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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 37 · Five Inspections and Five Messengers
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: “I have heard that needling uses five officers and five inspections to observe five qi. These qi are messengers of the five zang and counterparts of the five seasons. I wish to hear where the five messengers emerge.”
Qi Bo said: “The five officers are the means of inspecting the five zang.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear where they emerge, so this can become a regular guide.”
Qi Bo said: “The pulse emerges at Qikou and color appears in the Bright Hall. The five colors emerge in turn to answer the five seasons, each with its regular condition. When channel qi has entered the zang, one must treat the interior.”
The Emperor said: “Good. Are the five colors judged solely in the Bright Hall?”
Qi Bo said: “When the five officers are clearly distinguished, the Palace Gate and Court must be open, establishing the Bright Hall. With a broad Bright Hall, outer screens and protections visible, square walls on high foundations and hanging parts extending outward, the five colors are ordered. Level, broad and spacious features indicate a lifespan reaching a hundred years. In a person with these signs, needling is said always to end the illness. Such a person has abundant blood and qi and firm, dense flesh, and can therefore bear the hardship of needling.”
The architectural facial names and lifespan prediction belong to the historical account. Its compressed description is retained without equating each feature with a modern measurement.
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear about the five officers.”
Qi Bo said: “The nose is the Lung’s officer; the eyes, the Liver’s; the mouth and lips, the Spleen’s; the tongue, the Heart’s; and the ears, the Kidney’s.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What is assessed through the officers?”
Qi Bo said: “They assess the five zang. Lung illness brings panting and flaring nostrils. Liver illness makes the eye corners blue-green. Spleen illness makes the lips yellow. Heart illness curls and shortens the tongue and reddens the cheekbones. Kidney illness darkens cheekbones and forehead.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Where do the five pulses emerge, where do the five colors appear, and what regular appearance indicates danger?”
Qi Bo said: “When the five officers are indistinct, the Palace Gate and Court unopened, the Bright Hall small and the outer screens and protections invisible; when the walls are low and have no foundations and the hanging corners turn outward—such a person is in danger even ordinarily, much more so with added illness.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “When the five colors appear in the Bright Hall to show the qi of the five zang, do they each have a form on the left or right, above or below?”
Qi Bo said: “The five zang within each have their ordered dwellings, left and right, above and below, each according to its measure.”
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