Lingshu · Qi of the Four Seasons

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: The qi of the four seasons each have a different shape; the hundred illnesses arise, each from something that begets them. In the Dao of moxa and needle, what is the fixed thing? Qi Bo replied: The qi of the four seasons each have their place. In the Dao of moxa and needle, obtaining the qi-point is the fixed thing. Thus in spring take the channels, the blood vessels, and the spaces of the divided flesh; if severe, needle deep; if mild, needle shallow. In summer take the abundant channels and the minute collaterals; take the spaces between divisions; cut through the skin. In autumn take the channel shu; if pathogen is in the fu, take the unions. In winter take the wells and brooks; you must go deep and leave the needle. Warm intermittent heat with no sweat: fifty-nine needling sites. Wind-water and swelling of the skin: fifty-seven needling sites; take the blood of the skin, take it all. Dawn diarrhea: fill above the three yin, fill yin-mound-spring; leave the needle long in all; stop when heat travels. Cramp on the yang: treat the yang. Cramp on the yin: treat the yin. Needle all of them at once. Plain water: first take three cun below the encircling valley; needle with a sword-needle; after needling, tube it, and take it in; enter and repeat, to exhaust the water. It must be firm. If what comes is slow, there is vexation and a wish to bow; if what comes is urgent, there is quiet. Needle every other day; stop when the water is exhausted. Drink the closing medicine. At the time of needling, only drink; when drinking, do not eat; when eating, do not drink; eat no other food. One hundred thirty-five days. Fixed impediment that will not leave, old cold that will not end: take three-li at once. The intestines not moving freely: take three-li; if abundant, drain; if vacuous, fill. Pestilent wind: always needle on the swelling; after needling, needle the place with a sharp needle, press out the malign qi; stop when the swelling is gone. Always eat regular food; eat no other food. The abdomen always sounds; qi rushes up the chest; one pants and cannot stand long: pathogen is in the large intestine. Needle the origin of the membrane, the upper edge of the great vacancy, and three-li. The lower abdomen tugs the testicles and pulls the waist and spine, rushing up to the heart: pathogen is in the small intestine, which links the testicular ties, belongs to the spine, pierces liver and lung, and networks the heart-tie. When qi is abundant there is reversal, rushing up the intestines and stomach, steaming the liver, scattering in the membrane, knotting at the navel. Thus take the origin of the membrane to scatter it; needle taiyin to give to it; take jueyin to bring it down; take the lower edge of the great vacancy to remove it; press the channels it has passed, to regulate them. One who vomits often, the vomit bitter, long sighs, the heart unsettled, afraid someone will seize them: pathogen is in the gallbladder, reversal is in the stomach. When gallbladder fluid leaks, the mouth is bitter; when stomach-qi reverses, one vomits bitter — therefore it is called vomiting gallbladder. Take three-li to bring it down; if stomach-qi reverses, needle the blood collaterals of shaoyang, to close the gallbladder's reversal; then regulate vacuity and repletion, to send the pathogen away. Food and drink will not go down; the diaphragm is blocked and does not communicate: pathogen is at the stomach duct. If at the upper duct, needle to press it down; if at the lower duct, scatter and send it away. The lower abdomen aches and swells; one cannot pass urine: pathogen is in the binding of the sanjiao. Take the great collateral of taiyang; look at its collateral vessels and the small collaterals of jueyin that are knotted and have blood. If the swelling rises to the stomach duct, take three-li. Look at the color; examine it to know whether it has scattered or returned. Look at the color of the eyes to know whether the illness remains or has gone. Unify the form; listen to movement and stillness; hold the qi-opening and the person's welcome, to look at the vessels. If they are firm and abundant and slippery, the illness advances day by day; if the vessels are soft, the illness is about to descend. When all the channels are replete, the illness ends in three days. The qi-opening watches yin; the person's welcome watches yang.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: The qi of the four seasons each have a different shape; the hundred illnesses arise, each from something that begets them. In the Dao of moxa and needle, what is the fixed thing?

The note

The qi of the four seasons each have a different shape. The Dao of moxa and needle first asks which season's qi this day is, then where the needle goes.