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Capítulo 76 de 81
黄帝内经·灵枢
Overall Paraphrased Translation
The original text contains several copy/scan corruptions; the following is translated after collating with the commonly used version of "Lingshu · On the Movement of Defense Qi."
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: I wish to understand the rules of the Defense (Wei) Qi — the qi circulating outside the vessels, responsible for warming the body surface, nourishing the skin, and resisting external pathogens — as it emerges, enters, and meets in the human body. Qi Bo replied: A year has twelve months, a day has twelve double-hours (chen). Zi (north) and Wu (south) form the meridian line; Mao (east) and You (west) form the latitudinal line. The sky has a circuit of twenty-eight mansions (ancient Chinese astronomical divisions, seven mansions in each of the four directions); the Fang and Mao mansions serve as east-west cardinal markers, while the Xu and Zhang mansions serve as north-south cardinal markers. From Fang mansion to Bi mansion is Yang; from Mao mansion to Xin mansion is Yin. Yang governs the day, Yin governs the night. The Defense Qi of the human body circulates fifty cycles throughout the body in a full day-and-night: during the day, it moves twenty-five cycles through the Yang aspect of the body surface; at night, it moves twenty-five cycles through the Yin aspect inside the body, sequentially flowing through the five viscera.
When dawn arrives and the qi of the Yin phase is exhausted, the Yang qi begins to disperse outward, starting from the eyes. When a person opens his eyes, the Defense Qi ascends to the head, travels down the nape along the Foot Taiyang Bladder Channel, and descends along the back to the tip of the little toe. One of its distributing branches separates from the outer canthus (corner of the eye), descends through the Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Channel, and reaches the outer side of the little finger; another branch separates from the outer canthus, descends through the Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Channel, and enters between the second and third toes; another branch travels along the Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao Channel's distribution, descending to the area beside the small fingers; still another branch ascends to the front of the ear, joins the mandibular vessels (vessels near the lower jaw), enters the Foot Yangming Stomach Channel, descends to the dorsum of the foot, and enters between the five toes; another distributing branch descends from below the ear along the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Channel, enters between the thumb and index finger, and reaches the palm. The branch that reaches the foot enters the center of the sole, emerges below the medial malleolus, travels through the Yin aspect, and then ascends to rejoin the eyes, completing one cycle.
Thus, in the time the sun traverses one mansion, the Defense Qi completes one full cycle plus eight-tenths of a cycle in the body; when the sun traverses two mansions, it completes three cycles plus six-tenths; when the sun traverses three mansions, it completes five cycles plus four-tenths; when four mansions, seven cycles plus two-tenths; when five mansions, nine cycles; when six mansions, ten cycles plus eight-tenths; when seven mansions, twelve cycles plus six-tenths — until the sun has traversed fourteen mansions, the Defense Qi has completed twenty-five cycles plus two-tenths in the body. At this point, the movement through the Yang phase is complete, and the Qi transfers into the Yin phase.
When Defense Qi first enters the Yin phase, it typically courses from the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Channel into the kidneys; from the Kidneys it moves to the Heart, from the Heart to the Lungs, from the Lungs to the Liver, from the Liver to the Spleen, and from the Spleen back to the Kidneys, completing one cycle. Therefore, when the sun traverses one mansion at night, the Defense Qi completes one cycle plus eight-tenths of a cycle through the Yin viscera — just as with the twenty-five cycles through the Yang phase during the day — and ultimately rejoins the eyes. Because both daytime and nighttime movements carry surplus fractions beyond full cycles, the times of waking and sleeping vary among individuals; this stems from the incomplete surplus cycles.
The Yellow Emperor asked: The Defense Qi moves up and down through the body at no fixed time — how can one await its arrival to perform needling? Bo Gao said: The numbers of day and night markings vary, and the lengths of day and night across the four seasons each follow patterns. One should take dawn as the boundary and the ending of night as the beginning. A full day-night is divided into one hundred water-clock marks (the ancient Chinese timekeeping system dividing the day and night into one hundred marks); twenty-five marks equal half-a-day's scale. One grasps the proper timing for needling according to the day-and-night rhythm established by season. If one carefully waits for the right time, illness can be treated at the appropriate phase; if the timing is missed and one goes against the law of waiting for qi, many diseases become difficult to treat. Hence it is said: In treating excess (Shi) conditions, needle the disease when qi arrives; in treating deficiency (Xu) conditions, needle when qi has departed. This is how one watches for the presence or absence of qi, a method that discerns deficiency and excess in order to needle accordingly. For disease in the three Yang channels (Taiyang, Shaoyang, Yangming), one should needle at a time when qi is in the Yang phase; for disease in the three Yin channels (Taiyin, Shaoyin, Jueyin), one should needle at a time when qi is in the Yin phase.
At water-mark one, the person's qi is in the Taiyang. At water-mark two, the person's qi is in the Shaoyang. At water-mark three, in the Yangming. At water-mark four, in the Yin phase. At water-mark five, in the Taiyang. At water-mark six, in the Shaoyang. At water-mark seven, in the Yangming. At water-mark eight, in the Yin phase… Thus, cycling according to the order Taiyang → Shaoyang → Yangming → Yin phase, until water-mark twenty-five, when the person's qi is again in the Taiyang — this is the pattern for half a day. From Fang mansion to Bi mansion there are fourteen mansions, comprising fifty water-marks when the sun travels half a degree. If the sun traverses one mansion along its path, it takes about three and four-sevenths water-marks. The gist is: one always takes the sun as it approaches a given mansion as the starting point — the person's qi is in the Taiyang; each time the sun traverses one mansion, the person's qi moves through the three Yang and Yin phases, continuing endlessly without pause — the same as the pattern of heaven and earth, intricate and unceasing, ending only to begin again.
BuGua Tip: This content is based on classical Chinese medical texts and is provided solelyfor traditional cultural study and research. It does not constitute any medical diagnosis, medication, or treatment instruction. If you are unwell, please seek medical attention promptly.