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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 80 · Great Confusion
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: “I once went up the Qingleng Terrace. Looking back midway on the stairs, then creeping forward, I became confused and dizzy. I found this strange and wondered inwardly. Closing and opening my eyes alone, settling my heart and qi, I remained troubled and dizzy for a long time. I loosened my hair, knelt upright and bent to look, yet it still did not cease. What qi makes this suddenly arise from above?”
The supplied middle description and final from-above clause contain uncertain wording. No modern diagnosis or unstated event is supplied.
Qi Bo replied: “Essential qi of all five zang and six fu rises to the eyes and forms their essence. The nest of essence is the eye. Bone essence is the pupil; sinew essence the dark eye; blood essence the networks; qi essence in its nest the white eye; flesh essence the enclosing bands. Sinew, bone, blood and qi essences are wrapped together and join vessels into a connection, attaching above to the brain and emerging behind in the nape.
“Harmful influence striking the nape and meeting bodily emptiness enters deeply along the eye connection into the brain. The brain turns and draws the eye connection tight, making vision turn in dizziness. If influence strikes its essences without their matching, essence scatters and vision splits, seeing two objects.
“The eyes are the essence of the five zang and six fu, continually nourished by nutritive and defensive qi, hun and po, and where spirit qi arises. Weary spirit scatters hun and po and disorders intention. Pupil and dark eye model yin; white eye and red vessels model yang. Yin and yang join and transmit to make vision clear.
“The eyes are the Heart’s messengers and the Heart is spirit’s dwelling. When spirit and essence are disordered and cannot turn appropriately, an unfamiliar place suddenly seen scatters essence, spirit, hun and po so they fail to agree. This is called confusion.”
The eye–brain connections and substance correspondences remain the historical explanation, without replacing them with modern neuroanatomy.
The Yellow Emperor said: “I suspect this is so. Whenever I go to the Eastern Garden I become confused, and leaving restores me. Does that garden alone weary my spirit? Why is it so unusual?”
Qi Bo said: “It is not so. The Heart delights in something while spirit dislikes it; sudden conflict disorders essential qi and vision errs, hence confusion. When spirit shifts, recovery follows. A milder state is called bewilderment and a severe one confusion.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What qi makes a person frequently forget?”
Qi Bo said: “Upper qi is insufficient and lower qi in excess. Intestines and Stomach are replete while Heart and Lung are empty. Nutritive and defensive qi remain below, failing for a long time to rise at their proper time. Thus forgetting is frequent.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What qi makes a person frequently hungry yet unwilling to eat?”
Qi Bo said: “Essential qi gathers in the Spleen while heat qi remains in the Stomach. Stomach heat consumes grain and so brings frequent hunger. Stomach qi counterflows upward, leaving the stomach cavity cold, so there is no appetite.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What qi causes illness with inability to lie down and sleep?”
Qi Bo said: “Defensive qi cannot enter yin and remains in yang. Yang qi fills, Yang Qiao becomes abundant and yin qi is empty because qi cannot enter it. Thus the eyes do not close.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What qi makes the eyes ill and unable to see?”
Qi Bo said: “Defensive qi remains in yin and cannot travel in yang. Yin qi becomes abundant and Yin Qiao full; inability to enter yang leaves yang qi empty, so the eyes close.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “What qi makes a person sleep much?”
Qi Bo said: “Such a person has large intestines and Stomach, damp skin and divisions of flesh that do not release freely. Large intestines and Stomach retain defensive qi long; damp skin and unreleased flesh make its course slow. Defensive qi ordinarily travels in yang by day and yin by night. When yang qi is exhausted one lies down; when yin qi is exhausted one wakes.
“Thus large intestines and Stomach prolong retention; damp skin and unreleased flesh slow movement and keep qi long in yin. Qi is not clear, so the person wishes to close the eyes and sleeps much. With small intestines and Stomach, slippery, relaxed skin and free divisions of flesh, defensive qi remains longer in yang, so sleep is scant.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “When this is not the ordinary pattern, what qi causes a sudden increase in sleep?”
Qi Bo said: “Harmful qi remains in the upper burner, closing its passage. After eating or drinking broth, defensive qi stays long in yin without moving, so sleep suddenly increases.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Good. How are these harmful conditions treated?”
Qi Bo said: “First address their zang and fu and remove small disorders, then regulate qi. Drain abundance and supplement emptiness. First clearly know the suffering or ease of bodily form and intention; only once this is established should treatment be undertaken.”
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