难经第30－38难

Difficult Classic [Nan Jing], Difficulties 30–38

Overall Paraphrase

Difficulty 30 · Nutritive Qi and Defensive Qi Follow Each Other

Question: Does Nutritive Qi (the qi that moves within the vessels and governs nourishment and moistening) always move in the body in company with Defensive Qi (the qi that moves outside the vessels and governs warming and defense)? Answer: The medical classics say that the body's qi originates from water and grain 🌾. When food and drink enter the stomach, they are transformed into subtle essence and then transmitted to the Five Viscera and Six Bowels, all of which are nourished by the qi of water and grain. Of these, the relatively clear and gentle portion is Nutritive Qi, while the relatively active and swift portion is Defensive Qi — here "turbid" does not mean foul, but rather refers to being relatively more active and inclined toward external defense in contrast to "clear." Nutritive Qi moves within the vessels, Defensive Qi moves outside the vessels, circulating ceaselessly, completing fifty circuits in a day and night before reconverging. The Yin and Yang channels interpenetrate each other, like a ring without beginning or end. Therefore, it is known that Nutritive Qi and Defensive Qi accompany each other.

Difficulty 31 · The Generation of the Triple Burner and Its Seat of Governance

Question: What does the Triple Burner (the qi-transformation and water-course system of the upper, middle, and lower portions) receive, and how is it generated? Where does it begin, and where does it end? Where is its principal seat of governance? Answer: The Triple Burner is the pathway through which water and grain travel, and it is also the place where the body's qi begins and ends. The Upper Burner is below the heart, penetrating downward through the transverse diaphragm, at the upper opening of the stomach. It governs receiving and does not govern discharge; its seat of governance is at Danzhong (the hollow between the two breasts, one cun and six fen below the Yutang point). The Middle Burner is at the middle hollow of the stomach (Zhongwan), neither above nor below. It governs the decomposing and ripening of water and grain; its seat of governance is beside the navel. The Lower Burner is at the upper opening of the urinary bladder. It governs the separation of clear and turbid, governs discharge rather than receiving, and serves the function of transmission; its seat of governance is one cun below the navel. Therefore it is called the "Triple Burner," and its bowel is at the Qi Street (near the Qichong point in the groin).

Difficulty 32 · Why Do the Heart and Lungs Alone Dwell Above the Diaphragm

Question: The Five Viscera are of equal standing, so why do the Heart and Lungs alone reside above the transverse diaphragm? Answer: The Heart governs blood, and the Lungs govern qi. Blood is Nutritive, qi is Defensive. They accompany each other above and below, and together they are called Nutritive and Defensive. They circulate through the channels and network vessels, moving cyclically across the body surface. Therefore, the Heart and Lungs alone are placed above the diaphragm.

Difficulty 33 · The Floating and Sinking of the Liver and Lungs and Yin-Yang Hardness-Softness

Question: The Liver is green in color and belongs to Wood among the Five Phases; the Lungs are white in color and belong to Metal. By principle, wood should float in water, yet it is said that when the Liver receives water it sinks instead; metal should sink in water, yet it is said that when the Lungs receive water they float instead. What does this mean? Answer: The Liver is not pure Wood, but rather Yin Wood "Yi." In the five tones it corresponds to jue, and it is paired with Yang Metal "Geng" to form the "pliant." Broadly speaking, it is the pairing of Yin and Yang; more finely, it is like the union of husband and wife. The Liver releases its slight Yang and absorbs the qi of slight Yin. Its nature inclines toward Metal, and it tends to follow the path of Yin softness. Therefore, when the Liver receives water, it sinks. The Lungs likewise are not pure Metal, but rather Yin Metal "Xin." In the five tones they correspond to shang, and they are paired with Yang Fire "Bing" to form the "pliant." The Lungs release their slight Yin and unite with Fire. Their nature inclines toward Fire, and they tend to follow the path of Yang firmness. Therefore, when the Lungs receive water, they float. Then why is it that when the Lungs mature they sink, and when the Liver matures it floats? From this, one can know that Xin Metal ultimately returns to Geng Metal, and Yi Wood ultimately returns to Jia Wood — that is, after Yin softness matures, it returns to its original Yang firm nature.

