Lingshu · The Jade Tablet

The text

The Yellow Emperor said: I took the small needle for a fine thing. You, master, say it joins heaven above, joins earth below, joins man in the middle. I think this goes beyond what a needle means. I wish to hear the reason. Qi Bo said: What thing is greater than heaven? Greater than the needle, there are only the five weapons. The five weapons are provisions for death, not tools of life. And man is the weight that steadies heaven and earth — how can he not be paired with them? Those who order the people, too, have only the needle. The needle and the five weapons — which is the smaller? The Yellow Emperor said: When illness is born, there is joy and anger beyond measure, drink and food without rule, yin qi not enough, yang qi in surplus, ying qi not walking — then it breaks out as swellings and sores. Yin and yang do not pass through; two heats struggle with each other, and turn into pus. Can the small needle take this? Qi Bo said: The sage cannot make what has already transformed be as if it had not. The stray must not be allowed to stay. When two armies face each other, banners looking across, white blades arrayed in the open field — this is not the plan of a single day. To make the people move when ordered and stop when forbidden, the soldiers without the hardship of white blades — this is not the teaching of a single day, nor the gain of a moment. To let the body be covered in swellings and sores, pus and blood gathered — is this not far from the Dao? The birth of swellings and sores, the forming of pus and blood, do not come down from heaven, do not come out from earth: they are born of the minute accumulated. Therefore the sage orders himself while there is not yet form; the foolish meet it when it is already complete. The Yellow Emperor said: When it has already taken form and one does not meet it; when pus is already formed and one does not see it — what is to be done? Qi Bo said: When pus is already formed, ten deaths and one life. Therefore the sage does not let it become complete, and makes bright good methods, writes them on bamboo and silk, so that those who can may follow and pass them to later ages, without end of time — because he would not have them meet it. The Yellow Emperor said: And if there is already pus and blood, and then one meets it? Is it not the Dao to order it with the small needle? Qi Bo said: To order the small with the small, the work is small. To order the great with the great, the harm is much. Therefore when pus and blood are already formed, only the stone lancet, the sword-needle, and the sharp point can take them. The Yellow Emperor said: Where the harm is much — can it not be made whole? Qi Bo said: It lies in against and with. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear against and with. Qi Bo said: Taking it as a wound: the white of the eye green, the dark of the eye small — this is the first against. Medicine taken inward, and vomiting — this is the second against. Abdominal pain and thirst in the extreme — this is the third against. Shoulder and nape not easy — this is the fourth against. The voice hoarse, the color gone — this is the fifth against. Apart from these five, it is with. The Yellow Emperor said: All illnesses have against and with — may I hear it? Qi Bo said: Abdominal swelling, body hot, pulse large — this is the first against. Abdominal sounding and fullness, the four limbs clear and leaking, the pulse large — this is the second against. Nosebleed that does not stop, pulse large — this is the third against. Cough and bloody urine, the form shed, the pulse small and forceful — this is the fourth against. Cough, the form shed, the body hot, the pulse small and rapid — this is called the fifth against. Such as these die in no more than fifteen days. Belly large and swollen, the four ends cold, the form shed, leaking in the extreme — this is the first against. Abdominal swelling and bloody stools, the pulse large, at times cut off — this is the second against. Cough and bloody urine, form and flesh shed, the pulse leaping — this is the third against. Vomiting blood, the chest full and drawing the back, the pulse small and rapid — this is the fourth against. Cough and vomiting, abdominal swelling and undigested leaking, the pulse cut off — this is the fifth against. Such as these die in no more than one watch. A craftsman who does not examine these and needles them — this is called ordering against. The Yellow Emperor said: Your words on the needle, master, are very bold. You pair it with heaven and earth, count the patterns of heaven above, measure the marks of earth below, tell apart the five zang within, rank the six fu without; the twenty-eight meetings of the channels all have their cycles and records. It can kill the living, and cannot raise the dead. Can you reverse this? Qi Bo said: It can kill the living; it cannot raise the dead. The Yellow Emperor said: I hear this, and take it as not humane. Yet I wish to hear the Dao, and not have it done to people. Qi Bo said: This is a clear Dao. It is necessarily so — as a knife and sword can kill a person, as drinking wine makes a person drunk. Even without feeling the pulse, it can still be known. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear it to the end. Qi Bo said: What a person receives qi from is grain. Where grain pours is the stomach. The stomach is the sea of water, grain, blood, and qi. Where the sea walks its cloud-qi is under heaven. Where the stomach sends out blood and qi is the channel-tunnels. The channel-tunnels are the great networks of the five zang and six fu. Meet them and seize — and that is all. The Yellow Emperor said: Have above and below a count? Qi Bo said: Meet it at Wuli, and stop at the midpoint. Five arrivals are enough; five goings, and the qi of the zang is exhausted. Therefore five times five is twenty-five, and the transports are drained. This is what is called seizing the heavenly qi. It is not that one can cut off the life and tip over the years. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear it to the end. Qi Bo said: One who peeks at the gate and needles dies at home. One who enters the gate and needles dies in the hall. The Yellow Emperor said: Good, the method; clear, the Dao. I ask that it be written on the jade tablet, taken as a heavy treasure, passed to later ages as the prohibitions of needling, so that the people will not dare offend.

The line

The Yellow Emperor said: I took the small needle for a fine thing. You, master, say it joins heaven above, joins earth below, joins man in the middle. I think this goes beyond what a needle means. I wish to hear the reason.

The note

The small needle joins heaven above and earth below. The jade tablet takes a light tool and speaks it back into a heavy principle. A fine thing can join heaven and earth because what it asks about is qi.