Suwen · Yin and Yang: Images and Correspondences

The text

The Yellow Emperor said: Yin and yang are the Dao of heaven and earth, the binding thread of the ten thousand things, the father and mother of change, the root-beginning of birth and killing, the mansion of spiritual brightness. To put illness in order one must seek the root. Thus accumulated yang becomes Heaven; accumulated yin becomes earth. Yin is still, yang is restless. Yang gives birth, yin lets grow; yang kills, yin stores. Yang transforms into qi; yin completes into form. Cold at its extreme gives birth to heat; heat at its extreme gives birth to cold. Cold qi gives birth to the turbid; heat qi gives birth to the clear. Clear qi below gives rise to undigested discharge; turbid qi above gives rise to distention. This is yin and yang acting in reverse — the against and the with of illness. Thus clear yang is Heaven, turbid yin is earth. Earth's qi rises and becomes cloud; Heaven's qi descends and becomes rain. Rain comes forth from earth's qi; cloud comes forth from Heaven's qi. Thus clear yang goes out by the upper orifices, turbid yin by the lower orifices; clear yang issues at the interstices, turbid yin travels to the five zang; clear yang fills the four limbs, turbid yin returns to the six fu. Water is yin, fire is yang; yang is qi, yin is flavor. Flavor returns to form, form returns to qi, qi returns to jing, jing returns to transformation. Jing feeds on qi; form feeds on flavor. Transformation gives birth to jing; qi gives birth to form. Flavor injures form; qi injures jing. Jing transforms into qi; qi is injured by flavor. Yin flavor goes out by the lower orifices; yang qi goes out by the upper orifices. Flavor that is thick is yin; flavor that is thin is yang within yin. Qi that is thick is yang; qi that is thin is yin within yang. Thick flavor drains; thin flavor opens. Thin qi vents; thick qi gives rise to heat. The qi of a strong fire declines; the qi of a small fire is robust. Strong fire eats qi; qi feeds on small fire. Strong fire scatters qi; small fire gives birth to qi. Of flavors and qi: the acrid and the sweet that disperse are yang; the sour and the bitter that surge and drain are yin. When yin prevails, yang is ill; when yang prevails, yin is ill. Yang prevailing is heat; yin prevailing is cold. Doubled cold becomes heat; doubled heat becomes cold. Cold injures the form; heat injures qi. Injury to qi is pain; injury to form is swelling. Thus pain first and swelling after: qi has injured the form. Swelling first and pain after: form has injured qi. Wind prevailing makes movement; heat prevailing makes swelling; dryness prevailing makes dryness; cold prevailing makes floating; dampness prevailing makes a moist discharge. Heaven has the four seasons and the five phases, by which there is birth, growth, gathering, and storage, and by which cold, summer-heat, dryness, damp, and wind are born. The person has the five zang, which transform the five qi, and by which joy, anger, grief, worry, and fear are born. Thus joy and anger injure qi; cold and summer-heat injure the form. Sudden anger injures yin; sudden joy injures yang. Reversal-qi travels upward, fills the vessels, and leaves the form. Joy and anger without measure, cold and summer-heat beyond their bound — then life is not firm. Therefore doubled yin must become yang; doubled yang must become yin. Thus it is said: harmed by cold in winter, there will be warm illness in spring; harmed by wind in spring, undigested discharge is born in summer; harmed by summer-heat in summer, there will be intermittent heat in autumn; harmed by damp in autumn, cough is born in winter. The Emperor said: I have heard that the sages of high antiquity set the human form in order, ranked the zang and fu apart, straightened the collaterals of the channels, joined and opened the six directions, each following its channel. The places where qi-points issue each have a name; the ravines and valleys that belong to bone each have a beginning. Division, going against and following, each has its order. The yin and yang of the four seasons all have their binding thread. The answering of outside and inside all has surface and interior. Is this truly so? Qi Bo answered: The east gives birth to wind; wind gives birth to wood; wood gives birth to the sour; the sour gives birth to the liver; the liver gives birth to the sinews; the sinews give birth to the heart; the liver governs the eyes. In Heaven it is the dark-mysterious; in the person it is the Dao; on earth it is transformation. Transformation gives birth to the five flavors; the Dao gives birth to wisdom; the dark-mysterious gives birth to spirit. Spirit in Heaven is wind, on earth is wood, in the body is sinew, in the zang is liver, in color is green-blue, in tone is jue, in voice is the cry, in change of movement is grasping, in orifice