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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 32 · A Person in Ordinary Health without Grain
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor said: “Why is it said that a person dies after seven days without eating?”
Bo Gao said: “Let me explain. The Stomach is one chi and five cun around, five cun in diameter and two chi and six cun long. Curving across, it holds three dou and five sheng of water and grain. Normally it retains two dou of grain and one dou and five sheng of water, filling it. The upper burner releases qi and sends out the refined subtleties, swift, vigorous, slippery and fast; the lower burner irrigates the intestines below.”
“The Small Intestine is two and a half cun around, eight fen and a small third of a fen in diameter and three zhang and two chi long. It holds two dou and four sheng of grain, and six sheng, three ge and a greater two-thirds of a ge of water.
“The returning intestine is four cun around, one cun and a small third of a cun in diameter and two zhang and one chi long. It holds one dou of grain and seven and a half sheng of water.
“The broad intestine is eight cun around, two cun and a greater two-thirds of a cun in diameter and two chi and eight cun long. It holds nine sheng, three ge and one-eighth of a ge of grain.”
The units and fractions follow the supplied text. The Small Intestine length differs from the preceding chapter and is preserved here as written.
“The total length of the intestines and Stomach is five zhang, eight chi and four cun. Their capacity is nine dou, two sheng, one ge and a greater two-thirds of a ge of water and grain. These are their stated capacities.
“In a person in ordinary health, it is not like this: when the Stomach is full, the intestines are empty, and when the intestines are full, the Stomach is empty. Their alternating emptiness and fullness allow qi to rise and descend, settle the five zang and harmonize blood and vessels, so that essence and spirit dwell there. Spirit is therefore the essential qi of water and grain.
“The intestines and Stomach should retain two dou of grain and one dou and five sheng of water. A person in ordinary health goes to stool twice a day, two and a half sheng each time, five sheng in a day. Seven days at five sheng make three dou and five sheng, exhausting the retained water and grain. Thus the explanation given for death after seven days without food or drink is that water and grain, essential qi, jin fluid and ye fluid are all exhausted.”
The stated total capacity does not agree with the preceding component figures; it is retained without repair. The different total lengths in these two chapters are also retained. This is the text’s historical account and calculation, not a universal modern survival interval.
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