Difficulty 34 · The Sounds, Colors, Odors, Tastes, and Fluids of the Five Viscera and the Storage of Spirit

Question: The Five Viscera each have corresponding sounds, colors, odors, tastes, and fluids. Can this be explained? Answer: The Ten Transformations says: The Liver's color is green, its odor is rank (goatish), its taste is sour, its sound is calling (shouting), and its fluid is tears. The Heart's color is red, its odor is scorched, its taste is bitter, its sound is speech, and its fluid is sweat. The Spleen's color is yellow, its odor is fragrant, its taste is sweet, its sound is singing, and its fluid is sloppy saliva (xian). The Lungs' color is white, their odor is fishy, their taste is pungent, their sound is weeping, and their fluid is nasal mucus. The Kidneys' color is black, their odor is putrid, their taste is salty, their sound is groaning, and their fluid is spittle. These are the sounds, colors, odors, tastes, and fluids of the Five Viscera. Question: The Five Viscera have seven spirits. Where is each stored? Answer: The Five Viscera are where the spirit-qi of a person dwells and is stored. Therefore, the Liver stores the Ethereal Soul (Hun), the Lungs store the Corporeal Soul (Po), the Heart stores the Spirit (Shen), the Spleen stores Intent (Yi) and Wisdom (Zhi), and the Kidneys store Essence (Jing) and Willpower (Zhi).

Difficulty 35 · Interior-Exterior Relationships of the Viscera and Bowels and Their Relative Distance

Question: The Five Viscera each have their paired bowel located nearby. Why then are the Heart and Small Intestine, and the Lungs and Large Intestine, relatively far apart? Answer: The medical classics say that the Heart governs Nutritive Qi and the Lungs govern Defensive Qi, and they circulate the Yang qi. Therefore, their positions are above. The Large Intestine and Small Intestine transmit the Yin qi and move downward. Therefore, their positions are below. Thus, they are relatively far apart. Another question: The Six Bowels all belong to Yang and should be places of clarity and purity. But now the Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Stomach, and Urinary Bladder all receive and contain things that are not pure. Why is this? Answer: The statement that "the Six Bowels are all clear and pure" is incorrect. The medical classics say: The Small Intestine is the Bowel of Reception. The Large Intestine is the Bowel of Transmission and Discharge. The Gallbladder is the Bowel of Clarity and Purity. The Stomach is the Bowel of Water and Grain. The Urinary Bladder is the Bowel of Fluids and Humors. One bowel does not have two names, so it is known that the statement "all the bowels are clear and pure" does not hold. The Small Intestine is the bowel of the Heart; the Large Intestine is the bowel of the Lungs; the Gallbladder is the bowel of the Liver; the Stomach is the bowel of the Spleen; and the Urinary Bladder is the bowel of the Kidneys. According to the five colors in naming, the Small Intestine is called the Red Intestine, the Large Intestine the White Intestine, the Gallbladder the Green Intestine, the Stomach the Yellow Intestine, and the Urinary Bladder the Black Intestine. All of these are governed by the Lower Burner.

Difficulty 36 · The Left Kidney and the Right Life-Gate

Question: The Five Viscera each number one. Why then does the Kidney alone have two? Answer: Although there are two Kidneys, they are not both Kidneys. The one on the left is the Kidney; the one on the right is the Life-Gate (Mingmen) (the gate of life, where the primordial qi is anchored). The Life-Gate is where the various spirits and essences reside and where the Source Qi (Yuanqi) (the fundamental qi of the body) is tethered. In men, it is used to store essence; in women, it is used to maintain the uterus. Therefore, there is truly only one Kidney.

