素问·著至教论 Discourse on Elucidating the Utmost Teaching
黄帝坐明堂，召雷公而问之曰：子知医之道乎。雷公对曰：诵而颇能解，解而未能别，别而未能明，明而未能彰，足以治群僚，不足至侯王。愿得受树天之度，四时阴阳合之，别星辰与日月光，以彰经术，后世益明，上通神农，著至教疑于二皇。帝曰：善。无失之，此皆阴阳表里上下雌雄相输应也，而道上知天文，下知地理，中知人事，可以长久，以教众庶，亦不疑殆，医道论篇，可传后世，可以为宝。雷公曰：请受道，讽诵用解。
帝曰：子不闻阴阳传乎。曰：不知。曰：夫三阳天为业，上下无常，合而病至，偏害阴阳。雷公曰：三阳莫当，请闻其解。帝曰：三阳独至者，是三阳并至，并至如风雨，上为巅疾，下为漏病。外无期，内无正，不中经纪，诊无上下，以书别。雷公曰：臣治踈愈，说意而已。帝曰：三阳者，至阳也，积并则为惊，病起疾风，至如礔礰，九窍皆塞，阳气滂溢，乾嗌喉塞，并于阴，则上下无常，薄为肠澼。此谓三阳直心，坐不得起，卧者便身全，三阳之病。且以知天下何以别阴阳，应四时，合之五行。雷公曰：阳言不别，阴言不理，请起受解，以为至道。帝曰：子若受传，不知合至道以惑师教，语子至道之要。病伤五藏，筋骨以消，子言不明不别，是世主学尽矣。肾且绝，惋惋，日暮从容不出，人事不殷。
Huangdi, seated in the Hall of Light, summoned Lei Gong and asked him: Do you know the Way of medicine? Lei Gong replied: I can recite it and understand it fairly well, but having understood it I cannot yet distinguish its fine points; having distinguished them I cannot yet make them clear; having made them clear I cannot yet make them brilliant. This is enough to treat the various officials, but not enough to reach lords and kings. I wish to receive instruction in the measures established by Heaven, uniting them with the yin and yang of the four seasons, distinguishing the stars and constellations from the light of sun and moon, so as to make the arts of the classics brilliant, so that later generations may become ever more enlightened, reaching up to connect with Shennong, and elucidating the utmost teaching to rival the two sovereigns. The Emperor said: Good. Do not lose hold of this. All of this concerns the mutual transmission and correspondence of yin and yang, exterior and interior, above and below, male and female. As for the Way, one must know astronomy above, geography below, and human affairs in between; only then can it endure long and be used to teach the multitude without doubt or danger. The treatises on the Way of medicine can then be transmitted to later generations and treasured as a precious legacy. Lei Gong said: I ask to receive the Way, that I may recite and understand it.
The Emperor said: Have you not heard of the Transmission of Yin and Yang? He replied: I do not know it. The Emperor said: The three yang take Heaven as their domain; they move up and down without constancy, and when they combine, disease arrives, injuring yin and yang unevenly. Lei Gong said: I cannot fathom the three yang; I ask to hear their explanation. The Emperor said: When the three yang arrive alone, this means the three yang arrive together; arriving together they are like wind and rain — above they cause disease of the vertex, below they cause the disease of leakage. Outwardly there is no fixed period, inwardly there is no regularity, they do not conform to the order of the channels, and in diagnosis there is no distinguishing above from below; one must distinguish them by the writings. Lei Gong said: In my treatments, recovery has been sparse; I have only grasped the general idea. The Emperor said: The three yang are the utmost yang; when they accumulate and combine, they cause fright. The disease arises like a swift wind, arriving like a thunderclap; all nine orifices become blocked, yang qi overflows in torrents, the throat dries and the gullet is obstructed. When they combine with yin, then above and below lose their constancy, and pressing together they cause dysenteric intestinal disorder. This is called the three yang striking straight at the heart: sitting, the patient cannot rise, while lying down the body remains whole — this is the disease of the three yang. Moreover, by this one may know how all under heaven distinguishes yin and yang, corresponds to the four seasons, and unites with the five phases. Lei Gong said: In speaking of yang I cannot distinguish it, in speaking of yin I cannot order it; I ask to rise and receive the explanation, to make it the utmost Way. The Emperor said: If you receive this transmission yet do not know how to unite it with the utmost Way, you will confuse your teacher's instruction. I tell you the essentials of the utmost Way: when disease injures the five viscera, the sinews and bones waste away; if your words are unclear and cannot distinguish this, then the learning of the rulers of the age is exhausted. The kidney is on the verge of being cut off, one grieves and sighs, at dusk one is languid and does not go out, and human affairs are no longer attended to with vigor.