HJ V01 The Roots of a Long Life-The Yellow Emperor’s Classic for Modern Life

HJ01

Health & Wellbeing · Understand Chinese Medicine

The Yellow Emperor's Classic for Modern Life

Ancient Wisdom for Health, Balance and Living Well

Huangdi Neijing · Suwen  Volume 1

The Treatise on the Heavenly Truth of High Antiquity

Fang Tianliang

Volume 1, final · October 2026

About This Series

The Yellow Emperor's Classic for Modern Life is Fang Tianliang's series of ebooks on the Suwen (Basic Questions) of the Huangdi Neijing, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic.

The Suwen has eighty-one chapters. In this series each chapter is a book in its own right, with eighty-one books in Chinese and eighty-one in English. Each book can be read on its own, or together with others as a themed set or the complete collection.

Each book usually includes the classical text with a plain-language explanation, a reading of the chapter, what modern medicine says on related topics, practical suggestions for everyday life, and the warning signs that mean you should seek medical help promptly. The concepts of Chinese medicine in these books are the theoretical language of a traditional system; they are not modern medical diagnoses, and nothing here replaces diagnosis and treatment by a doctor.

This book: Huangdi Neijing · Suwen, Volume 1 of 81. It contains Chapter 1 of the Suwen, The Treatise on the Heavenly Truth of High Antiquity, together with the General Introduction to the series.

Next: Volume 2, Living by the Seasons.

A bilingual list of all eighty-one volumes appears in the appendix at the end of this book.

How the eighty-one chapters of the Suwen fit together

The grouping below is this series' own reading guide, not a division found in the ancient text.

Chapters	Main themes
1–4	The way of nurturing life, and humanity in harmony with heaven and earth: from Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun to Jin Kui Zhen Yan Lun
5–12	Yin and yang, the organs and their outward signs: from Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun to Yi Fa Fang Yi Lun
13–30	Diagnosis, principles of treatment and the channels: from Yi Jing Bian Qi Lun to Yangming Mai Jie Pian
31–48	Common disorders: fever, malarial illness, cough, pain, abdominal disorders, back pain, wind, bi, wei, jue and unusual illnesses
49–65	Channels, points and needling: from Mai Jie Pian to Biao Ben Bing Chuan Lun
66–74	The doctrine of the five movements and six qi: from Tian Yuan Ji Da Lun to Zhi Zhen Yao Da Lun (Chapters 72 and 73 are "lost chapters")
75–81	The way of medicine and the physician's character: from Zhu Zhi Jiao Lun to Jie Jing Wei Lun

 

General Introduction

— Why, two thousand years on, do we still need to read the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic?

We enjoy far more material comfort than the ancients did, and far more advanced medicine. Yet we do not necessarily understand better than they did how to live.

Why do some people feel exhausted all the time, even though their workload is not especially heavy?

Why, as life grows ever more convenient, do people find it ever harder to be still?

Why, faced with the same loss of a job, family conflict or serious illness, do some people gradually regain their calm and rebuild their lives, while others remain stuck in distress for a long time, unable even to sleep?

Why, when medicine can treat more and more diseases, do people still worry so much about ageing, pain, loneliness and death?

These questions have complex causes: social, economic, and many factors beyond any individual's control. We cannot put them all down to "bad habits", nor can we claim that the ancients were necessarily healthier or happier than we are.

But when we stop to ask "how should a person live?", we find that people in China more than two thousand years ago had already thought hard about this question.

Their thinking is preserved in an ancient medical classic.

That book is the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huangdi Neijing).

1. What kind of book is the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic?

The Inner Classic is one of the most important founding texts of traditional Chinese medicine.

It is written mainly as dialogue: the Yellow Emperor asks questions, and Qi Bo and other physicians answer. In the course of these exchanges it discusses the relationship between human beings and heaven and earth; yin and yang, the seasons, diet, daily routine and emotions; and how illness arises and how it is examined and treated.

Although the book bears the Yellow Emperor's name, he did not write it alone. Scholars generally consider that it gathers medical knowledge from different periods of ancient China; its core content took shape and was compiled over a long time, many chapters relate to medical thought of the Warring States to Han periods, and it was later copied, annotated and re-edited.

The Inner Classic as we have it today consists mainly of two parts, the Suwen (Basic Questions) and the Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot), each of eighty-one chapters.

For more than two thousand years it has been valued by physicians through the ages. In 2011, a Yuan-dynasty printed edition of the Inner Classic was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register — a mark of the classic's place in the world's cultural heritage.

The Inner Classic is not, however, a modern medical textbook.

It contains the ancients' observations of life and illness, and also explanations limited by the knowledge of their time. Its theories of yin and yang, the five phases, the channels, the organs and the circulation of the phases and qi (yunqi) should be understood in the context of traditional Chinese medicine and intellectual history; they cannot be taken directly as modern anatomy, physiology or pathology.

We read it not to prove that the ancients already knew everything modern medicine knows, but to understand how they made sense of life, and what insights that understanding can still offer us today.

 

2. Why does this book study all eighty-one chapters of the Suwen?

The Inner Classic has two parts, the Suwen and the Lingshu.

The Suwen ranges widely over life, yin and yang, the seasons, nurturing life, illness, diagnosis and the relationship between the body and the natural environment; the Lingshu contains a great deal on the channels, needling, the structure of the body and the theory of diagnosis and treatment. Together they form a key classic of traditional Chinese medicine.

