Lingshu · The Nine Needles and Twelve Origins

The text

Law of Heaven The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: I take the ten thousand people as my children, nourish the hundred families, and collect the rent and tax. I grieve that they cannot supply themselves, and that illness belongs among them. I wish they not be covered with poisonous medicines, and that the stone-awl not be used. I wish, with the fine needle, to open their channel vessels, attune their blood and qi, and flourish the meetings of going against and going with, of going out and coming in. If this is to be passed to later ages, the method must be made clear, so that it ends and is not extinguished, lasts long and is not cut off, is easy to use and hard to forget — made into a binding thread. Distinguish the chapters, set surface and interior apart, make of it a beginning and an end. Let each have its form. First establish the Needle Classic. I wish to hear the substance of this. Qi Bo answered: Let me push it and set it in order, so that there is a guiding thread, beginning at one and ending at nine. Let me speak its Dao. The essential of the small needle is easy to set forth and hard to enter. The coarse keep the form; those above keep the spirit. Spirit, O spirit — the guest is at the gate. If one has not yet seen the illness, how can one know its origin? The subtlety of piercing is in swift and slow. The coarse keep the passes; those above keep the trigger. The movement of the trigger does not leave its hollow. The trigger within the hollow is clear, still, and faint. Its coming cannot be met; its going cannot be pursued. Those who know the Dao of the trigger cannot hang a hair upon it; those who do not know the Dao of the trigger knock and it does not fire. Know its coming and going; the essential is to meet it at its time. How dark the coarse are — how subtle this is — the worker alone has it. What goes is against; what comes is with. Know clearly the against and the with, and go straight without asking. To meet it and seize it — how can there not be vacancy? To pursue it and assist it — how can there not be repletion? Meet it and follow it, attune it by intent — the Dao of the needle is complete. Whoever uses the needle: when vacant, fill it; when full, drain it; when old and stagnant, remove it; when pathogen prevails, empty it. The Great Essential says: slow then swift makes replete; swift then slow makes vacant. Speaking of replete and vacant: as if there, as if not. Watch what comes after and what comes first: as if remaining, as if gone. Making vacant and replete: as if obtaining, as if losing. The essential of vacant and replete: the nine needles are the most subtle. The time of replenishing and draining is done by the needle. To drain: you must hold and insert it, then release and let it out; push the yang and obtain the needle, and pathogenic qi can drain. To press and draw the needle — this is called inner warmth: the blood cannot scatter, the qi cannot go out. To replenish: follow it, follow it, the intent as if without intent; as if walking, as if pressing; as a mosquito or gadfly that stops; as if remaining, as if returning; leaving as a bowstring snaps. Let the left belong to the right; its qi therefore stops. The outer gate already closed, the center qi is then replete. There must be no leftover blood; take it swiftly and remove it. The Dao of holding the needle: firmness is the treasure. Point straight and pierce straight; do not needle left and right. The spirit is in the autumn hair; set the intent on the one who is ill; look carefully at the blood vessels, and piercing will have no peril. At the moment of piercing, it must be at the hanging yang and the two wei. The spirit belongs and does not leave; know whether the illness remains or is gone. The blood vessels lie across at the shu; look at them and they alone are clear; press them and they alone are firm. The names of the nine needles: each has a different form. The first is called the chisel needle, one cun six fen long. The second is called the round needle, one cun six fen long. The third is called the spoon needle, three cun and a half long. The fourth is called the sharp needle, one cun six fen long. The fifth is called the sword needle, four cun long, two and a half fen broad. The sixth is called the round-sharp needle, one cun six fen long. The seventh is called the fine needle, three cun six fen long. The eighth is called the long needle, seven cun long. The ninth is called the great needle, four cun long. The chisel needle: the head is large, the tip is sharp — to drain yang qi. The round needle: the needle is like an egg in shape; rub between the divisions, do not wound the flesh — to drain the qi of the divisions. The spoon needle: the point is sharp as a millet grain; it governs pressing the vessel without sinking in — to bring its qi. The sharp needle: the blade has three edges, to send forth a stubborn illness. The sword needle: the tip is like a sword's point, to take great pus. The round-sharp needle: large as a yak's hair, both round and sharp, the mid-body slightly large — to take sudden qi. The fine needle: the tip is like a mosquito's beak; go quietly and slowly, leave it faintly and long, and nourish, to take painful impediment. The long needle: the point is sharp, the body thin — one may take distant impediment. The great needle: the tip is like a staff, the point slightly round — to drain the water of the joints. The nine needles are complete. When qi is in the vessels: pathogenic qi is above, turbid qi is in the center, clear qi is below. Thus needle a sunken vessel and pathogenic qi goes out; needle a mid-vessel and turbid qi goes out; needle too deep and pathogenic