Suwen · True Words of the Golden Casket

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked: Heaven has eight winds, the channels have five winds. What does this mean? Qi Bo answered: The eight winds send out pathogen; they become channel-winds, touch the five zang, and pathogenic qi gives rise to illness. What is called obtaining the conquest of the four seasons: spring conquers late summer, late summer conquers winter, winter conquers summer, summer conquers autumn, autumn conquers spring. This is the conquest of the four seasons. East wind is born in spring; illness is in the liver; the transport is at the neck. South wind is born in summer; illness is in the heart; the transport is at the chest and flanks. West wind is born in autumn; illness is in the lung; the transport is at the shoulder and back. North wind is born in winter; illness is in the kidney; the transport is at the waist and thigh. The center is earth; illness is in the spleen; the transport is at the spine. Thus spring qi: illness in the head. Summer qi: illness in the zang. Autumn qi: illness in the shoulder and back. Winter qi: illness in the four limbs. Thus spring is given to snivel and nosebleed; midsummer is given to illness of chest and flanks; late summer is given to pouring discharge and cold in the center; autumn is given to wind-intermittent-heat; winter is given to impediment and reversal. Thus if in winter one does not press and stretch, in spring there is no snivel and nosebleed; if in spring the neck is not ill, in midsummer chest and flanks are not ill; if in late summer there is no pouring discharge and cold in the center, in autumn there is no wind-intermittent-heat; if in winter there is no impediment and reversal, there is also no undigested discharge with sweating. Jing is the root of the body. Those who store jing do not have warm illness in spring. Those who in summer-heat do not sweat form wind-intermittent-heat in autumn. This is the pulse method of the balanced person. Thus it is said: within yin there is yin; within yang there is yang. From dawn to midday: Heaven's yang, yang within yang. From midday to dusk: Heaven's yang, yin within yang. From nightfall to the cockcrow: Heaven's yin, yin within yin. From cockcrow to dawn: Heaven's yin, yang within yin. The person answers this as well. Speaking of a person's yin and yang: the outside is yang, the inside is yin. Speaking of yin and yang in the person's body: the back is yang, the belly is yin. Speaking of yin and yang among the zang and fu of the person's body: what stores is yin, what is a fu is yang. Liver, heart, spleen, lung, kidney — the five zang are all yin. Gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, bladder, sanjiao — the six fu are all yang. Why does one wish to know yin within yin, yang within yang? Because winter illness is in yin, summer illness is in yang; spring illness is in yin, autumn illness is in yang. In each case look at where it is, and from that apply needle and stone. The back is yang; yang within yang is the heart. The back is yang; yin within yang is the lung. The belly is yin; yin within yin is the kidney. The belly is yin; yang within yin is the liver. The belly is yin; the utmost yin within yin is the spleen. These are all yin and yang, surface and interior, inside and outside, female and male, answering one another by transport. Thus they answer the yin and yang of Heaven. The Emperor said: The five zang answer the four seasons. Does each have what it receives? Qi Bo said: They do. The east is the color green-blue. It enters and communicates with the liver, opens its orifice at the eyes, stores jing in the liver. Its illness arises as startle. Its flavor is sour, its class is plants and trees, its livestock is the chicken, its grain is wheat. In answering the four seasons it is, above, the Year Star. Thus spring qi is in the head. Its tone is jue, its number is eight. Thus one knows the illness is in the sinews. Its odor is rank. The south is the color red. It enters and communicates with the heart, opens its orifice at the ears, stores jing in the heart. Thus illness is in the five zang. Its flavor is bitter, its class is fire, its livestock is the sheep, its grain is millet. In answering the four seasons it is, above, the Sparkling Star. Thus one knows the illness is in the vessels. Its tone is zhi, its number is seven. Its odor is scorched. The center is the color yellow. It enters and communicates with the spleen, opens its orifice at the mouth, stores jing in the spleen. Thus illness is at the root of the tongue. Its flavor is sweet, its class is earth, its livestock is the ox, its grain is panicled millet. In answering the four seasons it is, above, the Quelling Star. Thus one knows the illness is in the flesh. Its tone is gong, its number is five. Its odor is fragrant. The west is the color white. It enters and communicates with the lung, opens its orifice at the nose, stores jing in the lung. Thus illness is in the back. Its flavor is acrid, its class is metal, its livestock is the horse, its grain is rice. In answering the four seasons it is, above, the Great White Star. Thus one knows the illness is in the skin and hair. Its tone is shang, its number is nine. Its odor is fishy. The north is the color black. It enters and communicates with the kidney, opens its orifice at the two yin, stores jing in the kidney. Thus illness is in the ravines. Its flavor is salty, its class is water, its livestock is the pig, its grain is beans. In answering the four seasons it is, above, the Chronogram Star. Thus one knows the illness is in the bone. Its tone is yu, its number is six. Its odor is rotten. Therefore those who are good with the pulse carefully examine the five zang and six fu, one going against and one following, yin and yang, surface and interior, the mark of female and male. They store this in the heart's intention, join the heart to jing. Do not teach one who is not the person; do not confer what is not the true. This is called obtaining the Dao.

The line

Jing is the root of the body.

The note

The eight winds are not weather news. They ask: where do you store the jing. Those who store jing do not have warm illness in spring. First hold the root; then speak of the four seasons.