This book is based on the eighty-one chapters of the received text of the Suwen, reading from the first chapter, the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun, all the way to the eighty-first, the Jie Jing Wei Lun.

Why travel through all eighty-one chapters, rather than choosing a few famous chapters on nurturing life?

Because the Suwen is not simply a book about eating and daily routine.

It also discusses how physicians observe illness, how to understand the connections between symptoms, how to avoid misdiagnosis, how to face the risks of treatment, and what limits medical knowledge itself has.

If we read only the first few chapters on nurturing life, we might think the Inner Classic is mainly about how to eat, sleep and follow the seasons.

But reading on, we find it is concerned with a deeper question too: how can a physician truly understand a patient, without being misled by their own experience and preconceptions?

For example, the Zheng Si Shi Lun criticises physicians who hurry to take the pulse without asking about the history; the Shu Wu Guo Lun reminds physicians to pay attention to upheavals in a patient's life; and the Jie Jing Wei Lun acknowledges that practitioners differ in skill and that treatment cannot always succeed.

Such passages show that the ancient physicians not only explored how to treat illness, but also reflected on the mistakes medicine can make.

That is why we decided to study all eighty-one chapters of the Suwen.

The eighty-one chapters of the Suwen are the first stage of our journey into the Inner Classic. We next plan to study the eighty-one chapters of the Lingshu, with particular attention to the channels, acupuncture points and the principles of needling and their relevance to modern life, drawing also on the practical experience of traditional acupuncture lineages — while carefully distinguishing what the classic records, what later traditions have handed down, and what modern medical evidence shows.

We hope in the end to complete a modern reading of all one hundred and sixty-two chapters of the Inner Classic, so that the Suwen and the Lingshu can illuminate each other and readers can come to know this ancient classic more completely.

But this is not a textbook for training practitioners of Chinese medicine, nor a word-by-word critical edition of an ancient text. We hope that general readers, through the classical text, stories and modern knowledge, will come to know the questions about life that this classic raises.

The Lingshu, too, contains ideas worth knowing. For example, Lingshu, Ben Shen says:

The wise, in nurturing life, follow the four seasons and adapt to cold and heat, harmonise joy and anger, and settle in their dwelling.

Where material closely related to a topic appears, we also quote the Lingshu or other classics, with their sources.

Readers who wish to study the channels, needling and traditional medical theory systematically can go on to read the Lingshu and the works of later physicians.

 

3. What is the "Dao"?

Reading the Inner Classic, we soon meet the word dao, "the Way".

In the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun, Qi Bo describes those who know how to nurture life as zhi dao zhe — "those who know the Way".

Zhi dao here does not mean "knowing a fact", as it does in modern Chinese, but "understanding the Way".

So what is the Way?

In traditional Chinese thought, the Way is not a simple health rule, nor merely what we now call a natural law of science. It points to the root of why all things in heaven and earth exist, change and are connected.

The alternation of day and night, the cycle of the seasons, growth and ageing are phenomena people can observe. From them, the ancients asked further: where does life come from? How should a person settle themselves? What would it mean not to stray from life's own direction?

These questions reach into the depths of what the Way is about.

The Laozi says:

Humans follow earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Way, and the Way follows what is so of itself.

"What is so of itself" (*ziran*) here means chiefly "being so by itself", "being as it fundamentally is" — not only what we now call nature, the forests, rivers and weather. Humans take earth as their model, earth takes heaven, heaven takes the Way, and the Way is so of itself, under no outside compulsion.

For the general reader, this first of all reminds us that we live within heaven and earth; we cannot change everything at will, and need not regard ourselves as masters of all things.

That is why the ancient Chinese held that human beings cannot exist apart from heaven and earth. Heaven and earth have day and night, so people have times of activity and rest; heaven and earth have four seasons, so human life should change with them; heaven and earth flourish and decline, so a human life too has growth and ageing.

So before the Inner Classic discusses illness, it first shows us the ancients' understanding of life as a whole: diet, daily routine, work and rest, emotions and the seasons of heaven and earth are all bound up together.

This does not mean, however, that all illness comes from an unbalanced life. Illness can also arise from infection, genetics, accidents, environmental exposures and other causes. We must never conclude that a person who falls ill has "strayed from the Way", still less blame them for it.

In ancient times the Way was also linked with self-cultivation, states of life and traditions of spiritual practice. Its meaning goes far beyond a daily timetable. This book respects those original meanings: it does not shrink the Way into health tips, nor does it force the insights of particular cultivation traditions into conclusions supposedly verified by modern science.

We begin with life questions everyone meets: when to act and when to rest; when to strive and when to let go of needless attachment.

There is also an important distinction here: following nature does not mean simply submitting to whatever happens.

When a storm comes, we look for shelter; when a loved one falls ill, we seek treatment; when we meet injustice in life, we can pursue our rights through lawful means.

The "harmony" (*he*) the ancients spoke of does not mean abandoning action; it reminds us to observe timing, conditions and proportion, and not to let impatience and attachment take the place of judgement.

 

4. What did "health" look like to the ancients?

Today, people often judge their health by their check-up results. If blood pressure and blood sugar are normal and nothing obvious is found, they consider themselves healthy.

These measures certainly matter, but they cannot capture the whole of a person's health.

The Inner Classic looks at health from a different angle. The Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun speaks of "form and spirit together", stressing the relationship between body and mind. The Sheng Qi Tong Tian Lun says:

When yin is calm and yang is sealed, the spirit is well ordered.

