黃帝問于歧伯曰。凡刺之法。先必本于神。血脉營氣精神。此五藏之所藏也。至其淫泆離藏則精失。魂魄飛揚。志意恍亂。智慮去身者。何因而然乎。天之罪與。人之過乎。何謂德氣生精神魂魄心意志思智慮。請問其故。
The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: All needling methods first and foremost must have their root in shen. Blood, vessels, ying, qi, jing shen—these are what the five zang store. As for when they depart from the zang due to licentiousness and abandon, leading to loss of jing, hun and po floating upward, zhi and yi becoming crazy and disordered, and wisdom and reflection leaving the body—what is the cause of all this? Is the Sky to blame, or is it a human transgression? What is meant by de, qi, life, jing, shen, hun, po, heart, yi, zhi, thought, wisdom, and reflection? May I ask on what they depend?
歧伯答曰。天之在我者。德也。地之在我者。氣也。德流氣薄而生者也。故生之來謂之精。兩精相搏謂之神。隨神往來者。謂之魂。並精而出入者。謂之魄。
Qi Bo answered: The Sky’s presence in me is called de; the Earth’s presence in me is called qi. When de flows down and qi approaches to meet it, then life occurs. Therefore the origin of life is known as jing; when the two jing [of one’s parents] combine with each other, the result is known as shen; that which goes and comes following shen is known as hun; that which exits and enters along with jing is known as po.
所以任物者。謂之心。心有所憶。謂之意。意之所存。謂之志。因志而存變。謂之思。因思而遠慕。謂之慮。因慮而處物。謂之智。
That which takes charge of things is known as the heart; any idea that the heart has is known as yi (intention); yi that endures is known as zhi (will); when, dependent on zhi, that which endures changes, this is known as thought; that which contemplates far and wide, dependent on thought, is known as reflection; that which deals with things, dependent on reflection, is known as wisdom.
故智者之養生也。必順四時而適寒暑。和喜怒而安居處。節陰陽而調剛柔。如是。則僻邪不至。長生久視。[2]是故怵惕思慮者。則傷神。神傷則恐懼。流淫而不止。
Therefore, the life-nurturing practice of the wise is thus: one must be in accord with the four seasons and thereby accommodate oneself to cold and summer-heat, be in harmony with joy and anger and thereby abide peacefully, regulate yin and yang and thereby adjust hard and soft. In this way, pernicious evils do not arrive, and one attains “long life with enduring vision.”[2] For this reason, dread, thought and reflection harm the shen. When the shen suffers harm, fear will come and licentiousness will flow without end.
因悲哀動中者。竭絕而失生。喜樂者。神憚散而不藏。愁憂者。氣閉塞而不行。盛怒者。迷惑而不治。恐懼者。神蕩憚而不收。
Because of sorrow stirring in the center, [the qi] is used up until it becomes completely exhausted and life is lost. Because of delight, the shen scatters in fright, and thus is not stored. Because of worry, the qi becomes obstructed and thus does not move. Because of exuberant anger, one becomes confused and perplexed and thus disordered. Because of fear, the shen clears out and flees, and thus is not gathered.
To be continued...
1. The Huangdi neijing lingshu 黃帝內經靈樞 (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic: Magic Pivot), also known as the Lingshu jing 靈樞經 (Magic Pivot Classic), Lingshu 靈樞 (Magic Pivot), Zhenjing 鍼經 (Needle Classic), or Jiujuan 九卷 (Nine Scrolls), forms part of the Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經 (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic) along with the Suwen. The title Lingshu is also commonly translated as Spiritual Pivot, Spiritual Axis, etc. It was probably compiled around the first century BC and consists of a number of earlier texts by various anonymous authors. Numerous references to the Lingshu appear in ancient literature, but at at least two points in history it fell out of circulation in China. After the first time, it was obtained from Korea, where it had survived; after the second time, the scholar Shi Song 史崧 presented a copy that his family had preserved to the Chinese imperial court in the year 1155 (Song dynasty). All present editions of the Lingshu derive from Shi Song’s family copy. The version used here is a modern replica of a Ming-dynasty reprint of Shi Song’s manuscript: Lingshu jing 靈樞經. Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1984. (go back)
2. 長生久視 (“long life with enduring vision”): An expression with its origins in the Dao de jing, chapter 59. “Enduring vision” is usually taken to refer to enduring good health, since usually as one ages the vision and other senses deteriorate. An alternative explanation sometimes given is that the character 視 (shi, “vision”) really means “life” in this context, but I have not seen any attempt to explain this interpretation. Either way, the essence of the expression is the same. (go back)