Scattered Pulse / San Mai
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Scattered pulse (san mai) is a critical pulse image in Chinese medicine in which the pulse floats without a root, its rate is irregular, and pressure finds a diffuse and boundless quality, like willow catkins drifting apart. It signifies that original qi is dispersing and that qi and blood can no longer gather into form. As one of the classical endangered pulses, it carries a grave prognosis and calls for immediate rescue measures rather than routine treatment.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Fleet breakup: read the pulse as a system whose components have stopped holding formation - Vitality check: treat the loss of root as the central fact rather than the irregular rhythm - Urgency flag: escalate at once, because a scattered pulse shows the organizing center is failing
Anchor fast decisions
Qi and blood normally cohere because original qi holds them in a rooted pattern. When that root fails, the components drift apart instead of circulating as a unit. On the pulse this appears as a floating, rootless beat with irregular spacing, diffuse and unbounded under the finger. The image of a fleet breaking formation captures the causal chain: cohesion fails first and disordered rhythm follows, so the sign marks an end-stage loss of organization.
MINIMUM ACTION
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Source support: Explicit
- baike.baidu.comhttps://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%95%A3%E8%84%89verified
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