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.In the upper [part of the body this] causes panting exhalation.When it enters the five depots,then distention and blockage result.In the lower [part of the body this] causes outflow of [undigested] food.Hence,the yang [conduits] receive the wind qi;the yin [conduits] receive the dampness qi.Hence,the yin qi rises from the feet, moves upward to the head,and moves down along the arms to the tips of the fingers.The yang qi moves up from the hands, reaches the head,and moves down to the feet.{Hence it is said:Yang diseases move up to the extreme [top], and descend.Yin diseases move down to the extreme [bottom], and rise.}Hence,if one was harmed by wind,the upper [parts of the body] receive it first.If one was harmed by dampness,the lower [parts of the body] receive it first.74Cold qi is categorized as yin in yang because the qi, in contrast to the flavor,is identified as yang while cold and cool, in contrast to hot and warm, areknown to be yin.Presumably, harm caused by cold climate could be termedharm caused by a yin qi.Su wen 31, though, describes a detailed passagewayof cold through the organism that can hardly be reconciled with the state-ment just quoted that  Yin diseases move down to the extreme [bottom],Unschuld,Huang Di nei jing 12/2/02 1:34 PM Page 9898 survey of the contents of the su wenand rise. Cold, Su wen 31 informs, is always received by the major yang con-duits first, whence it is transmitted to the yang brilliance, the minor yang,the major yin, the minor yin, and the ceasing yin conduits.Yet another sequence is claimed by Su wen 31 in the case of a  double af-fection by cold. This disease can last for three days.Each day, two furtherconduits receive it.First the major yang and the minor yin conduits, thenthe yang brilliance and the major yin conduits, and finally the minor yangand the ceasing yin conduits.No immediate rationale for these differencesis apparent.In treatment, the yin-yang categorizations of the organs affected by a dis-ease and the conduits to be treated may overlap.For example, in the caseof a heart disease, Su wen 22 and 32 recommend piercing the hand minoryin and the hand major yang conduits.75 The former are directly associatedwith the heart; the latter are associated with the small intestine.The smallintestine in turn is the correlate of the heart in the inner-outer pairing ofdepots and palaces.The same applies to the treatment of diseases in the re-maining organs listed in Su wen 32.The same treatise Su wen 32, however, advocates another therapeutic pat-tern whose underlying yin-yang correspondences are not at all clear, at leastat first glance.It is difficult to decide whether a suggestion to pierce the handyang brilliance and the hand major yin conduits where  a heat disease be-gins with pain in the hands and arms, 76 to pierce the major yang conduitin the neck in case of a  heat disease that begins in the head, and to piercethe foot yang brilliance conduit in case  a heat disease begins in the feet andshin bones resulted from sheer experience or from theorizing based on yin-yang correspondences among the conduits to be pierced, the nature of thedisease, and the location it has chosen.Similarly, in diagnosis, when Su wen 20 ascertains that in  those whosepupils are high, their major yang [qi] is insufficient.(and in) thosewhose eyes are turned upward, their major yang [qi] is interrupted, 77 thecorrespondences between an insufficiency or interruption of major yang qi,which is also the qi of bladder and small intestine, on the one hand, and thepupils being  high or the  eyes being directed upward, on the other, eludeany attempts to perceive obvious associations.One explanation could be thatthe major yang conduits are the conduits passing the eyes most closely.Certain dreams are of diagnostic value because their contents offer directhints at pathological conditions:When the yin [qi] abounds,then one dreams of wading through a big water, and is in fear.When the yang [qi] abounds,then one dreams of big fires burning.When both yin and yang [qi] abound,then one dreams of mutual killings and harmings.78Unschuld,Huang Di nei jing 12/2/02 1:34 PM Page 99survey of the contents of the su wen 99Yin-yang physiology, pathology, and diagnosis are discussed further in sec-tions 4, 5, 6, and 7 below.3.THE FIVE-AGENTS DOCTRINE3 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]