灵兰秘典论篇

Ling Lan Mi Dian Lun

(The Confidential Collections in the Royal Library about the Functions of the Twelve Viscera)

黄帝问曰：愿闻十二藏之相使，贵贱何如?岐伯对曰：悉乎哉问也，请遂言之。心者，君主之官也，神明出焉。肺者，相傅之官，治节出焉。肝者，将军之官，谋虑出焉。胆者，中正之官，决断出焉。膻中者，臣使之官，喜乐出焉。脾胃[《五行大义》引无“胃”字]者，仓廉之官，五味出焉。大肠者，传道之官，变化出焉。小肠者，受盛之官，化物出焉。肾者，作强之官，伎巧出焉。三焦者，决渎之官，水道出焉。膀胱者，州都之官，津液藏焉，气化则能出矣。凡此十二官者，不得相失也。故主明则下安，以此养生则寿，殁世不殆，以为天下则大昌。主不明则十二官危，使道闭塞而不通，形乃大伤，以此养生则殃，以为天下者，其宗大危，戒之戒之!

The Yellow Emperor asked:"I would like you to tell me the mutual relations between the twelve viscera in human body and their principal and subordinate status in functions," Qibo answered:“What an exhaustive question you have asked: Now, let me tell you: The heart is the supreme commander or the monarch of the human body, it dominates the spirit, ideology and thought of man.

"The lung governs the various vessels and regulates the energy of the whole body, like a prime minister assisting the king to reign the country.

"The liver is a vigorous viscera, its emotion is anger, it is like a general who is valiant and resourceful.

"The gallbladder is like an impartial judge who makes one to judge what is right and what is wrong.

"The Tan Zhong (indicating the pericadium here) is like a butler of the king who can transmit the joyfulness of the heart through it.

"The spleen is like an officer who is in charge of the granary, it takes charge of the digesting, absorbing, spreading and storing of the essence of food.

"The large intestine is the route for transmitting the drosses, it transforms the drosses into faeces and then excretes them to the outside of the body.

"The small intestine receives the food from the stomach, it digests the food further, divides them into the essence and the dregs, then asborbs the essence and transmits the dregs to the large intestine.

"The kidney is an organwith strong functions, when the essence and energy in the kidney are abundant, the body will be strong and the person is skillful and wise in doing things.

"The triple warmer takes the office of dredging water in the watercourse of the whole body, it takes charge of the activity of the vital energy of the body fluid and the regulation and the dredging of the fluid.

"The bladder takes the office of gathering, it stores the water and fluid, after the body fluid is transformed into water by the activating of vital energy, it can be excreted.

"The above twelve viscera must be coordinating and supplementing to each other. As the heart is the monarch in the organs, it dominates the functions of the various viscera, so when the function of heart is strong and healthy, under its unified leadership, all the functions of the various viscera will be normal, the body will be healthy and the man will live a long life, and in his life long days, no serious disease would occur. It is just like the condition in a country, when the monarch is wise and able and all the work in various departments are in concert, the country will be prosperous and powerful, but when the monarch is thick-headed, that is, when the function of the heart is incapable, the mutual relations between the viscera in the body will be damaged, the body will suffer great injury to affect one's health and the length of life. In a country, the political power will be unstable and every thing in the country will be out of order. It is advisable for one to pay attention to it greatly.

至道在微，变化无穷，孰知其原!窘乎哉，消者瞿瞿，孰知其要!闵闵之当，孰者为良! 恍惚之数，生于毫厘，毫厘之数，起于度量，千之万之，可以益大，推之大之，其形乃制。

"The principle of health-preserving is rather delicate, one can by no means to understand its origin unless by looking into it carefully.

"Since the principle of health-preserving is subtle and hard to comprehend, one can hardly decide what is right among the essentials although by painstaking pondering during study. It is only by explicit analysis through weighing the conditions can one understand the essence of heart which is the dominator of the whole body and the importance of heart to the

twelve organs.

"Any tiny substance in the nature, though it is invisible to the naked eye, yet it is an existing matter anyway. When they are assembled together to have a size of about a milimeter, they become visible, and their size and weight can be measured by calculation. When the tiny substances being accumulated and expanded to a certain extent, it forms the human body."

黄帝日:善哉，余闻精光之道，大圣之业，而宣明大道，非斋戒择吉日，不敢受也。黄帝乃择吉日良兆，而藏灵兰之室，以传保焉。

Yellow Emperor said:"Very good. I am told that all principles pure and bright (indicating the way of preserving health here) are from the sages. I should fast and select an auspicious day to accept it". So Yellow Emperor selected an auspicious day with good omen and kept the conversation in written material in the royal library for storing and handing down.

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