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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 77 · Nine Palaces and Eight Winds
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Taiyi, the Great One, ordinarily enters the Shizhe palace at the winter solstice and stays forty-six days. The following day it enters Tianliu for forty-six days, then Cangmen for forty-six, Yinluo for forty-five, Tiangong for forty-six, Xuanwei for forty-six, Cangguo for forty-six and Xinluo for forty-five. The following day it returns to Shizhe: this is again the winter solstice.
In Taiyi’s daily travel, it enters Shizhe at the winter solstice, counting days from the first place through the ninth day, then returning to one, continually ending and beginning again.
The supplied palace name written with a lion graph is retained as Shizhe; older texts give a different first graph, commonly read Yezhe. All eight stays and the separate daily count remain unchanged, without adding an unstated central-palace interval or correcting the calendar total.
On Taiyi’s day of moving, heaven must answer with wind and rain. Wind and rain on that day are favorable: the year is good, people peaceful and illness scarce. Arrival before it means much rain; afterward, much drought.
A change at the winter solstice is divined for the ruler; at the spring equinox, for the minister; at the central palace, for officials; at the autumn equinox, for generals; at the summer solstice, for the common people. A change means an abnormal wind on Taiyi’s day in one of the five palaces, breaking trees and raising sand and stones. Each is interpreted according to the rank it governs.
Observe the wind’s direction. Wind from Taiyi’s dwelling direction is replete wind, governing life, growth and nourishment of all things. Wind from the opposite rear direction is empty wind, injuring people and governing killing and harm. Carefully observe and avoid empty wind. Thus the sage daily avoids empty harmful influence like arrows and stones; harmful influence cannot injure. This is what is meant.
These are the text’s divinatory correspondences, not modern weather forecasts or guarantees of health.
When Taiyi moves into and stands in the central palace, it receives the eight winds to divine good and ill.
Wind from the south is the Great Weak Wind: it lodges inside in the Heart and outside in vessels, governing heat. Wind from the southwest is the Planning Wind: inside in the Spleen, outside in flesh, governing weakness. Wind from the west is the Hard Wind: inside in the Lung, outside in skin, governing dryness.
Wind from the northwest is the Breaking Wind: inside in the Small Intestine, outside in the Hand Taiyang vessel. A severed vessel overflows; a closed one knots and is blocked, with a tendency to sudden death. Wind from the north is the Great Hard Wind: inside in the Kidney, outside in bones and the spinal sinews of shoulders and back, governing cold. Wind from the northeast is the Ominous Wind: inside in the Large Intestine, outside beneath both rib-sides and armpit bones and in limb joints.
Wind from the east is the Infant Wind: inside in the Liver, outside in the binding sinews, governing bodily damp. Wind from the southeast is the Weak Wind: inside in the Stomach, outside in flesh, governing bodily heaviness.
These eight winds cause illness when they come from their empty directions. Three emptinesses striking together bring sudden illness and death. With two repletions and one emptiness, illness brings drenching exposure and cold and heat. Entering a rainy, damp place brings wilting. Thus the sage avoids wind like arrows and stones. When three emptinesses are present and harmful wind strikes one side, there are striking collapse and one-sided withering.
The supplied two-repletions/one-emptiness statement and all eight inner/outer assignments are retained without reversal to a variant reading or a modern disease classification.
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