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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 55 · Principles of Long Needling
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
A needler who does not diagnose hears the patient say the illness is in the head, with head pain, and needles deeply for the organ. The needle reaches bone and the illness ends. Above, do not injure bone, flesh or skin; skin is the pathway.
Reading note: The supplied juxtaposition of reaching bone and avoiding injury is retained, rather than rewritten as a different depth instruction.
Yin needling enters at one site and four places beside it, treating cold and heat. For deep, concentrated illness, needle the great zang region; when illness presses near a zang organ, needle the back, at its transport site. Needling close to the organ reaches its meeting place. Stop when cold and heat in the abdomen leave. The essential is to apply the needle shallowly and release blood.
For decayed swelling, needle above the decayed part. Judge the abscess’s size and depth before needling. A large one requires more blood; a small one deeper insertion. Keep the entering needle upright as the method and then stop.
For accumulation in the lower abdomen, needle below the region named pi zhi, continuing to the lower abdomen and stopping there. Needle beside the spine on both sides between the four vertebral sections, and at the paired iliac hollows and between the lower flank ribs. Guide the abdomen’s qi and heat downward until the illness ends.
Reading note: Pi zhi preserves the unclear supplied 皮殖 location. The supplied 髂壷 is read through the classical 髂髎, iliac hollows; no modern point or precise vertebral interval is invented.
Lower-abdominal pain with inability to pass stool or urine is called hernia and is acquired from cold. Needle between the lower abdomen and both thighs, and between the projecting bones of the waist. Apply repeated needling until warmth is complete and the illness ends.
Reading note: The supplied 慎骨 follows the classical 髁骨 context at the waist; the wording is not relocated to a modern ankle point.
Illness in sinews, with contraction, joint pain and inability to walk, is called sinew obstruction. Needle at the sinews, between the divisions of flesh, without striking bone. When the illness lifts and sinews become warm, the illness ends; stop.
Illness throughout the flesh and skin, with pain everywhere, is called flesh obstruction, injured by cold and dampness. Needle the great and small divisions, applying many needles deeply, taking warmth as the aim. Do not injure sinews or bones; injury produces abscesses or other changes. When all divisions become warm and the illness ends, stop.
Illness in bone, with heaviness preventing lifting, aching bone marrow and arriving cold qi, is called bone obstruction. Needle deeply, taking care not to injure vessels or flesh. The pathways are the great and small divisions. When bone becomes warm and the illness ends, stop.
Illness in the yang vessels, with alternating cold and heat in the various divisions, is called frenzy. Needle to empty the vessels. When the divisions are all warm and the illness ends, stop.
At first the illness attacks once a year. Untreated, it attacks monthly; still untreated, four or five times a month. It is called dian illness. Needle the various divisions and vessels. Where cold is absent, regulate with needles. When the illness ends, stop.
Wind illness brings cold and heat, warmth and sweating, several times a day. First needle the networks in the various divisions. For sweat with cold and heat, needle once every three days; it ends in one hundred days.
Great Wind brings heavy joints and falling beard and eyebrows. It is called Great Wind. Needle flesh as the method, with sweating for one hundred days; then needle bone marrow, with sweating for one hundred days. The total is two hundred days. Stop needling when beard and eyebrows grow.
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