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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 67 · The Circulation of the Five Movements
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor sat in the Bright Hall, first rectifying Heaven’s guiding order, surveying the eight limits and examining the established five constants. He invited the Heavenly Teacher and asked: “The discourse says spiritual brightness orders Heaven and Earth’s movement and stillness; yin and yang rise and descend, and cold and summer heat display their signs. I have heard from you the numbers of the five movements. You explained only the five qi each governing a year, beginning with Jia to determine the movement. I therefore examined this account.”
Gui Yuqu said: “Earth governs Jia and Ji; Metal Yi and Geng; Water Bing and Xin; Wood Ding and Ren; Fire Wu and Gui. Above Zi and Wu, Shaoyin governs; above Chou and Wei, Taiyin; above Yin and Shen, Shaoyang; above Mao and You, Yangming; above Chen and Xu, Taiyang; above Si and Hai, Jueyin. Why does this not accord with yin and yang?
Reading note: The supplied Gui Yuqu speaker attribution is retained. 己 in the final branch pair follows the disclosed contextual Si reading.”
Qi Bo said: “This is the clear Way, the yin and yang of Heaven and Earth. What can be counted concerns yin and yang within people, and their corresponding numbers can be obtained. Yin and yang can be counted as ten, extended to a hundred, counted as a thousand and extended to ten thousand. Heaven and Earth’s yin and yang are not described by numerical extrapolation alone, but through their images.”
The Emperor said: “I wish to hear where it begins.”
Qi Bo said: “How illuminating the question! I have examined the Register of the Great Beginning and Heavenly Origin. Crimson Heaven’s qi passes through Niu and Nü and the Wu division; yellow Heaven’s qi through Xin and Wei and the Ji division; blue-green Heaven’s qi through Wei, Shi, Liu and Gui; white Heaven’s qi through Kang, Di, Mao and Bi; dark Heaven’s qi through Zhang, Yi, Lou and Wei.
The Wu and Ji divisions—Kui, Bi, Jiao and Zhen—are the gates of Heaven and Earth. The beginning of observation and birthplace of the Way must be understood.
Reading note: The mansion names retain their Chinese astronomical names in romanization, without identifying them with modern Western constellations. Repeated romanizations such as Wei belong to different supplied mansion names. The supplied 已 division is read contextually as 己, Ji.”
The Emperor said: “The discourse says Heaven and Earth are the above and below of all things, and left and right the pathways of yin and yang. I do not understand what this means.”
Qi Bo said: “Above and below mean where the year’s yin and yang appear above and below. Left and right concern the upper appearances. With Jueyin above, Shaoyin is left and Taiyang right. With Shaoyin above, Taiyin is left and Jueyin right. With Taiyin above, Shaoyang is left and Shaoyin right. With Shaoyang above, Yangming is left and Taiyin right. With Yangming above, Taiyang is left and Shaoyang right. With Taiyang above, Jueyin is left and Yangming right. These positions are named facing north: this describes their appearance.”
The Emperor asked: “What is meant by below?”
Qi Bo said: “With Jueyin above, Shaoyang is below, Yangming left and Taiyin right. With Shaoyin above, Yangming is below, Taiyang left and Shaoyang right. With Taiyin above, Taiyang is below, Jueyin left and Yangming right. With Shaoyang above, Jueyin is below, Shaoyin left and Taiyang right. With Yangming above, Shaoyin is below, Taiyin left and Jueyin right. With Taiyang above, Taiyin is below, Shaoyang left and Shaoyin right.
These positions are named facing south: this describes their appearance. Above and below meet; cold and summer heat confront each other. Qi that accords brings harmony; qi that does not brings illness.”
The Emperor asked: “Why can illness arise even when qi accords?”
Qi Bo said: “The lower confronts the upper and occupies an improper position.”
The Emperor asked: “What of movement and stillness?”
Qi Bo said: “The upper moves rightward; the lower leftward. Left and right complete Heaven’s circuit and meet again.”
The Emperor asked: “Gui Yuqu said that what responds to Earth is still. You now say the lower moves leftward. I do not understand. I wish to hear how this arises.”
Qi Bo said: “Heaven and Earth move and rest; the five phases shift and return. Even Gui Yuqu observed only their upper signs and could not clarify everything. In transformation and change, Heaven hangs images above and Earth completes forms below. Seven luminaries traverse emptiness; five phases adhere to Earth.
Earth carries the formed kinds that are generated and completed. Emptiness arrays the essential qi responding to Heaven. Movement of form and essence is like roots and trunk with branches and leaves. Looking upward at their images makes even distant things knowable.”
The Emperor asked: “Is Earth below?”
Qi Bo said: “Earth is beneath people and within the great emptiness.”
The Emperor asked: “What supports it?”
Qi Bo said: “Great qi lifts it. Dryness dries it; summer heat steams it; Wind moves it; dampness moistens it; cold firms it; Fire warms it.”
Thus Wind and cold are below, dryness and heat above, damp qi in the middle, and Fire travels between them. Cold and summer heat with the six influences enter, allowing generation and transformation within emptiness.
