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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 44 · Accord with Qi: Four Seasons in One Day
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor said: “The many illnesses begin in dryness and damp, cold and summer heat, wind and rain, yin and yang, joy and anger, food and drink, dwelling and activity. Qi combines and takes form, and when it reaches a zang the illness receives its name. This I know. But many illnesses are clearer at dawn, settled by day, worse in the evening and most severe at night. Why?”
The supplied final graph in the dwelling/activity phrase is anomalous; the contextual reading is retained without changing the Chinese.
Qi Bo said: “The qi of the four seasons makes it so.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear about the qi of the four seasons.”
Qi Bo said: “Spring brings birth, summer growth, autumn gathering and winter storage: this is qi’s ordinary course, and people correspond to it. Divide one day into four seasons: morning is spring, midday summer, sunset autumn and midnight winter.
“In the morning human qi begins to arise and illness qi declines, so dawn brings clarity. At midday human qi grows and overcomes the harmful influence, so the condition is settled. In the evening human qi begins to decline and harmful qi begins to arise, so illness worsens. At midnight human qi enters the zang and harmful qi remains alone in the body, so illness is most severe.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Why is this pattern sometimes reversed?”
Qi Bo said: “Then it does not answer the four seasonal qi: a zang governs its illness independently. It must be worse at the time whose qi the zang cannot overcome, and improve at the time whose qi it overcomes.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “How is this treated?”
Qi Bo said: “Accord with heaven’s timing, and the course of illness can be anticipated. One who accords is skilled; one who goes against it is crude.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Good. I have heard that five changes in needling govern the five transporting sites. I wish to hear their ordering.”
Qi Bo said: “People have five zang. The five zang have five changes, and the five changes have five transporting sites: five times five makes twenty-five sites, corresponding to the five seasons.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear about the five changes.”
Qi Bo said: “The Liver is a male zang: its color is blue-green, its season spring, its tone jue, its flavor sour and its days Jia and Yi. The Heart is a male zang: its color red, its season summer, its days Bing and Ding, its tone zhi and its flavor bitter.
“The Spleen is a female zang: its color yellow, its season long summer, its days Wu and Ji, its tone gong and its flavor sweet. The Lung is a female zang: its color white, its tone shang, its season autumn, its days Geng and Xin and its flavor acrid. The Kidney is a female zang: its color black, its season winter, its days Ren and Gui, its tone yu and its flavor salty. These are the five changes.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “How do these govern the five transporting sites?” The zang govern winter: in winter needle the wells. Color governs spring: in spring needle the springs. Season governs summer: in summer needle the transporting sites. Tone governs long summer: in long summer needle the channel sites. Flavor governs autumn: in autumn needle the joining sites. These are the five changes governing the five transporting sites.
The source does not supply a new speaker label before this answer. The five assignments are retained in their supplied order.
The Yellow Emperor said: “Where do the source sites join to produce six transporting sites?”
Qi Bo said: “The source sites alone do not correspond to the five seasons. They are joined by channel to answer the number: six times six makes thirty-six transporting sites.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Why do zang govern winter, season govern summer, tone govern long summer, flavor govern autumn and color govern spring? I wish to hear the reason.”
Qi Bo said: “For illness in a zang, address the well. For illness changing the color, address the spring. For illness that is milder at one time and more severe at another, address the transporting site. For illness changing the voice, address the channel site. For channels full with blood, illness in the Stomach, or illness arising from irregular food and drink, address the joining site. Thus flavor is said to govern the joining site. These are the five changes.”
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