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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 26 · Eight Divisions and Spiritual Clarity
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “Using needles must have laws and standards. What laws and standards apply?”
Qi Bo replied: “Model oneself on Heaven and Earth and accord with heavenly light.”
The Emperor said: “I wish to hear it fully.”
Qi Bo said: “Every method of needling must observe the sun, moon, stars, four seasons and qi of the eight cardinal divisions. Needle only once the qi is settled. On warm days, a person’s blood is fluid and defensive qi floats, so blood is easily drained and qi easily moves. When Heaven is cold and the day overcast, blood congeals and becomes rough, and defensive qi sinks.
As the moon begins to grow, blood and qi begin to become refined and defensive qi begins to move. When the moon’s outline is full, blood and qi are replete and flesh firm. When its outline is empty, flesh diminishes, channels and networks are empty, defensive qi departs and form remains alone. Thus blood and qi are regulated according to Heaven’s timing.
Do not needle in cold weather; do not hesitate in warmth. Do not drain while the moon grows, supplement at the full moon, or treat when the moon’s outline is empty. This is regulation at the proper time. Follow Heaven’s sequence and the times of fullness and emptiness; use the shifting light to determine position, stand correctly and wait.
To drain while sun and moon are arising is called emptying the zang organs. To supplement at the full moon makes blood and qi overflow, with retained blood in the networks: doubled repletion. To treat when the moon’s outline is empty is called disordering the channels. Yin and yang become confused, true and harmful qi indistinguishable. They sink and remain; the exterior is deficient and the interior disordered, and excessive harmful influences arise.”
The Emperor asked: “What is observed through the stars and eight cardinal divisions?”
Qi Bo said: “The stars regulate the courses of sun and moon. The eight cardinal divisions allow observation of the deficient harmful influences of the eight winds as they arrive in time. The four seasons distinguish where the qi of spring, autumn, winter and summer resides, so it can be regulated according to time. Avoid the deficient harmful influences of the eight divisions; do not encounter them.
If bodily deficiency meets Heaven’s deficiency, the two deficiencies interact. Their qi reaches the bones and enters to injure the five zang organs. The practitioner watches and attempts rescue; the supplied wording then says, ‘cannot injure.’ Thus Heaven’s prohibitions must be known.
Reading note: 弗能傷也 is preserved as cannot injure. Its relation to the preceding injury and rescue is unclear in this supplied wording; it is not silently changed to cannot rescue.”
The Emperor said: “Good. I have heard about following the stars. I wish to hear about taking antiquity as a model.”
Qi Bo said: “To model oneself on antiquity, first know the Needle Canon. To verify it in the present, first know the day’s cold or warmth and the moon’s emptiness or fullness. Observe qi floating or sinking, regulate it in the body and see the immediate evidence.
Observing the obscure means that form, qi, nutritive qi and defensive qi are not outwardly manifest, yet the practitioner alone knows them. The day’s cold or warmth, the moon’s emptiness or fullness, and the four seasons’ floating and sinking qi are compared and combined in regulation. The practitioner perceives them in advance, before they appear outside: therefore observing the obscure. Comprehending without limit allows transmission to later generations; this distinguishes the skilled practitioner. Yet these things have no outward form, so those looking together cannot all see them. Sight finds no form; tasting finds no flavor. Thus obscure and subtle, like a faint spiritual presence.
Deficient harmful influences are those of the eight cardinal divisions. Proper harmful influence is described thus: exertion produces sweat and opens the interstices; encountering a deficient wind then affects a person subtly, so its condition is unknown and its form unseen.
The superior practitioner rescues what is just beginning, first perceiving qi in the three regions and nine examinations, regulating it fully and rescuing before failure. Thus superior practitioner. The inferior rescues what is already established or already failing. Rescuing established illness means not recognizing discord among the three regions and nine examinations and allowing illness to cause failure. Knowing its location means diagnosing the diseased pulse sites of those examinations and treating them: guarding their gates. Otherwise one sees the harmful influence’s appearance without knowing its actual condition.”
The Emperor said: “I have heard of supplementation and draining but have not grasped their meaning.”
Qi Bo said: “Draining must use the square. Square means qi is just at fullness, the moon just full, the day just warm and the body just settled. Insert the needle just as the patient inhales; wait for another inhalation to turn it; then wait for exhalation to draw it slowly out. Thus draining must use the square, and qi then moves.
Supplementation must use the round. Round means movement; movement means shifting. Needling must reach the nutritive qi, and the needle is then pressed in with inhalation. Round and square therefore do not describe the needle itself. To nourish spirit, one must know whether the form is fat or thin and whether nutritive qi, defensive qi, blood and qi are flourishing or declining. Blood and qi are a person’s spirit and must be carefully nourished.”
The Emperor said: “How wonderful this discussion is: joining human form to yin, yang and the four seasons, the responses of deficiency and repletion, and the subtle timing. Who but you could comprehend it? Yet you repeatedly speak of form and spirit. What is form, and what is spirit? I wish to hear it fully.”
Qi Bo said: “Let me speak of form. Form, indeed form! The eyes are in darkness. Ask about the illness and seek it in the channels: it appears clearly before one, yet pressing does not obtain it, and its condition is unknown. Thus it is called form.”
The Emperor asked: “What is called spirit?”
Qi Bo said: “Let me speak of spirit. Spirit, indeed spirit! The ear does not hear it, yet the eyes brighten, the heart opens and intention goes ahead. One alone suddenly understands, but the mouth cannot express it. All look, yet one alone sees. Others seem in darkness while one alone is clear, like wind dispersing clouds. Thus it is called spirit.
The three regions and nine examinations are its foundation. The discourse on nine needles need not continually be held in mind.”
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