灵枢经·禁服 Discourse on the Restricted Transmission

Leigong asked Huangdi, saying: 'This lowly disciple has received your instruction and gained understanding of the sixty chapters of the Nine Needles; morning and evening I have diligently applied myself to them, until the more recently bound volumes have had their binding cords worn through, and the older bamboo strips have grown soiled with handling. Yet still I recite and chant them without setting them aside, and there remain points whose meaning I have not fully grasped. In the chapter "External Estimation," it speaks of gathering and binding all things together into one — I do not know what this means. Now, that which is great has nothing outside it, and that which is small has nothing within it; the great and the small are without limit, the high and the low are without measure — how, then, can one bind them into one? Among scholars, natural talent and capacity vary, some deep and some shallow; my own understanding is narrow and superficial, unable to grasp what is broad, vast, and profound, though I strive as hard in study as this lowly disciple can. I fear that this teaching will scatter and be lost to later generations, cut off from my own descendants — may I dare ask how it can be bound into a compact and lasting form?' Huangdi said: 'An excellent question indeed. This is a teaching that my former masters restricted, transmitting it only in private, sealed with a covenant of cutting the arm and smearing the blood in oath. If you wish to receive it, why not first observe ritual fasting?'

Leigong bowed twice, rose, and said: 'I ask to receive your instruction on these terms.' He then fasted and kept vigil for three days, and requested, saying: 'May I ask that, this day being one of proper yang brightness, this lowly disciple be permitted to receive the covenant?' Huangdi then entered the fasting chamber together with him, cut his arm, and smeared the blood in oath. Huangdi himself pronounced the invocation, saying: 'On this day of proper yang brightness, we smear blood in oath to transmit these formulas. Should anyone dare to betray these words, may they instead receive calamity in return.' Leigong bowed twice and said: 'This lowly disciple receives it.' Huangdi then grasped his hand with his left hand, and with his right handed him the text, saying: 'Be cautious, be cautious. I shall now explain it to you. In all the principles of needling, the channel vessels are the starting point. One must trace the course along which they flow, and know their proper measures and dimensions. Within, one needles the five viscera; without, one needles the six bowels. One must carefully examine the defensive qi, for it is the mother of the hundred diseases. One regulates deficiency and excess, and only when deficiency and excess are corrected does one stop; one drains the blood in the network vessels, and when the blood is exhausted, there is no danger.'

Leigong said: 'All of this is what this lowly disciple already understands; what I do not yet know is how to bind it into a compact form.' Huangdi said: 'Now to bind a formula compactly is like binding shut a sack: if the sack is full and not bound shut, its contents will leak and spill out; if a formula is complete but not bound into compact form, the spirit will not accompany it.' Leigong said: 'I wish, for the sake of those of lesser talent, that you would bind it compactly before it becomes overfull.' Huangdi said: 'One who knows how to bind it compactly before it becomes overfull may become a skilled practitioner, but cannot thereby become a teacher to all under Heaven.'

Leigong said: 'I wish to hear how one becomes a skilled practitioner.' Huangdi said: 'The cunkou pulse governs the interior, and the renying pulse governs the exterior. The two correspond to each other, moving together and arriving together, like a stretched cord equal in thickness throughout its length. In spring and summer, the renying pulse is slightly larger; in autumn and winter, the cunkou pulse is slightly larger. When this is so, the person is called balanced and healthy.'

When the renying pulse is one time larger than the cunkou pulse, the disease is in the Foot Shaoyang channel; if it is one time larger and also agitated, it is in the Hand Shaoyang channel. When the renying pulse is two times larger, the disease is in the Foot Taiyang channel; if two times larger and agitated, the disease is in the Hand Taiyang channel. When the renying pulse is three times larger, the disease is in the Foot Yangming channel; if three times larger and agitated, the disease is in the Hand Yangming channel. When the pulse is replete, this indicates heat; when deficient, it indicates cold; when taut, it indicates painful impediment; when intermittent, the condition alternates between severe and eased. When replete, one drains it; when deficient, one supplements it; when taut, one needles the flesh between the muscles; when intermittent, one drains the network vessels of blood and also administers medicinal decoctions; when the pulse is sunken and depressed, one applies moxibustion; when neither replete nor deficient, one selects points along the affected channel itself — this is called channel puncture. When the renying pulse is four times larger, both large and rapid, this is called yang overflow; yang overflow becomes exterior blockage, and is fatal, beyond treatment. One must carefully press and examine the root and branch of the pulse, observe whether it is cold or hot, so as to verify the disease of the viscera and bowels.'

When the cunkou pulse is one time larger than the renying pulse, the disease is in the Foot Jueyin channel; if one time larger and agitated, it is in the Hand Xin Zhu (Pericardium) channel. When the cunkou pulse is two times larger, the disease is in the Foot Shaoyin channel; if two times larger and agitated, it is in the Hand Shaoyin channel. When the cunkou pulse is three times larger, the disease is in the Foot Taiyin channel; if three times larger and agitated, it is in the Hand Taiyin channel. When the pulse is replete, this indicates distension and fullness, cold in the middle, and undigested food; when deficient, it indicates heat in the middle, discharge of sloughing stool, shortness of qi, and altered color of the urine; when taut, it indicates painful impediment; when intermittent, the pain alternates between occurring and ceasing. When replete, one drains it; when deficient, one supplements it; when taut, one needles first and then applies moxibustion afterward; when intermittent, one drains the network vessels of blood and afterward regulates the condition; when sunken and depressed, one applies moxibustion alone — for when the pulse is sunken and depressed, the blood within the vessel has become knotted and bound, with stagnant blood lodged within, and the blood is cold, so moxibustion is fitting. When neither replete nor deficient, one selects points along the affected channel itself. When the cunkou pulse is four times larger, this is called inward blockage; inward blockage, being both large and rapid, is fatal, beyond treatment. One must carefully examine whether the root and branch of the pulse are cold or warm, so as to verify the disease of the viscera and bowels.'

Only when one has thoroughly grasped the nutritive qi and the transport points can one go on to transmit the great essentials. The great essentials state: when replete, simply drain it; when deficient, simply supplement it; when taut, apply moxibustion and needling together with medicinal decoctions; when sunken and depressed, simply apply moxibustion; when neither replete nor deficient, select points along the affected channel itself. What is called treating by the channel means administering medicinal decoctions as well as moxibustion and needling. When the pulse is taut and tense, one should guide and stretch the affected area; when the pulse is large yet weak, one should seek calm and quietude, exerting no strenuous effort or labor.'