Lingshu · The Moving Transport

The text

The Yellow Emperor said: There are twelve channels, yet hand taiyin, foot shaoyin, and yangming alone beat without rest. Why? Qi Bo said: This makes clear the stomach vessel. The stomach is the sea of the five zang and the six fu. Its clear qi pours upward into the lung. Lung qi walks from the taiyin; its walking is by the coming and going of the breath. Therefore in one out-breath the vessel beats twice; in one in-breath the vessel also beats twice. Breath does not cease; therefore the beating does not stop. The Yellow Emperor said: When qi passes the inch-mouth, above, ten — where does it rest? Below, eight — where does it hide? By what road does it return? I do not know its limit. Qi Bo said: When qi leaves the store, it is sudden as a bow loosed, as water going over a bank. It rises to the thenar and then declines; the remaining qi, declined and scattered, rises against the current — therefore its walking is faint. The Yellow Emperor said: Foot yangming — by what cause does it beat? Qi Bo said: Stomach qi pours upward into the lung. Its fierce qi that rushes up to the head follows the throat and walks up to the empty orifices, follows the eye-tether, enters and networks the brain, comes out at the cheek, descends by Kezhuren, follows the jaw-cart, joins yangming, and together they descend to the man's-welcome. This is stomach qi walking a separate road into yangming. Therefore yin and yang, above and below, beat as if one. Thus a yang illness with a small yang pulse is against; a yin illness with a large yin pulse is against. When yin and yang are both quiet or both moving, as if pulling a rope that tips — there is illness. The Yellow Emperor said: Foot shaoyin — by what cause does it beat? Qi Bo said: The thoroughfare vessel is the sea of the twelve channels. With the great network of shaoyin it rises from below the kidney, comes out at the qi thoroughfare, follows the inner edge of the yin thigh, slants into the ham, follows the inner edge of shin and thigh, joins the shaoyin channel, and descends behind the inner ankle into the sole. Its departing branch slants into the ankle, comes out belonging to the instep, enters between the great toe, and pours into the networks, to warm the feet and shins. This is the vessel that constantly beats. The Yellow Emperor said: The walking of ying and wei, above and below passing through each other, is like a ring with no end. Now there are those who suddenly meet stray qi, or meet great cold; the hands and feet slacken; the yin and yang roads of the vessels, the meetings of the transports, walk and lose each other. By what does qi return? Qi Bo said: The meetings of yin and yang at the four ends — these are the great networks of qi. The four thoroughfares are the short roads of qi. Therefore when the networks are cut, the short roads open; when the four ends loosen, qi follows and joins; the transports answer like a ring. The Yellow Emperor said: Good. This is what is meant by a ring with no end, whose record no one knows.

The line

The Yellow Emperor said: There are twelve channels, yet hand taiyin, foot shaoyin, and yangming alone beat without rest. Why?

The note

The few vessels that beat without rest are stomach qi still striking the drum. The moving transport is proof of life. When the drum stops, the road is still there — the person is already gone.