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The pulse associated with dampness is generally sluggish and soft. When accompanied by cold, it tends to be constricted; when accompanied by heat, it tends to be scattered. However, dampness that is deeply latent in the blood level (xue fen) and the lower jiao (lower burner) mostly accompanies cold. Such pulses are specifically found at the deep level (chen fen). If accompanied by heat, it must involve the middle (zhong) and superficial (fu) levels.

I once treated a case where external wind-cold invasion caused excessive phlegm and lung obstruction, with heat constrained in the stomach. The patient had a constitutional dryness of the liver. This resulted in cold above and heat in the middle, with fire from the liver and stomach rushing upward, preventing the lungs from diffusing. Consequently, there was air forcing toward asthma. The tongue coating was thin, yellow, and dry, while the sides were conversely thick. Symptoms were worse at night. The pulse was wiry on the right and weak on the left; at the middle pressure, it was both weak and scattered; at the deep pressure, it felt like a thread under the fingers—long, sluggish, soft, and immobile. From this, I knew that cold-dampness was latent in the lower jiao, specifically in the small intestine and bladder. The qi rushing and forcing asthma was indeed due to liver fire, but also because cold-dampness from below was obstructing and forcing the fire upward. *Mai Jian Bu Yi* states that when dampness occupies the yin level, the deep pulse must be rigid and inflexible; this refers to such cases. The treatment method involves using aromatic and light-clear herbs to diffuse the upper jiao, bitter-astringent and salty-moistening herbs to clear the middle jiao, and acrid-descending and bland-permeating herbs to search out the lower jiao. This is a method of treating different pathogens in the three jiao simultaneously. If there is no external pathogen in the upper jiao, there is no need to diffuse the upper; for the lower jiao, the acrid-descending approach may slightly employ drying and hot herbs. If the dampness in the lower jiao has transformed into heat, and the pulse is turbid and unclear, there is no need to search out the lower; instead, bitter-astringent methods can treat it concurrently. (Note: *Jin Gui Yao Lue* uses Guiling Ganwei Tang to treat rushing qi, adding Ganjiang (Dried Ginger) and Xixin (Asarum). Even if the rushing qi recurs, it indicates kidney cold and liver dryness with heat. This accords with the principle in *Nei Jing* regarding illness caused by overindulgence in food.)

When knotting qi (jie qi) and latent heat (fu re) are internal, their pulses are both deep and slippery. How to distinguish them? Generally, the qi pulse must accompany a wiry quality because qi is substantial internally; the heat pulse must accompany a flooding quality because heat is鼓动 (surging) internally. There are cases where the qi pulse is solely deep-wiry without slipperiness, indicating no accompanying heat; if heat is abundant, it will accompany a flooding quality, thus constituting an accompanying latent heat. A heat pulse that is solely deep-flooding without slipperiness indicates no stagnation; if stagnation is severe, it will accompany a wiry quality, thus constituting an accompanying knotting qi. The treatment for knotting qi involves acrid-neutral herbs to diffuse and scatter, without necessity to descend; the treatment for latent heat involves bitter-cold herbs to eliminate and descend, which must be combined with dispersing methods. (Generally, diseases lasting a long time mostly have latent knots, and the qi of the three jiao cannot remain focused. Therefore, Zhu Danxi, when treating diseases, always incorporates methods for resolving stagnation.)