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Chapter 18 Discourse on Phenomena [reflecting the status of] Qi in a normal Person 18-109-2 Huang Di asked: “What is [the movement in the vessels of] a normal person [like]?”1 Qi Bo responded: “In man, during one exhalation, the vessels exhibit two movements.2 During one inhalation, the vessels exhibit two movements too. exhalation and inhalation constitute one standard breathing period. If the vessels exhibit five movements, this is an intercalation [of a fifth movement] because of a deep breathing.3 1 Wang Bing: “a ‘normal person’ is to say: someone whose qi signs are balanced.”Gao Jiwu/483: “following the character 人 a character 脈 was omitted. It should be 平人 之脈何如, ‘what is the [movement in the] vessels of a normal person like?’ ” 2 300/42: “再 is not 又, ‘again,’ but 兩, ‘twice.’ ” 3 Zhang Jiebin: “To emit qi is called 呼, ‘to exhale.’ To take in qi is called 吸, ‘to inhale .’ one exhalation and one inhalation together are called one breathing. 動 is 至, ‘to arrive.’ 再動 is 兩至,‘to arrive twice.’ a normal person’s [movement in the] vessels arrives twice during one exhalation and it arrives twice again during one inhalation. 呼吸定息 is to say: the moment when one breathing is completed while the next breathing has not commenced yet. [at this moment] the [movement in the] vessels arrives another time. Hence [the text] speaks of five movements/arrivals. 閏 is 餘, ‘surplus.’ Just as one says 閏月, ‘an intercalary moon.’ That is to say, a normal person among his regular breathing, exhibits one very long breathing. This is [meant by] 閏 以太息,‘insertion of a great breathing.’ still, the arrival [of movements in the vessels] is not restricted to just five. This is just the status of a normal person without disease. However, if one counts the moments between breathings and the deep breathings, roughly the [movement in the] vessels should arrive six times during one breathing. Hence Ling shu 15 says: During exhalation and inhalation, the movement in the vessels proceeds by six inches. Hence one arrival corresponds to one inch.”Tanba: “閏 is 餘,‘excess.’ Zhang Jiebin’s comment is quite detailed and corresponds to the contents of the Nan jing. However, the Nan jing states: ‘one exhalation, two movements. one inhalation, two movements. Between exhalation and inhalation, one movement. That is, during a standard breathing period: five movements.’ Zhang Jiebin states that there are four movements during one breathing period and with another movement in between two breathing periods, this makes altogether five movements. This is slightly different [from the Nan jing].” Mori: “one breathing period with four movements [in the vessels], that is one standard breathing period. Between each exhalation and 302 Huang Di nei jing su wen That is called ‘normal person.’4 {a ‘normal person’ is not ill.} as a rule, one takes [someone] who is not ill [as a standard] to assess a patient‘s [condition]. The physician is not ill. Hence one takes the normal breathing [of the healthy physician] as a pattern for assessing the patient’s [condition].5 18-109-5 When man exhales once and his vessels exihibit one movement and when he inhales once and his vessels exhibit one movement, that is called ‘short of qi.’6 When man exhales once and his vessels exhibit three movements and when he inhales once and his vessels exhibit three movements and are racing, with heat appearing in the foot-long section, inhalation there is one [additional] movement.This accounts for five movements during one standard breathing period. 閏餘 has the same meaning as the 閏 in the term 閏月,‘intercalary month.’ Hence,because in addition to the standard breathing period there is an additional breathing, it is called ‘intercalary.’ With this intercalary breathing added, [a person] is normal and exhibits five movements in the vessels during one breathing period.If one were to speak only of exhalation and inhalation,then there are four movements during one breathing period.” 4 Wang Bing: “The total length of the conduit vessels for one circulation through the body is 162 feet. Both during exhalation and during inhalation two movements in the vessels [can be felt]. During a standard breathing period, [because] yet another movement in the vessels [arrives], there are altogether five movements. after altogether 270 standard breathing periods,the qi can complete one circulation.fifty circulations, then, cover 13 500 standard breathing periods. [In this time], all the qi passes over a distance of 8100 feet. If this is the case, [the movement of the qi] corresponds to the regular measures of heaven and the qi...

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