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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 21 · Cold and Heat Illnesses
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In cold and heat of the skin, the patient cannot bear contact with the mat; hair is scorched and the nose withered and dry, with no sweating. Address the networks of the three yang and supplement Hand Taiyin. In cold and heat of the flesh, the flesh hurts, hair is scorched and the lips withered and dry, with no sweating. Address the three yang below to remove blood, and supplement Foot Taiyin to bring out sweat. In cold and heat of the bones, the patient finds no rest and sweat pours without ceasing. If the teeth have not withered, address Shaoyin at the networks of the inner thigh. If the teeth have withered, the text declares death beyond treatment; the same applies to bone reversal.
In bone obstruction, all the joints are painful and unusable, sweat pours and the heart is vexed: supplement the three yin channels. After injury with much loss of blood and invasion by wind and cold, or after a fall, the four limbs may become slack and fail to gather themselves. This is called bodily lassitude. Address the threefold binding and meeting below the navel in the lower abdomen. This meeting is described as Yangming and Taiyin, at Guanyuan, three cun below the navel. In reversal obstruction, when reversal qi reaches upward into the abdomen, address the yin and yang networks according to the channel governing the illness: drain yang and supplement the yin channel.
The moving vessel at the side of the neck is Renying, belonging to Foot Yangming, in front of the neck sinew. Behind the sinew is Hand Yangming, called Futu. Next is the Foot Shaoyang vessel, called Tianyou; next the Foot Taiyang vessel, called Tianzhu. The moving vessel below the armpit is Arm Taiyin, called Tianfu.
For yang meeting or counterflow with headache, chest fullness and inability to breathe, address Renying. For sudden loss of voice with constrained, rigid qi, address Futu and draw blood at the root of the tongue. For sudden deafness with clouded qi and unclear ears and eyes, address Tianyou. For sudden contraction, seizures and dizziness, with the feet unable to support the body, address Tianzhu. For sudden burning illness with internal counterflow, Liver and Lung striking against each other and blood overflowing through nose and mouth, address Tianfu. These are the five divisions of the Heavenly Windows.
The supplied Foot Shaoyang assignment to Tianyou is retained. Older commentaries dispute it; it is not silently changed to Hand Shaoyang. The opening “yang meeting” also has a counterflow reading. The threefold meeting is named as supplied, without adding a missing third channel.
An Arm Yangming branch enters the cheekbone region and spreads through the teeth; its named site is Daying. Address it for decay of the lower teeth. If the arm is averse to cold, supplement; if not, drain. A Foot Taiyang branch enters the cheekbone region and reaches the teeth on that side; its named site is Jiaosun. For decay of the upper teeth, address the region before the nose and cheekbone. At the time of illness the vessel is abundant: drain when abundant and supplement when empty. Another account says to address where it emerges beside the nose.
A Foot Yangming branch runs beside the nose into the face; its named site is Xuanlu. It connects with the mouth and, opposite it, enters and binds to the root of the eye. Inspect for disorder and address it, diminishing excess and increasing insufficiency; doing the reverse increases the disorder.
A Foot Taiyang branch passes through the nape into the brain and connects directly with the root of the eye. It is called the eye connection. For suffering from headache and eye pain, address the space between the two sinews in the nape. After entering the brain it separates into Yin Qiao and Yang Qiao. Yin and yang intersect: yang enters yin and yin emerges into yang, meeting at the pointed outer canthus. When yang qi is abundant the eyes stare open; when yin qi is abundant the eyes close.
Channel assignments, named sites and the outer-canthus statement follow this source, even where older readings differ. The incomplete phrase “doing the reverse increases” is read in the immediate context of worsening the disorder; its missing object is not restored to the Chinese.
For heat reversal, address Foot Taiyin and Shaoyang, retaining at both. For cold reversal, address Foot Yangming and Shaoyin at the foot, retaining at both. For a slack tongue, drooling and vexed oppression, address Foot Shaoyin. For shivering cold with chattering jaws, inability to sweat, abdominal distension and vexed oppression, address Hand Taiyin.
In needling emptiness, needle as qi departs; in needling repletion, needle as it comes. In spring address network vessels; in summer the divisions and interstices; in autumn Qikou; in winter the channel transporting sites. Each of the four seasons provides its own measure. Network vessels treat skin; divisions and interstices treat flesh; Qikou treats sinews and vessels; channel transporting sites treat bone and marrow.
The five zang have five bodily regions: first Futu; second the calf, which means the fleshy lower leg; third the back; fourth the transporting sites of the five zang; fifth the nape. The text declares that abscesses or deep sores in these five regions bring death.
When illness begins in the hands and arms, first address Hand Yangming and Taiyin to bring out sweat. When it begins in the head, first address Taiyang at the nape to bring out sweat. When it begins in the feet and shins, first address Foot Yangming to bring out sweat. Arm Taiyin and Foot Yangming can each bring out sweat. Thus, if addressing yin produces excessive sweating, stop it through yang; if addressing yang produces excessive sweating, stop it through yin.
The harm of needling is this: if it strikes its target but is not withdrawn, essence leaks; if it misses and is withdrawn, qi is drawn in. Leakage of essence worsens illness and brings fearful weakness; drawing in qi produces abscesses and deep sores.
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