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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 34 · Contrary Regulation
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “The body is not ordinarily warm or hot. Why does it become hot with vexation and fullness?”
Qi Bo replied: “Yin qi is scant and yang qi prevails. Thus heat, vexation and fullness arise.”
The Emperor asked: “The body is not cold from its clothing, and there is no cold qi within. Why does cold arise from inside?”
Qi Bo said: “This person has much obstructing qi. Yang qi is scant and yin qi abundant, so the body is cold as though just emerging from water.”
The Emperor asked: “Why do some have hot limbs that feel roasted, like fire, on encountering wind and cold?”
Qi Bo said: “Such people have deficient yin qi and flourishing yang qi. The four limbs are yang. The two yang influences join while yin qi is deficient and scant. Little Water cannot extinguish abundant Fire, and yang governs alone. Governing alone cannot generate and grow; it merely prevails by itself and stops there. Feeling roasted, like fire, on encountering wind means this person’s flesh will be consumed.”
The Emperor asked: “What illness makes the body cold, unable to be heated by hot water or fire or warmed by thick clothing, yet without shivering?”
Qi Bo said: “This person originally has prevailing Kidney qi and is occupied with Water. Taiyang qi declines; Kidney fat withers and does not grow. One Water cannot overcome two Fires. Kidney is Water and gives life to bone. When Kidney does not generate, marrow cannot fill, so severe cold reaches the bones.
Why is there no shivering? Liver is One Yang; Heart is Two Yang; Kidney is a solitary zang organ. One Water cannot overcome the two Fires, so shivering does not occur. The illness is called bone obstruction. This person will develop contracted joints.
Reading note: The supplied initial Kidney ascendancy and subsequent withering, and the numerical Liver/Heart/Water/Fire comparisons, are retained as written.”
The Emperor asked: “What illness leaves the flesh numb and unresponsive, still so even beneath clothing and padded garments?”
Qi Bo said: “Nutritive qi is deficient and defensive qi replete. Deficient nutritive qi causes numbness; deficient defensive qi causes loss of function. When both are deficient, there is both numbness and loss of function, though the flesh looks as before. When body and intention no longer possess one another, this is called death.
Reading note: The opening says defensive qi is replete, while the ensuing explanation discusses defensive deficiency; both supplied statements remain.”
The Emperor asked: “Some have counterflow qi, cannot lie down and breathe noisily; others cannot lie down but breathe without sound. Some move and rest as usual yet breathe noisily. Some can lie down but pant when walking. Others cannot lie down or walk and pant. Others cannot lie down because lying brings panting. Which zang organs cause these? I wish to hear the reasons.”
Qi Bo said: “Inability to lie down with noisy breathing is Yangming counterflow. The three yang channels of the foot descend; now they turn contrary and rise, so breathing has sound. Yangming is Stomach’s vessel. Stomach is the sea of the six fu organs, and its qi also descends. Yangming counterflow cannot follow its proper course, so lying down is impossible. The Lower Canon says: ‘Disharmony in Stomach makes lying down uneasy.’ This is its meaning.
When movement and rest are normal but breathing is noisy, Lung’s network vessel is contrary. The networks cannot follow the channels upward and downward; qi remains in the channel instead of moving. Network-vessel illness affects a person subtly, so ordinary activity remains possible despite noisy breathing.
Inability to lie down because lying brings panting means water qi has lodged. Water flows along the fluids. Kidney is the Water organ, governing fluids and the relation between lying down and panting.”
The Emperor said: “Good.”
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