Within the theory of ancient medicine, this expresses the relationship between the harmony of yin and yang and a settled spirit.

What the ancients attended to was not only whether some part of the body was diseased, but also the relationships between body and mind, work and rest, desire and restraint, and between the person and the natural environment.

Modern public health also considers physical, psychological and social dimensions. But the modern concept of health is not the same as the Inner Classic's "form and spirit" or "yin and yang", and we cannot say the two have proved the same theory.

Setting them side by side reminds us that health should not be judged by a single test report, nor can we overlook a person's functioning, environment and real circumstances.

Some people's results all look fine, yet they suffer long-term insomnia, anxiety and exhaustion and cannot live normally.

Others have a long-term illness, yet with appropriate treatment, rehabilitation and adjustments to their lives, can still work, travel, care for their families and lead a full and meaningful life.

So health cannot simply be understood as "the complete absence of disease". It also concerns how a person is able to live, and how illness affects their actual life.

 

5. Living long, living healthily, living meaningfully: three goals of life

The progress of modern medicine gives us the chance to think again about the length and the quality of life.

In the past, people often measured a society's health by average life expectancy. But does living long mean living healthily? And does living healthily mean living happily?

These are really three different questions.

The first goal: living long

"Life expectancy at birth", in demography, is an estimate of how many years a newborn would live on average if the death rates at each age in a given period continued. It is not a prediction of any individual's actual lifespan.

Over the past century and more, global life expectancy has risen markedly. This is linked to vaccines, antibiotics, modern surgery, emergency obstetric care and other medical advances, and also closely to safe water, sanitation, better nutrition, wider education and social and economic development.

So longer lives are the result of many factors working together, and cannot all be credited to medical technology.

The second goal: living healthily

The World Health Organization also uses an indicator called "healthy life expectancy" (HALE). It considers not only how long people live, but also the health lost to illness and disability over a lifetime.

According to WHO's historical estimates, in 2000 global life expectancy at birth was about 66.8 years and healthy life expectancy about 58.1 years, a gap of about 8.7 years. By 2019, life expectancy was about 73.1 years and healthy life expectancy about 63.5 years, a gap of about 9.6 years. (Source: World Health Organization, World Health Statistics 2024.)

These figures need care: a gap of 8.7 or 9.6 years does not mean that people live healthily for decades and then spend their last few years ill.

Healthy life expectancy is a statistical measure adjusted by weights for health loss. For example, suppose someone lives to 80, spending 20 of those years with a long-term illness while still able to look after themselves. If the average health-loss weight for those 20 years is 25%, the health lost amounts to the equivalent of 5 years, not 20.

Health lost to illness may also be spread across different stages of life. An illness in youth followed by recovery, long-term management of a chronic condition from middle age, or a lifelong disability can all affect healthy life expectancy.

Moreover, both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are statistics derived from population data; they cannot predict how long a particular person will live, or how many years of good health they have left.

What these measures tell us is that lengthening life and reducing the burden of disease are related but not identical goals. Modern healthcare needs not only to reduce premature death, but also to help people ease suffering, maintain function and improve their quality of life.

The third goal: living meaningfully

This is a deeper question, and much harder to measure.

Is someone who lives to ninety necessarily happier than someone who lives to seventy? Does someone without serious illness necessarily find life fulfilling? Does someone with wealth, health and every convenience never feel lonely, lost or disappointed?

We have no reliable way of directly comparing whether people two thousand years ago or people today are happier. Modern living conditions have improved in many ways, but there is no automatic equation between material convenience, longer life and subjective happiness.

Meaning in life involves family love, responsibility, belief and spiritual aspiration, and how a person sees their relationship with others, with society and with heaven and earth.

Medicine can help people ease illness and suffering, and pays growing attention to patients' dignity, quality of life and wishes. But medical measures cannot fully answer why a person lives, or what makes a life worth living.

This is an important reason for reading the Inner Classic again. It does not only discuss how to treat illness; it keeps asking how people should live, how to face ageing, and how to handle desire, work and rest and states of mind. These ancient reflections cannot replace modern medical evidence, but they can be another source of thought for understanding life.

Living long is the length of life; living healthily is the state of life; living meaningfully concerns the direction of life.

The three goals are connected, but cannot substitute for one another. What this book hopes to do is to let the ancients' thinking about life meet modern medical knowledge, and to help readers look at their own lives afresh from all three angles.

 

6. Nurturing life is easy when things go well — how do we care for ourselves in adversity?

When people talk about nurturing life, they first think of what to eat, how long to sleep and what exercise to take. All of these matter.

But when life is going smoothly, eating regularly and going to bed early are not so hard; what is truly hard is doing so in adversity.

Someone suddenly loses their job and must face bills and their family's expectations. Someone in the family falls ill, and the carer works day and night. A loved one dies, and those left behind cannot move on for a long time. Conflicts between spouses, parents and children wear down their strength day after day.

In hardship, people must deal with practical problems, and may also suffer fear, anger, worry and sleeplessness. Some pressures can be eased by action; some losses take time to absorb.

We cannot simply blame the suffering caused by unemployment, poverty, illness or grief on a person "not being calm enough". But where possible, we can still look for ways to reduce the extra toll.

The Inner Classic has no chapter devoted to "nurturing life in adversity". But a few lines from the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun can be a way into the question:

The heart is at ease and without fear.

The spirit is kept within.

The will is unhurried and desires are few.

