Lingshu · The Travel of Defensive Qi

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: I wish to hear the travel of wei qi, the meetings of going out and in. How is it? Qi Bo said: The year has twelve months; the day has twelve double-hours. Zi and wu are the warp; mao and you are the weft. Heaven's circuit is twenty-eight lodgings, and one face has seven stars; four sevens are twenty-eight stars. Fang and Mao are the weft; Xu and Zhang are the warp. Thus from Fang to Bi is yang; from Mao to Xin is yin. Yang governs day; yin governs night. Therefore the travel of wei qi: in one day and one night, fifty circuits of the body. By day it travels in yang twenty-five circuits; by night it travels in yin twenty-five circuits, circling the five zang. Thus at dawn yin is exhausted; yang qi goes out at the eyes. When the eyes open, qi rises to the head, follows the nape down the foot taiyang, follows the back down to the tip of the little toe. What scatters parts from the sharp corner of the eye, goes down the hand taiyang, down to the outer side between the little finger of the hand. What scatters parts from the sharp corner of the eye, goes down the foot shaoyang, pours between the little toe and the next, and upward follows the division of the hand shaoyang, sideways down to between the little finger; what parts rises to before the ear, joins the jaw vessel, pours into the foot yangming and travels downward, reaches the instep, and enters between the five toes. What scatters goes from below the ear down the hand yangming, enters between the thumb, and enters the palm. When it reaches the foot, it enters the heart of the foot, goes out at the inner ankle, travels downward in the yin division, and again joins at the eyes — thus one circuit. Thus when the sun travels one lodging, a person's qi travels one circuit and eight-tenths of the body. When the sun travels two lodgings, a person's qi travels three circuits of the body and six-tenths. When the sun travels three lodgings, a person's qi travels five circuits of the body and four-tenths. When the sun travels four lodgings, a person's qi travels seven circuits of the body and two-tenths. When the sun travels five lodgings, a person's qi travels nine circuits of the body. When the sun travels six lodgings, a person's qi travels ten circuits of the body and eight-tenths. When the sun travels seven lodgings, a person's qi travels twelve circuits in the body and six-tenths. When the sun travels fourteen lodgings, a person's qi has twenty-five circuits of the body, with an odd portion and two-tenths of the body; yang is exhausted into yin, and yin receives the qi. When it first enters yin, it always pours from the foot shaoyin into the kidney; the kidney pours into the heart; the heart pours into the lung; the lung pours into the liver; the liver pours into the spleen; the spleen again pours into the kidney — this is a circuit. Thus when night travels one lodging, a person's qi travels one circuit of the yin zang and eight-tenths of the zang — also like yang's travel of twenty-five circuits — and again joins at the eyes. Yin and yang in one day and one night together have an odd portion of four-tenths of the body, and two-tenths of the zang. Therefore the reason a person's times of lying down and rising are early or late is that the odd portion is not exhausted. The Yellow Emperor said: Wei qi in the body comes and goes above and below without a fixed time. To wait for qi and then needle it — how is that? Bo Gao said: The portions have more and less; the day has long and short. Spring, autumn, winter, summer each have their portioned order. Then always take dawn as the mark, and the end of night as the beginning. Thus in one day and one night the water goes down a hundred marks. Twenty-five marks is the measure of half a day. Always it is like this, without end. When the sun enters, stop. Follow the long and short of the day; each take that as the mark and needle. Carefully wait for the time, and the illness can be met as expected. Miss the time, go against the waiting, and the hundred illnesses are not treated. Therefore it is said: to needle the replete, needle its coming. To needle the vacant, needle its going. This speaks of the times when qi is present or gone, so as to wait upon vacancy and repletion and then needle. Therefore carefully wait where the qi is and then needle it — this is called meeting the time. If it is in the three yang, you must wait until the qi is in yang and then needle. If the illness is in the three yin, you must wait until the qi is in the yin division and then needle. When the water has gone down one mark, a person's qi is in taiyang. When the water has gone down two marks, a person's qi is in shaoyang. When the water has gone down three marks, a person's qi is in yangming. When the water has gone down four marks, a person's qi is in the yin division. When the water has gone down five marks, a person's qi is in taiyang. When the water has gone down six marks, a person's qi is in shaoyang. When the water has gone down seven marks, a person's qi is in yangming. When the water has gone down eight marks, a person's qi is in the yin division. When the water has gone down nine marks, a person's qi is in taiyang. When the water has gone down ten marks, a person's qi is in shaoyang. When the water has gone down eleven marks, a person's qi is in yangming. When the water has gone down twelve marks, a person's qi is in the yin division. When the water has gone down thirteen marks, a person's qi is in taiyang. When the water has gone down fourteen marks, a person's qi is in shaoyang. When the water has gone down fifteen marks, a person's qi is in yangming. When the water has gone down sixteen marks, a person's qi is in the yin division. When the water has gone down seventeen marks, a person's qi is in taiyang. When the water has gone down eighteen marks, a person's qi is in shaoyang. When the water has gone down nineteen marks, a person's qi is in yangming. When the water has gone down twenty marks, a person's qi is in the yin division. When the water has gone down twenty-one marks, a person's qi is in taiyang. When the water has gone down twenty-two marks, a person's qi is in shaoyang. When the water has gone down twenty-three marks, a person's qi is in yangming. When the water has gone down twenty-four marks, a person's qi is in the yin division. When the water has gone down twenty-five marks, a person's qi is in taiyang. This is the measure of half a day. From Fang to Bi, fourteen lodgings, the water goes down fifty marks; the sun travels half a measure. Returning through one lodging, the water goes down three marks and four-sevenths of a mark. The Great Essential says: always, when the sun is added upon a lodging, a person's qi is in taiyang. Thus when the sun travels one lodging, a person's qi travels the three yang and the yin division. Always it is like this, without end. Heaven and earth share the same mark, in dense succession, ending and beginning again. In one day and one night the water goes down a hundred marks and is exhausted.

The line

Qi Bo said: The year has twelve months; the day has twelve double-hours. Zi and wu are the warp; mao and you are the weft. Heaven's circuit is twenty-eight lodgings, and one face has seven stars; four sevens are twenty-eight stars. Fang and Mao are the weft; Xu and Zhang are the warp. Thus from Fang to Bi is yang; from Mao to Xin is yin. Yang governs day; yin governs night.

The note

Wei qi travels in yang by day, in yin by night. To wait for qi and then needle is to meet it as it passes. Miss the time, go against the waiting, and the hundred illnesses are not treated.