Lingshu · The Root in the Spirit

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: In all the method of piercing, one must first take the root in the spirit. Blood, vessels, ying, qi, jing, and spirit — these are what the five zang store. When they overflow and leave the zang, jing is lost, hun and po fly and scatter, will and intent are dazed and disordered, wisdom and thought leave the body — by what cause is this so? Is it Heaven's blame, or a person's fault? What is meant by virtue and qi giving birth to jing, spirit, hun, po, heart, will, intent, thought, wisdom, and consideration? I ask to hear the reason. Qi Bo answered: What Heaven has in us is virtue; what earth has in us is qi. Virtue flows, qi presses close, and there is birth. Therefore what comes of birth is called jing. Two jing contending with one another is called spirit. What comes and goes following the spirit is called hun. What goes out and comes in together with jing is called po. That by which one takes on things is called the heart. When the heart has something it remembers, it is called intent. Where intent is stored is called will. By will one stores change — this is called thought. By thought one longs afar — this is called consideration. By consideration one puts things in their place — this is called wisdom. Therefore those who are wise in nourishing life must follow the four seasons and fit themselves to cold and heat, attune joy and anger and rest at ease in dwelling, measure yin and yang and attune the hard and the soft. In this way stray pathogen does not arrive, and there is long life and lasting sight. Thus those who startle and consider wound the spirit; if the spirit is wounded there is fear, and overflow that will not stop. Those in whom grief and sorrow move the center are exhausted, cut off, and lose life. Those of joy and pleasure: the spirit is startled and scatters and is not stored. Those of grief and worry: qi closes and is cold and will not travel. Those of abundant anger: they are confused and not in order. Those of fear: the spirit is shaken and startled and will not gather. If the heart startles and considers, it wounds the spirit; if the spirit is wounded there is fear and one loses oneself; the ridges break and the flesh slips away; the hair is withered, the color blighted — death in winter. If the spleen worries and grieves and does not undo it, it wounds intent; if intent is wounded there is oppression and disorder; the four limbs will not lift; the hair is withered, the color blighted — death in spring. If the liver is moved in the center by grief and sorrow, it wounds the hun; if the hun is wounded there is mania and forgetting, and jing is not refined. If jing is not refined, one is not upright; the person's yin shrinks and the sinews cramp; the two flank-bones will not lift; the hair is withered, the color blighted — death in autumn. If the lung has joy and pleasure without bound, it wounds the po; if the po is wounded there is mania; those who are manic have no intent that remains with others; the skin and leather are scorched; the hair is withered, the color blighted — death in summer. If the kidney has abundant anger that will not stop, it wounds the will; if the will is wounded there is a tendency to forget what was said before; the lumbar and spine cannot bow, look up, flex, or extend; the hair is withered, the color blighted — death in late summer. If fear will not undo, it wounds jing; if jing is wounded the bones ache, there is wilting and reversal, and jing at times goes down of itself. Therefore the five zang are what govern the storing of jing; they cannot be wounded. If wounded, they lose their keeping and yin is vacant; if yin is vacant there is no qi; if there is no qi, there is death. Therefore those who use the needle look at the bearing of the one who is ill, to know whether jing, spirit, hun, and po remain or are gone, the intent of obtaining and losing. If the five are wounded, the needle cannot put them in order. The liver stores blood; blood lodges the hun. If liver qi is vacant there is fear; if replete, anger. The spleen stores ying; ying lodges intent. If spleen qi is vacant the four limbs are of no use, the five zang are not at rest; if replete, the belly swells, and the channels and the urine and stool are not free. The heart stores the vessels; the vessels lodge the spirit. If heart qi is vacant there is grief; if replete, laughter that will not rest. The lung stores qi; qi lodges the po. If lung qi is vacant the nose is blocked and not free, there is little qi; if replete, there is panting and gasping, the chest full, breathing with the face lifted. The kidney stores jing; jing lodges the will. If kidney qi is vacant there is reversal; if replete, distention, and the five zang are not at rest. One must examine the forms of illness of the five zang, to know the vacant and replete of their qi, and carefully attune them.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: In all the method of piercing, one must first take the root in the spirit. Blood, vessels, ying, qi, jing, and spirit — these are what the five zang store. When they overflow and leave the zang, jing is lost, hun and po fly and scatter, will and intent are dazed and disordered, wisdom and thought leave the body — by what cause is this so? Is it Heaven's blame, or a person's fault?

The note

In all piercing, first take the root in the spirit. Blood, vessels, ying, qi, jing, and spirit: what the five zang store. Once the spirit has left, the needle is only metal.