These lines describe a state in which the mind is settled and the spirit is not scattered outwards. Two points need making here.

First, inner peace is not the suppression of grief. Losing a loved one hurts; losing a job is frightening; these are only human. The calm that "tranquillity" (*tian dan*) points to is neither indifference to others' suffering nor an order to oneself to stop grieving at once. In grief, people can still seek help, weep, rest, and slowly restore the rhythm of daily life.

Second, following nature does not mean giving up on solving problems. If you need to look for work, look; if you need to see a doctor, go; if you need help, ask. In adversity, we should do our best to deal with practical difficulties, while also avoiding needless drain on the spirit as far as we can.

For example, an illness may change a family's plans. Someone has to adjust their work, someone takes on caring, someone faces long rehabilitation and financial strain. To "accept" here is not to say "I accept it" to the illness and stop treatment, but to find, step by step, what can be done now among treatment, rehabilitation, seeking help and the arrangements of daily life.

The rhythm of life is sometimes disrupted. What we can do is rebuild order amid change.

If low mood lasts a long time, insomnia is severe, daily life cannot be kept going, or thoughts of self-harm or suicide arise, professional support is needed promptly. These situations cannot be solved simply by "adjusting your attitude".

 

7. Some common misunderstandings

Before we enter the classic, a few common misunderstandings need clearing up.

First: "The Inner Classic is a book about acupuncture points and herbs." In fact, the Inner Classic is not mainly a collection of specific prescriptions. It is more concerned with the body, illness and the theory of diagnosis and treatment, and with the relationship between human beings and heaven and earth, the seasons and ways of living.

Second: "Reading the Inner Classic means giving up modern medicine." Not so. Traditional classics can help us understand the ancients' view of life, but diagnosis, treatment choices, medicine safety and emergency care should rest on reliable modern medical evidence. The value of traditional culture does not need to be proved by rejecting modern medicine.

Third: "Nurturing life means taking tonics." Eating and "tonifying" more does not make you healthier. Some herbs, tonics and supplements can interact with medicines, or harm particular groups of people. The Inner Classic stresses moderation in diet, work and rest, but how to apply this still needs to take account of your own health and reliable nutritional knowledge.

Fourth: "If your attitude is good, you won't get ill." This is a dangerous misunderstanding. A good state of mind may help quality of life, managing illness and recovery, but it cannot guarantee that a person will not develop cancer, catch an infection or have an accident. Falling ill does not mean a person lacks self-cultivation, is not strong-minded enough, or has done something wrong.

Fifth: "The ancients had already discovered the diseases modern medicine recognises." Ancient records can tell us that certain symptoms existed in history, but similar wording does not mean the ancients had discovered the causes, mechanisms and diagnostic criteria of modern diseases. Past and present can be compared, but comparison is not proof.

Sixth: "AI knows so much medicine that it can replace doctors." AI can help explain medical concepts, organise information and support judgement, but it can also miss danger signs, misread a situation or give wrong answers. Above all in an emergency, do not delay seeking medical help by repeatedly asking an AI.

 

8. Why is the first chapter the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun?

The received text of the Suwen places the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun first. So when we open this medical classic, the first thing we meet is not a disease or a prescription, but a discussion of life, ageing and how to live.

The Yellow Emperor asks Qi Bo:

I have heard that the people of high antiquity all lived to a hundred years, and their movements did not decline; people today are failing in their movements at fifty. Is it that the times are different? Or that people have lost something?

The Yellow Emperor's picture of long life in high antiquity is an idealised narrative typical of ancient texts, and cannot be taken as historical statistics on lifespan.

But the questions he raises deserve serious thought: why do people age? How does a way of life affect body and mind? When the outer world changes, do people also lose some wisdom about living that they once had?

The Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun also contains concepts such as "the Way", "tranquil emptiness" (*tian dan xu wu*), "the true person" and "the perfected person", which carry the deeper meanings of traditional Daoist culture and cultivation thought. These ideas cannot all be reduced to modern health management; nor should they be casually removed or dismissed as traditional thought simply because modern science has not explained them.

In the relevant volumes, this series introduces these ideas in their original context, distinguishing what the classic records, how later commentators interpreted it, and how modern readers understand it.

Readers who wish to explore traditional cultivation and the meaning of life further may also read Fang Tianliang's Inner Growth series.

 

9. How to read these eighty-one volumes

The eighty-one volumes of this series follow the order of the received text of the Suwen. Each volume starts from a health or life problem a modern reader might meet, and leads into one ancient chapter.

To connect this medical work of more than two thousand years ago with life today, we created stories of people from different parts of the world. These characters and their experiences are fictional, not real patients' records.

They differ in age, family, occupation and cultural background; they may face different illnesses, or loneliness, poverty, upheaval or ageing. Through these stories, readers can see that the same illness, happening to different people, can bring entirely different difficulties.

Each volume is broadly organised around three layers.

The first layer: the classical text. What does the Suwen actually say? We present the ancient text as faithfully as possible and explain it in language general readers can follow. Where the interpretations of later commentators, Daoist thought or particular cultivation traditions are involved, we try to give their sources and do not present later understandings as the original text.

The second layer: modern medicine. How does medicine today understand the symptoms and illnesses concerned? What validated methods of diagnosis and treatment are there? Which danger signs call for prompt medical help? Which questions remain disputed or lack reliable evidence? On specific illnesses we rely on modern clinical evidence, and do not substitute ancient terms for modern diagnoses.

