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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 12 · The Channels and the Great Waters
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: “The twelve channel vessels join twelve great waters outside and belong to the five zang and six fu within. The waters differ in size, depth, breadth and distance; zang and fu differ in height, size and capacity for grain. How do they correspond? Great waters receive and carry water; the five zang join and store spirit, qi, hun and po; the six fu receive and move grain, receive and spread qi; channel vessels receive blood and nourish. How are these joined in treatment? May I hear needling depths and counts of moxibustion?”
Qi Bo replied: “Good question! Heaven is too high to measure and earth too broad to reckon. People live between them within the six directions, whose height and breadth exceed human measurement. Yet for an eight-chi person, skin and flesh are here: outside they can be measured, pressed and traced; after death, dissected and observed. Firmness or brittleness of zang, size of fu, amount of grain, length of vessels, clear or turbid blood and greater or lesser qi have broad measures. So do the twelve channels with much blood and little qi, little blood and much qi, much of both or little of both. Needles and moxa regulate each channel’s qi; their ordinary correspondences are established.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “It pleases the ear but is not clear in the mind. I wish to hear it fully.”
Qi Bo replied: “This is how people stand with heaven and earth and answer yin and yang; it must be examined.
“Foot Taiyang joins the Qing River outside and belongs to the Bladder within, opening the waterways.
“Foot Shaoyang joins the Wei River and belongs to the Gallbladder.
“Foot Yangming joins the Sea and belongs to the Stomach.
“Foot Taiyin joins the Lake and belongs to the Spleen.
“Foot Shaoyin joins the Ru River and belongs to the Kidney.
“Foot Jueyin joins the Sheng River and belongs to the Liver.
“Hand Taiyang joins the Huai River and belongs to the Small Intestine, from which waterways emerge.
“Hand Shaoyang joins the Ta River and belongs to the Triple Burner.
“Hand Yangming joins the Jiang River and belongs to the Large Intestine.
“Hand Taiyin joins the He River and belongs to the Lung.
“Hand Shaoyin joins the Ji River and belongs to the Heart.
“The Hand Heart Ruler joins the Zhang River and belongs to the Heart Enclosure.
“These five zang, six fu and twelve waters have sources outside and what they receive within. Inside and outside pass through one another like a ring without an end; human channels are likewise. Heaven is yang and earth yin; above the waist is heaven, below earth. North of the Sea is yin; north of the Lake yin within yin; south of the Zhang yang; north of the He as far as the Zhang yin within yang; south of the Ta as far as the Jiang utmost yang within yang. This is yin and yang from one perspective, through which people stand with heaven and earth.”
The historical water names and all directions remain as supplied, without imposing modern river boundaries or geographic corrections.
The Yellow Emperor said: “The waters and channels differ in distance, depth and amounts of water or blood. How are these joined in needling?”
Qi Bo replied: “Foot Yangming is the sea of the five zang and six fu. Its vessel is large, blood plentiful, qi abundant and heat strong. Without depth it will not disperse; without retention it will not drain.
“Foot Yangming: six fen deep, retained for ten exhalations.
“Foot Taiyang: five fen, seven exhalations.
“Foot Shaoyang: four fen, five exhalations.
“Foot Taiyin: three fen, four exhalations.
“Foot Shaoyin: two fen, three exhalations.
“Foot Jueyin: one fen, two exhalations.
“The hand’s yin and yang receive qi by a nearby route and its arrival is swift: depth does not exceed two fen and retention one exhalation. Assess youth and age, size, fullness and leanness with the mind. This is named following heaven’s ordinary rule. Moxibustion is likewise. Exceeding it with harmful Fire dries bones and roughens vessels; excessive needling sheds qi.”
These are the source’s historical quantities. No modern length, time, angle or practical regimen is calculated.
The Yellow Emperor said: “Can vessel size, amount of blood, skin thickness, flesh firmness and size of the knee hollow be measured by a standard?”
Qi Bo replied: “A measurable standard takes the middle measure: flesh is not greatly wasted and blood and qi have not declined. How could one needle a wasted person whose flesh has fallen away by fixed measurements? Carefully palpate, trace, feel and press, observing cold, warmth, strength and decline, and regulate accordingly. This is called making adaptation the true method.”
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