Suwen · On Needling Methods (later supplement)

The text

This chapter was already lost in Wang Bing's 762 recension. It is not his main text. What follows is a later supplement (yipian), given so the received count of eighty-one chapters is kept. The Yellow Emperor asked: When ascent and descent will not go forward, and the crossing of qi has a change, sudden pent is formed — this I already know. How does one prepare to save the living, and turn it back? Qi Bo bowed his head, bowed again, and answered: How bright a question. I have heard the Master say: once Heaven's origin is clear, one must press needling to its end. Then one can break the pent and support the running, fill what is weak and keep the true intact, drain what is full and send away the surplus — and so lift this suffering. The Emperor said: I wish to hear it through to the end. Qi Bo said: When ascent will not go forward, there is a term of disaster. Wood would rise, and Heaven's Pillar blocks and presses it. Wood would break the pent — it too must wait its hour. Needle the well of foot jueyin. Fire would rise, and Heaven's Canopy blocks and presses it. Fire would break the pent — it too must wait its hour. Sovereign fire and ministerial fire alike: needle the ying of the pericardium network. Soil would rise, and Heaven's Rush blocks and presses it. Soil would break the pent — it too must wait its hour. Needle the transport of foot taiyin. Metal would rise, and Heaven's Bloom blocks and presses it. Metal would break the pent — it too must wait its hour. Needle the channel-point of hand taiyin. Water would rise, and Heaven's Rue blocks and presses it. Water would break the pent — it too must wait its hour. Needle the uniting of foot shaoyin. The Emperor said: When ascent will not go forward, one can prepare in advance. I wish to hear of descent — can one guard against it first? Qi Bo said: Once ascent is clear, descent must be reached as well. The Dao of ascent and descent can both be put in order first. Wood would descend, and Earth's Crystal blocks and presses it. It descends and does not enter; pressed, the pent breaks out. Scatter it, and it can obtain its place. Descent that turns to a breaking of the pent is sudden, like Heaven's interval waiting its hour. If it descends and will not go down, the pent can be swift. Descent can break what already dominates. Needle where hand taiyin issues; needle where hand yangming enters. Fire would descend, and Earth's Dark blocks and presses it. It descends and does not enter; pressed, the pent breaks out. Scatter it, and it is enough. Break what already dominates, and the pent can be scattered. Needle where foot shaoyin issues; needle where foot taiyang enters. Soil would descend, and Earth's Green blocks and presses it. It descends and will not go down; pressed, the pent breaks out. Scatter it, and it can enter. Break what dominates, and the pent can be scattered. Needle where foot jueyin issues; needle where foot shaoyang enters. Metal would descend, and Earth's Vermilion blocks and presses it. It descends and will not go down; pressed, the pent breaks out. Scatter it, and it can enter. Break what dominates, and the pent can be scattered. Needle where the pericardium network issues; check where hand shaoyang enters. Water would descend, and Earth's Mound blocks and presses it. It descends and will not go down; pressed, the pent breaks out. Scatter it, and it can enter. Break the soil, and the pent can be scattered. Needle where foot taiyin issues; needle where foot yangming enters. The Emperor said: The five movements arrive early or late; they rise and descend, come and go; there is receiving and there is pressing. May I hear the method of needling? Qi Bo said: Take the source of their transformation. Therefore, when there is going too far, take from it; when there is falling short, supply it. Going too far: take from it, then next press the pent, and take the source of that movement's transformation, so as to break the pent qi. Falling short: support and supply, so as to support the movement-qi and keep the vacant stray away. The method of supplying and taking is set forth in the Secret Sayings. The Yellow Emperor asked: Needling of ascent and descent — I know its essential. I wish to hear of the one who governs Heaven and has not yet moved into the proper seat, so that what should govern transformation loses its constant government, and the ten thousand transformations go all amiss, and become illness among the people. Can this be sent away first? I wish to help the living. I wish to hear the saying. Qi Bo bowed his head, bowed again, and said: How complete a question. You speak of the utmost pattern; a sage mind, kind and pitying, wishes to help the living. Let me set this Dao forth in full, and open what is fine and deep. When Taiyang is spread again, jueyin does not move into the proper seat. Not moving in, qi is blocked and stops. Drain where foot jueyin flows. When Jueyin is spread again, shaoyin does not move into the proper seat. Not moving in, qi is blocked above. Needle where the pericardium network flows. When Shaoyin is spread again, taiyin does not move into the proper seat. Not moving in, qi lingers above. Needle where foot taiyin flows. When Taiyin is spread again, shaoyang does not move into the proper seat. Not moving in, qi is blocked and not open. Needle where hand shaoyang flows. When Shaoyang is spread again, yangming does