The third layer: the author's reflections. What insights does the ancient classic offer for life today? Can they help us understand health, illness, ageing, family responsibility or the meaning of life afresh? In this layer we may draw comparisons between past and present and reflect on civilisation, but we do not present the author's associations as established medical fact.

These three layers must be kept distinct.

For example, the Fang Sheng Shuai Lun speaks of dreaming of battle, and we use it to introduce REM sleep behaviour disorder in modern medicine. The connection may spark readers' interest, but it does not entitle us to claim that the ancients had discovered this sleep disorder.

Again, the Zheng Si Shi Lun criticises physicians who diagnose by the pulse alone without asking about the history. We can use this to discuss why modern medicine values history-taking and investigation, but we cannot say that ancient diagnostic methods and modern diagnostic technology are the same.

The principle running through the whole book can be summed up in three phrases:

Respect the ancients; be honest about the evidence; stay open to the unknown.

Respecting the ancients means taking the trouble to understand the classic, not cutting or altering its thought at will. Respecting the evidence means not treating unproven claims as medical fact. Staying open to the unknown means acknowledging that our understanding of life is still limited, and not rushing to a final judgement just because a phenomenon has not yet been fully explained.

This is also a way of reading that we hope readers will take with them.

 

10. A note on health advice and medical safety

This book is a popular work on traditional culture and health for general readers. It does not replace a doctor's diagnosis, treatment or individual medical advice.

Its suggestions on diet, exercise, daily routine and self-care are intended as general health education. Readers who have long-term conditions, take medicines, are pregnant or have particular health needs should consult a suitable healthcare professional before making any major change that may affect their health.

Above all, do not diagnose yourself, stop medicines or change your treatment because an ancient text describes similar symptoms. Symptoms that persist, recur or gradually worsen need medical assessment.

In dangerous situations — sudden severe chest pain, difficulty breathing, loss of vision in one or both eyes, suspected stroke, heavy bleeding or impaired consciousness — contact your local emergency services immediately.

Serious emotional distress and any risk of self-harm or suicide should also be taken seriously, and professional help sought promptly; where there is imminent danger, get emergency help at once.

The traditional practices for nurturing life described in this book should not be understood as replacing these necessary medical measures.

Our aim is not that readers should learn to diagnose themselves from the Inner Classic, but that they should come to know their bodies better, recognise danger signs, order their lives sensibly, and seek help promptly when they need it.

 

Closing words: "Those who speak well of the past must verify it in the present"

The Suwen, Qi Jiao Bian Da Lun says:

Those who speak well of the past must verify it in the present.

Those who are good at speaking of ancient principles should be able to test them against today.

I am very fond of this saying. It reminds us that reading a classic should not stop at reverence, recitation or repeating the ancients' conclusions. We also need to think seriously: do the questions the ancients raised still exist today? Which of their observations are supported by modern knowledge? Which explanations need rethinking? Which ideas can help us reflect on our own lives?

More than two thousand years ago, the Yellow Emperor put questions about life and ageing to Qi Bo.

Today we have advanced medical technology, easy travel, abundant material goods, and artificial intelligence that can supply vast amounts of knowledge in an instant. Yet we still grow tired, fall ill, age, lose those we love, and face turns of fate we cannot control.

Technology can help us solve many problems, but it cannot decide for us how to live our lives.

Our power to change the outer world grows ever greater; but has our ability to understand ourselves, order our lives, restrain our desires and care for others made the same progress?

This is the question I hope to explore together with readers through the Inner Classic.

We need not return to an ancient way of life, nor revere ancient medicine as an all-knowing truth. Standing on the ground of modern medicine and modern life, we can listen again to the questions the ancients asked.

From the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun to the Jie Jing Wei Lun, the eighty-one chapters of the Suwen will lead us from ways of living, through illness, diagnosis and treatment, nature, the emotions and life's circumstances, and finally back to the limits and humility of medicine.

We hope that through this book, readers will gradually learn three things:

to protect life more carefully, to understand illness more clearly, and to think more deeply about how to live.

Let us begin, in Volume 1, with the Yellow Emperor's question about life and ageing.

Fang Tianliang

October 2026

 

 

Suwen · Volume 1  The Years Granted by Heaven

— Why did the people of high antiquity live past a hundred without growing frail?

I have heard that the people of high antiquity all lived past a hundred years, and yet their movements showed no decline; people today are only fifty, and their movements have all declined. Is it that the times are different? Or is it that people have lost something?

— Suwen, Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun

This is the question the Yellow Emperor puts to Qi Bo in the first chapter of the Suwen, the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun — the Treatise on the Heavenly Truth of High Antiquity.

In today's words: I have heard that in ancient times people lived beyond a hundred and still moved without any sign of age, while people now are worn out by fifty. Is that because the times have changed, or because people themselves have lost something?

 

1. The Yellow Emperor's question

 

An imagined scene

To make the question concrete, let us imagine a scene. The people below are invented examples, not real interviews.

On a quiet street in Hamburg, Germany, lives a Chinese grandmother in her nineties. Every morning she walks out to buy her groceries, comes home and waters the flowers in her garden, takes a short nap after lunch, has tea and a chat with a neighbour in the afternoon, and goes to bed not long after dark.

On the same street lives a man in his early fifties. He is very busy at work. He often gets ready for bed at eleven, then picks up his phone again to check his email because he is worried about the next day's meeting. His body is in bed, but his mind is still in the office. At weekends he wants to rest, yet still feels tired. If tiredness like this persists, he needs to pay attention to his health rather than assume that his lifestyle explains it.

