Lingshu · Against or With, Fat or Thin

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: I have heard the Dao of the needle from you, Master, and the many things are complete and known. Your Dao, Master, answers as if lost, and what one holds has never been firm. Is what you, Master, asked and studied ripe — or do you examine things and give birth to it from them? Qi Bo replied: When the sage makes a Dao, above it joins heaven, below it joins earth, in the center it joins human affairs. There must be a clear law, to raise measures and numbers, patterns and checks — only then can it be transmitted. Thus a carpenter cannot set aside the foot-rule and guess long and short, or throw away the ink-line and raise level water; a craftsman cannot set aside the compass to make a circle, or leave the square to make a square. To know how to use these is to hold to the things of what is so of themselves — the teaching easy to use, the constant of going against and going with. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear what is so of itself. How is it? Qi Bo said: Standing over a depth and opening the water, no craftsman's force is used, and the water can be exhausted. Following a dug course and opening a rush, and the channel can be opened. This speaks of the slippery and rough of qi, the clear and turbid of blood, the going against and going with of travel. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear of a person's white and black, fat and thin, small and tall — does each have a number? Qi Bo said: Years and substance grown large and strong, blood and qi filling and abundant, skin and hide firm — then pathogen is added. To needle such a one, go deep and leave it. This is the fat person. Broad shoulders, thin flesh at the armpits and nape, thick skin and black in color, the lips hanging heavy; the blood black and turbid, the qi rough and slow; as a person, greedy in taking and giving. To needle such a one, go deep and leave it, and add more to the count. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one needle a thin person? Qi Bo said: A thin person: the skin thin, the color scant, the flesh spare and tight, thin lips, light speech; the blood clear, the qi slippery, easy to let qi slip away, easy to wound the blood. To needle such a one, go shallow and do it swiftly. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one needle an ordinary person? Qi Bo said: Look at their white and black, and regulate each. Those upright, correct, honest and thick: their blood and qi are even and regulated. To needle such a one, do not lose the constant count. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one needle a strong man of true bone? Qi Bo said: Needling a strong man of true bone: firm flesh, slack joints, standing clear. If this person is heavy, qi is rough and blood turbid; to needle such a one, go deep and leave it, and add more to the count. If vigorous, qi is slippery and blood clear; to needle such a one, go shallow and do it swiftly. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one needle an infant? Qi Bo said: An infant: the flesh brittle, the blood little, the qi weak. To needle such a one, use a hair-needle; needle shallow and send the needle swiftly; twice a day is permitted. The Yellow Emperor said: Standing over a depth and opening the water — how is it? Qi Bo said: Blood clear, qi turbid: drain it swiftly, and qi is exhausted. The Yellow Emperor said: Following a dug course and opening a rush — how is it? Qi Bo said: Blood turbid, qi rough: drain it swiftly, and the channel can be opened. The Yellow Emperor said: The going against and going with of the vessels' travel — how is it? Qi Bo said: The three yin of the hand travel from the zang to the hand. The three yang of the hand travel from the hand to the head. The three yang of the foot travel from the head to the foot. The three yin of the foot travel from the foot to the abdomen. The Yellow Emperor said: The vessel of shaoyin alone travels downward — why? Qi Bo said: It is not so. The rushing vessel is the sea of the five zang and six fu; the five zang and six fu all receive from it. What goes above issues at the nasopharynx, seeps into all the yang, irrigates all the jing. What goes below pours into the great collateral of shaoyin, issues at the qi-street, follows the inner edge of the yin thigh, enters the hollow of the knee, travels hidden inside the shin-bone, descends to the belonging behind the inner ankle and diverges. What goes below joins the channel of shaoyin and seeps into the three yin. What goes in front travels hidden, emerges at the belonging of the instep, follows the instep down, enters between the big toe, seeps into all the collaterals and warms the flesh. Thus if the diverging collateral knots, the instep does not move; if it does not move, there is reversal; if there is reversal, there is cold. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one make it clear? Qi Bo said: Guide it with words, press and test it; what is not so must move — only then can one make clear the travel against and with. The Yellow Emperor said: How hard-pressed this is. The sage making a Dao is brighter than sun and moon, finer than a hair's breadth. If it were not you, Master, who could speak it?

The line

Qi Bo said: Years and substance grown large and strong, blood and qi filling and abundant, skin and hide firm — then pathogen is added. To needle such a one, go deep and leave it. This is the fat person.

The note

The fat, the thin, the strong man, the infant — the needle cannot be the same. Against or with, fat or thin, is to admit that bodies have constitutions, not ranks.