Suwen · On Wind

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked: When wind wounds a person, it may become cold and heat, or heat in the center, or cold in the center, or pestilential wind, or withering on one side, or simply wind. The illnesses differ, and the names are not the same; sometimes it reaches inward to the five zang and the six fu. I do not know how to unbind this. I wish to hear the account. Qi Bo answered: Wind-qi hides between the skin. Inward it cannot pass through; outward it cannot drain. Wind is good at traveling and changes often. When the interstices open, there is a sprinkling cold; when they close, there is heat and oppression. Its cold weakens food and drink; its heat melts the flesh. Thus it makes a person shudder and unable to eat. This is called cold and heat. When wind-qi enters the stomach with the Yangming, follows the vessel upward, and reaches the inner canthus of the eye: if the person is fat, the wind-qi cannot drain outward, and it becomes heat in the center, with yellow eyes; if the person is thin, it drains outward and there is cold, and it becomes cold in the center, with tears. When wind-qi enters together with the Taiyang, it travels the transport points of the vessels, scatters in the spaces where the flesh divides, and clashes with the wei qi. Its road is not free, so the flesh swells in anger and there are sores. Where the wei qi congeals and does not travel, the flesh there is without feeling. In pestilence, the ying qi is hot and the flesh rots; the qi is not clear, so the bridge of the nose is ruined and the color fails, and the skin breaks in sores. When wind and cold lodge in the vessels and do not leave, it is called pestilential wind, or it is called cold and heat. Those wounded by wind in spring on jia and yi days have liver wind. Those wounded by wind in summer on bing and ding days have heart wind. Those wounded by what is irregular in late summer on wu and ji days have spleen wind. Those struck by what is irregular in autumn on geng and xin days have lung wind. Those struck by what is irregular in winter on ren and gui days have kidney wind. When wind strikes the transport points of the five zang and six fu, it is also wind of the zang and fu. Each enters by its own gate. What is struck becomes one-sided wind. When wind-qi follows the Wind Mansion upward, it becomes brain wind. When wind enters the ties of the head, it becomes eye wind, the eyes cold. When one is struck by wind while drinking wine, it becomes leaking wind. When one is struck by wind after entering the chamber and sweating, it becomes inner wind. When one is struck by wind just after washing the hair, it becomes head wind. When wind stays long and enters the center, it becomes intestinal wind and undigested outflow. When it remains outside in the interstices, it becomes draining wind. Thus wind is the eldest of the hundred illnesses. When it changes, it becomes other illnesses. There is no constant pattern — yet what brings them is still wind-qi. The Emperor said: The forms of the five-zang winds are not the same. I wish to hear their examination and how the illnesses appear. Qi Bo said: The form of lung wind: much sweat, aversion to wind, the color pale white, at times cough and shortness of breath; by day it eases, at dusk it grows worse. The sign is above the brows; the color is white. The form of heart wind: much sweat, aversion to wind, scorched and cut off, given to anger and fright, a red color; when the illness is extreme, speech will not come quickly. The sign is at the mouth; the color is red. The form of liver wind: much sweat, aversion to wind, given to grief, the color faintly green; the throat is dry, given to anger; at times there is dislike of women. The sign is below the eyes; the color is green. The form of spleen wind: much sweat, aversion to wind, the body idle and heavy, the four limbs unwilling to move, the color thin and faintly yellow, no relish for food. The sign is on the nose; the color is yellow. The form of kidney wind: much sweat, aversion to wind, the face puffy and swollen, pain in the spine, unable to stand upright, the color withered, the hidden and bent functions not free. The sign is on the flesh; the color is black. The form of stomach wind: much sweat on the neck, aversion to wind, food and drink will not go down, the diaphragm blocked and not open, the abdomen given to fullness; if clothes are lost it swells; if cold food is eaten there is outflow. The sign is a thin form and a large abdomen. The form of head wind: much sweat on the head and face, aversion to wind. The day before the wind the illness is worse; the head hurts so that one cannot go out of doors. On the day of the wind itself, the illness eases a little. The form of leaking wind: sometimes much sweat; one often cannot wear a single layer; eating, sweat comes out; in the extreme the body sweats, there is panting, aversion to wind; the clothes are always damp; the mouth is dry, given to thirst; one cannot labor. The form of draining wind: much sweat; the sweat soaks the clothes; the mouth is dry; the wind soaks the upper body; one cannot labor; the whole body hurts, and then there is cold. The Emperor said: Good.

The line

Qi Bo answered: Wind-qi hides between the skin. Inward it cannot pass through; outward it cannot drain. Wind is good at traveling and changes often. When the interstices open, there is a sprinkling cold; when they close, there is heat and oppression. Its cold weakens food and drink; its heat melts the flesh. Thus it makes a person shudder and unable to eat. This is called cold and heat.

The note

Wind is good at traveling and changes often, so the appearances of illness come in a hundred shapes. The same gust leaves different names on different people. First know the wind; then know the name.