Lingshu · The Five Changes

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Shao Yu: I have heard that the first season of the hundred illnesses must be born of wind and rain, cold and heat. They follow the fine hairs and enter the interstices. Some turn back; some stay and lodge. Some become wind-swelling and sweat; some become wasting-heat; some become cold and heat; some become lingering impediment; some become accumulations. Strange stray overflow — they cannot be counted. I wish to hear why. People take ill at the same time, yet one is ill of this, one of that. Does this mean heaven makes a private wind for each person? Why so different? Shao Yu said: When heaven gives birth to wind, it is not to favor one household over another. Its walking is fair, even, and straight. Those who offend against it receive it; those who avoid it come to no harm. It does not seek people out — people offend against it themselves. The Yellow Emperor said: They meet the wind in one moment, take ill in the same moment, and the illnesses differ. I wish to hear why. Shao Yu said: A good question. Let me speak of it by the carpenter. The carpenter grinds the axe and whets the knife, and cuts selected timber. Even within one tree there is yin and yang, hard and brittle. The hard will not take the blade; the brittle lets its bark slacken. Where the grain meets a knot, the axe itself is notched. Inside a single tree, hard and brittle are not the same: the hard is firm, the brittle is easily wounded — how much more when the timbers themselves differ, bark thick or thin, sap more or less, each unlike the other. A tree that flowers early and puts out leaves first, meeting the spring frost and a fierce wind, drops its flowers and its leaves wither. Long exposure and great drought: the brittle wood of thin bark, its branches scant of sap, the leaves wither. Long overcast and soaking rain: the thin-barked, sap-heavy ones, the bark splits and weeps. A sudden storm rising: the wood that is both hard and brittle, branches snap and the stubs are wounded. Autumn frost and a swift wind: the wood that is both hard and brittle, the roots shake and the leaves fall. These five, each has what wounds it — how much more so in man? The Yellow Emperor said: How does man answer to the tree? Shao Yu answered: What wounds a tree wounds its branches. A branch that is hard, brittle, and firm is not yet truly wounded. That a person has a standing illness is also because the joints, the skin, and the interstices are not firm — there the stray takes lodging, and so illness is constant. The Yellow Emperor said: Those who readily take wind-reversal and pouring sweat — how does one watch for them? Shao Yu answered: When the flesh is not firm and the interstices are loose, they readily take wind. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one watch for flesh that is not firm? Shao Yu answered: The flesh of the hams is not firm, and has no grain. Where there is grain, it is coarse grain; coarse grain and skin that is not tight — the interstices are loose. This speaks of those who are of one piece, without distinction. The Yellow Emperor said: Those who readily take wasting-heat — how does one watch for them? Shao Yu answered: When all five zang are soft and weak, they readily take wasting-heat. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one know the five zang are soft and weak? Shao Yu answered: Where there is softness and weakness, there must also be hardness and strength. The hard and strong are often angry; the soft are easily wounded. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one watch for the soft-and-weak and the hard-and-strong? Shao Yu answered: Such a person has thin skin, and eyes that are firm, fixed, and deep. The gaze is long, rushing, and thrown straight out. The heart is hard; hardness means much anger; anger sends qi upward against the current. It stores and gathers in the chest; blood and qi reverse and linger; the skin swells and fills the flesh; the blood vessels do not move; this turns and becomes heat; heat then melts the flesh and skin — hence wasting-heat. This speaks of one whose hardness is sudden, and whose flesh is weak. The Yellow Emperor said: Those who readily take cold and heat — how does one watch for them? Shao Yu answered: Small bones and weak flesh — they readily take cold and heat. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one watch for bones large or small, flesh firm or brittle, and color that is not one? Shao Yu answered: The cheekbones are the root of the bones. Large cheekbones, large bones; small cheekbones, small bones. Skin thin, the flesh without ridges; the arms weak and yielding; the color of the chin fading, not the same color as the forehead, sweating and standing alone in its difference — this is the sign. Then, those whose arms are thin, the marrow is not full, and so they readily take cold and heat. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one watch for those who readily take impediment? Shao Yu answered: Coarse grain and flesh that is not firm — they readily take impediment. The Yellow Emperor said: Does impediment have a high place and a low? Shao Yu answered: To know its high and low, look at each region. The Yellow Emperor said: Those who readily take accumulations in the intestines — how does one watch for them? Shao Yu answered: Skin thin and without luster; flesh not firm, yet wet and glossy. Such a one has a poor stomach and intestines. When they are poor, stray qi stays and lodges; accumulations then wound. Between spleen and stomach, cold and warmth miss their order; stray qi arrives little by little, stores and stays; a great gathering then rises. The Yellow Emperor said: I have heard the forms of illness, and I know them. I wish to hear their times. Shao Yu answered: First set the year, and so know the time. When the time is high, it rises; when the time is low, there is danger. Even if it has not sunk, if in that year there is a clash and a passage, the illness will surely rise. This is called illness born from the form — the record of the five changes.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Shao Yu: I have heard that the first season of the hundred illnesses must be born of wind and rain, cold and heat.

The note

The same wind and rain: some turn back, some stay, some gather. The five changes are one thing arriving, five ways of receiving it. Know the person first; then know the wind.