is the eyes, in flavor is the sour, in will is anger. Anger injures the liver; grief overcomes anger. Wind injures the sinews; dryness overcomes wind. The sour injures the sinews; the acrid overcomes the sour. The south gives birth to heat; heat gives birth to fire; fire gives birth to the bitter; the bitter gives birth to the heart; the heart gives birth to blood; blood gives birth to the spleen; the heart governs the tongue. In Heaven it is heat, on earth is fire, in the body is the vessel, in the zang is the heart, in color is red, in tone is zhi, in voice is laughter, in change of movement is worry, in orifice is the tongue, in flavor is the bitter, in will is joy. Joy injures the heart; fear overcomes joy. Heat injures qi; cold overcomes heat. The bitter injures qi; the salty overcomes the bitter. The center gives birth to damp; damp gives birth to earth; earth gives birth to the sweet; the sweet gives birth to the spleen; the spleen gives birth to flesh; flesh gives birth to the lung; the spleen governs the mouth. In Heaven it is damp, on earth is earth, in the body is flesh, in the zang is the spleen, in color is yellow, in tone is gong, in voice is song, in change of movement is retching, in orifice is the mouth, in flavor is the sweet, in will is thought. Thought injures the spleen; anger overcomes thought. Damp injures flesh; wind overcomes damp. The sweet injures flesh; the sour overcomes the sweet. The west gives birth to dryness; dryness gives birth to metal; metal gives birth to the acrid; the acrid gives birth to the lung; the lung gives birth to skin and hair; skin and hair give birth to the kidney; the lung governs the nose. In Heaven it is dryness, on earth is metal, in the body is skin and hair, in the zang is the lung, in color is white, in tone is shang, in voice is weeping, in change of movement is cough, in orifice is the nose, in flavor is the acrid, in will is worry. Worry injures the lung; joy overcomes worry. Heat injures skin and hair; cold overcomes heat. The acrid injures skin and hair; the bitter overcomes the acrid. The north gives birth to cold; cold gives birth to water; water gives birth to the salty; the salty gives birth to the kidney; the kidney gives birth to bone and marrow; marrow gives birth to the liver; the kidney governs the ears. In Heaven it is cold, on earth is water, in the body is bone, in the zang is the kidney, in color is black, in tone is yu, in voice is groaning, in change of movement is shivering, in orifice is the ears, in flavor is the salty, in will is fear. Fear injures the kidney; thought overcomes fear. Cold injures blood; dryness overcomes cold. The salty injures blood; the sweet overcomes the salty. Thus it is said: heaven and earth are the above and below of the ten thousand things; yin and yang are the man and woman of blood and qi; left and right are the roads of yin and yang; water and fire are the signs of yin and yang; yin and yang are the enabling beginning of the ten thousand things. Thus it is said: yin is within, the keeper of yang; yang is without, the envoy of yin. The Emperor said: How does one take yin and yang as pattern? Qi Bo said: When yang prevails the body is hot, the interstices close, the breath is coarse and one bends forward and back; there is heat without sweat, the teeth are dry, there is vexation and fullness of the belly — death; one can pass winter and cannot pass summer. When yin prevails the body is cold and sweats, the body is always cool, there is frequent shivering and cold; cold then becomes reversal; reversal then becomes fullness of the belly — death; one can pass summer and cannot pass winter. This is the change of yin and yang prevailing in turn — the form and capacity of illness. The Emperor said: How does one attune these two? Qi Bo said: If one can know the seven losses and the eight gains, the two can be attuned. Not to know how to use this is the measure of early decline. At forty, yin qi is already half gone of itself; rising and rest are in decline. At fifty, the body is heavy; ear and eye are no longer keen. At sixty, there is yin wilting, qi is greatly declined, the nine orifices are not free, below is vacant and above is replete, tears and snivel both come forth. Thus it is said: those who know this are strong; those who do not know it grow old. They come from the same source and differ only in name. The wise watch what is the same; the foolish watch what differs. The foolish are insufficient; the wise have a surplus. With a surplus, ear and eye are keen, the body is light and strong; the old become robust again, the robust grow still more ordered. Therefore the sage does the work of non-doing, takes joy in the capacity for quiet and plainness, follows desire and eases the will in the keeping of emptiness. Thus the years of life have no end, and finish with heaven and earth. This is