but the internal structure is no longer the simple two-out-two-in pattern introduced in the first series.

The key is three out and one in

The text says, “The essence-qi of Heaven and Earth, in the great number, ordinarily goes out three and enters one,” and gives three pulse movements in one exhalation and one in one inhalation.

Thus even when the total number of pulse movements is the same, their distribution between exhalation and inhalation differs.

This again shows that the Mirror Classic does not only count totals. It also examines which respiratory phase the pulse movements occupy.

Taiyin oscillates nine fen

“Qiheng” already established nine fen as the Taiyin-Taiyang baseline. In the individual-type chapter, nine fen appears again.

The Taiyin normal state therefore consists not only of “five movements” but also of nine-fen oscillation against a Huangzhong-Nanlü lü background.

How are Hand Taiyin and Foot Taiyin distinguished?

The text says:

When movement at nine fen does not leap, it is the breath of Foot Taiyin; when it oscillates and leaps through nine fen of high and low, it is the breath of Hand Taiyin. Hand Taiyin uniquely receives the clear of yin; Foot Taiyin uniquely receives the turbid of yin.

Thus within the same nine-fen range, whether the waveform “leaps” separates Hand from Foot Taiyin.

Pathology must be judged relative to this baseline

The later passage lists abnormalities such as heavy-middle-scattered pulse, the anterior pulse failing to reach Cun, or turning out to the right, together with associated disease signs. These pathological pulses have meaning because the normal Taiyin waveform has first been specified.

This is the Qiheng principle in practice: first define Heng, then define Qi.

The next article turns to the Jueyin type, with the more unusual four-out-one-in pattern, three-fen oscillation, and six pulse movements in one breath.