Opening the chapter
Loading the text. Please wait.
Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 70 · Cold and Heat
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: “What qi causes cold and heat with chain-like swellings in the neck and armpits?”
Qi Bo said: “These are all the toxic qi of mouse-sores with cold and heat, remaining in the vessels without leaving.”
The source’s swelling and mouse-sore names contain damaged graphs. They retain their historical category rather than being equated with a specific modern infection.
The Yellow Emperor said: “How are they removed?”
Qi Bo said: “Mouse-sores all have their root in the zang and their tips emerge above between neck and armpit. Those floating in the vessels, not yet adhering inwardly to flesh but forming pus and blood outwardly, are easy to remove.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “How are they removed?”
Qi Bo said: “Draw the tip from the root to make it decline and leave, ending cold and heat. Carefully palpate its pathway and address it, going and coming slowly to remove it. A swelling as small as a grain of wheat responds after one needling and ends after three.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “How are life and death decided?”
Qi Bo said: “Turn the eyelid to inspect the eye. If a red vessel passes above and below through the pupil, one visible vessel predicts death in one year; one and a half, in one and a half years; two, in two years; two and a half, in two and a half years; three, in three years. A red vessel that does not pass downward through the pupil permits treatment.”
All five counts and intervals remain the source’s historical prognoses. They are not validated predictions of a person’s survival.
Use ← / → or swipe left or right to change chapters