素问·气穴论 Treatise on the Qi Cavities
黄帝问曰：余闻气穴三百六十五，以应一岁，未知其所，愿卒闻之。歧伯稽首再拜对曰：窘乎哉问也。其非圣帝，孰能穷其道焉，因请溢意尽言其处。帝捧手逡巡而却曰：夫子之开余道也，目未见其处，耳未闻其数，而目以明，耳以聪矣。歧伯曰：此所谓圣人易语，良马易御也。帝曰：余非圣人之易语也，世言真数开人意，今余所访问者真数，发蒙解惑，未足以论也。然余愿闻夫子溢志尽言其处，令解其意，请藏之金匮，不敢复出。歧伯再拜而起曰：臣请言之，背与心相控而痛，所治天突与十椎及上纪，上纪者，胃脘也，下纪者，关元也。背胸邪系阴阳左右。如此其病前后痛涩，胸脇痛而不得息不得卧，上气短气偏痛，脉满起斜出尻脉，络胸脇支心贯鬲，上肩加天突，斜下肩交十椎下。藏俞五十穴，府俞七十二穴，热俞五十九穴，水俞五十七穴，头上五行行五，五五二十五穴，中𦛗两傍各五，凡十穴，大椎上两傍各一，凡二穴，目瞳子浮白二穴，两脾厌分中二穴，犊鼻二穴，耳中多所闻二穴，眉本二穴，完骨二穴，顶中央一穴，枕骨二穴，上关二穴，大迎二穴，下关二穴，天柱二穴，巨虚上下廉四穴，曲牙二穴，天突一穴，天府二穴，天牖二穴，扶突二穴，天䆫二穴，肩解二穴，关元一穴，委阳二穴，肩贞二穴，喑门一穴，齐一穴，胸俞十二穴，背俞二穴，膺俞十二穴，分肉二穴，踝上横二穴，阴阳蹻四穴，水俞在诸分，热俞在气穴，寒热俞在两骸厌中二穴，大禁二十五，在天府下五寸，凡三百六十五穴，针之所由行也。
帝曰：余已知气穴之处，游针之居，愿闻孙络溪谷，亦有所应乎。歧伯曰：孙络三百六十五穴会，亦以应一岁，以溢奇邪，以通荣卫，荣卫稽留，卫散荣溢，气竭血著，外为发热，内为少气，疾写无怠，以通荣卫，见而写之，无问所会。帝曰：善。
愿闻溪谷之会也。歧伯曰：肉之大会为谷，肉之小会为溪，肉分之闲，溪谷之会，以行荣卫，以会大气。邪溢气壅，脉热肉败荣卫不行，必将为脓内销骨髓，外破大膕，留于节凑，必将为败。积寒留舍，荣卫不居，卷肉缩筋，肋肘不得伸，内为骨痹，外为不仁，命曰不足，大寒留于溪谷也。溪谷三百六十五穴会，亦应一岁。其小痹淫溢，循脉往来，微针所及，与法相同。
帝乃辟左右而起再拜曰：今日发蒙解惑，藏之金匮，不敢复出，乃藏之金兰之室，署曰气穴所在。歧伯曰：孙络之脉别经者，其血盛而当写者，亦三百六十五脉，并注于络，传注十二络脉，非独十四络脉也，内解写于中者十脉。
Huangdi asked: I have heard that there are three hundred sixty-five qi cavities, corresponding to the days of one year, but I do not know their locations. I wish to hear of them in full. Qibo bowed his head and prostrated himself twice, replying: What a formidable question! Were you not a sagely sovereign, who could exhaust this subject? Allow your servant, then, to speak his mind fully and set forth their locations in their entirety. Huangdi clasped his hands, drew back respectfully, and said: You, Master, have opened this path for me — though my eyes have not yet seen these places nor my ears heard their number, already my eyes feel clearer and my ears sharper. Qibo said: This is what is meant by saying that the sage is easy to instruct, as a fine horse is easy to drive. Huangdi said: I am no sage so easily instructed. It is said in the world that the true numbers open a person's understanding; what I now inquire after are these true numbers, to dispel ignorance and resolve doubt — a matter not yet fit to call settled. Still, I wish to hear you, Master, speak your mind fully and set forth their locations completely, that their meaning may be understood; I shall store this in a golden casket and dare not let it out again. Qibo bowed twice, rose, and said: Your servant will speak of it. When the back and the heart pull upon each other and ache, treat Tiantu together with the tenth vertebra and the Upper Bond — the Upper Bond being the stomach duct, and the Lower Bond being Guanyuan. The back and chest are obliquely linked through yin and yang, left and right. When this disease occurs, there is pain and roughness both front and back, pain in the chest and flank with inability to breathe freely or to lie down, rising qi and shortness of breath with pain to one side; the vessel grows full and rises obliquely to emerge at the sacral vessel, links with the chest and flank, branches to the heart, pierces the diaphragm, ascends to the shoulder to join Tiantu, and then descends obliquely across the shoulder to meet below the tenth vertebra. There are fifty transport-points of the viscera; seventy-two transport-points of the bowels; fifty-nine transport-points for heat; and fifty-seven transport-points for water. Atop the head there are five rows of five points, twenty-five points in all. Flanking the central spine, five points to each side, ten in all. Above the Great Vertebra, one point to each side, two in all. The pupil and Fubai points, two. Between the two hip joints, two. Dubi, two. "Much Heard Within the Ear," two. The roots of the eyebrows, two. Wangu, two. The center of the crown, one. The occipital