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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 21 · Distinguishing the Channels
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “Do a person’s dwelling, movement and stillness, courage and timidity also change the pulse?”
Qi Bo replied: “Startlement, fear, anger, toil, movement and stillness all change it. Thus walking at night produces panting from Kidney; qi spreading beyond its proper course makes Lung ill. A fall with fright produces panting from Liver; spreading qi harms Spleen. Startlement and fear produce panting from Lung; spreading qi injures Heart. Falling while crossing water produces panting from Kidney and bone. At such times the courageous person’s qi moves and the disturbance ends; in the timid it lodges and becomes illness.
Thus diagnosis observes courage and timidity, bone, flesh and skin, to understand a person’s condition and use it in examining illness. Eating and drinking to extreme fullness produces sweat from Stomach. Startlement that robs essence produces sweat from Heart. Carrying heavy loads on long journeys produces sweat from Kidney. Running hard in fear produces sweat from Liver. Bodily labor and toil produce sweat from Spleen. Through spring, autumn, winter and summer, the yin and yang of the four seasons, illness arises from overuse: this is the constant principle.”
Food qi enters Stomach, disperses essence to Liver and spreads qi to the sinews. Food qi enters Stomach; turbid qi returns to Heart and spreads essence to the vessels. Vessel qi flows through the channels; channel qi returns to Lung. The hundred vessels attend Lung, which conveys essence to skin and body hair. Hair and vessels combine their essence and conduct qi to its gathering place. There essence and spirit are clear, settling in the other four zang organs, while qi returns to balanced measure. When that measure is even, the qi opening forms the cun position through which life and death are judged.
Drink enters Stomach; its refined qi circulates and overflows, conveyed upward to Spleen. Spleen qi disperses essence and returns it upward to Lung, which regulates the waterways and conveys it downward to Bladder. Water essence spreads in all directions; the five channels move together, corresponding to the four seasons and the yin and yang of the five zang organs. Assessing this provides the constant standard.
When the Taiyang organ pulse arrives alone, with counterflow, panting and deficient qi rising contrary, yin is insufficient and yang excessive. Both exterior and interior should be drained, using the lower transport points. When the Yangming organ pulse arrives alone, yang qi has doubled and combined: drain yang and supplement yin at the lower transport points. When the Shaoyang organ pulse arrives alone, this is counterflow qi; the pulse before the qiao region suddenly enlarges. Use the lower transport points. Shaoyang arriving alone is excess of One Yang.
When the Taiyin organ pulse beats, carefully examine whether it is the true organ pulse. Qi in all five pulses is scant and Stomach qi uneven: this is Three Yin. Treat its lower transport points, supplement yang and drain yin. One Yang whistling alone is Shaoyang counterflow. Yang combines above; four pulses strain to expand, and qi returns to Kidney. Treat its channels and networks, draining yang and supplementing yin.
When One Yin arrives, treatment concerns Jueyin. True qi is deficient, with aching at Heart; counterflow qi lodges and presses, producing pale sweat. Regulate food and harmonize medicinals; treatment is at the lower transport points.
Reading note: Qiao here refers to the ankle channel region, without assigning a modern numbered point. The supplied One Yang and Shaoyang wording is retained even where older annotations question it.
The Emperor asked: “What does the Taiyang organ pulse resemble?”
Qi Bo said: “It resembles Three Yang and floats.”
The Emperor asked: “What does the Shaoyang organ pulse resemble?”
Qi Bo said: “It resembles One Yang. The One Yang organ pulse is slippery but not replete.”
The Emperor asked: “What does the Yangming organ pulse resemble?”
Qi Bo said: “It resembles a large, floating pulse. The beating Taiyin organ pulse means a hidden drumming. When Two Yin beats and arrives, Kidney sinks and does not float.”
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