(A) Study on the Transmission of Pulse Diagnosis in Korean Medicine

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This thesis is to discuss how pulse diagnosis is transmitted in the cultural and historical contexts of contemporary Korean medicine. Drawing on the approaches of medical anthropology and medical history, this study tries to find out how Korean medicine, a Korean version of traditional East Asian medicine, has settled in modern times. Pulse diagnosis is shared and transmitted vigorously among Korean medicine doctors via various ways for example, by means of paid lectures by skillful senior doctors. Anthropological participant observation in the lectures has revealed the unique perception of the pulse diagnosis and the characteristics of its texts, languages, and senses. To embody the pulse touching in the lecture-based transmission, the existential sensory experience mediated through the body remains important among doctors of Korean medicine. Masters and novices strive to bring the traditional diagnostic method to the modern era through the basic classical texts, actual and detailed pulse touching methods, ample expressions and elaborations of pulse images, and repeated confirmation of typical features of pulse images. In the course, the sensory experience of pulse touching can be developed to a level of practical and phenomenal knowing through the shared and consistent experiences. As a traditional medicine situated in the modern era, Korean medicine has confronted changes in its way of knowledge transmission. This study hopes to contribute to Korean medicine in transition by illuminating the importance of the bodily experience and context-oriented transmission of Korean medicine.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. Introduction 1
• Backgrounds and Objectives 1
• Research Methods 5
• II. Transmission of Pulse Diagnosis 10
• 1. Outline 10
• 1) The History of Pulse Diagnosis 10
• 2) Historical and Social Context of Pulse Diagnosis in Korean Medicine 16
• 3) Field 18
• 2. Pulse Lectures: Settings 22
• 1) Lecture Design 22
• 2) Attitiude of the Participants 24
• 3) In the Classroom 26
• 3. Pulse Lectures: Means for Transmission 28
• 1) Classical Texts as Authority 28
• 2) The Way of Touching the Pulse 30
• 3) Expressions and Elaborations of Pulse Images 33
• 4) Learning through Typicality 35
• 4. Transmission of Pulse Diagnosis in Apprenticeship 37
• III. Conclusion: Pulse Diagnosis, Shared Experience 39
• IV. References 46