In the earliest extant specialist medical work , early 8th century CE) and the classical work of Tibetan medicine, (, generally dated by scholars to the 12th century CE), there are records of in its meaning of 'pulse taking'. The concept of in Tibetan medicine, as the Chinese , eventually came to combine notions of 'the vessels' and 'channels' of the body with diagnostic readings of 'pulsating vessels' at its surface. This article considers the earliest extant records of from Dunhuang and finds evidence of the separate development of these two aspects. These early records are unique inasmuch as they not only provide a source for history of medicine, but also represent Tibet and Tibetan culture as an important place for both cultural exchange and resistance, particularly in the transmission of medical knowledge and practice from China.