not move into the proper seat. Not moving in, qi has not opened above. Needle where hand taiyin flows. When Yangming is spread again, taiyang should move into the proper seat. Not moving in, it blocks the qi again. Needle where foot shaoyin flows. The Emperor said: Not moving into the proper seat — I have passed through the essential. I wish to hear of not withdrawing: I would break the surplus, and not let it go too far. Can this be made clear? Qi Bo said: When qi has gone past and has surplus, it spreads the government again — this is named not withdrawing from the seat. Earth's qi then cannot transform after it; the new one who should govern Heaven cannot yet move into the proper seat; therefore it spreads transformation again, and the command is as before. In years of Si and Hai, Heaven's days have surplus; therefore jueyin does not withdraw. Wind travels above; wood transformation is spread through Heaven. Needle where foot jueyin enters. In years of Zi and Wu, Heaven's days have surplus; therefore shaoyin does not withdraw. Heat travels above; leftover fire-transformation is spread through Heaven. Needle where hand jueyin enters. In years of Chou and Wei, Heaven's days have surplus; therefore taiyin does not withdraw. Damp travels above; rain-transformation is spread through Heaven. Needle where foot taiyin enters. In years of Yin and Shen, Heaven's days have surplus; therefore shaoyang does not withdraw. Heat travels above; fire-transformation is spread through Heaven. Needle where hand shaoyang enters. In years of Mao and You, Heaven's days have surplus; therefore yangming does not withdraw. Metal travels above; dryness-transformation is spread through Heaven. Needle where hand taiyin enters. In years of Chen and Xu, Heaven's days have surplus; therefore taiyang does not withdraw. Cold travels above; bleak water-transformation is spread through Heaven. Needle where foot shaoyin enters. Thus when Heaven's qi and Earth's qi go against, they transform into illness among the people. Needle by the method, and illness can be leveled in advance. The Yellow Emperor asked: The hard and the soft stems lose their posts — does this make the qi of Heaven's movement vacant in all? It becomes illness among the people. Can it be leveled? Qi Bo said: How deep a question. Make its hidden aim clear. Heaven and Earth shift in turn; in three years it transforms into epidemic. This is called the root made visible — there must be a door of escape. Suppose a Jia-Zi year, and the hard and the soft lose the post: the hard has not yet sat upright; the soft is alone and has a lack. The sequence of the seasons does not issue its command; the pitch-pipes do not follow. After three such years, it becomes a great epidemic. Watch whether it is slight or extreme; examine whether it is shallow or deep. When it is about to arrive, it can be needled. Needle first by filling the kidney transports; after three days, needle where foot taiyin pours. There is also the case of the lower seat Yi-Mao not arriving, and Jia-Zi standing alone: after three years it becomes a soil pestilence. The method of filling and draining is the same as for Jia-Zi. When the needling is finished, one must not walk at night or walk far. Keep seven days clean; be still and keep a fast. What is to come will come of itself. Those with long pain in the kidney may, at the yin hour, face south, still the spirit and not disorder thought, close the breath without letting it out seven times, draw the neck and swallow qi as if swallowing something very hard. After seven such times, take the saliva under the tongue without counting. Suppose a Bing-Yin year, and the hard and the soft lose the post: the hard stem above loses the post; the soft below cannot govern alone. The water movement in the middle is not going too far — one cannot set it by a fixed rule. What is spread through Heaven has surplus, yet the upper seat is lost. Heaven and Earth do not join; the pitch-pipes differ in tone. Then Heaven's movement loses its sequence, and after three years it becomes epidemic. Watch whether it is slight or extreme; the discrepancy has the large and the small. If it comes slowly, it is after three years; if it comes extreme, it is within the first three years. First fill the heart transports; after five days, needle where the kidney enters. There is also the lower earthly Jia-Zi Xin-Si, the soft not attaching to the hard — this too is named losing the post. Then Earth's movement is vacant in all, and after three years it becomes a water pestilence. The method of needling is the same. When the needling is finished, beware great joy and desire held within. If you do not keep this, the qi scatters again. Keep still seven days. The heart would be made full: let thought be few. Suppose a Geng-Chen year, and the hard and the soft lose the post: the upper seat loses the post; the lower seat has nothing to join. Yi and Geng are the metal movement; therefore they do not call to each other. What is spread through Heaven has not withdrawn; the middle movement comes dominating. Above and below are awry — this is called losing the post. Guxian and Linzhong: the shang tone does not answer. Then Heaven's movement changes its transformation, and in three years it becomes a great epidemic. Watch Heaven's days; the discrepancy has the slight and the extreme. If slight, it is slight, and arrives in three years; if extreme, it is extreme, and arrives