Lingshu · The Root Zang

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: A person's blood, qi, jing, and spirit are what serve life and complete the years of a life. The channels are what move blood and qi, flourish yin and yang, moisten sinew and bone, and ease the joints. Wei qi is what warms the divisions of the flesh, fills the skin, fattens the interstices, and keeps the gates as they open and close. Will and intent are what govern jing and spirit, gather hun and po, fit cold and warmth, and even joy and anger. Thus when blood is in accord, the channels flow; ying covers yin and yang; sinew and bone are strong; the joints are clear and easy. When wei qi is in accord, the divisions of the flesh part and glide; the skin is even and soft; the interstices are tight. When will and intent are in accord, jing and spirit are gathered and straight; hun and po do not scatter; regret and anger do not rise; the five zang do not receive the stray. When cold and warmth are in accord, the six fu transform grain; wind-impediment does not arise; the channels run clear; the limbs and joints are at rest. This is a person's ordinary evenness. The five zang are what store jing, spirit, blood, qi, hun and po. The six fu are what transform water and grain and move the fluids. This is what a person receives complete from heaven. The wise and the foolish, the worthy and the unworthy, have nothing here to lean on as difference. Yet some alone exhaust the years heaven gave, and have no illness of the irregular; a hundred years without decline — even meeting wind and rain, sudden cold, great heat, still these cannot harm them. Some never leave the screen and the inner room, have no startle or dread, and still are not spared illness. Why? I wish to hear the reason. Qi Bo said: A hard question. The five zang are what pair with heaven and earth, assist yin and yang, turn the four seasons, and transform the five nodes. The five zang already differ — small or large, high or low, firm or brittle, upright or tilted. The six fu also differ — small or large, long or short, thick or thin, knotted or straight, slack or tight. These twenty-five in all are each unlike; some good, some ill; some auspicious, some not. Let me speak their measure. A small heart is at rest; the stray cannot wound it, yet it is easily wounded by worry. A large heart cannot be wounded by worry, yet is easily wounded by the stray. A high heart fills into the lung; the person stoops and forgets, and is hard to open with words. A low heart sits outside its store; it is easily wounded by cold, easily frightened by words. A firm heart: the store is at rest and the watch is tight. A brittle heart: readily ill with wasting-heat and heat in the center. An upright heart is even and easy, hard to wound. A tilted heart: what it holds is not one, and there is no watch to keep. A small lung drinks little, and does not fall ill of panting and noisy breath. A large lung drinks much, and readily takes chest impediment, throat impediment, and qi that rises against the current. A high lung: qi rises, panting, cough. A low lung sits at the cardia and presses the lung; there is often pain below the flanks. A firm lung does not take cough and rising qi. A brittle lung suffers wasting-heat and is easily wounded. An upright lung is even and easy, hard to wound. A tilted lung: pain on one side of the chest. A small liver: the store is at rest, and there is no pain below the flanks. A large liver presses the stomach; pressing the throat, there is suffering in the diaphragm, and pain below the flanks. A high liver rises to prop the cardia and cut against the flanks; oppression becomes panting at the cardia. A low liver presses the stomach; below the flanks there is emptiness, and emptiness there is easily entered by the stray. A firm liver: the store is at rest and hard to wound. A brittle liver: readily ill with wasting-heat, easily wounded. An upright liver is even and easy, hard to wound. A tilted liver: pain below the flanks. A small spleen: the store is at rest, hard to wound by the stray. A large spleen suffers crowding and pain, and cannot walk quickly. A high spleen: pain drawing from the crush into the lower flanks. A low spleen adds itself below onto the large intestine; added there, the store suffers the stray. A firm spleen: the store is at rest and hard to wound. A brittle spleen: readily ill with wasting-heat, easily wounded. An upright spleen is even and easy, hard to wound. A tilted spleen: readily full, readily swollen. A small kidney: the store is at rest and hard to wound. A large kidney: readily ill with lumbar pain, unable to stoop or look up, easily wounded by the stray. A high kidney: suffering pain in the back and spine, unable to stoop or look up. A low kidney: pain in the lumbar and the sacrum, unable to stoop or look up, becoming a fox-hernia. A firm kidney does not take lumbar and back pain. A brittle kidney suffers wasting-heat and is easily wounded. An upright kidney is even and easy, hard to wound. A tilted kidney: suffering pain in the lumbar and the sacrum. These twenty-five changes are what people suffer as standing illness. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one know it is so? Qi Bo said: Red color and fine grain: the heart is small. Coarse grain: the heart is large. No prominence of the breastbone: the heart is high. Prominence small, short, and raised: the heart is low. Prominence long: the heart is low and firm. Prominence weak, small, and thin: the heart is brittle. Prominence straight down and not raised: the heart is upright. Prominence leaning to one side: the heart is tilted. White color and fine grain: the lung is small. Coarse grain: the lung is large. Great shoulders, chest thrown out, throat sunken: the lung is high. Armpits drawn in, flanks spread: the lung is low. Fine shoulders and a thick back: the lung is firm. Shoulders and back thin: the lung is brittle. Back and chest thick: the lung is upright. Flanks uneven and sparse: the lung is tilted. Green color and fine grain: the liver is small. Coarse grain: the liver is large. Broad chest, hip-bones thrown out: the liver is high. Flanks drawn in, hip-bones like a rabbit's: the liver is low. Chest and flanks well-made: the liver is firm. Flank-bones weak: the liver is brittle. Chest and belly well matched: the liver is upright. Flank-bones raised on one side: the liver is tilted. Yellow color and fine grain: the spleen is small. Coarse grain: the spleen is large. Lips lifted: the spleen is high. Lips hanging loose below: the spleen is low. Lips firm: the spleen is firm. Lips large and not firm: the spleen is brittle. Lips well-made above and below: the spleen is upright. Lips raised on one side: the spleen is tilted. Black color and fine grain: the kidney is small. Coarse grain: the kidney is large. Ears set high: the kidney is high. Hollow behind the ears: the kidney is low. Ears firm: the kidney is firm. Ears thin and not firm: the kidney is brittle. Ears well-made, sitting forward by the jaw: the kidney is upright. One ear set high: the kidney is tilted. Of all these changes: hold them and there is rest; lessen them and there is illness. The Yellow Emperor said: Good. Yet this is not what I asked. I wish to hear of those who cannot be made ill, who exhaust the years heaven gave — even deep worry and great fear, a will of startle and dread, still cannot lessen them. Severe cold and great heat cannot wound them. And those who never leave the screen and the inner room, who have no startle or dread, and still are not spared illness — why? I wish to hear the reason. Qi Bo said: The five zang and six fu are the lodging of the stray. Let me speak why. When all five zang are small, there is little illness, yet they suffer a scorched heart and great grief. When all five zang are large, they are slow in affairs, hard to move by worry. When all five zang are high, they love high measures. When all five zang are low, they love to stand under others. When all five zang are firm, there is no illness. When all five zang are brittle, they do not leave illness. When all five zang are upright, they are even and easy and win the hearts of others. When all five zang are tilted, the heart is irregular and they readily steal; they cannot be taken as persons — their speech turns back on itself. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear how the six fu answer. Qi Bo answered: The lung pairs with the large intestine; the large intestine answers in the skin. The heart pairs with the small intestine; the small intestine answers in the vessels. The liver pairs with the gallbladder; the gallbladder answers in the sinews. The spleen pairs with the stomach; the stomach answers in the flesh. The kidney pairs with the triple burner and the bladder; the triple burner and the bladder answer in the interstices and the fine hairs. The Yellow Emperor said: How do they answer? Qi Bo said: The lung answers in the skin. Thick skin: the large intestine is thick. Thin skin: the large intestine is thin. Slack skin and a large inner belly: the large intestine is large and long. Tight skin: the large intestine is tight and short. Smooth skin: the large intestine is straight. Skin and flesh that will not part: the large intestine is knotted. The heart answers in the vessels. Thick skin: the vessels are thick; thick vessels: the small intestine is thick. Thin skin: the vessels are thin; thin vessels: the small intestine is thin. Slack skin: the vessels are slack; slack vessels: the small intestine is large and long. Thin skin and a pulse that beats small: the small intestine is small and short. When all the yang channels wind and bend much: the small intestine is knotted. The spleen answers in the flesh. Ridges of flesh firm and large: the stomach is thick. Ridges slight: the stomach is thin. Ridges small and slight: the stomach is not firm. Ridges that do not match the body: the stomach sits low; sitting low, the lower stomach-gate binds and does not ease. Ridges not firm: the stomach is slack. Ridges without small gathered knots: the stomach is tight. Ridges with many gathered knots: the stomach is knotted; knotted, the upper stomach-gate binds and does not ease. The liver answers in the nails. Thick nails, yellow in color: the gallbladder is thick. Thin nails, red in color: the gallbladder is thin. Firm nails, green in color: the gallbladder is tight. Soft nails, reddish in color: the gallbladder is slack. Straight nails, white, without binding: the gallbladder is straight. Ugly nails, black, much twisted: the gallbladder is knotted. The kidney answers in the bone. Tight grain and thick skin: the triple burner and bladder are thick. Coarse grain and thin skin: the triple burner and bladder are thin. Loose interstices: the triple burner and bladder are slack. Tight skin without fine hairs: the triple burner and bladder are tight. Fine hairs handsome and coarse: the triple burner and bladder are straight. Sparse fine hairs: the triple burner and bladder are knotted. The Yellow Emperor said: Thick and thin, handsome and ill, all have form. I wish to hear the illnesses they take. Qi Bo answered: Look at the outer answering, and you know the inner store — then you know what illness is there.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: A person's blood, qi, jing, and spirit are what serve life and complete the years of a life.

The note

Blood, qi, jing and spirit serve life and complete the years of a person. The root zang asks whether form and zang match. Where they match, there is long life; where they do not, the years break off midway.