Suwen · On the Qi Points

The text

The Yellow Emperor asked: I have heard there are three hundred sixty-five qi-points, answering to one year. I do not yet know their places. I wish to hear them through to the end. Qi Bo bowed his head, bowed again, and answered: How hard a question this is. Who but a sage emperor could press their Dao to its end? Let me then overflow my intent and speak their places through to the end. The Emperor folded his hands, drew back a little, and said: When you open the Dao for me — my eyes have not yet seen their places, my ears have not yet heard their numbers, and already the eyes are bright, the ears are keen. Qi Bo said: This is what is meant by: a sage is easy to speak with; a good horse is easy to drive. The Emperor said: I am not the sage who is easy to speak with. The world says the true numbers open a person's intent. What I now ask after are the true numbers — to lift the veil and untie confusion; they are not yet enough to discuss. Yet I wish to hear you overflow your will and speak their places through to the end, so that their intent may be untied. Let them be stored in the gold casket; I dare not bring them out again. Qi Bo bowed again, rose, and said: Let me speak of them. When the back and the heart pull each other and ache, treat heavenly-prominence, the tenth vertebra, and the upper mark. The upper mark is the stomach duct; the lower mark is the origin-pass. Pathogen in the back and chest ties yin and yang, left and right, thus. In illness: pain and roughness before and behind; the chest and flanks ache, one cannot breathe, cannot lie down; qi rises, breath is short, pain is on one side. The vessels fill and rise, running slantwise out the sacral vessel, networking the chest and flanks, propping the heart and piercing the diaphragm, rising over the shoulder and adding to heavenly-prominence, running slantwise down the shoulder and crossing below the tenth vertebra. The zang shu are fifty points; the fu shu are seventy-two points; the heat shu are fifty-nine points; the water shu are fifty-seven points. On the head, five lines, five on each line — five fives are twenty-five points. In the middle, five on each side — ten points in all. Above the great vertebra, one on each side — two points in all. The pupil and floating-white: two points. The division in the two thigh-depressions: two points. Calf-nose: two points. In the ear, much-that-is-heard: two points. The root of the brow: two points. The completed bone: two points. The center of the crown: one point. The occipital bone: two points. Upper-pass: two points. Great-welcome: two points. Lower-pass: two points. Heavenly-pillar: two points. The upper and lower edges of the great vacancy: four points. Curved-tooth: two points. Heavenly-prominence: one point. Heavenly-mansion: two points. Heavenly-window-side: two points. Supporting-prominence: two points. Heavenly-window: two points. The shoulder-joint: two points. Origin-pass: one point. Entrusting-yang: two points. Shoulder-true: two points. Mute-gate: one point. The navel: one point. The chest shu: twelve points. The back shu: two points. The breast shu: twelve points. The divided flesh: two points. The transverse above the ankle: two points. The yin and yang qiao: four points. The water shu lie in the various divisions; the heat shu lie in the qi-points; the cold-and-heat shu lie in the two bone-depressions: two points. The great prohibition is twenty-five, five cun below heavenly-mansion. In all, three hundred sixty-five points — these are the roads by which the needle travels. The Emperor said: I already know the places of the qi-points, the seats where the needle travels. I wish to hear of the minute collaterals and the ravines and valleys — do they also have what they answer to? Qi Bo said: The minute collaterals have three hundred sixty-five point-meetings, also answering to one year — to overflow strange pathogen, to open ying and wei. When ying and wei linger, wei scatters and ying overflows; qi is exhausted and blood clings; without, it becomes heat issuing; within, it becomes scant qi. Drain it at once without delay, so as to open ying and wei. See it and drain it; do not ask after the meeting. The Emperor said: Good. I wish to hear of the meetings of the ravines and valleys. Qi Bo said: The great meetings of the flesh are valleys; the small meetings of the flesh are ravines. Between the divisions of the flesh, the meetings of ravines and valleys: they travel ying and wei, they meet the great qi. When pathogen overflows and qi is blocked, the vessels are hot, the flesh fails, ying and wei do not travel — it must become pus, wasting the marrow within, breaking the great hollow of the knee without. If it stays at the joints and interstices, it must become ruin. When accumulated cold stays and lodges, ying and wei do not dwell; the flesh rolls and the sinews shrink; the ribs and elbows cannot stretch; within it becomes bone impediment; without it becomes numbness. It is named insufficiency — great cold staying in the ravines and valleys. The ravines and valleys have three hundred sixty-five point-meetings, also answering to one year. When small impediment seeps and overflows, traveling the vessels coming and going, what the fine needle reaches is the same as the method. The Emperor then dismissed those at his sides, rose, bowed again, and said: Today the veil is lifted and confusion is untied. Store it in the gold casket; I dare not bring it out again. Then store it in the Chamber of Gold and Orchid, and title it The Places of the Qi-Points. Qi Bo said: The vessels of the minute collaterals that leave the channels — those whose blood is abundant and should be drained — are also three hundred sixty-five vessels. They pour together into the collaterals, and pass and pour into the twelve collateral vessels — not only the fourteen collateral vessels. Those that inwardly unbind and drain in the center are ten vessels.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked: I have heard there are three hundred sixty-five qi-points, answering to one year. I do not yet know their places. I wish to hear them through to the end.

The note

Three hundred sixty-five points answer to one year. A point is not a part. It is where the year's beat falls on the body.