If the Yellow Emperor could see these two people, he would probably ask the same question: why can some people still move freely at ninety, while others already look worn out at fifty?

 

Keys to the question

"Movements showing no decline." The Yellow Emperor is asking not only how long people live, but how well. To reach a hundred with one's movement still unimpaired is what we would now call healthy longevity. A person who lives to ninety but spends many of the last years confined to bed has a very different experience of life from someone in their eighties who still does their own shopping and chats with friends.

"Is it that the times are different? Or is it that people have lost something?" The Yellow Emperor offers two possibilities. One looks outward: have the times changed? The other looks inward: have people themselves lost something? He does not hurry to blame everything on the outside world; he is willing to turn round and look at people themselves.

The Yellow Emperor and the "Heavenly Teacher". The chapter opens by describing the Yellow Emperor as one who "at birth was spirited and wise, as an infant could speak, as a child was quick and sharp, as a youth was sincere and diligent, and when grown ascended to heaven". The last phrase is read in different ways: some take it to mean that he ascended the throne, others that he ascended to heaven. We leave both readings open. The Yellow Emperor addresses Qi Bo as "Heavenly Teacher", and the whole dialogue of the Inner Classic unfolds in this atmosphere of a ruler seeking instruction from a teacher.

The title, "Heavenly Truth of High Antiquity". "High antiquity" means the remote past. Tianzhen, here rendered "heavenly truth", is not the tianzhen of modern Chinese, where it means childlike innocence. It is an important term in the ancient view of life, connected with the "truth" a person receives from Heaven — the original state of life — and its exact meaning has to be understood through the commentaries. Later in the chapter, phrases such as "scattering one's truth", "true qi follows" and "the true person" echo one another, but we should not assume that they all mean exactly the same thing simply because each contains the word zhen, "true".

 

Three questions for this chapter

Qi Bo's answer can help us think about three questions:

•       First, why do people age before their time?

•       Second, how can people reduce needless wear on their lives?

•       Third, amid the ageing and changes in life that cannot be avoided, how can people live better?

Let us follow Qi Bo and take them one at a time.

 

The first question: why do people age before their time?

 

2. Five things that "those who knew the Way" did

Qi Bo answers:

Among the people of high antiquity, those who knew the Way modelled themselves on yin and yang, kept in harmony with the arts and methods, ate and drank with moderation, kept regular hours in rising and resting, and did not exhaust themselves recklessly. Therefore body and spirit stayed together, they lived out the full span of their heavenly years, and they departed only after passing a hundred.

Notice the phrase "those who knew the Way". The text sets its own limit: it is talking about the people of high antiquity who understood the Way, not everyone. In Qi Bo's view, long life without frailty does not come from a secret remedy; it comes from a whole life that is in accord with the Way, the Dao.

Modelling oneself on yin and yang: living by the rhythms of heaven and earth. Yin and yang are a basic pair of concepts the ancient Chinese used to observe the world. Day and night, heat and cold, activity and rest — all are the waxing and waning of yin and yang. To "model oneself on yin and yang" is to follow these changes: work when it is light, rest when it is dark, go with the heat in summer, and in winter keep warm and draw inward.

People who live at high latitudes — in northern Europe, northern Germany, Britain or Canada, for example — may feel this especially keenly. In winter it is dark by four in the afternoon; in summer there is still light in the sky at ten at night. Many people find they are sleepier and lower in mood in winter, while in summer they go to bed later and wake earlier. The body has been following the rhythms of heaven and earth all along; we simply do not usually notice. Today we have electric light, central heating and smartphones. We need not go back to an age without electricity, but nor should we assume that, because of these conveniences, the body no longer needs rhythm.

Keeping in harmony with the arts and methods: having a method, and a sense of proportion. Shushu, "the arts and methods", is an old term. Some traditional commentators understand it as methods for nourishing the essence and qi; others as practices for nurturing life such as daoyin (guided movement) and breathing exercises; today some also read it as acting in accordance with natural order, with a sense of proportion. We present these readings together. Whichever one we take, the word he, "harmony", is the key: harmony means getting things just right. Some people hear that walking is good for them and force themselves to walk thirty thousand steps a day; they hear that a certain diet is healthy and cut out everything else. What began as a pursuit of health loses its proportion and becomes a new burden.

Eating and drinking with moderation: not letting appetite be the master. Jie, "moderation", has several layers. Moderation in how much we eat: not eating until we are overfull. Moderation in when we eat: not too late, and not feasting one meal and starving the next. Moderation in drinking: not treating alcohol as everyday water. The balanced diet that modern nutrition recommends — plenty of vegetables, fruit and wholegrains, and not too much salt or sugar — can help us bring "moderation" to the dinner table.

Keeping regular hours: giving life a steady rhythm. Chang, "regular", means a normal pattern. It does not require everyone to go to bed at nine and get up at five. People of different ages and in different jobs will arrange things differently, and shift workers find it harder to follow an ordinary timetable. But where circumstances allow, going to bed and getting up at roughly the same times each day, not staying up late night after night, and not relying on weekend lie-ins to repay the sleep owed during the week are all worth working towards.

