Suwen · How the Five Zang Are Formed

The text

The pairing of the heart is the vessels; its flourish is color; its governor is the kidney. The pairing of the lung is the skin; its flourish is the hair; its governor is the heart. The pairing of the liver is the sinews; its flourish is the nails; its governor is the lung. The pairing of the spleen is the flesh; its flourish is the lips; its governor is the liver. The pairing of the kidney is the bone; its flourish is the hair of the head; its governor is the spleen. Thus eating much of the salty makes the vessels congeal and weep, and the color change; eating much of the bitter makes the skin wither and the hair pull out; eating much of the acrid makes the sinews taut and the nails dry; eating much of the sour makes the flesh calloused and thick, and the lips peel; eating much of the sweet makes the bones ache and the hair fall — this is how the five flavors injure. Thus the heart desires the bitter, the lung the acrid, the liver the sour, the spleen the sweet, the kidney the salty — this is how the five flavors pair. The qi of the five zang. Thus if color appears green-blue like rotting grass, death; yellow like the bitter-orange fruit, death; black like soot, death; red like spoiled blood, death; white like dry bone, death — these are the five colors appearing as death. Green-blue like a kingfisher's feather, life; red like a rooster's comb, life; yellow like a crab's belly, life; white like hog's lard, life; black like a crow's feather, life — these are the five colors appearing as life. Born of the heart: as if raw silk wrapped vermilion. Born of the lung: as if raw silk wrapped pink. Born of the liver: as if raw silk wrapped deep blue. Born of the spleen: as if raw silk wrapped a trichosanthes fruit. Born of the kidney: as if raw silk wrapped purple. These are the outer flourishes to which the five zang give birth. Color and flavor answer the five zang: white answers the lung, the acrid; red answers the heart, the bitter; green-blue answers the liver, the sour; yellow answers the spleen, the sweet; black answers the kidney, the salty. Thus white answers the skin, red the vessels, green-blue the sinews, yellow the flesh, black the bone. All the vessels belong to the eyes; all the marrow belongs to the brain; all the sinews belong to the joints; all the blood belongs to the heart; all the qi belongs to the lung. This is the morning and evening of the four limbs and the eight ravines. Thus when a person lies down, blood returns to the liver. The liver receives blood and can see; the feet receive blood and can walk; the palms receive blood and can grasp; the fingers receive blood and can pinch. If one lies down, then goes out, and wind blows, blood congealed in the skin is impediment; congealed in the vessels it is weeping-stoppage; congealed in the feet it is reversal. These three: blood travels and cannot return to its hollows — therefore they become impediment and reversal. The person has twelve divisions of the great valleys, and three hundred and fifty-four names of the small ravines, less the twelve transport points. These are all places where wei qi lingers, and where pathogenic qi is a guest. Needle and stone follow and send it away. At the beginning of examining illness, the five decisions are the binding thread. If you wish to know the beginning, first establish the mother. What are called the five decisions are the five pulses. Thus headache and illness at the crown, vacant below and replete above: the excess is in foot-shaoyin; if great yang is extreme, it enters the kidney. Dimness as if following, swaying of the head, darkening of the eyes, deafness of the ears, replete below and vacant above: the excess is in foot-shaoyang; if jueyin is extreme, it enters the liver. Fullness of the belly and pouring distention, propping of the diaphragm and swelling of the flanks, reversal below and covering above: the excess is in foot-taiyin and yangming. Cough and qi rising, reversal in the chest: the excess is in hand-yangming and taiyin. Vexation of the heart and headache, illness in the diaphragm: the excess is in hand-great-yang and shaoyin. The pulse — small or large, slippery or rough, floating or sinking — can be distinguished by the finger. The images of the five zang can be inferred by kind. The answering tones of the five zang can be known by the mind. The fine examination of the five colors can be watched by the eye. If one can join pulse and color, one can be complete in ten thousand cases. When a red pulse arrives panting and firm, the examination says: there is accumulated qi in the center, at times harming food — this is named heart impediment. It is obtained from an outer illness; thought and worry have made the heart vacant, and so pathogen follows. When a white pulse arrives panting and floating, vacant above and replete below, there is startle; there is accumulated qi in the chest, panting and vacant — this is named lung impediment with cold and heat. It is obtained from drunkenness and then entering the chamber. When a green-blue pulse arrives long and springing to left and right, there is accumulated qi below the heart, propping the flanks — this is named liver impediment. It is obtained from cold and damp, by the same method as shan: lumbar pain, cold feet, headache. When a yellow pulse arrives large and vacant, there is accumulated qi in the belly, and reversal-qi — this is named reversal-shan. In a woman it is the same method. It is obtained from driving the four limbs in haste, sweating and facing the wind. When a black pulse arrives firm above and large, there is accumulated qi in the lower belly and the yin — this is named kidney impediment. It is obtained from bathing in cold clear water and then lying down. In all comparing of the strange pulses of the five colors: a yellow face and green-blue eyes, a yellow face and red eyes, a yellow face and white eyes, a yellow face and black eyes — none of these is death. A green-blue face and red eyes, a red face and white eyes, a green-blue face and black eyes, a black face and white eyes, a red face and green-blue eyes — all of these are death.

The line

The pulse — small or large, slippery or rough, floating or sinking — can be distinguished by the finger. The images of the five zang can be inferred by kind. The answering tones of the five zang can be known by the mind. The fine examination of the five colors can be watched by the eye.

The note

Pairing, flourish, governor: each zang comes into being inside a relation. To look at color, to look at the pulse, is to see what it gives birth with and what it overcomes. A zang standing alone does not exist in the Neijing.