The three burners as a pattern framework sān jiāo biàn zhèng · 三焦辨证

A second warm-disease framework, dividing illness by the three burners: upper (Lung and Heart), middle (Spleen and Stomach) and lower (Liver and Kidney). Its logic is depth from above downward, and it is usually used alongside the four levels rather than instead of them.

For a reader new to TCM it is a useful reminder that Chinese medicine has no single unified diagnostic system. Different schools built different maps for different problems, and knowing which map is being used is part of reading the literature honestly.