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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 38 · Cough
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “Why does Lung make a person cough?”
Qi Bo replied: “The five zang and six fu organs all make people cough, not Lung alone.”
The Emperor said: “I wish to hear their manifestations.”
Qi Bo said: “Skin and body hair correspond to Lung. They first receive harmful qi, which follows that correspondence. Cold food and drink enter Stomach and rise through Lung’s vessel to Lung, making it cold. Internal and external harmful influences then join and lodge, producing Lung cough.
The five zang organs each receive illness in their own season. Outside that season, illness is transmitted to them from another organ. People participate in Heaven and Earth, so each zang organ is vulnerable to cold in the season it governs. Mild injury produces cough; severe injury produces discharge or pain. In autumn Lung receives harmful influence first; in spring Liver; in summer Heart; in utmost yin Spleen; in winter Kidney.”
The Emperor asked: “How are they distinguished?”
Qi Bo said: “Lung cough brings cough with noisy panting; when severe, blood is spat out. Heart cough brings Heart pain on coughing, with something obstructing the throat like a lodged stalk; severe cases bring throat swelling and painful throat obstruction.
Liver cough brings pain beneath both flanks on coughing. When severe, turning is impossible; turning brings fullness beneath both sides. Spleen cough brings pain beneath the right flank, drawing dimly into shoulder and back. When severe, movement is impossible because it intensifies the cough. Kidney cough brings drawing pain between waist and back; when severe, saliva is coughed out.”
The Emperor asked: “What are coughs of the six fu organs like, and where do they receive illness?”
Qi Bo said: “Longstanding cough of the five zang organs shifts to the six fu organs. If Spleen cough does not end, Stomach receives it: coughing brings vomiting, and severe vomiting expels long worms. If Liver cough does not end, Gallbladder receives it: coughing brings vomiting of bile.
If Lung cough does not end, Large Intestine receives it: coughing brings involuntary stool loss. If Heart cough does not end, Small Intestine receives it: wind escapes together with the cough. If Kidney cough does not end, Bladder receives it: coughing brings involuntary urination.
When longstanding cough does not end, the Triple Burner receives it: coughing brings abdominal fullness and no desire for food or drink. All these gather in Stomach and connect with Lung, making a person produce much mucus and spittle, with puffy facial swelling and counterflow qi.”
The Emperor asked: “How are they treated?”
Qi Bo said: “For the zang organs, treat their transport points. For the fu organs, treat their he-sea points. For swelling, treat their channel points.”
The Emperor said: “Good.”
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