Not exhausting oneself recklessly: not refusing work, but not overdrawing. The key word is wang, "reckless". Later tradition often understands this "exhaustion" in three areas: the body, the mind, and sexual activity. Work itself is not the problem; people need to do things, and the body needs activity. The problem is wearing oneself down unreasonably and without restraint. Later in this chapter we will look at this through the story of a man caring for his wife.

If these five things are done, Qi Bo says, the result is that "body and spirit stayed together, they lived out the full span of their heavenly years, and they departed only after passing a hundred". Xing is the body; shen is the spirit. In the Inner Classic, Shen means far more than what we now call "psychology" or "mind": it concerns what governs the whole activity of life, which is why this book keeps the word Shen and explains it rather than simply translating it as "mind". Tiannian, "the heavenly years", is the span of life granted by Heaven. The aim of nurturing life is to live that span fully, without declining too early.

 

3. People today: "chasing what pleases the heart, going against the true joy of life"

Having described "those who knew the Way", Qi Bo turns:

People today are not like this. They take wine as if it were water, treat recklessness as normal, enter the bedchamber drunk, exhaust their essence through desire and scatter their truth. They do not know how to keep themselves full, nor how to guide the spirit at the right times; they chase what pleases the heart and go against the true joy of life; they rise and rest without regularity. Therefore at fifty they decline.

Almost every phrase here is the reverse of one of the "five things". "Taking wine as if it were water" is the opposite of eating and drinking with moderation; "rising and resting without regularity" is the opposite of keeping regular hours; "treating recklessness as normal" and "exhausting their essence through desire" are the opposite of not exhausting oneself recklessly; "not knowing how to keep themselves full, nor how to guide the spirit" is the opposite of body and spirit staying together.

Two of the expressions are especially vivid. Chi man, "keeping full", is like carrying a bowl filled to the brim with water, carefully, so that none spills: a person's essence and qi are like that bowl of water. Yu shen, "guiding the spirit", uses the word for driving a chariot: the spirit is like a team of horses that must be driven to stay on the right road; with no one at the reins, it runs wild and wears itself out for nothing.

But the phrase in this passage most worth rereading today is just eight characters long: wu kuai qi xin, ni yu sheng le — "chasing what pleases the heart, going against the true joy of life". Pursuing momentary gratification leads us away from the real joy of living.

Instant pleasure has never been easier to come by than in our time. In a few seconds we can find an amusing video; with one tap, a parcel is at the door the next day; whatever we fancy to eat can be delivered in half an hour. Yet the easier it becomes to get pleasure now, the less sure we may be about what lasting happiness is.

What is the difference between a brief thrill and lasting satisfaction?

A thrill comes quickly and goes just as quickly. After an hour of short videos, when we put the phone down, we are often left with nothing but emptiness and tiredness. Lasting satisfaction usually comes slowly: a good meal shared with the family, a habit kept up for months until it finally sticks, a piece of work done with care. These things are less exciting, but they stay with us.

Why is it that the more used we are to getting things straight away, the harder restraint can become? Because each "get it now" makes the next wait feel harder to bear. Once we are used to being satisfied at any moment, we find boredom, waiting and uncertainty more and more difficult to tolerate. The ancients had no smartphones, but they already saw this cycle: those who "chase what pleases the heart" end up "going against the true joy of life".

The pursuit of success works the same way. There is nothing wrong with striving; working hard and improving one's life deserve respect. The trouble comes when success turns into endless comparison — more this year than last, better than everyone else — and the road no longer has an end. We keep running, and can hardly settle down to enjoy what we already have.

What Qi Bo criticises is not pleasure but a way of life that looks only at the moment and never at the long term. Restraint is not the enemy of joy. Very often, it is restraint that allows us to enjoy life for longer.

 

The second question: how can we reduce needless wear on our lives?

 

4. Avoiding harmful winds outside, guarding the spirit within

Qi Bo goes on to describe how the sages of high antiquity taught the people:

When the sages of high antiquity taught those below them, they always told them that the depleting evils and thieving winds should be avoided at the proper times; that when one is tranquil, content and empty of craving, true qi follows; that when essence and spirit are guarded within, from where could illness come?

This passage has an outside and an inside. The outside is "the depleting evils and thieving winds should be avoided at the proper times": protecting ourselves according to the weather and the season, adding clothes when we should and keeping out of the wind when we should. In many places autumn and winter bring wind and rain and a big difference between day and night temperatures. Taking an extra coat when we go out, and changing out of wet clothes as soon as we get home, are the simplest forms of "avoiding them at the proper times".

The inside is "tranquil, content and empty of craving, true qi follows; essence and spirit are guarded within". Tiandan suggests calm and contentment. Xuwu, "emptiness", does not here deny that the world exists, nor does it mean a blank mind. Zhenqi, "true qi", is a concept of life from ancient medicine and the culture of self-cultivation, and cannot be translated directly as energy in the sense of modern physics. "Guarding essence and spirit within" is also more than what we now call concentration or a cheerful mood. Readers can begin by grasping the overall direction of the passage: the ancients valued settling the inner spirit, and connected this with taking care of life.

From the standpoint of Daoist culture, nurturing life is not simply a matter of adding something to the body. The ancients were also concerned with where a person's heart and will are heading: whether desire has no limit, whether the emotions are pulled about by outside things, whether the spirit is always rushing outwards. "Guarding within" has its own background in traditional self-cultivation. We do not turn it into a mysterious cure-all, nor do we flatten it into an ordinary stress-management technique.

