Acu. | Issue #32 | Autumn 2021
Jing 經 structure in Chinese medicine anatomy Caroline Strassberg Acupuncturist: New Jersey, USA
The concept of 經 jing, usually translated as ‘channel’ or ‘meridian’, is essential to understanding Chinese medicine anatomy. Today, it is often defined as the line connecting acupuncture points to each other, but it is actually a larger and multidimensional concept that transcends acupuncture points. The character is composed of the silk radical and the phonetic jin 巠, the old word for a network of rivers and streams or an underground watercourse. Therefore, 經 jing is the image of threads following a course like an underground river network. It is the character used to describe the warp of fabric, the concept of longitude, meridian in the context of Chinese medicine, but it is also the word for an important classic text – like the Neijing, I Jing, Nan Jing and the Shen Nong Bencao Jing. Like all Chinese texts these were written vertically but were distinguished by containing profound wisdom that was sometimes initially hidden.
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