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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 11 · Distinguishing Zang and Fu Organs
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “I hear practitioners call brain and marrow zang, or intestines and stomach zang, while others call them fu. Their accounts contradict one another, yet each claims to be right. I do not understand their principle and wish to hear an explanation.”
Qi Bo replied: “Brain, marrow, bones, vessels, Gallbladder and the female womb are six things generated by earth’s qi. All store within yin and model earth: they store without discharging, and are called extraordinary enduring fu.
Stomach, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Triple Burner and Bladder are five things generated by heaven’s qi. Their qi models heaven: they discharge without storing. Receiving the five zang organs’ turbid qi, they are called transmitting and transforming fu, unable to retain for long what they convey and discharge. The po gate also serves the five zang organs, preventing water and grain from being stored too long.
The five zang organs store essential qi without discharging, so they can be full but not replete. The six fu organs transmit and transform things without storing, so they can be replete but not full. When water and grain enter the mouth, Stomach is replete and intestines empty. When food descends, intestines are replete and Stomach empty. Thus repletion without fullness, and fullness without repletion.”
Reading note: Fullness, 滿, and repletion, 實, remain distinct terms. The po gate, 魄門, is the anus.
The Emperor asked: “Why does the qi opening alone govern the five zang organs?”
Qi Bo said: “Stomach is the sea of water and grain and the great source of the six fu organs. The five flavors enter the mouth and are stored in Stomach to nourish the five zang qi. The qi opening also belongs to Taiyin. Thus the qi and flavors of the five zang and six fu organs all come from Stomach, and their changes appear at the qi opening. Five qi enter the nose and are stored in Heart and Lung; illness of Heart or Lung therefore obstructs the nose.
In treating illness, examine what lies below, assess the pulse, and observe the patient’s intention together with the illness. One bound to ghosts and spirits cannot be spoken to about utmost virtue. One who rejects needles and stones cannot be spoken to about utmost skill. If the patient does not permit treatment, the illness will not be treated successfully, and treatment achieves nothing.”
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