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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 16 · Nutritive Qi
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor said: “In nutritive qi’s Way, taking in grain is treasured. Grain enters the Stomach and transmits to the Lung, flows within and spreads outside. Its concentrated essence travels through the channel passages, circulating without cease, ending and beginning again. This is the ordering of heaven and earth.
“Qi emerges from Taiyin and pours into Hand Yangming, rises into Foot Yangming and descends to the instep, pours into the great-toe interval and joins Taiyin. It ascends to the hip, then pours into the Heart, follows Hand Shaoyin out beneath the armpit and down the arm to the little finger, joining Hand Taiyang. It rises over the armpit, emerges within the cheek region, pours into the inner eye corner, rises to the crown, descends the nape and joins Foot Taiyang. It follows the spine, descends the buttock and runs to the little toe’s tip, follows the sole and pours into Foot Shaoyin.
“It ascends to the Kidney, then pours into the Heart and spreads outside through the chest. Following the Heart Ruler vessel, it emerges beneath the armpit, descends the arm between two sinews, enters the palm and emerges at the middle fingertip, then returns to the tip of the finger next to the little finger and joins Hand Shaoyang. It rises into the Center of the Chest and spreads through the Triple Burner, pours from there into the Gallbladder, emerges at the rib-side and pours into Foot Shaoyang. Descending to the instep, it pours again into the great-toe interval, joins Foot Jueyin and rises to the Liver. From the Liver it pours upward to the Lung, follows the throat into the upper pharyngeal opening and reaches the Storage Gate.
“Its branch rises to the forehead, follows crown and central nape, descends along the spine and enters the tail end: this is Du. It networks with the genitals, rises through pubic hair into the navel, follows within the abdomen to the collarbone hollow, pours down into the Lung and emerges again as Taiyin. This is nutritive qi’s course and its ordinary opposing and following.”
The displayed cheek, rib-side and tail graphs are anomalous and are read contextually. Storage Gate remains the source’s name, without a new anatomical assignment.
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