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Chapter 4 of 12
葬经翼
Where the mountain momentum ceases and vital energy gathers is called the acupoint (xué).
If an acupoint harbors a genuine ailment, it is like a crippled person—though possessing complete limbs and bone structure, the spirit, energy, and blood have been harmed by mutilation and damage; internally there is nothing left to retain. Such a place, by all standards, absolutely must not be used for burial; if buried against this principle, the three calamities of wind damage, ant infestation, and water damage will inevitably follow.
Thus, the acupoint can exhibit various ailments:
The Ailment of Piercing the Crown (Guàndǐng): The pulse of energy is drawn away from the side of the mountain's "brain," the peak's stellar form is not revealed. Since above there is no division of the pulse, how can below unite the energy?
The Ailment of a Broken Arm (Zhébì): The Azure Dragon and White Tiger should flank and support the acupoint, yet here they cave in and fracture at the site. External wind cannot be shielded, and vital energy disperses inward. 🌬
The Ailment of a Shattered Face (Pòmiàn): Although the stellar form is upright, its surface is fragmented by water erosion, leaving wave-like scars. The skin collapses and the flesh splits; vital energy has nowhere to adhere. 🌊
The Ailment of Falling Feet (Zhuìzú): The pulse of energy drains out through the "feet." The peak presses down from above, and the vital energy cannot stretch and expand.
The Ailment of a Taut Face (Bēngmiàn): The stellar surface is rigid and stiff, with transverse veins growing horizontally. Though numerous, they are only horizontal striations without vertical pulses—vital energy has no place to accumulate.
The Ailment of a Stuffed Belly (Bǎodù): The form is bulky like an overturned winnowing basket, round like a Torreya nut, flat like a gourd. Upper and lower merge into an undifferentiated mass, lacking water-division features. Though pointed or rounded in shape, no burial method can be applied.
The Ailment of Sliced Feet (Gējiǎo): Though the terrain is upright, flowing water scours and erodes the cushioned mat before the acupoint, sweeping it utterly clean—vital energy has been entirely dispersed. 🌊
The Ailment of Leaking Cheeks (Lòusāi): The cicada-wing sands hugging the acupoint fail to wrap around it; minor waters leak through the inner side. The Azure Dragon and White Tiger fold at their edges, and water cannot converge in the Small Bright Hall.
The Ailment of a Crouching Tiger (Hǔdūn): The White Tiger sand squats in opposition and turns its back, appearing fierce and menacing, overstepping and oppressive.
The Ailment of a Coiled Dragon (Lóngjù): The Azure Dragon sand coils and presses down, its configuration forceful and overbearing, restless and darting.
The Ailment of the Dark Tortoise Rejecting the Corpse (Xuánwǔ jù shī): The star peak at the rear flank fails to descend its pulse formation, refusing to bear and support.
The Ailment of the Vermillion Bird Soaring Away (Zhūquè téng qù): The front-facing mountain soars away into flight; waters pour down and turn their backs; the court mountain leans askew and does not return.
The Ailment of Front Flowers (Qián huā): The residual energy in front resembles an official star; though two waters intersect, sharp edges protrude with no "eyes" opening—the sand at the base presses and coerces.
The Ailment of Counterfeit Rear (Hòu jiǎ): Behind the acupoint there is no true ghost star supporting, and though the Dragon and Tiger are upright, the waters at the edge inevitably slip away. Gazing out from the acupoint, none of the waters return in subservience.
The Ailment of Left-Right Errant Falls (Zuǒyòu guǐ luò): When the two flanks fall away in abnormal ways, the hall's layout is necessarily tilted. Viewed from the side, the waters actually converge at a true acupoint elsewhere.
Therefore, wherever mountain forms are imposing, the acupoint emerges from intimately attached terrain. Even if one perceives the forms known as hollow (wō), pincer (qián), nipple (rǔ), protrusion (tū), scarcely one in a hundred will be genuine. For acupoints whose momentum is soft and delicate, if the various waters do not return and the protecting and wrapping sands do not attach, though refined, elegant, and pleasing to the eye, their vital energy will be thin—they surely lack that noble and extraordinary essence.
