A line-by-line commentary on the technical vocabulary of the Nine Needles and the Twelve Sources.
Ling Shu (灵枢)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.
“Easy to state” means that the principles of needling are easy to put into words.
ORIGINAL所谓易陈者，易言也。
suǒ wèi yì chén zhě，yì yán yě。
“Hard to enter” means that it is hard to make it take effect in the patient.
ORIGINAL难入者，难著于人也。
nán rù zhě，nán zhù yú rén yě。
“The lesser physician guards the form” means he holds only to the set manipulations of needling.
ORIGINAL粗守形者，守刺法也。
cū shǒu xíng zhě，shǒu cì fǎ yě。
“The superior physician guards the spirit” means he watches whether the patient’s qi and blood are in excess or deficit, and on that basis decides to tonify or to reduce.
To meet the oncoming qi and take from it is reduction.
ORIGINAL迎而夺之者，泻也。
yíng ér duó zhī zhě，xiè yě。
To follow the departing qi and supplement it is tonification.
ORIGINAL追而济之者，补也。
zhuī ér jì zhī zhě，bǔ yě。
—— 《灵枢·小针解》
The Xiao Zhen Jie takes the compressed technical language of the first chapter and explains it phrase by phrase. Terms that later readers found opaque, such as the distinction between guarding qi and pathogenic qi, or the meaning of holding the needle as though it were drawn taut, are unpacked here in plain language.
For the modern reader it functions as a glossary written by someone close to the original text. When a phrase in the Ling Shu seems impossible to construe, this is the first place to look.
ANNOTATION
Easy to state, hard to enter (易陈而难入): easy to talk about, difficult truly to accomplish. 陈 is to set forth; 入 is to penetrate and master.
Spirit and guest (神客): spirit is upright qi, guest is evil qi; the two meet at the gate, that is, at the point.
Mechanism (机): the movement of qi, the sign of channel qi coming and going, which is grasped only by quiet attention.
COMMENTARY
The Lingshu often reads as terse and obscure; this chapter is itself a commentary on the classic and may be regarded as a lecture on needle technique from the Warring States to the early Han. Its eight characters — “when qi is full it may not be tonified, when qi is empty it may not be reduced” — remain a warning against the reckless use of tonification today.