Lingshu · The Intestines and Stomach

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Bo Gao: I wish to hear of the six fu that pass grain — the small and large, the long and short of the intestines and stomach, and how much grain they receive. How is it? Bo Gao said: Let me speak it to the end — the measures of where grain goes in and out, the shallow and deep, the far and near, the long and short. From the lips to the teeth is nine fen long; the mouth is two cun and a half broad. From behind the teeth to the meeting-choke is three cun and a half deep; it holds five he. The tongue weighs ten liang, is seven cun long, two cun and a half broad. The gate of the throat weighs ten liang, is two cun and a half broad, and to the stomach is one chi six cun long. The stomach winds, bends, and stretches; it is two chi six cun long, one chi five cun in girth, five cun in diameter; it holds three dou five sheng. The small intestine attaches behind to the spine, rings left, circles and piles upon itself. What pours into the winding intestine attaches without at the navel; it turns and rings upward in sixteen bends; it is two cun and a half in girth, eight fen and a lesser half of a fen in diameter, three zhang three chi long. The winding intestine, level with the navel, rings left, circles and piles in leaves downward; it turns and rings back in sixteen bends; it is four cun in girth, one cun and a lesser half of a cun in diameter, two zhang one chi long. The broad intestine passes along the spine to receive the winding intestine, rings left, piles against the spine, opening above and below; it is eight cun in girth, two cun and a greater half of a cun in diameter, two chi eight cun long. From where the intestines and stomach take in to where they put out is six zhang four cun four fen long; winding, bending, ringing back — thirty-two bends.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Bo Gao: I wish to hear of the six fu that pass grain — the small and large, the long and short of the intestines and stomach, and how much grain they receive. How is it?

The note

The intestines and stomach have their own measures. How much grain they receive decides how far a person can walk. The capacity of a sea is not the capacity of the will.