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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 40 · Yin and Yang, Clear and Turbid
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The Yellow Emperor said: “I have heard that the twelve channel vessels correspond to the twelve channel waters. Those waters have different colors and differ in clarity and turbidity, yet a person’s blood and qi seem one. How do they correspond?”
Qi Bo said: “If human blood and qi could truly be one undifferentiated condition, all under heaven would be one. How could there be disorder?”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I have heard about one person; I am not asking about the multitude under heaven.”
Qi Bo said: “One person also has disordered qi, just as the multitude under heaven has disorderly people. Their correspondence is the same.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “I wish to hear about clarity and turbidity in human qi.”
Qi Bo said: “What receives grain is turbid; what receives qi is clear. The clear pours into yin and the turbid into yang. The clear within the turbid emerges above through the throat; the turbid within the clear travels downward. Clear and turbid interfering with each other is named disordered qi.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “If yin is clear and yang turbid, yet there is clear within turbid and turbid within clear, how are they distinguished?”
Qi Bo said: “In the broad division of qi, the clear pours upward into the Lung and the turbid runs downward into the Stomach. Clear Stomach qi emerges upward through the mouth. Turbid Lung qi pours down into the channels and accumulates internally in the seas.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “If all yang are turbid, which yang is especially so?”
Qi Bo said: “Hand Taiyang alone receives the turbid of yang; Hand Taiyin alone receives the clear of yin. Its clear portion runs upward to the openings; its turbid portion travels downward through the channels. All yin are clear, but Foot Taiyin alone receives their turbid portion.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “How is this treated?”
Qi Bo said: “Clear qi is slippery and turbid qi rough: this is their ordinary condition. Thus, in needling yin, go deeply and retain; in needling yang, go superficially and act swiftly. When clear and turbid interfere with each other, regulate by the appropriate number.”
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