in three years. First fill the liver transports; after three days, needle where the lung travels. When the needling is finished, still the spirit seven days. Beware great anger; anger will scatter the true qi again. Or if the lower earthly Jia-Zi Yi-Wei loses the post: Yi is the soft stem, and Geng above governs alone — this too is named losing the post. Heaven's movement then governs in isolation; in three years it becomes pestilence, named metal pestilence. It arrives waiting its hour. Watch the ranks of Earth's numbers; from this one can push the slight and the extreme, and know the slow and the swift. All seats of Yi and Geng losing the post: the method of needling is the same. The liver would be made level: do not be angry. Suppose a Ren-Wu year, and the hard and the soft lose the post: Ren above has not yet drawn near the proper seat; Ding below stands alone. Though it is a yang year, the lack is not the same. Above and below lose the post; they call to each other and have a term. The discrepancy, slight or extreme, each has its number. The two jiao of the pitch-pipes are lost and not in harmony. When the tones share a day, the slight and the extreme can be seen. In three years, a great epidemic. Needle the transports of the spleen; after three days, needle where the liver issues. When the needling is finished, still the spirit seven days. Do not be greatly drunk, and do not sing and make music — the qi would scatter again. Do not eat to fullness; do not eat raw things. The spleen would be made full: let qi not stagnate in satiety; do not sit long; do not eat what is too sour; eat no raw things at all. Sweet and bland are fitting. Or if the lower earthly Jia-Zi Ding-You loses its seat and has not obtained the middle office, qi is not in its place, and below does not join in offering with Ren — this too is named losing the post, not named joined virtue. The soft does not attach to the hard; Earth's movement does not join. In three years it becomes pestilence. The method of needling is the same as for wood epidemic. Suppose a Wu-Shen year, and the hard and the soft lose the post: Wu and Gui are the fire movement, yet a yang year does not go too far. Above loses the hard; the soft earth governs alone. Its qi is not upright; therefore the stray rides it. They shift their seats in turn; the discrepancy has the shallow and the deep. When they are about to join, the pitch-pipes first agree. Then Heaven's movement loses its time, and within three years fire epidemic arrives. Needle the transports of the lung. When the needling is finished, still the spirit seven days. Do not be greatly sorrowful. Sorrow moves the lung, and the qi scatters again. Those who would make the lung full: the essential is in the breath. Or if the lower earthly Jia-Zi Gui-Hai loses the post: the soft has lost its seat; above has lost the hard. This too is named Wu and Gui not joining in virtue. The movement and the earth are vacant; after three years it becomes pestilence, named fire pestilence. Therefore set the earth for five years, so as to make losing the post clear, and to press the method of needling to its end. Epidemic and pestilence are then only the names of above and below, hard and soft; pressed to the end they return to one body. The method of needling epidemic has only five methods. Gather all the seats that lose the post, and they return only to the five phases, which unify them. The Yellow Emperor said: I have heard that when the five epidemics arrive, they pass from one to another, with no question of large or small; the signs of illness are alike. If one does not apply rescue — how can one keep them from passing? Qi Bo said: Those who are not infected: true qi is stored within; the stray cannot take hold. Avoid its toxic qi. It comes from Heaven's feminine gate, and is sent back the way it came. When qi issues from the brain, the stray cannot encroach. When qi issues from the brain: first, in the room, imagine the heart like the sun. When you are about to enter a room of epidemic, first imagine green qi issuing from the liver, traveling left toward the east, transforming into woods and trees; next imagine white qi issuing from the lung, traveling right toward the west, transforming into spears and armor; next imagine red qi issuing from the heart, traveling south and upward, transforming into bright flame; next imagine black qi issuing from the kidney, traveling north and downward, transforming into water; next imagine yellow qi issuing from the spleen, remaining in the center, transforming into soil. When the five qi have finished guarding the body, imagine upon the head the Northern Dipper shining; then you may enter the room of epidemic. Another method: on the day of the spring equinox, before the sun has come out, induce vomiting. Another method: after the day of Rain Water, bathe three times with herbs to let sweat out. Another method — the small gold elixir: two liang of cinnabar, one liang of water-ground realgar, one liang of leaf orpiment, half a liang of purple gold. Place them together in a closed vessel, seal the outside, and pack the earth one chi down, tamped firm. Use no furnace; no other herbs are needed. Forge with twenty jin of fire. After seven days it is done; wait seven days to cool, then take it. The next day take it from the vessel and bury the medicine in the earth; after seven days take it out. Grind it following the sun for three days. Refine