Lingshu · Root and Knot

The text

Qi Bo said: Heaven and earth answer one another; cold and warmth shift places. In the Dao of yin and yang, which is less, which is more? The Dao of yin is even; the Dao of yang is odd. What arises in spring and summer: yin qi is little, yang qi is much; yin and yang are not attuned — what does one replenish, what does one drain? What arises in autumn and winter: yang qi is little, yin qi is much; yin qi is abundant and yang qi declines; therefore stem and leaf wither, and wet rain returns below. Yin and yang shift places — what does one drain, what does one replenish? Strange pathogen leaves the channels; it cannot be counted. If one does not know root and knot, the five zang and six fu break the passes and ruin the pivots; opening and closing run off; yin and yang are greatly lost, and cannot be taken again. The mystery of the nine needles has its essential in beginning and end. Therefore those who can know beginning and end finish in one word; those who do not know beginning and end — the Dao of the needle is wholly cut off. Taiyang takes its root at Zhiyin and knots at the gate of life. The gate of life is the eyes. Yangming takes its root at Lidui and knots at Sangda. Sangda is what clamps the ear. Shaoyang takes its root at Qiaoyin and knots at the window-cage. The window-cage is the inside of the ear. Taiyang is the opening; yangming is the closing; shaoyang is the pivot. Therefore if the opening breaks, the flesh-joints become ditches and sudden illness arises. Thus for sudden illness, take taiyang; look at remainder and insufficiency. What is a ditch: the skin and flesh are withered, scorched, and weak. If the closing breaks, qi has nowhere to stop and rest, and wilting illness arises. Thus for wilting illness, take yangming; look at remainder and insufficiency. What has nowhere to stop and rest: true qi lingers, pathogenic qi dwells there. If the pivot breaks, the bones sway and are not at rest on the ground. Thus for swaying bones, take shaoyang; look at remainder and insufficiency. Swaying bones: the joints slacken and will not gather. What is called swaying bones is because they shake — one should exhaust their root. Taiyin takes its root at Yinbai and knots at the Great Granary. Shaoyin takes its root at Yongquan and knots at Lianquan. Jueyin takes its root at Dadun and knots at Yuying, networking the chest-center. Taiyin is the opening; jueyin is the closing; shaoyin is the pivot. Therefore if the opening breaks, the granary has nowhere to transport, and there is diaphragm-cave. For diaphragm-cave, take taiyin; look at remainder and insufficiency. Thus if the opening breaks, qi is insufficient and illness is born. If the closing breaks, qi is cut off and there is a tendency to grief. For grief, take jueyin; look at remainder and insufficiency. If the pivot breaks, the vessels have something knotted and will not open. For what will not open, take shaoyin; look at remainder and insufficiency. Where there is a knot, take in all cases what is insufficient. Foot taiyang takes its root at Zhiyin, flows at Jinggu, pours at Kunlun, and enters at Tianzhu and Feiyang. Foot shaoyang takes its root at Qiaoyin, flows at Qiuxu, pours at Yangfu, and enters at Tianrong and Guangming. Foot yangming takes its root at Lidui, flows at Chongyang, pours at Xialing, and enters at Renying and Fenglong. Hand taiyang takes its root at Shaoze, flows at Yanggu, pours at Shaohai, and enters at Tianchuang and Zhizheng. Hand shaoyang takes its root at Guanchong, flows at Yangchi, pours at Zhigou, and enters at Tianyou and Waiguan. Hand yangming takes its root at Shangyang, flows at Hegu, pours at Yangxi, and enters at Futu and Pianli. These are what are called the twelve channels; where the collaterals are abundant, one should take them all. In one day and one night there are fifty circuits, by which the jing of the five zang is circulated. Those who do not answer the count are named wildly born. What is called fifty circuits: the five zang all receive qi; hold the pulse-opening and count its arrivals. Fifty beats without one intermittence: the five zang all receive qi. Forty beats and one intermittence: one zang is without qi. Thirty beats and one intermittence: two zang are without qi. Twenty beats and one intermittence: three zang are without qi. Ten beats and one intermittence: four zang are without qi. Fewer than ten beats and one intermittence: the five zang are without qi. To give the short term, the essential is in beginning and end. What is called fifty beats without one intermittence is taken as the constant. By this one knows the term of the five zang. Those to whom one gives the short term: now rapid, now sparse. The Yellow Emperor said: Going against and going with in the five bodies: this speaks of the small and large of a person's bone-joints, the firm and brittle of the flesh, the thick and thin of the skin, the clear and turbid of the blood, the slippery and rough of qi, the long and short of the vessels, the more and less of the blood, the numbers of the channel networks. This I already know. These are all of the cloth-clad and the common men. As for kings and dukes and great persons, lords who eat blood: their bodies are soft and brittle, their flesh weak, their blood and qi fierce, slippery, and keen. Can the slow and swift, the shallow and deep, the more and less of piercing them be the same? Qi Bo answered: How can the flavors of rich fats and of beans and greens be the same? When qi is slippery, it goes out swiftly; when qi is rough, it goes out slowly. When qi is fierce, the needle is small and enters shallow; when qi is rough, the needle is large and enters deep. Deep, one wishes to leave it; shallow, one wishes to be swift. Seen in this way: to pierce the cloth-clad, go deep and leave it; to pierce the great person, be faint and slow — this is all because their qi is fierce, slippery, and keen. The Yellow Emperor said: The against and with of form and qi — how is it? Qi Bo said: Form and qi insufficient, illness-qi with a remainder: this is pathogen prevailing — drain it at once. Form and qi with a remainder, illness-qi insufficient: replenish it at once. Form and qi insufficient, illness-qi insufficient: this is yin and yang qi both insufficient — one cannot pierce it. Pierce it and the insufficiency is doubled; doubled insufficiency, and yin and yang are both exhausted; blood and qi are all spent; the five zang are vacant; sinew, bone, and marrow wither; the old are cut off and extinguished; the robust do not recover. Form and qi with a remainder, illness-qi with a remainder: this is called yin and yang both having a remainder — drain the pathogen at once, attune the vacant and the replete. Therefore it is said: what has a remainder, drain it; what is insufficient, replenish it — this is what is meant. Therefore it is said: if one pierces and does not know the against and the with, the true and the pathogenic contend. If one replenishes what is full, yin and yang overflow in the four directions; the intestines and stomach fill the outer walls; liver and lung wash within; yin and yang are crossed. If one drains what is vacant, the channel vessels are vacant; blood and qi are exhausted and withered; the intestines and stomach slacken and split; the skin is thin and clings; the hair and interstices are blighted and scorched — one gives the time of death. Therefore it is said: the essential of using the needle lies in knowing how to attune yin and yang. Attune yin and yang, and jing-qi is then bright; join form and qi, and let the spirit be stored within. Therefore it is said: the upper worker levels qi; the middle worker disorders the vessels; the lower worker cuts off qi and endangers life. Therefore it is said: the lower worker cannot but be careful. One must examine the illnesses of change of the five zang, the answering of the five pulses, the replete and vacant of the channel networks, the soft and coarse of the skin — and only then take it.

The line

Qi Bo said: Heaven and earth answer one another; cold and warmth shift places. In the Dao of yin and yang, which is less, which is more? The Dao of yin is even; the Dao of yang is odd. What arises in spring and summer: yin qi is little, yang qi is much; yin and yang are not attuned — what does one replenish, what does one drain?

The note

The root is below; the knot is above. The odd channels and the opening and closing are two ends of the same plant. Know root and knot, and you know why a channel can stay.