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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 29 · Taiyin and Yangming
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “Taiyin and Yangming form an exterior–interior pair, the vessels of Spleen and Stomach. Why do their illnesses differ?”
Qi Bo replied: “Yin and yang occupy different positions, alternately deficient and replete, contrary and following. Some influences proceed from within, others from outside. Their origins differ; therefore their illnesses have different names.”
The Emperor said: “I wish to hear their different manifestations.”
Qi Bo said: “Yang is Heaven’s qi and governs outside; yin is Earth’s qi and governs inside. Thus the yang course is replete and the yin course deficient. When one encounters destructive wind and deficient harmful influences, yang receives them. When food and drink are unregulated and activity and rest untimely, yin receives the injury.
What yang receives enters the six fu organs; what yin receives enters the five zang organs. Entry into the six fu organs causes bodily heat, irregular sleep and panting with labored breathing above. Entry into the five zang organs causes flooding fullness and blockage, with undigested-food flux below, becoming intestinal flux if prolonged. Thus the windpipe governs Heaven’s qi and the gullet Earth’s qi. Yang receives wind qi; yin receives damp qi.
Yin qi rises from the feet to the head, then descends along the arms to the fingertips. Yang qi rises from the hands to the head, then descends to the feet. Thus yang illness rises to its limit and descends; yin illness descends to its limit and rises. With injury from wind, the upper part receives it first; with injury from dampness, the lower part receives it first.”
The Emperor asked: “Why does Spleen illness make the four limbs unusable?”
Qi Bo said: “All four limbs receive qi from Stomach, but it cannot reach their channels without Spleen; only through Spleen do they receive it. When Spleen is ill it cannot circulate Stomach’s fluids. The limbs do not receive the qi of water and grain, so qi declines daily and vessel pathways become obstructed. Sinews, bones and flesh lack qi for their growth and life. Thus the limbs cannot function.”
The Emperor asked: “Why does Spleen not govern a season?”
Qi Bo said: “Spleen is Earth and governs the center. Throughout the four seasons it presides over the other four zang organs, lodging its governance for eighteen days in each; it therefore cannot exclusively govern a season. Spleen constantly attaches to the essence of Stomach Earth. Earth generates all things and models Heaven and Earth, extending above and below from head to feet; thus it cannot govern one season alone.”
The Emperor asked: “Spleen and Stomach are joined only by a membrane. How can Spleen circulate Stomach’s fluids?”
Qi Bo said: “Foot Taiyin is Three Yin. Its vessel passes through Stomach, belongs to Spleen and networks with the throat. Thus Taiyin circulates qi for Stomach through the three yin channels. Yangming is exterior and the sea of the five zang and six fu organs; it also circulates qi through the three yang channels. The zang and fu organs each receive qi from Yangming through their own channels. Thus Spleen circulates Stomach’s fluids.
If the four limbs cannot receive the qi of water and grain, they weaken increasingly each day. The yin pathways become obstructed; sinews, bones and flesh lack qi for life, and the limbs cannot function.”
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