how the sage puts the body in order. Heaven is insufficient in the northwest; therefore the northwest is yin, and a person's right ear and eye are not as keen as the left. Earth is not full in the southeast; therefore the southeast is yang, and a person's left hand and foot are not as strong as the right. The Emperor said: Why is this so? Qi Bo said: The east is yang. Yang gathers its jing above; gathered above, the above is bright and the below is vacant. Thus ear and eye are keen, and the hands and feet are not handy. The west is yin. Yin gathers its jing below; gathered below, the below is full and the above is vacant. Thus ear and eye are not keen, and the hands and feet are handy. Therefore when both meet pathogen, what is above is worse on the right, what is below is worse on the left. This is what the yin and yang of heaven and earth cannot make complete — and so pathogen dwells there. Thus Heaven has jing, earth has form; Heaven has eight markers, earth has five districts — therefore they can be the father and mother of the ten thousand things. Clear yang goes up to Heaven; turbid yin returns to earth. Therefore the stillness and movement of heaven and earth have spiritual brightness as their binding thread, and so they can birth, grow, gather, and store, ending and beginning again. Only the worthy person pairs the head with Heaven above, images the feet on earth below, and in the middle leans on human affairs to nourish the five zang. Heaven's qi communicates with the lung; earth's qi communicates with the throat; wind-qi communicates with the liver; thunder-qi communicates with the heart; valley-qi communicates with the spleen; rain-qi communicates with the kidney. The six channels are rivers; the intestines and stomach are a sea; the nine orifices are qi poured as water. Take heaven and earth as yin and yang: the sweat of yang is named by the rain of heaven and earth; the qi of yang is named by the swift wind of heaven and earth. Sudden qi is like thunder; reversal-qi is like yang. Therefore if treatment does not take Heaven's markers as law, and does not use earth's pattern, disaster arrives. Thus pathogenic wind arrives as swift as wind and rain. Those who are good at treatment treat the skin and hair; next, the flesh; next, the sinews and vessels; next, the six fu; next, the five zang. To treat the five zang is half death and half life. Pathogenic qi of Heaven, when it is met, harms the five zang of the person; cold and heat of water and grain, when they are met, harm the six fu; damp qi of earth, when it is met, harms skin, flesh, sinew, and vessel. Those who are good with the needle draw yang from yin, draw yin from yang; treat the left from the right, treat the right from the left; know the other from the self, know the interior from the surface; watch the pattern of excess and of not reaching; see the fine and obtain the excess — use this and there is no peril. Those who are good at examining look at color and press the pulse, and first distinguish yin and yang; they judge the clear and the turbid, and know the region; they watch the panting, listen to the voice, and know what is suffered; they watch the weights, the beam, the compass, and the square, and know what governs the illness. They press the chi and the cun, watch the floating and the sinking, the slippery and the rough, and know where the illness was born. Treat without excess; examine and you will not miss. Thus it is said: when illness first arises, the needle alone can end it; when it is at its height, wait for the decline and then end it. Because it is light, lift it; because it is heavy, lessen it; because it is in decline, make it manifest. When the form is insufficient, warm it with qi; when jing is insufficient, fill it with flavor. What is high, follow and send it over; what is below, draw and exhaust it; fullness in the center, drain it within. Where there is pathogen, soak the form to make sweat; what is in the skin, sweat and send it out; what is fierce and violent, press and gather it in; what is replete, scatter and drain it. Examine the yin and the yang, and distinguish the soft from the hard. Illness of yang: treat yin. Illness of yin: treat yang. Settle the blood and the qi; let each keep its place. When blood is replete it is fitting to open it; when qi is vacant it is fitting to pull and draw it.

The line

The Yellow Emperor said: Yin and yang are the Dao of heaven and earth, the binding thread of the ten thousand things, the father and mother of change, the root-beginning of birth and killing, the mansion of spiritual brightness. To put illness in order one must seek the root.

The note

Yin and yang are not labels. They are how the ten thousand things turn over and give birth to one another. To put illness in order one must seek the root — and the root is this pair in motion, not a list of signs.