Lingshu · Grief and Rage, and No Voice

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Shao Shi: When a person is suddenly seized by grief and rage, and speech has no sound — which road is blocked, which qi goes out, that the voice does not show? I wish to hear its ways. Shao Shi answered: The throat is the road of water and grain. The windpipe is that by which qi goes up and down. The meeting-lid is the door of the voice. The lips are the fans of the voice. The tongue is the trigger of the voice. The hanging-bell is the pass of the voice. The upper gorge is where the divided qi is released. The transverse bone is what the spirit-qi employs to govern the issuing of the tongue. Thus when a person's nose-caves let tears run and will not gather them, the upper gorge has not opened, and the divided qi is lost. Therefore if the lid is small and thin, qi is issued quickly; its opening and closing are easy, and the outgoing qi is facile. If the lid is large and thick, opening and closing are hard, and qi goes out late — hence repeated speech. When a person suddenly has no voice, cold qi has lodged in the lid; then the lid cannot issue, and issuing cannot reach downward; its opening and closing are not brought to completion, and so there is no voice. The Yellow Emperor said: How is it needled? Qi Bo said: The shaoyin of the foot joins above to the tongue, networks the transverse bone, and ends at the meeting-lid. Drain both its blood vessels; the turbid qi then yields. The vessel of the meeting-lid networks above with the conception vessel. Take it at Tiantu, and the lid will then issue.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Shao Shi: When a person is suddenly seized by grief and rage, and speech has no sound — which road is blocked, which qi goes out, that the voice does not show? I wish to hear its ways.

The note

Grief and rage, and the voice not showing — the road of qi has closed. Having no speech is sometimes not having nothing to say; it is that this stretch of the throat does not, for a while, belong to you.