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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 37 · Counterflow of Qi
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “How do the five zang and six fu organs transfer cold and heat to one another?”
Qi Bo said: “Kidney transferring cold to Liver causes abscess swelling and scant qi. Spleen transferring cold to Liver causes abscess swelling and sinew contraction. Liver transferring cold to Heart causes frenzy and obstruction within.
Heart transferring cold to Lung causes Lung wasting: drinking one measure and urinating two. Death follows and treatment is impossible. Lung transferring cold to Kidney causes surging Water. In surging Water the abdomen is not firm under pressure. Water qi lodges in Large Intestine, and rapid walking produces splashing sounds like liquid wrapped in a bag. This is Water illness.
Reading note: The supplied first transfer is Kidney to Liver, retained even though some classical textual comparisons give Spleen instead.”
Spleen transferring heat to Liver causes startlement and nosebleed. Liver transferring heat to Heart causes death. Heart transferring heat to Lung transmits as diaphragm wasting. Lung transferring heat to Kidney transmits as flaccid convulsive stiffness. Kidney transferring heat to Spleen transmits as deficiency and intestinal flux, with death beyond treatment.
The receiving sac transferring heat to Bladder causes retention and blood in the urine. Bladder transferring heat to Small Intestine obstructs the bowels and prevents defecation, while above it causes erosion of the mouth. Small Intestine transferring heat to Large Intestine causes hidden masses and deep stagnation.
Large Intestine transferring heat to Stomach causes abundant eating with thinness, also called food passing through without nourishment, shi yi. Stomach transferring heat to Gallbladder is likewise called shi yi. Gallbladder transferring heat to the brain causes aching at the bridge of the nose and nasal pooling. Nasal pooling means turbid mucus flowing down without cease. It transmits into nosebleed, blood oozing and darkened or closing eyes. Thus it is acquired through counterflow of qi.
Reading note: 胞 here is kept as the receiving sac in the urinary context, distinct from its uterine context in chapter 33. The supplied 虙瘕/沈 is rendered hidden masses and deep stagnation; Wang Bing relates the latter to obstructed menstrual flow. Shi yi retains the historical 食亦 name rather than a modern diagnosis.
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