Lingshu · Communicating with Heaven

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Shao Shi: I have heard that persons have yin and yang. What is meant by a yin person, what by a yang person? Shao Shi said: Between heaven and earth, within the six directions, nothing departs from five. The person also answers this. It is not merely one yin and one yang — and that is only speaking in outline; the mouth cannot make it fully clear. The Yellow Emperor said: I wish to hear the meaning in outline. There are worthies and sages — can the heart be complete and practice it? Shao Shi said: There are the taiyin person, the shaoyin person, the taiyang person, the shaoyang person, and the person in whom yin and yang are at peace. These five persons have unlike bearing; their sinews and bones, blood and qi, are each unequal. The Yellow Emperor said: Their inequality — may it be heard? Shao Shi said: The taiyin person is greedy and without fellow-feeling, humble and deep and still, fond of taking in and averse to giving out. The heart is mild and does not issue. They do not attend to the season; they move only after others. This is the taiyin person. The shaoyin person is petty in greed and has a thief's heart. Seeing another suffer loss, they always seem to have gained. They are fond of injuring, fond of harming. Seeing another honored, they turn instead to resentment. The heart is jealous and without kindness. This is the shaoyin person. The taiyang person dwells at ease and pleased, is fond of speaking of great affairs, without ability and empty of talk; the will issues to the four wilds. In action they do not regard right and wrong; in doing things they are as usual self-willed; though the affair fails, they are often without regret. This is the taiyang person. The shaoyang person is careful and fond of self-honor. Holding a small office, they raise themselves as if it were fitting. They are fond of outer alliances and do not attach within. This is the shaoyang person. The person in whom yin and yang are at peace dwells quietly. They do not act from fear, do not act from delight. Gently they follow things; they may give and do not contend; they change with the time. In honor they are humble; they speak and do not rule. This is called the utmost government. The ancients who were good at using needle and moxa looked at the five bearings of a person and then treated: the abundant they drained, the vacant they supplemented. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one treat the five bearings of persons? Shao Shi said: The taiyin person has much yin and no yang. The yin blood is turbid; the wei qi is astringent; yin and yang are not in accord; the sinews are slack and the skin is thick. If you do not drain it swiftly, you cannot shift it. The shaoyin person has much yin and little yang, a small stomach and a large intestine; the six fu are not attuned; the yangming vessel is small and the taiyang vessel is large. You must examine and attune them. Their blood is easily lost; their qi is easily ruined. The taiyang person has much yang and little yin. You must attune them carefully: do not let the yin be lost while draining the yang. If yang is heavily lost, they easily go mad; if both yin and yang are lost, they die suddenly and do not know people. The shaoyang person has much yang and little yin; the channels are small and the networks large; blood is in the center and qi is without. Make yin replete and yang vacant; drain only the network vessels, and strong qi is lost swiftly; the center qi is insufficient, and the illness will not rise. In the person in whom yin and yang are at peace, the qi of yin and yang is in accord and the blood vessels are attuned. Carefully examine their yin and yang; look at the pathogen and the true; settle the countenance; examine surplus and insufficiency. If abundant, drain it; if vacant, supplement it; if neither abundant nor vacant, take it from the channel. This is how one attunes yin and yang and distinguishes the persons of the five bearings. The Yellow Emperor said: As for the persons of the five bearings, they have no former acquaintance; suddenly they newly meet, and one does not yet know their conduct. How does one distinguish them? Shao Shi answered: The common run of people are not like the persons of the five bearings. Therefore there are five times five, twenty-five persons — and the persons of the five bearings are not among them. The persons of the five bearings are especially not in accord with the many. The Yellow Emperor said: How does one distinguish the persons of the five bearings? Shao Shi said: The taiyin person has a look that is dark and black, the mind bent downward, tall as if looming, the hollows of the knees as if not yet bowed. This is the taiyin person. The shaoyin person has a look that is clear and stealthy, already set in yin-thieving; they stand restless and sharp, and walk as if crouched. This is the shaoyin person. The taiyang person has a look that is lofty and puffed; they throw the body back and fold the hollows of the knees. This is the taiyang person. The shaoyang person, standing, is fond of looking up; walking, is fond of swaying; the two arms and two elbows often go out behind the back. This is the shaoyang person. The person in whom yin and yang are at peace has a look that is easy, that follows, that is dignified, that is pleasant, that is fair, that is settled. Everyone says: a person of worth. This is the person in whom yin and yang are at peace.

The line

Shao Shi said: Between heaven and earth, within the six directions, nothing departs from five. The person also answers this. It is not merely one yin and one yang — and that is only speaking in outline; the mouth cannot make it fully clear.

The note

The five persons of yin and yang: taiyin, shaoyin, taiyang, shaoyang, and the one in whom yin and yang are at peace. Communicating with heaven: a person's temperament is also a kind of heaven.