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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 8 · The Secret Canon of the Spiritual Orchid
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “I wish to hear how the twelve organs serve one another, and how their ranks differ.”
Qi Bo replied: “How comprehensive the question! Let me explain fully.
Heart is the sovereign official; spiritual brightness comes from it. Lung is the assisting minister; ordered regulation comes from it. Liver is the general; planning and deliberation come from it. Gallbladder is the official of impartial rectitude; decision comes from it. The Center of the Chest is the ministerial envoy; joy and pleasure come from it. Spleen and Stomach are the granary officials; the five flavors come from them. Large Intestine is the official of transmission; transformation comes from it. Small Intestine is the official receiving and holding; transformation of things comes from it. Kidney is the official of strength; skill and ingenuity come from it. Triple Burner is the official opening the waterways; water’s pathways come from it. Bladder is the regional reservoir official; fluids are stored there and can emerge through qi transformation.
These twelve officials must not lose one another. When the ruler is clear, those below are secure. Applied to nourishing life, this brings longevity without danger through one’s days; applied to the realm, great flourishing. When the ruler is unclear, all twelve officials are endangered, their routes of service blocked. The bodily form is greatly injured. Applied to nourishing life, this brings calamity; applied to the realm, its ancestral foundation is gravely endangered. Be watchful, be watchful.
The utmost Way lies in the subtle, its transformations inexhaustible: who knows its source? How constrained are those diminishing in alarm—who knows its essentials? Amid obscure correspondences, who can determine what is sound? Indistinct numbers arise in the tiniest measures; the numbers of those measures arise from measuring. Multiplied a thousand or ten thousand times, they can grow ever greater. Extend and enlarge them, and their form can be established.”
The Yellow Emperor said: “Excellent! I have heard the Way of refined radiance and the work of a great sage, illuminating the Great Way. I dare not receive it without purification and choosing an auspicious day.” He chose a favorable day and good omen, and stored it in the Spiritual Orchid Chamber to transmit and preserve it.
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