Dr. Huáng Xuán (81 years old) asked the White Pine Circle to help him share the Yi Jing foundation of the Tian Heming tradition for the first time outside of his own family. During Dr. Tián’s 97 years many students followed him and learned pieces of his clinical wisdom. However, the complete Yijing pulse system, which is the foundation of his pulse diagnosis, was transmitted only to Dr. Tián’s closest and most long-term disciples. The Yijing hexagram overlay onto the Shang Han Za Bing Lun text structure is the theoretical scaffolding that connects pulses to formulas. It is this overlay which systematizes what otherwise might simply be a list of pulses-formula correspondences.
The Distinguishing Features of the Tián School Philosophy
12 Hour Online Course Beginning May 1, 2023
12 CEUs (pending) NCCAOM Provider # 278
This course has been approved by the California Acupuncture Board, Provider Number 679, for 12 hours of continuing education.
This course is non-refundable.
1. Theory
Yi Jing is the soul of classical formulas. Classical formulas are the essence of Chinese medicine. When theory is combined with practice, there is a twofold increase in value. The Tián School philosopy is of great material and spiritual value to all people of the world:
- The process by which the Eight Trigrams take shape
- How the Eight Trigrams point to classical formulas and the pulse method
- How the Sixty Four Hexagrams take shape
- How the Sixty Four Hexagrams point connect the pulse method to classical formulas
2. Skill
The skill of applying classical formulas must be mastered through practicing and refining the basics of pulse diagnosis. Theory and practice significantly deepen each other. The pulse method is the skill needed to apply classical formulas.
- The Tián School believes that the pulse pattern is identical to the patient’s pathological pattern in body and life. However, the pulse gives the doctor the most intimate insight. The pulse hexagram reveals much more than the pattern.
- The Tián School believes that, if the pulse and pattern do not conform to each other, one should follow the pulse.
- The profound mystery of the pulse lays in study of the foundation of the Yijing. Only through this study can one progress.
3. Texts
There is a skill to integrating the logic within the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue. The Shang Han Lun formulas are the guardians of the six conformations while the Jin Gui Yao Lue formulas are soldiers who put the Shang Han Lun formulas into action. How are they put into action? This lesson will explain. This is the deep wisdom of the Tián School.
4. Classical Formulas
The skill of grasping the ten systems of classical formulas brings distinct clarity to what may seem like a long list of disordered formulas. From the Tián School point of view, the ten systems are as follows:
- The Gui Zhi Tang system
- The Ling Gui Zhu Gan Tang system
- The Xie Xin Tang system
- The Bai He Tang system
- Etc.
5. Determining Diagnosis
By understanding the mutual interaction of the Yi Jing, classical formulas and pulse methods on the Cun, Guan and Chi, one can determine the best treatment. The clinical process of the Tian School can be summarized as follows; it begins with the practitioner using the pulse method to discover the form of a single hexagram among the sixty four hexagrams. Then one can consult the hexagram explanations in the Yijing text. The wisdom of divination school and the philosophical school are followed to discover the precise herbal formula. This can be confirmed through practice skills and the textual lessons to be introduced.
Dr. Huáng Xuán is pre-recording these fundamental teachings in twelve, one hour videos. Each video is in Chinese with English subtitles created by a team of practitioners of Chinese medicine who bring fluency in both languages. Dr. Huáng hopes to continue to develop these teachings further in future classes and hopes that White Pine Circle will organize a group to come to study directly with him in Tian’s homeland of Cheng Du.
Online Course ONLY
(general public)
Online Course Only
(inner circle members)
Clinical Application of the Tián Pulse Method
Live Workshop – Dates TBA
25 CEUs (pending) NCCAOM Provider # 278
This course has been approved by the California Acupuncture Board, Provider Number 679, for 25 hours of continuing education.
This course is non-refundable.
Dr. Huáng Xuán son and only disciple Dr. Huáng Miǎo Xīn visits Amherst, Massachusetts to demonstrate the Tian School pulse method.
Week One
(in-person / live-streamed and recorded)
This session is open to all who attended the video training from Dr. Huáng Xuán. Dr. Huáng Miǎo Xīn will teach for five days, three hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. The session will consist of Dr. Huáng Miǎo Xīn taking the pulse of a patient, obtaining the hexagram, and then explaining what he felt to obtain the hexagram, the hexagram meaning, the five Zāng and six Fù disease, and indicated formula. Attendees will be given numbers when they arrive and up to 20 people will have the opportunity to feel each patient’s pulse. Even if you do not have the chance to feel a pulse, Dr. Huáng Miǎo Xīn will describe what he is feeling in detail.
9am – 5pm with Lunch Break
Amherst, MA (Exact Location TBA)
Week Two
(in-person only and limited to 20 participants)
This session will take place at the White Pine Healing Arts Clinic. Huang Miaoxin will see patients for five days, five hours each day, three hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. Everyone will have a chance to feel the pulses of each patient and hear Huang Miaoxin’s explanation of his findings and formula choice. Formulas will be filled in the White Pine Healing Arts pharmacy right away.
9am – 5pm with Lunch Break
Amherst, MA
(Registration is granted to Week Two on a case by case basis, applications can be submitted here)
*Completion of the Online Course is Required for all Students*
Online Course and Live Workshop
(general public)
Online Course and Live Workshop
(inner circle members)
About Dr. Huáng Xuán, Dr. Huán Miǎo Xīn and Tián Hèmíng
Tián Hèmíng, also known as Tián Bāwèi 田八味, was born in 1883 and passed away in 1981 at the age of 97. His insight and pulse diagnosis methods were legendary for their powerful simplicity and he generously passed them on to many disciples, of whom Huáng Xuán is the last remaining. Tián Hèmíng is widely known as a master at connecting the pulse qualities and positions to Zhāng Zhōngjǐng’s herbs and formulas. Beyond this however, the crucial heart of Tián Hèmíng’s complete system was his recognition that Zhāng Zhōngjǐng organized the Shāng Hān Zá Bìng around the sixty-four hexagrams of the Yìjīng. In Dr. Tián’s full system, three right-hand and three left-hand pulse positions are combined to form a hexagram, the internal dynamics of which express the patient’s health-life situation and point to the formula that will be effective. In other words, there is a 4-way concordance between the pulse image, the Yìjīng hexagrams, the Shāng Hān Zá Bìng Lùn formulas, and the physical and life dynamics of the patient’s challenges. This is the complete Tián Hèmíng pulse system.
Dr. Huáng Xuán will teach us the Tián Hèmíng Yìjīng pulse system through a 12-hour online course made exclusively for the White Pine Circle. Dr. Huáng’s son-disciple, Miǎo Xīn, will follow this video series with ten days of in-person classes to demonstrate and explain this system’s depth and application. The first five-day seminar (8/14 – 18) will be open to everyone who has taken Dr. Huáng Xuán online course and will be streamed live and recorded. Students who attend the online course and register for the first five day seminar can apply to the second five-day seminar (8/21 -8/25) which will be limited to twenty students.
Understanding the Yìjīng system behind the pulse/formula combinations simplifies the pulse practice. Consequently, the pulse qualities become more evident to the touch and the pulse-formula indications become more accessible to learn and develop. Students will leave with an understanding of the entire system and the tools to continue to grow their skills.
Dr. Tián Hèmíng was able to see 300 patients daily, likely due to the penetrating straightforwardness with which his system integrated diagnosis and treatment. This course is an extraordinary opportunity to learn the foundation of this pulse system which can then be grown and developed through observation in your practices. It is also a chance to connect personally with this rich lineage.