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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 18 · The Generation and Meeting of Nutritive and Defensive Qi
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The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: “Where do people receive qi and yin and yang meet? Which qi is nutritive, which defensive? Where does nutritive qi arise and defensive qi gather? Old and mature people differ in qi and yin and yang occupy different places. I wish to hear their meetings.”
Qi Bo replied: “People receive qi from grain. Grain enters the Stomach and transmits to the Lung; all five zang and six fu receive qi through this. Its clear portion is nutritive, its turbid defensive. Nutritive qi is within vessels, defensive qi outside. Nutritive circulation never rests; after fifty circuits there is a great meeting. Yin and yang pass through each other like a ring without an end. Defensive qi travels twenty-five circuits in yin and twenty-five in yang, dividing night and day.
“When qi reaches yang one rises; when it reaches yin one rests. At midday, yang is full: doubled yang. At midnight, yin is full: doubled yin. Taiyin governs within and Taiyang outside, each traveling twenty-five circuits. After midnight yin declines; at dawn it is exhausted and yang receives qi. At midday yang is full, then declines as the sun moves west. At sunset yang is exhausted and yin receives qi. At midnight there is a great meeting; all people lie down, called joining yin. At dawn yin is exhausted and yang receives qi again. This continues without cease in the same ordering as heaven and earth.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What qi makes old people unable to sleep at night? What qi keeps the young and mature from sleeping by day?”
Qi Bo replied: “The mature have abundant blood and qi, smooth flesh and open qi pathways. Nutritive and defensive circulation keep their ordinary course, so they are alert by day and sleep at night. The old have declining blood and qi, withered flesh and rough qi pathways. The five zang qi contend; nutritive qi declines and defensive qi attacks within. Thus they are not alert by day and do not sleep at night.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear where nutritive and defensive qi travel and by which routes they come.”
Qi Bo replied: “Nutritive qi emerges from the middle burner; defensive qi from the lower burner.”
The supplied lower-burner statement is retained, rather than silently changed to an upper-burner reading.
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear where the three burners emerge.”
Qi Bo replied: “The upper burner emerges from the Stomach’s upper opening, ascends beside the pharynx, passes through the diaphragm and spreads in the chest. It runs to the armpit, follows Taiyin’s division, returns to Yangming, reaches the tongue above and descends through Foot Yangming. It travels with nutritive qi twenty-five circuits in yang and twenty-five in yin: one full cycle. Thus after fifty circuits they meet again greatly at Hand Taiyin.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “When hot food or drink enters the Stomach, before its qi settles, sweat appears on the face, back or half the body, without following defensive qi’s course. Why?”
Qi Bo said: “Wind has injured outside and opened the interstices within. Hair pores steam and the divisions discharge; defensive qi rushes there and cannot keep its course. It is swift, fierce, smooth and rapid, emerging wherever it finds an opening. Thus it cannot follow its route. This is named leaking discharge.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear where the middle burner emerges.”
Qi Bo replied: “The middle burner likewise accompanies the Stomach within and emerges behind the upper burner. It receives qi, separates dregs, steams fluids and transforms their subtle essence, pouring upward into the Lung vessels. It then transforms into blood to sustain the living body; nothing is more precious. Thus it alone travels within the channel passages and is named nutritive qi.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What is meant by blood and qi having different names but belonging to the same kind?”
Qi Bo replied: “Nutritive and defensive qi are essence qi; blood is spirit qi. Thus blood and qi have different names but belong to the same kind. One deprived of blood has no sweat; one deprived of sweat has no blood. Human life therefore has two ways of dying, but not two ways of living.”
The closing paired expression is retained as the source’s statement, not turned into a modern blood-volume rule.
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear where the lower burner emerges.”
Qi Bo replied: “The lower burner branches from the returning intestine and pours into the Bladder by seepage. Water and grain reside together in the Stomach, become dregs and descend together into the Large Intestine, forming the lower burner. They seep and descend; clarified liquid is separated and follows the lower burner to seep into the Bladder.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Wine also enters the Stomach. Why does urine pass before the grain is fully processed?”
Qi Bo replied: “Wine is the liquid of processed grain. Its qi is fierce and clear. Though entering after grain, its liquid emerges before grain.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Good. I have heard: the upper burner is like mist, the middle like steeping and the lower like waterways. This is the meaning.”
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