white sand-honey and make pills the size of parasol seeds. Each day, facing east, take in one mouthful of the sun's flowering qi; with ice-water take one pill, and swallow it with the qi. Take ten pills, and no epidemic will encroach. The Yellow Emperor asked: When a person is vacant, the spirit wanders and loses its post; ghosts and spirits encroach from without, and this brings early death. How does one keep the true intact? I wish to hear the method of needling. Qi Bo bowed his head, bowed again, and said: How bright a question. When the spirit has shifted and lost its post, though it is still in the body, it does not yet make death. If the stray then encroaches, it makes the years short. As when jueyin loses the post: Heaven is vacant; the person's qi, the liver, is vacant; meeting Heaven, it is a doubled vacancy. Then the hun wanders above; the stray encroaches, and jueyin qi is great. If the body is still warm, it can be needled. Check where foot shaoyang passes; next needle the transports of the liver. When a person is ill of a vacant heart, and meets both sovereign and ministerial fire governing Heaven and losing the post, the meeting is a triple vacancy. Meeting a year when fire falls short, the black corpse-ghost offends, and makes a person die of a sudden. Needle where hand shaoyang passes; then needle the heart transports. When a person is ill in the spleen, and meets taiyin governing Heaven and losing the post, the meeting is a triple vacancy. Meeting a year when soil falls short, the green corpse-ghost, the stray, offends the person, and makes a person die of a sudden. Needle where foot yangming passes; then needle the transports of the spleen. When a person is ill in the lung, and meets yangming governing Heaven and losing the post, the meeting is a triple vacancy. Meeting a year when metal falls short, there is a red corpse-ghost that offends the person, and makes a person die of a sudden. Needle where hand yangming passes; then needle the lung transports. When a person is ill in the kidney, and meets taiyang governing Heaven and losing the post, the meeting is a triple vacancy. Meeting a year when the water movement falls short, there is a yellow corpse-ghost that rides the person's true qi, draws the spirit and the hun, and brings sudden death. Needle where foot taiyang passes; then needle the kidney transports. The Yellow Emperor asked: The twelve zang employ one another. If the spirit loses its seat, the spirit's color is not round, and one fears the stray will offend — can this be put in order by needling? I wish to hear the essential. Qi Bo bowed his head, bowed again, and said: How complete a question. The utmost pattern, the true ancestor of the Dao — if not a sage emperor, who would press this source to its end? This is called qi and spirit joining the Dao, tallying with Heaven above. The heart is the office of the sovereign; spiritual brightness comes forth from it. Needle the source of hand shaoyin. The lung is the office of the chancellor; order and measure come forth from it. Needle the source of hand taiyin. The liver is the office of the general; planning comes forth from it. Needle the source of foot jueyin. The gallbladder is the office of central rectitude; decision comes forth from it. Needle the source of foot shaoyang. The chest-center is the office of the envoy-minister; joy comes forth from it. Needle where the pericardium network flows. The spleen is the office of the remonstrating counselor; knowing that goes all around comes forth from it. Needle the source of the spleen. The stomach is the office of the granary; the five flavors come forth from it. Needle the source of the stomach. The large intestine is the office of transmission; change comes forth from it. Needle the source of the large intestine. The small intestine is the office of receiving and holding; the transforming of things comes forth from it. Needle the source of the small intestine. The kidney is the office of making strong; skill and craft come forth from it. Needle the source of the kidney. The sanjiao is the office of opening the ditches; the water-roads come forth from it. Needle the source of the sanjiao. The bladder is the office of the regional capital; the fluids are stored there. When qi transforms, they can go out. Needle the source of the bladder. These twelve offices must not lose one another. Therefore the method of needling has the aim of keeping the spirit whole and nourishing the true; it also has the Dao of cultivating the true. It is not the putting of illness in order. The essential is to cultivate and nourish, and to harmonize the spirit. The Dao values what is constantly stored. Fill the spirit and make the root firm; jing and qi do not scatter; the spirit keeps its post and does not part. Then, though the spirit keeps its post and does not leave, one can still keep the true intact. If the person's spirit does not keep its post, one has not reached the utmost true. The essential of the utmost true lies in Heaven's mystery. The spirit keeps to Heaven's breath, and returns into the original source. This is called returning to the ancestor.

The line

The Yellow Emperor asked: When ascent and descent will not go forward, and the crossing of qi has a change, sudden pent is formed — this I already know.

The note

This chapter is a later supplement, not the text Wang Bing saw. What it asks is still: at which layer has qi stopped.