Dou Mo’s celebrated rhapsody on awaiting qi, directional needling and the distribution of qi and blood.
Zhen Jiu Da Cheng (针灸大成)General Principles of Needling
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
The English is translated from the Chinese vernacular. The original text and its pinyin sit beneath each sentence in smaller type; hide them whenever you prefer to read the translation alone.
Among the methods of rescue and cure, the needle is the most ingenious in use.
ORIGINAL拯救之法，妙用者针。
zhěng jiù zhī fǎ，miào yòng zhě zhēn。
Observe the seasons in the way of heaven; settle form and qi within your own mind.
ORIGINAL察岁时于天道，定形气于予心。
chá suì shí yú tiān dào，dìng xíng qì yú yǔ xīn。
In spring and summer the body is lean and one needles shallowly; in autumn and winter it is full and one needles deeply.
ORIGINAL春夏瘦而刺浅，秋冬肥而刺深。
chūn xià shòu ér cì qiǎn，qiū dōng féi ér cì shēn。
If you do not exhaust the yin and yang of the channels, you will often run into what needling forbids;
ORIGINAL不穷经络阴阳，多逢刺禁；
bù qióng jīng luò yīn yáng，duō féng cì jìn；
once you have judged emptiness and fullness of the viscera, you must seek it in the channels.
ORIGINAL既论脏腑虚实，须向经寻。
jì lùn zàng fǔ xū shí，xū xiàng jīng xún。
The three yang of hand and foot: from the hand they go to the head, and from the head to the foot;
ORIGINAL手足三阳，手走头而头走足；
shǒu zú sān yáng，shǒu zǒu tóu ér tóu zǒu zú；
the three yin of hand and foot: from the foot they go to the abdomen, and from the chest to the hand.
ORIGINAL手足三阴，足走腹而胸走手。
shǒu zú sān yīn，zú zǒu fù ér xiōng zǒu shǒu。
To grasp meeting and following, you must understand the contrary and the concordant.
ORIGINAL要识迎随，须明逆顺。
yào shí yíng suí，xū míng nì shùn。
First consider in detail how much is fitting, then observe the qi that ought to arrive.
Light, slippery and slow: qi has not yet come. Heavy, rough and tight: qi has already arrived.
ORIGINAL轻滑慢而未来，沉涩紧而已至。
qīng huá màn ér wèi lái，chén sè jǐn ér yǐ zhì。
When it has come, weigh cold and heat to decide whether to retain the needle or withdraw quickly; when it has not come, rely on emptiness and fullness to wait for it.
ORIGINAL既至也，量寒热而留疾；未至也，据虚实而候气。
jì zhì yě，liàng hán rè ér liú jí；wèi zhì yě，jù xū shí ér hòu qì。
When qi arrives it is like a fish swallowing the hook, sinking and rising;
ORIGINAL气之至也，如鱼吞钩饵之浮沉；
qì zhī zhì yě，rú yú tūn gōu ěr zhī fú chén；
when qi has not arrived it is like sitting alone in a deep, dark hall.
ORIGINAL气未至也，如闲处幽堂之深邃。
qì wèi zhì yě，rú xián chù yōu táng zhī shēn suì。
When qi comes quickly the effect is quick; when it comes late, it cannot be cured.
ORIGINAL气速至而速效，气迟至而不治。
qì sù zhì ér sù xiào，qì chí zhì ér bù zhì。
—— 《针灸大成·标幽赋》（窦汉卿撰）
Written in rhymed parallel prose, the Biao You Fu compresses the essentials of needling into a form meant to be memorised. It covers the arrival of qi, the direction of the needle in tonification and reduction, the differing abundance of qi and blood in each channel, and the points that follow from that difference.
Because it is a rhapsody rather than a treatise, it states conclusions without argument, which makes it dense and occasionally obscure. It has nevertheless been memorised by students for six centuries, and several of its lines are quoted more often than the texts they summarise.
ANNOTATION
Marking the obscure (标幽): 标 is to mark out, 幽 is deep and hidden — to mark out the subtle principles of the needle way.
Idle in a dark hall (闲处幽堂): alone in a deep empty hall, an image of emptiness and stillness.
Dou Hanqing (窦汉卿): personal name Mo, a needle master of the Jin-Yuan period, once physician to Kublai Khan.
COMMENTARY
This rhapsody should be memorised. Its value is that it condenses the essentials of needle method scattered through the Neijing and Nanjing into rhymed language that can be chanted and remembered. A student who can recite the Biao You Fu and the Golden Needle Fu has most of needle theory in hand.