03/03/2022
Classical Zhongyi perspective on pandemic qi. Of you've done any qigong training with me or other classically trained practitioners, this makes perfect sense. If not then to quote an old colleague: it seems one step removed from voodoo. Of course, if you know anything about Vodoun practices, you realize that it is quite accurate, and a compliment.
A guest post by Will Ceurvels:
While researching the Qiao Vessels last year, I happened upon basically the only discussion in the Inner Canon of the pathomechanism of pandemic transmission. As it turns out, it is the source of one of the most famous lines in the entire Canon, namely, “If the upright qi remains strong within, evil cannot enter”. The entire discussion is quite fascinating, so I thought I’d share it here along with some analysis:
SW72: “The Yellow emperor asked: I have heard that when the five pandemic qis (inflict the populace), the pandemic qi is transmitted from person to person and the symptoms in all infectees, young or old, are all quite similar. How can transmission be prevented? Qi Bo stated: If the upright qi remains strong within, evil cannot enter, pandemic qi fails to invade, and the toxic qi is avoided. That which goes in the nose is expelled outwards from the brain, failing to pe*****te inward.
If one desires to enter an indoor place in which there may be pandemic qi, first imagine a green qi emanating from your liver, travelling (upward) through the east (left side of body) and turning into a forest. Then imagine white qi emanating from the lungs, travelling (downward) through the west (right side of body) and turning into armor and weaponry…Now that these five qi protect the body, imagine the big dipper shining brilliantly above your head. After this, you can enter the indoor place.”
Wang Bing, commenting on this route of transmission, wrote, “Toxic qi enters into the brain and passes thus into the channel circulation, causing infection… By sneezing, the toxic qi can be pushed out of the brain via the nose and infection does not occur.”
From the perspective of researching the Qiao vessels, this was interesting as it suggested that Han and Pre-qin physicians conceptualized the brain as both an important interface with the external environment and a high collecting point of the circulation.
Thus, Zhang Jingyue also commented, saying, “Qi enters the nose and moves into the brain, whence it passes into all the channels. This is the route of infection.”
The mechanism of the sneeze and subsequent “treatment” as described in the Inner Canon is a classic example of one kind of etiology involved in Qiao vessel diseases. In a physiological model, wei qi collecting in the lower abdomen steams upwards and outwards, collecting in the skin and brain before coalescing and draining back into the ying circulation via the collaterals. If, due to yang vacuity, qi stagnation or external pathogen, wei qi is not able to steam outwards into the skin, it all counterflows upwards surging into the high collecting site of the brain, causing stagnation which backs into the Urinary Bladder collateral in the brain, which I describe is Yang Qiao. In such cases, BL62 is bled or needled to free the collateral and allow for proper drainage to and from the brain. In the book, I discuss how this mechanism is responsible for the Qiao vessels’ classic involvement in hemiplegia (stroke) and epilepsy, but the sneeze is another great example.
The Inner Canon SP28 describes how a sneeze results from yang (wei qi) pervading the chest and counterflowing up into the nose and recommends using BL2 as a treatment. Zhang Zhicong describes the mechanism as such:
The (wei) qi of Greater Yang is engendered in the urinary bladder, the bowel of the fluid. When yang (wei) qi pervades the heart/chest, BL2 should be used to direct fluids upwards and outwards…For, Greater Yang encompasses the skin and surface, [thus] BL2 is used to direct qi outwards (to the skin surface), preventing it from pervading the chest [and nose/brain].
In sneezing, an external evil prevents the outward flow of wei qi to the skin, thereby causing it to counterflow upwards through the chest and into the brain. This is the exact mechanism of epilepsy and stroke in Qiao Vessel pathology. The sneeze helps to release depressed wei qi from the chest to the skin and from the collecting site of the brain outwards via the nose. In effect, the sneeze mirrors the mechanism of treating the Qiao vessel, shunting off excess counterflow wei qi and freeing the collaterals to restore the flow of circulation through the brain. Though it is never mentioned explicitly, the relations between the Greater Yang channel, wei qi, the brain and the Qiao vessels already formed a complex system of analysis and treatment in the Inner Canon, one that I analyze in more detail in the book.
The other fascinating aspect of this passage is the visualization used to guard the body from pandemic qi. From the reference to the big dipper, we can safely assume that this passage likely came from a Daoist dipper-worshipping cult. The visualizations are similar to the kind of inner alchemical work we see in texts like the Yellow Court Classic (Six Dynasty Period). Despite their religiously-infused prescription for avoiding pandemic qi transmission, this source had quite an advanced understanding of how infections spread. Typically we credit the wenbing school with popularizing the idea of diseases spreading through inhalation, but here, some 1700 years earlier, this Daoist cult source had already zeroed in on the actual pathomechanism! This is a good reminder of the heterogeneity of sources in the Inner Canon. Despite its attempts to make it so, the Inner Canon is not a unified text with a unified worldview. Being mindful of this heterogeneity helps us to resolve and make sense of the many internal contradictions presented by the text.
Lastly, if you’d like to learn more about Qiao Vessel pathology and the early synthesis of Daoist, anatomic, clinical and medical theoretical principles which led to the understanding of the Qiaos as presented in the Inner Canon, due have a look at my book: Archaeology of the Qiao Vessels and my video lecture series! (Links Below) The book link has quite a long sample to page through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kPyQ_g1SIw&t=2s
Post-Scriptum: Will's book on the subject 'An Archaeology of the Qiao Vessels' is avilable here including a chapter sample:
https://purplecloudinstitute.com/product/an_archaeology_of_the_qiao_vessels/
