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From the age of one month to three years, pediatric patients are not yet suitable for pulse diagnosis. This is not because there is no pulse to diagnose, but because it is difficult to assess and determine deficiency or excess. Children are often afraid of strangers; upon first meeting, they inevitably cry and shout, causing their breathing to become disordered and their spirit to be panicked. At this time, the slowness or rapidity, and the large or small nature of the pulse have already lost their original characteristics, so what is the benefit of diagnosing the pulse? It is better to observe the visible fingerprint patterns and corroborate them with facial color and disease manifestations. This also embodies the combined intent of inspection (Wang) and palpation (Qie) in medical practice.

Have someone hold the child standing in a well-lit place. Use your left hand to grasp the child's index finger, and use your right thumb to push along the Three Passes (San Guan) of the finger. Observe the color and shape, carefully experiencing and recognizing them. It suffices to distinguish between exterior/interior (Biao/Li), cold/heat (Han/Re), and deficiency/excess (Xu/Shi). People nowadays favor novelty and do not exert effort in practical work, regarding this as shallow talk and deigning not to pay attention. They do not know that being able to distinguish these six aspects during clinical practice constitutes the highest level of skill. Because if the exterior and interior are clear, one knows whether the disease is in the meridians or the fu organs, ensuring that sweating or purging methods are not mistaken; if cold and heat are distinct, one knows to avoid using cold remedies when treating heat conditions, and hot remedies when treating cold conditions, or to employ "cold for cold" (treating false cold with cold) and "hot for hot" (treating false heat with heat), adapting to specific circumstances so that medication is never inappropriate; if deficiency and excess are distinguished, one knows that severe deficiency may present with excessive symptoms, and severe excess may present with emaciated symptoms, avoiding confusion by false signs. True deficiency and true excess are easy to know, while false deficiency and false excess are difficult to distinguish. Once truth and falsehood are clarified, there will be no danger of exacerbating deficiency with deficiency or excess with excess. At this critical juncture, if one fails to comprehend this, instead relying on unfounded statements to deceive the world—claiming certain things are caused by human fright and others by animal fright—one not only deceives others but also oneself. This is not only useless for treatment but also endangers lives. Whose fault is this?

[Image: Fingerprint Three Passes Diagram]

The position of the fingerprint itself cannot determine the severity or safety of the condition. The theory of the Three Passes exists since ancient times and is retained here tentatively.

When the wind pass shows early signs, the illness has not yet reached its peak;
When the qi pass reveals the pattern, urgent prevention is required.
Suddenly appearing at the life pass is indeed critical;
Penetrating the nail and passing through indicates the disease's prominence.

(When the pattern appears at the Wind Pass [Feng Guan], it indicates the initial entry of pathogenic factors; the symptoms are still mild, the constitution is not yet exhausted, and treatment is very easy. When the pattern appears at the Qi Pass [Qi Guan], the pathogenic factor is vigorous, the illness is heavy, and treatment should be swift. If the Three Passes are fully traversed and the pattern emerges at the Life Pass [Ming Guan], the pathogenic factor is widespread, filling the meridians and collaterals, representing an extremely severe condition. If it penetrates the joint and shoots toward the nail tip [She Jia], the pathogenic factor has nowhere to reside, becoming hyperactive and unable to descend, resembling the image of "the soaring dragon repents" (a state of extreme arrogance leading to disaster). Practitioners must pay close attention and must not underestimate this.)