A. Moss quality
1.Thickness and thinness
Mainly reflect the strength and weakness of the evil and the depth of the evil. External disease in the table at the beginning, the disease is light, or internal injury disease is light, the stomach gas is not hurt, can see thin moss. If the tongue moss is thick or the root of the tongue is especially thick, it indicates that the external disease has entered the inner part of the body, or that there is a persistent food in the stomach and intestines, or that there is stagnation of phlegm and turbidity, and the disease is more serious. Tongue moss from thin to thick, suggesting that the evil is gradually flourishing, for the disease into; tongue moss from thick to thin, or the tongue on the resurgence of thin white pay moss, suggesting that the righteousness overcomes the evil, for the signs of disease retreat. If the thin moss suddenly thickens, it indicates that the evil Qi is extremely strong and rapidly enters the inside; if the moss suddenly recedes, the positive Qi does not overcome the evil, or the stomach Qi is extinguished.
2.Dryness and moistening
It mainly reflects the surplus and deficit of fluid in the body and its distribution. Slippery moss is the manifestation of the internal gathering of water and dampness, the main phlegm and dampness. Dry moss indicates that body fluid has been injured. After high fever, profuse sweating, vomiting and diarrhea, it leads to deficiency of fluid and dry moss. Brown moss can be further developed from dry moss. It is mostly seen in severe evidence of heat that injures fluid.
3. Putridity
It is mainly a measure of the growth and decline of Yang Qi and Dampness. If the tongue is thin and greasy, or greasy but not stagnant, it is mostly due to food accumulation or spleen deficiency and dampness; if the tongue is white and slippery, it is due to phlegm and cold dampness; if the tongue is sticky and thick, with sweetness in the mouth, it is due to damp heat in the spleen and stomach; if the tongue is yellow and thick, it is due to phlegm heat, damp heat, summer dampness and other evil inclusions.
Putrid moss is mostly due to excess Yang heat, steaming up the stomach and accumulating the evil of filth and turbidity on the tongue, mainly due to food accumulation in the stomach and intestines, or internal accumulation of phlegm and turbidity. Pus rotting moss is mostly seen in internal carbuncles or internal nodules of evil toxins, and is a manifestation of a serious illness. In the middle of the disease, the rotten moss gradually recedes and new thin white moss is produced, which is a sign that the righteousness overcomes the evil and the disease is dissipated.
4. Peeling (falling) moss
If the tongue surface is as smooth as a mirror, it is called mirror tongue. If the tongue is irregularly peeled off, with raised edges and clear boundaries, resembling a map, and the parts are sometimes shifted, it is called map tongue. If the tongue is peeling, the surface of the tongue is not smooth and there are still new mossy particles or the papillae of the tongue are visible, it is called moss-like peeling.
Generally, the main gastric Qi deficiency, depletion of gastric Yin or Qi and Blood deficiency, is also a sign of general weakness. Red tongue with peeling moss is mostly Yin deficiency; light tongue with peeling moss or peeling moss is mostly Blood deficiency or Qi and Blood deficiency. If the tongue is red and vivid on the mirror, the stomach is depleted of Yin.
5.True and false moss
It is important to identify the severity and prognosis of the disease. In the early and middle stages of the disease, if the tongue is thick with real moss, it means the stomach is congested and the disease is deeper; in long-standing disease, if the tongue is real, it means the stomach is still alive. When false moss appears in new disease, it means that the evil is gradually gathering and the disease is light; when false moss appears in long disease, it means that stomach qi is scarce and the disease is critical.
Two, moss color
1.White moss
It can be normal tongue moss, which is mostly used for superficial evidence, cold evidence, damp evidence, and can also be seen in hot evidence. Thin white moss and moist, can be normal tongue, or for the first appearance of superficial evidence, or light disease in the evidence, or Yang deficiency of internal cold. A thin white and slippery coating is mostly due to external cold and dampness, or spleen and kidney yang deficiency and internal stagnation of water and dampness. Thin white and dry moss is mostly caused by external wind-heat.
White, thick and greasy moss is mostly due to internal stagnation of dampness and turbidity, or phlegm and food accumulation. White, thick and dry moss is mainly due to phlegm and damp-heat; white moss like powder and not dry when you look at it is called powder moss, which is common in diseases such as plague or internal carbuncle and is caused by the combination of filthy dampness and heat toxicity. White, dry and cracked moss, rough like sand and gravel, suggesting dryness and heat injury to fluid and loss of yin.
2.Yellow moss
Mainly heat evidence and internal evidence. The more yellow the moss is, the more heat is present. Yellow moss on the tip of the tongue is heat in the upper jiao; yellow moss on the middle of the tongue is heat in the stomach and intestines; yellow moss on the root of the tongue is heat in the lower jiao; yellow moss on the edge of the tongue is heat in the liver and gallbladder.
If the tongue coating turns from white to yellow, or both yellow and white, it means that the external manifestations are in the stage of heat entering the interior, and the exterior and interior are at the same stage.
Thin yellow moss indicates light heat, mostly seen in wind-heat superficial evidence, or wind-cold heat entering the interior. Pale yellow moss with lubrication and more fluid is called yellow slippery moss, mostly for Yang deficiency of cold and dampness. It may be caused by deficiency of Qi and Blood, and by dampness and heat.
Yellow and dry moss, or even dry and hard moss, coarse particles, feel the brown hand, called yellow brown moss; yellow and black, such as burnt potpourri, called burnt yellow moss. All main evil heat injury, dryness and internal solid evidence. Yellow moss and greasy texture, called yellow greasy moss, the main damp heat or phlegm-heat contained, or for food accumulation and decay.
3.Grey and black moss
Mainly Yin-Cold, or internal heat, etc. Grey and black moss can be seen in heat diseases and also in cold and damp diseases, but regardless of cold and heat are heavy evidence, the darker the black, the more serious the condition.
The moist and dry quality of the moss is an important indication to identify the cold and hot properties of gray and black moss. In cold and damp diseases, the gray and black moss must be moist and fluid; in hot diseases, the gray and black moss must be dry and fluid-free.