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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 36 · The Five Divisions of Jin and Ye Fluids
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: “Water and grain enter the mouth and are conveyed to the intestines and Stomach. Their fluid divides into five forms. In cold weather with thin clothing it becomes urine and qi; in hot weather with thick clothing, sweat. When grief and sorrow combine qi, it becomes tears; when internal heat slackens the Stomach, saliva. If harmful qi counterflows within, qi is blocked and cannot travel; this produces water distension. I know these effects but not how they arise. I wish to hear their course.”
Qi Bo said: “Water and grain all enter the mouth. Their five flavors each pour into their sea, and jin and ye fluids each follow their own routes. The Triple Burner sends out qi to warm the flesh and fill the skin, forming jin fluid; what flows but does not move on is ye fluid.
“In summer heat with thick clothing, the interstices open and sweat comes out. Cold retained between divisions of flesh gathers frothy fluid and produces pain. In cold weather the interstices close, moist qi cannot travel and water stays below in the Bladder, becoming urine and qi.
“Among the five zang and six fu, the Heart is ruler, the ears hear, the eyes observe, the Lung serves as minister, the Liver as general, the Spleen as guard and the Kidney governs outward affairs. The jin and ye fluids of all five zang and six fu seep upward to the eyes. Sorrow in the Heart combines qi and tightens the Heart connections. Their tension lifts the Lung, and its lifting sends fluid overflowing upward. The Heart connections and Lung cannot remain fully raised, but rise and fall by turns; thus coughing occurs and tears emerge.
“Internal heat makes the Stomach consume grain. This makes worms move upward and downward and fills and expands the intestines and Stomach, slackening the Stomach. Its slackening brings counterflow of qi, so saliva emerges.”
The jin and ye fluids of the five grains that combine into rich, fatty substance seep inward into the bone hollows to supplement brain and marrow and flow downward to yin and yang. Disharmony of yin and yang causes fluid to overflow and flow down to yin. Marrow and fluid diminish as they descend; excessive downward loss brings emptiness, with waist and back pain and aching shins.
If the qi pathways of yin and yang are blocked, the four seas closed, the Triple Burner unable to drain and jin and ye fluids unable to transform, water and grain collect in the intestines and Stomach. They separate at the returning intestine and stay in the lower burner, unable to seep into the Bladder. The lower burner then distends; overflowing water produces water distension. These are the favorable and contrary courses of the five divisions of jin and ye fluids.
The source’s downward references to “yin and yang” and “yin” are retained without adding an unstated physiological mechanism.
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