qi sinks again and the illness grows worse. Therefore it is said: skin, flesh, sinew, and vessel each have their place; each illness has what is fitting; each has a different form; each is charged with what is fitting to it. Do not take the replete as vacant; do not diminish what is insufficient and increase what has a remainder — this is called making the illness extreme. If the illness grows worse and one takes the five vessels, there is death; if one takes the three vessels, there is collapse. To seize yin is death; to seize yang is mania. The harms of the needle are complete. If one needles and qi does not arrive, do not ask the number. If one needles and qi arrives, then leave it; do not needle again. Each needle has what is fitting; each has a different form; each is charged with its place — this is the essential of piercing. When qi arrives there is effect; the trust of the effect is as wind blowing the clouds, bright as seeing the blue Heaven. The Dao of piercing is complete. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear the places from which the five zang and six fu issue. Qi Bo said: The five zang have five shu; five times five is twenty-five shu. The six fu have six shu; six times six is thirty-six shu. The channel vessels are twelve; the collateral vessels are fifteen — in all, twenty-seven qi. What issues above and below is the well; what flows is the ying; what pours is the transport; what travels is the channel; what enters is the joining. Where the twenty-seven qi travel is all at the five shu. The meetings of the joints are three hundred and sixty-five assemblies. Those who know the essential finish in one word; those who do not know the essential scatter without end. What are called the joints are where spirit-qi wanders, issues, and enters — not skin, flesh, sinew, and bone. Look at the color, examine the eyes, and know its scattering and returning. Unify the form, listen to its stillness and movement, and know the pathogenic and the upright. The right governs pushing it; the left holds and guides it. When qi arrives, leave it. Whoever is about to use the needle must first examine the pulse, look at whether qi is severe or easy — only then can one put it in order. When the qi of the five zang has already been cut off within, and one who uses the needle instead fills the without — this is called doubled exhaustion. Doubled exhaustion must die; the death is still. Those who treat it always reverse its qi, taking the armpit and the breast. When the qi of the five zang has already been cut off without, and one who uses the needle instead fills the within — this is called reverse-reversal. Reverse-reversal must die; the death is restless. Those who treat it instead take the four extremities and pierce them. If one harms the center and does not leave, jing drains; if one harms the center and leaves, one brings qi. If jing drains, the illness grows worse and there is collapse; if one brings qi, it is born as abscess and sores. The five zang have the six fu; the six fu have the twelve origins. The twelve origins issue from the four passes; the four passes govern and treat the five zang. When the five zang have illness, one should take the twelve origins. The twelve origins are that by which the five zang are endowed with the qi and flavor of the three hundred and sixty-five joints. When the five zang have illness, it answers and issues at the twelve origins. Each of the twelve origins has that from which it issues. Know the origins clearly, see their answering, and you know the harm of the five zang. Shaoyin within yang is the lung; its origin issues at Taiyuan — Taiyuan, two. Taiyang within yang is the heart; its origin issues at Daling — Daling, two. Shaoyang within yin is the liver; its origin issues at Taichong — Taichong, two. The utmost yin within yin is the spleen; its origin issues at Taibai — Taibai, two. Taiyin within yin is the kidney; its origin issues at Taixi — Taixi, two. The origin of the gao issues at Jiuwei — Jiuwei, one. The origin of the huang issues at Boyang — Boyang, one. These twelve origins in all govern and treat those in whom the five zang and six fu have illness. For distention, take the three yang; for undigested discharge, take the three yin. Now when the five zang have illness, it is as if a thorn, as if a stain, as if a knot, as if a closing. A thorn, though long there, can still be pulled. A stain, though long there, can still be washed. A knot, though long there, can still be undone. A closing, though long there, can still be opened. Those who say a long illness cannot be taken — their saying is not so. Those who are good with the needle take the illness as one pulls a thorn, as one washes a stain, as one undoes a knot, as one opens a closing. Though the illness be long, it can still be finished. Those who say it cannot be put in order have not yet obtained the art. To pierce the various heats: as if the hand were testing soup. To pierce the cold and clear: as if a person did not wish to walk. When yin has a yang illness, take it at Xialing Sanli; go straight and without peril; when qi descends, stop; if it does not descend, begin again. When the illness is high and inward, take Yinlingquan. When the illness is high and outward, take Yanglingquan.

The line

The essential of the small needle is easy to set forth and hard to enter. The coarse keep the form; those above keep the spirit. Spirit, O spirit — the guest is at the gate. If one has not yet seen the illness, how can one know its origin?

The note

The coarse keep the form; those above keep the spirit. The twelve origins are the passes. The essential of the needle is not in the nine shapes. It is whether what you keep is form or spirit.