Lingshu · The Five Tones and Five Flavors

The text

Right zhi and lesser zhi: regulate the upper part of the right hand taiyang. Left shang and left zhi: regulate the upper part of the left hand yangming. Lesser zhi and greater gong: regulate the upper part of the left hand yangming. Right jiao and greater jiao: regulate the lower part of the right foot shaoyang. Greater zhi and lesser zhi: regulate the upper part of the left hand taiyang. Crowd yu and lesser yu: regulate the lower part of the right foot taiyang. Lesser shang and right shang: regulate the lower part of the right hand taiyang. Shackle yu and crowd yu: regulate the lower part of the right foot taiyang. Lesser gong and greater gong: regulate the lower part of the right foot yangming. Split jiao and lesser jiao: regulate the lower part of the right foot shaoyang. Clamp shang and upper shang: regulate the lower part of the right foot yangming. Clamp shang and upper jiao: regulate the lower part of the left foot taiyang. Upper zhi is the same as right zhi: grain is wheat, animal is sheep, fruit is apricot. Hand shaoyin stores in the heart; color red, flavor bitter, season summer. Upper yu is the same as greater yu: grain is the great bean, animal is the swine, fruit is chestnut. Foot shaoyin stores in the kidney; color black, flavor salty, season winter. Upper gong is the same as greater gong: grain is millet, animal is the ox, fruit is jujube. Foot taiyin stores in the spleen; color yellow, flavor sweet, season late summer. Upper shang is the same as right shang: grain is glutinous millet, animal is the chicken, fruit is peach. Hand taiyin stores in the lung; color white, flavor acrid, season autumn. Upper jiao is the same as greater jiao: grain is hemp, animal is the dog, fruit is plum. Foot jueyin stores in the liver; color green, flavor sour, season spring. Greater gong is the same as upper jiao: the upper part of the right foot yangming. Left jiao is the same as greater jiao: the upper part of the left foot yangming. Lesser yu is the same as greater yu: the lower part of the right foot taiyang. Left shang is the same as right shang: the lower part of the left hand yangming. Added gong is the same as greater gong: the upper part of the left foot shaoyang. Substance-split is the same as greater gong: the lower part of the left hand taiyang. Split jiao is the same as greater jiao: the lower part of the left foot shaoyang. Greater yu is the same as greater jiao: the upper part of the right foot taiyang. Greater jiao is the same as greater gong: the upper part of the right foot shaoyang. Right zhi, lesser zhi, substance zhi, upper zhi, split zhi. Right jiao, clamp jiao, upper jiao, greater jiao, split jiao. Right shang, lesser shang, clamp shang, upper shang, left shang. Lesser gong, upper gong, greater gong, added gong, left gong. Crowd yu, shackle yu, upper yu, greater yu, lesser yu. The Yellow Emperor said: Women have no beard — have they no blood and qi? Qi Bo said: The thoroughfare vessel and the conception vessel both rise from the womb, climb the inner back, and are the sea of the channels and networks. What floats and is outer follows the right of the abdomen, climbs and meets at the throat, departs and networks the lips and mouth. When blood and qi are full, they fill the skin and heat the flesh. When blood alone is full, it soaks and seeps the skin, and fine hairs are born. Now in the life of a woman there is surplus of qi and not enough blood, because they shed blood often. The thoroughfare and conception vessels do not flourish at the mouth and lips; therefore a beard is not born. The Yellow Emperor said: There are men wounded in the yin; yin qi is cut off and does not rise; the yin is of no use — yet the beard does not leave. What is the reason? Eunuchs alone lose it — why? I wish to hear the reason. Qi Bo said: The eunuch has had the ancestral sinew removed, wounding the thoroughfare vessel. Blood drains and does not return; the skin binds within; the lips and mouth are not flourished — therefore a beard is not born. The Yellow Emperor said: There are those heaven made incomplete, never wounded, not shedding blood, and yet a beard is not born. What is the reason? Qi Bo said: This is what heaven did not make enough. The conception and thoroughfare are not full; the ancestral sinew is not formed. There is qi and no blood; the lips and mouth are not flourished — therefore a beard is not born. The Yellow Emperor said: Good. How the sage passes through the ten thousand things — like the light and shadow of sun and moon, like a voice and a drum's answer: hear the sound and know the form. If not you, master, who could make clear the jing of the ten thousand things? Therefore the sage looks at the color of the face. Yellow and red: much heat-qi. Green and white: little heat-qi. Black: much blood, little qi. Handsome brows: taiyang has much blood. Connecting whiskers and a full beard: shaoyang has much blood. A handsome beard: yangming has much blood. This is how it is in its time. A person's constant measure: taiyang is constantly much blood, little qi; shaoyang is constantly much qi, little blood; yangming is constantly much blood, much qi; jueyin is constantly much qi, little blood; shaoyin is constantly much qi, little blood; taiyin is constantly much blood, little qi. This is heaven's constant measure.

The line

Right zhi and lesser zhi: regulate the upper part of the right hand taiyang.

The note

Tone and flavor are two faces of one table with the twenty-five. To tune a tone is like tuning a flavor: put the person back into their own note.