Lingshu · The Channel Divergences

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: I have heard that the person joins the Dao of heaven. Within are the five zang, answering to the five tones, the five colors, the five seasons, the five flavors, and the five positions. Without are the six fu, answering to the six pitches. The six pitches set the yin and yang channels and join them to the twelve months, the twelve earthly branches, the twelve nodes, the twelve channel-waters, the twelve double-hours, and the twelve channel vessels — this is how the five zang and six fu answer to the Dao of heaven. The twelve channel vessels are that by which a person is born, that by which illness is formed, that by which a person is put in order, that by which illness arises; they are where study begins and where the worker rests. The coarse find them easy; those above find them hard. I ask: how do they part and join, go out and come in? Qi Bo bowed his head and bowed again: How clear a question this is. This is what the coarse pass over, and where those above rest. Let me speak of it to the end. The principal of foot taiyang diverges and enters the hollow of the knee. One path goes down five cun from the sacrum, diverges into the anus, belongs to the bladder, scatters into the kidney, follows the muscles beside the spine, and, level with the heart, enters and scatters. The straight path rises from those muscles, emerges at the nape, and belongs again to taiyang — this is one channel. The principal of foot shaoyin reaches the hollow of the knee, diverges toward taiyang and joins it, rises to the kidney, and at the fourteenth vertebra emerges to belong to the belt vessel. The straight path ties to the root of the tongue, emerges again at the nape, and joins taiyang. This is the first joining. It is completed by the divergences of the yin channels; all of these are principals. The principal of foot shaoyang winds around the thigh, enters the pubic hairline, and joins jueyin. The divergence enters between the lowest ribs, follows the inner chest, belongs to the gallbladder, scatters, rises to the liver, pierces the heart and goes up to flank the throat, emerges in the jaw, scatters over the face, ties to the eye-tether, and joins shaoyang at the outer canthus. The principal of foot jueyin diverges on the instep, rises to the pubic hairline, joins shaoyang, and travels with that divergence. This is the second joining. The principal of foot yangming rises to the thigh, enters the inner abdomen, belongs to the stomach, scatters into the spleen, communicates upward with the heart, follows the throat upward, emerges at the mouth, rises to the bridge of the nose and the cheekbone, returns to tie to the eye-tether, and joins yangming. The principal of foot taiyin rises to the thigh, joins yangming, travels with that divergence, knots above at the throat, and pierces through the tongue. This is the third joining. The principal of hand taiyang points toward the earth, diverges at the shoulder joint, enters the armpit and runs to the heart, and ties to the small intestine. The principal of hand shaoyin diverges into the space between the two sinews at the abyss of fluid, belongs to the heart, runs up the throat, emerges on the face, and joins at the inner canthus. This is the fourth joining. The principal of hand shaoyang points toward heaven, diverges at the crown, enters the empty basin, runs down to the sanjiao, and scatters in the chest. The principal of the hand heart-governor diverges three cun below the abyss of fluid, enters the chest, diverges to belong to the sanjiao, emerges and follows the throat, emerges behind the ear, and joins shaoyang below the completed bone. This is the fifth joining. The principal of hand yangming follows from the hand along the breast, diverges at the shoulder bone, enters the pillar bone, runs down to the large intestine, belongs to the lung, follows the throat upward, emerges at the empty basin, and joins yangming. The principal of hand taiyin diverges into the abyss of fluid, ahead of shaoyin, enters and runs to the lung, scatters toward taiyang, emerges upward at the empty basin, follows the throat, and joins yangming again. This is the sixth joining.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: I have heard that the person joins the Dao of heaven. Within are the five zang, answering to the five tones, the five colors, the five seasons, the five flavors, and the five positions.

The note

The channel divergences are the regular channels leaving and coming home again. To join the Dao of heaven, there are five zang within. A divergence is not an exception. It is a deeper joining.