Prevailing dryness makes Earth dry; prevailing summer heat makes it hot; prevailing Wind moves it; prevailing dampness makes it muddy; prevailing cold cracks it; prevailing Fire makes it firm.
The Emperor asked: “How are the qi of Heaven and Earth observed?”
Qi Bo said: “The overcoming and returning actions of Heaven and Earth’s qi are not manifest in diagnostic examination.”
The Pulse Method says: “Changes of Heaven and Earth are not diagnosed through the pulse.” This is the meaning.
The Emperor asked: “What of the intervening qi?”
Qi Bo said: “Follow where qi resides and determine its period from left and right.”
The Emperor asked: “How is its period determined?”
Qi Bo said: “Following its qi brings harmony; opposing it illness. An improper position causes illness; positions shifting into one another cause illness; losing the guarded position brings danger. Reversed cun and chi mean death; crossing yin and yang means death. First establish the year to know its qi. Left and right should then show their responses. Only afterward can one speak of contrary and following courses of life and death.”
The Emperor asked: “How do cold, summer heat, dryness, dampness, Wind and Fire join in people, and how do they generate and transform the myriad things?”
Qi Bo said: “The east generates Wind; Wind Wood; Wood sourness; sourness Liver; Liver sinews; sinews Heart. In Heaven this is mystery, in people the Way, on Earth transformation. Transformation generates five flavors, the Way wisdom, mystery spirit, and transformation qi.
Spirit is Wind in Heaven, Wood on Earth, sinews in the body, softness in qi and Liver among zang organs. Its nature is mild warmth; virtue harmony; use movement; color blue-green; transformation flourishing; creatures hairy; governance dispersal; command outward unfolding; change breaking and uprooting; calamity falling; flavor sour; emotion anger.
Anger injures Liver; grief overcomes anger. Wind injures Liver; dryness overcomes Wind. Sour injures sinews; acrid overcomes sour.”
The south generates heat; heat Fire; Fire bitterness; bitterness Heart; Heart blood; blood Spleen. In Heaven it is heat, on Earth Fire, in the body vessels, in qi breath, and among zang organs Heart.
Its nature is summer heat; virtue manifestation; use agitation; color red; transformation luxuriance; creatures feathered; governance illumination; command steaming oppression; change blazing and melting; calamity burning and weariness; flavor bitter; emotion joy.
Joy injures Heart; fear overcomes joy. Heat injures qi; cold overcomes heat. Bitter injures qi; salty overcomes bitter.
Reading note: The supplied 燔倦 retains burning and weariness rather than silently adopting a different second graph.
The center generates dampness; dampness Earth; Earth sweetness; sweetness Spleen; Spleen flesh; flesh Lung. In Heaven it is dampness, on Earth Earth, in the body flesh, in qi fullness, and among zang organs Spleen.
Its nature is still and embracing; virtue moistening; use transformation; color yellow; transformation fullness; creatures bare-bodied; governance quiet; command clouds and rain; change stirring and downpour; calamity flooding and rupture; flavor sweet; emotion thought.
Thought injures Spleen; anger overcomes thought. Dampness injures flesh; Wind overcomes dampness. Sweet injures Spleen; sour overcomes sweet.
Reading note: The supplied 真 in the creature classification is read through the classical 倮, bare-bodied, within the five-creature sequence.
The west generates dryness; dryness Metal; Metal acridity; acridity Lung; Lung skin and hair; skin and hair Kidney. In Heaven it is dryness, on Earth Metal, in the body skin and hair, in qi completion, and among zang organs Lung.
Its nature is coolness; virtue clarity; use firmness; color white; transformation gathering; creatures armored; governance strength; command mist and dew; change severe killing; calamity blighting fall; flavor acrid; emotion worry.
Worry injures Lung; joy overcomes worry. Heat injures skin and hair; cold overcomes heat. Acrid injures skin and hair; bitter overcomes acrid.
The north generates cold; cold Water; Water saltiness; saltiness Kidney; Kidney bone marrow; marrow Liver. In Heaven it is cold, on Earth Water, in the body bone, in qi firmness, and among zang organs Kidney.
Its nature is piercing chill; virtue cold; use storage; color black; transformation severity; creatures scaled; governance stillness. Its command is left blank in the supplied text. Its change is freezing cold; calamity ice and hail; flavor salty; emotion fear.
Fear injures Kidney; thought overcomes fear. Cold injures blood; dryness overcomes cold. Salty injures blood; sweet overcomes salty.
Reading note: The empty command field 【】 is explicitly preserved as an omission. No absent word is supplied, and the stated overcoming and injury relations are not regularized.
The five qi take turns standing forth, each with its priority. Outside its proper position it is harmful; in its proper position it is correct.
The Emperor asked: “How do changes produce illness?”
Qi Bo said: “When qi accords, illness is slight; when it does not, illness is severe.”
The Emperor asked: “What of governance of the year?”
Qi Bo said: “Excess qi controls what it overcomes and insults what it cannot overcome. When insufficient, what it cannot overcome insults and overrides it, while what it normally overcomes disregards and insults it. Insulting brings harmful influence back upon oneself. Receiving harm through insult comes from having too little fear.”
The Emperor said: “Good.”
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