bone, two. Shangguan, two. Daying, two. Xiaguan, two. Tianzhu, two. The upper and lower ridges of the Great Void, four. Quya, two. Tiantu, one. Tianfu, two. Tianyou, two. Futu, two. Tianchuang, two. The shoulder joints, two. Guanyuan, one. Weiyang, two. Jianzhen, two. Yinmen, one. The navel, one. The chest transport-points, twelve. The back transport-points, two. The chest-front transport-points, twelve. Fenrou, two. The transverse points above the ankle, two. The yin and yang springing vessels, four. The water transport-points lie among the various muscle divisions; the heat transport-points lie at the qi cavities; the cold-heat transport-points are the two points within the hip joints. The twenty-five great forbidden points lie five cun below Tianfu. In all there are three hundred sixty-five points, the course by which the needle proceeds.
Huangdi said: I now know the locations of the qi cavities, the dwelling places through which the needle travels. I wish to hear whether the grandchild-connecting vessels and the valleys and ravines likewise have their correspondences. Qibo said: The grandchild-connecting vessels have three hundred sixty-five meeting points, which likewise correspond to the days of one year; through them unusual pathogens overflow and nutritive and defensive qi are made to circulate. When nutritive and defensive qi become detained, defensive qi disperses and nutritive qi overflows; qi becomes exhausted and blood stagnates, appearing outwardly as fever and inwardly as shortness of breath. Drain promptly without delay, so as to open the passage of nutritive and defensive qi; wherever stagnation is seen, drain it, without needing to ask which meeting point it is. Huangdi said: Good.
I wish to hear of the meeting places of the valleys and ravines. Qibo said: Where the flesh gathers greatly, it forms a "valley"; where the flesh gathers in a small way, it forms a "ravine." Between the divisions of the flesh, at the meeting of valley and ravine, nutritive and defensive qi circulate and the great qi convenes. When pathogenic qi overflows and qi becomes obstructed, the vessels grow hot and the flesh decays; once nutritive and defensive qi cease to circulate, this will inevitably form pus, consuming the marrow within and rupturing the great muscle masses without; if it lingers at the joints and junctures, ruin will inevitably follow. When accumulated cold lodges and lingers, nutritive and defensive qi lose their place; the flesh contracts and the sinews shrink, so that the ribs and elbows cannot extend; internally this becomes bone impediment, externally it becomes numbness — this is called insufficiency, caused by great cold lodging in the valleys and ravines. The valleys and ravines have three hundred sixty-five meeting points, likewise corresponding to one year. When minor impediment spreads and overflows, traveling back and forth along the vessels, the fine needle can reach it, following the same method as for the qi cavities.
Huangdi then dismissed his attendants, rose, and bowed twice, saying: Today my ignorance has been dispelled and my doubts resolved; I shall store this in a golden casket and dare not let it out again — I shall keep it in the Chamber of Gold and Orchid, inscribed "The Locations of the Qi Cavities." Qibo said: Among the grandchild-connecting vessels branching from the channels, those whose blood grows exuberant and ought to be drained likewise number three hundred sixty-five vessels; together they pour into the connecting vessels, transmitting into the twelve connecting vessels — not the fourteen connecting vessels alone. Of these, ten vessels are resolved and drained internally.