Difficulty 37 · The Five Viscera Connecting to the Seven Orifices and Blockage-Repulsion

Question: Where does the qi of the Five Viscera originate, and where does it connect? Answer: The essential qi of the Five Viscera is constantly reflected in the seven orifices above. The qi of the Lungs connects to the nose; when the nose's qi is harmonious, it can distinguish fragrance from stench. The qi of the Liver connects to the eyes; when the eyes' qi is harmonious, they can distinguish black from white. The qi of the Spleen connects to the mouth; when the mouth's qi is harmonious, it can distinguish the flavors of the five grains. The qi of the Heart connects to the tongue; when the tongue's qi is harmonious, it can distinguish the five tastes. The qi of the Kidneys connects to the ears; when the ears' qi is harmonious, they can distinguish the five tones. When the Five Viscera are out of harmony, the seven orifices are blocked. When the Six Bowels are out of harmony, qi and blood stagnate and bind, forming abscesses. When evil is in the Six Bowels, the Yang vessels are not harmonious, qi stagnates, and the Yang vessels become replete. When evil is in the Five Viscera, the Yin vessels are not harmonious, blood stagnates, and the Yin vessels become replete. When Yin qi is excessive, Yang qi cannot circulate and interact with it — this is called "Repulsion (Ge)." When Yang qi is excessive, Yin qi cannot circulate and interact with it — this is called "Blockage (Guan)." When both Yin and Yang are excessive and cannot interact with each other — this is called "Blockage-Repulsion (Guan-Ge)." Blockage-Repulsion is a critical state of severe separation and obstruction between Yin and Yang, which the ancients believed would cause a person to die without completing their natural lifespan. Question: The medical classics say that qi moves only through the Five Viscera and does not circulate through the Six Bowels. Why? Answer: The movement of qi is like the flow of water — it does not stop for an instant. Therefore, the Yin vessels circulate through the Five Viscera, and the Yang vessels circulate through the Six Bowels, like a ring with no starting point, circling and returning without overflowing. In the interior, a person's qi warms the viscera and bowels; on the exterior, it moistens the interstices (couli) (the textures of the skin and flesh).

Difficulty 38 · The Triple Burner as the Sixth Bowel

Question: There are only five Viscera. Why are there six Bowels? Answer: The reason there are six Bowels is that the Triple Burner is included. The Triple Burner is the separate envoy of the Source Qi. It presides over and governs the qi of the entire body. It has a name but no physical form, and its channel belongs to the Hand Shaoyang channel. It is a bowel beyond the other bowels. Therefore, it is said that there are six Bowels.

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🧠 Deep Understanding

Core Principles 💡

• Nutritive and Defensive share the same source; Yin and Yang interpenetrate: Difficulty 30 establishes, from the perspective of water and grain transforming into qi and blood, that Nutritive and Defensive qi share the same origin in diet, moving respectively within and outside the vessels, yet circling endlessly and reconvening every day and night. This reflects the basic model of Traditional Chinese Medicine: holistic circulation and the interpenetration of Yin and Yang.
• The Triple Burner is a qi-transformation pathway: Difficulties 31 and 38 propose that the Triple Burner is "named but formless." The Upper Burner governs receiving, the Middle Burner governs decomposing and ripening, and the Lower Burner governs transmission and discharge. This emphasizes the description of a functional system governing water-grain metabolism and the ascending-descending and entering-exiting movement of qi, rather than a concrete anatomical organ.
• External manifestations of the Five Viscera and the storage of spirit: Difficulty 34 pairs the five colors, five sounds, five odors, five tastes, and five fluids with the Five Viscera, and further assigns the Hun, Po, Shen, Yi, Zhi, Jing, and Zhic to be stored in the Five Viscera. This establishes a unified view of both inner-outer correspondence ("within are the Five Viscera — without are the seven orifices") and the lodging of the spirit-mechanisms.
• The Life-Gate as the root of Source Qi: Difficulty 36 proposes the left Kidney and right Life-Gate, regarding the Life-Gate as the place where the spirit-essence and Source Qi are tethered. This is an important origin of later Life-Gate theory.
• The division of functions between Viscera and Bowels: Difficulties 35 and 37 emphasize that the viscera store essence-qi while the bowels transform and transmit. The Heart, Nutritive Qi, and Lungs, Defensive Qi, reside above; the intestinal bowels transmit downward. The Yang vessels circulate the Six Bowels and the Yin vessels circulate the Five Viscera, embodying the principle that Yin and Yang each perform their respective functions.
• Blockage-Repulsion as an extreme imbalance of Yin and Yang: Difficulty 37 uses Yin excess repelling Yang, Yang excess blocking Yin, and both being excessive to explain Blockage-Repulsion (Guan-Ge), emphasizing that once the communication between Yin and Yang is severely obstructed, the body enters a critical state.