The key crux lies thus: First examine facing and turning-back; next investigate refinement and crudeness. Once trunk and branch are distinguished, primary and subordinate relations are thereby fixed; when the four responses (front, back, left, right) all radiate faithful resonance, and divisions and convergences are free from error; when all the manifold forces have gathered, sands and waters naturally come to court. Beginning at the energy-dividing ridge and continuing until it enters the acupoint, mountains and waters interweave, from great to small, from outer to inner, arriving at the point of initial contact where vital energy stirs—the divisions and convergings of the Small Bright Hall are clear and unambiguous. Then the principle of pillowing the round and facing the pointed, sleeping dry and avoiding wet is mastered.
When this is achieved, the three harms of wind, ants, and water cannot invade, the vitality of heaven and earth manifests visibly, and the true acupoint cannot escape recognition! Otherwise, how could the errors be fully enumerated? How can one not be thorough when inspecting and probing an acupoint for authenticity?
At its heart, this chapter establishes a diagnostic system for acupoint pathology. The author anthropomorphizes the acupoint, likening it to the human body—maintaining that just as a person requires not only an intact "physical frame" (external form) but also a healthy "spirit and energy" (inner vitality), so too must an acupoint contain both. Should an acupoint contract a "genuine ailment," even if outwardly resembling a complete form, it is essentially a "wasted person" and cannot be used.
The text systematically enumerates four categories comprising fourteen acupoint ailments:
| Category | Specific Ailments | Core Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Form and Structure Defects | Piercing Crown, Broken Arm, Shattered Face, Falling Feet, Taut Face, Stuffed Belly | Incomplete physical conformation or abnormal morphology |
| Water-Pattern Destructions | Sliced Feet, Leaking Cheeks | Water scouring and venting vital energy; the energy dissipates entirely |
| Sand-Form Betrayals | Crouching Tiger, Coiled Dragon, Tortoise Rejecting, Phoenix Soaring Away | The four guardian sands and waters turn their backs in disloyalty |
| Genuine vs. Counterfeit Confusions | Front Flowers, Counterfeit Rear, Unbalanced Wings | Appearing faithful while actually hollowform; the true acupoint lies elsewhere |
Finally, it presents a systematic verification methodology: facing→refinement→trunk-branch→primary-subordinate→four-responders→division-convergence→manifold forces→sands and waters—advancing from macroscopic to microscopic, from external to internal, each layer successively refined, ultimately confirming the true acupoint.
In contemporary site-selection contexts, these "acupoint ailments" may be translated into the language of geographical environmental risk assessment:
Applied to contemporary settings, these become a practical checklist for architectural siting and environmental assessment:
The deeper philosophical significance of this chapter lies in the dialectical relationship between "form" and "spirit." Right from the opening statement—"Though possessing the complete frame, spirit and energy are wounded by fracture and loss, so within there is nothing remaining"—the chapter echoes the archaic Chinese philosophical stance on the unity of physical form and vital spirit.
At a more fundamental level, the philosophical foundation of the "acupoint ailment" concept actually understands A point to discuss across scales: surface-level completeness is not identical to intrinsic wholeness. Whether a "site," a person, an institution, or a system—outer circumstances may seem opportune at first glance—even wholly unified—but should the internally-effective condition itself dissipate its core integrative process that shapes resultant activity generation itself systematically self-dis-interested, organizational ("momentum"), irrespective; yet remaining the fully external stable under-looking appearance does not indeed already directly constitute benefit bearing preservation against this diagnosis…
Conversely—true viability—must unite the concurrent proper actuation of internal goodness with its holding safe mutual-binding in an integrated zone generating mutually congruent elaboration.
And trailing phrase of classic assessment counts reflective trace all-through singular correspondence as accordingly at all situations of even semi-aesthetically pleasing correct overview-being "Front-flowers," "Back-assemblies," or "Twin-lopsided corners-deceiving"? Instead every-atmosphere thus flagged confirms for steady conclusion *where genuine-gold entrust simply remarkably rare throughout.
And thus reliability discrimination rather than apperceptive simulation both absolutely-satisfactory be additionally raised in-selvedged weight… beyond learned custom of "design-explanation."