Modern Perspectives 🌟

• Nutritive and Defensive circulation can be analogized to certain functions of blood circulation, metabolism, and immunity in modern medicine. However, the notion of "fifty circuits in a day and night" and "like a ring without beginning or end" is more of an ancient functional rhythm model and should not be mechanically equated with anatomical blood circulation.
• The Triple Burner being named but formless is closer to the concept of "functional modules" in modern systems biology. It may partially correspond to the coordinated functions of the digestive, respiratory, urinary, and body-fluid metabolic systems, but one should not forcefully search for a single anatomical organ.
• The Five Viscera connecting to the seven orifices has partial basis in simple empirical observation — such as the Lungs connecting to the nose, and the Heart connecting to the tongue — but it should not be equated with modern anatomical correspondences. Associations like the Liver opening into the eyes and the Kidneys opening into the ears belong to traditional Five-Phase categorization and require a rational boundary to be maintained.
• The left Kidney and right Life-Gate does not conform to modern anatomical understanding — both kidneys are symmetrical. The Life-Gate should more appropriately be understood as an ancient functional generalization of reproduction, endocrine function, and the root of primordial qi. It has points of analogy with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal/gonadal axis but is not a direct correspondence.
• The floating and sinking of the Liver and Lungs is not an actual physical experimental finding. Rather, it is a philosophical inference using the Five Phases, Heavenly Stems, and Yin-Yang combination theory to illustrate that "within Yin there is Yang, within Yang there is Yin, and hardness and softness complement each other." It should not be treated as a matter of empirical fact.
• Blockage-Repulsion, which describes severe separation of Yin and Yang and obstruction of qi and blood, can be analogized to critical conditions in modern medicine such as multiple organ failure or severe internal environmental disturbance. However, the ancients did not have the foundations of modern pathology, so direct equivalences should not be drawn.

Health Cultivation Insights ⚡

• Moderation in diet to generate Nutritive and Defensive qi: Regular meals and avoiding extreme hunger or overeating help ensure the proper transformation of water and grain subtle essence — the basis for sufficient Nutritive and Defensive qi.
• Aligning daily routine with the day-night cycle: Because Nutritive and Defensive qi have rhythms of convergence over a full day and night, maintaining regular sleep and avoiding prolonged sleep deprivation helps keep qi movement flowing smoothly.
• Regulating the qi mechanism of the Triple Burner: Avoiding prolonged sitting, maintaining moderate activity, and keeping the breath even help facilitate the unimpeded qi transformation of the upper, middle, and lower burners.
• The seven orifices should not be overused: Use of the eyes, ears, tongue, and nose should be moderate. In terms of diet, the Five Tastes should not be indulged to excess. Maintaining cleanliness of the mouth and nose reduces obstruction at the seven orifices.
• Protecting the spirits of the Five Viscera through emotional regulation: Avoid excessive fear, overthinking, grief, and other emotional extremes. Keeping the mind at peace helps stabilize the spirit-qi of the Five Viscera.
• The Life-Gate values "moderation and storage": Avoid excessive depletion of essence-qi, avoid chronic overexertion, and pay attention to balancing work and rest. These are general principles for daily preservation of primordial qi and are not directed at any specific illness.

📚 Related Knowledge

• Related Concepts: Nutritive-Defensive qi, Triple Burner qi transformation, viscera-bowel interior-exterior relationships, Life-Gate/Source Qi, the Five Viscera opening into the orifices, the Five Spirit-Viscera, Blockage-Repulsion, Yin-Yang repulsion and blockage.
• Further Reading: Lingshu · Nutritive and Defensive Meeting (Yingwei Shenghui), Lingshu · Root Centers (Benshu), Suwen · Six Sectional Storage Manifestations (Liujie Zangxiang Lun), Nanjing · Difficulty 8, Nanjing · Difficulty 39. For later theories of the Life-Gate, see Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Works of Zhang Jiebin).

This content is based on classic texts of traditional Chinese medicine and is provided solely for the study and appreciation of traditional culture. It does not constitute any form of medical diagnosis, medication advice, or treatment recommendation. If you feel unwell, please seek prompt medical attention.
— Bu Gua