Many people ask: does "tranquil, content and empty of craving" mean thinking nothing and doing nothing? No. The text goes straight on to say that the people of that time "worked their bodies without growing weary" — they still worked and got things done. It does not mean giving up on life; it means not letting too many desires and thoughts drag us along in the middle of life.

We can go a little deeper. A person who stays calm is often not someone who has never met difficulties. It is precisely when a difficulty cannot be solved straight away that we most need to learn how to settle our hearts. Anyone can be calm when things are going well; the test comes when they are not.

The Taiwanese scholar Cai Biming reads the Laozi and the Zhuangzi alongside the Inner Classic in her book Yi Dao Tong Yuan: When Laozi and Zhuangzi Meet the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. Her point, broadly, is that the Daoists teach how a person should use the heart, while the physicians describe what that use of the heart does to the body. This is her own interpretive angle, not the text of the Inner Classic, but it is a helpful way in for today's readers: the ancients cared about the body, and they also cared about how people use their own hearts.

We should also be clear: the ancients wrote "avoiding outside evils" and "guarding the spirit" together, and both come before "from where could illness come?". When we quote this line we should present it whole, not reduce it to "a positive attitude stops you getting ill". Illness has many causes, and no one who falls ill should be blamed for "not cultivating themselves enough".

How might people today draw inspiration for daily life from "guarding the spirit within"? The following are simply everyday suggestions from Fang Tianliang, not a full account of ancient cultivation practices: put the phone aside while eating; notice the ground under your feet and your surroundings as you walk; before bed, write down what needs doing tomorrow; each day, keep a short stretch of quiet time free from messages and news. These habits can help us reorganise our attention, but they should not be equated with the "guarding the spirit" practice described in the classic.

Story one: after losing his job (a composite example)

What follows is a composite drawn from many people's experiences, not the story of any one real person.

Daniel is fifty-two. He worked for the same company for twenty years. Then came redundancies, and suddenly he had no job. For the first few days he told himself it was fine, but soon the mortgage, his daughter's tuition fees and the cost of supporting his elderly parents began to weigh on him, one after another.

He started to have trouble sleeping. By day he sent out applications; at night he lay awake going over the same thoughts: if only I had changed jobs back then, if only I were ten years younger. He lost his appetite, grew short with his family, and some days hardly spoke at all. He felt he had done nothing, and yet he was exhausted.

Real difficulties have to be faced. Daniel needs to look for work, talk through spending with his family, and perhaps apply for whatever support is available to him. There are no shortcuts here.

The exhaustion that comes with losing a job is partly real pressure and partly the burden of repeated self-blame and worry. We cannot calculate for Daniel which part weighs more, and still less can we say that his suffering is mainly in his head. But he might try dividing his limited energy: one part for looking for work, managing money and seeking support; another part for making sure he keeps eating, sleeping and talking with his family.

The Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun speaks of "a settled heart without fear". Applied to Daniel, this does not mean he should not be afraid. Anyone who loses a job will be afraid. "Without fear" can be understood as not letting fear take over completely: to be afraid, but still get up at the usual time each day, still go out for a walk, still sit down to a proper meal with the family, and then do the one thing that can be done today.

This also shows how hard "a settled heart without fear" is in adversity. Being settled does not mean there are no problems; it means knowing the problems are still there without handing one's whole life over to them. Today, finish one job application; tomorrow, sit down with the family to talk about the budget; if strength runs low, rest first or ask for help. Acting step by step may not change the outcome at once, but it may help a person hold on to the strength to keep living.

A settled heart does not mean the problem has gone. It means that while the problem is still there, we are not swallowed by it.

If sleeplessness or low mood goes on for a long time and starts to affect everyday life, it is no longer just a matter of "attitude". Seek help from a doctor or a mental health professional promptly.

 

5. "Their people were called simple": a life without comparison

Qi Bo then paints a picture of life:

Thus their wills were at ease and their desires few, their hearts settled and without fear; their bodies worked without growing weary, their qi flowed smoothly; each followed his wishes and all obtained what they hoped for. So they found their food delicious, were content with their clothes, delighted in their customs, and high and low did not envy one another: their people were called simple. Thus cravings could not weary their eyes, nor lewdness lead their hearts astray; the foolish and the wise, the able and the unworthy alike were not alarmed by things — and so they were in accord with the Way. That they could all pass a hundred years with no decline in their movements was because their virtue was whole and not endangered.

In other words: their minds were at ease and their wants were few; their hearts were settled and unafraid; they worked hard without exhaustion, and their qi flowed smoothly; and since everyone's wishes were modest, everyone's hopes were met. Whatever they ate tasted good, whatever they wore suited them, they loved their local customs, and those of high and low rank did not envy each other. Such people were called pu, "simple". Cravings could not tire their eyes, and nothing corrupt could lead their hearts astray; whether foolish or wise, able or not, they were not unsettled by outside things, and so they were in accord with the Way. That they lived past a hundred without their movements failing was because their de — their virtue — was whole and undamaged.

This is the most Daoist passage in the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun. "They found their food delicious, were content with their clothes, delighted in their customs" is almost identical to Chapter 80 of the Laozi: "Let them find their food sweet, their clothes beautiful, their homes peaceful, and their customs a joy." "Their wills were at ease and their desires few" and "their people were called simple" also recall Chapter 19 of the Laozi: "Show plainness and embrace simplicity; lessen self-interest and reduce desire." Pu originally means uncarved wood — the uncarved block — and stands for a natural, unadorned, authentic state.

"Each followed his wishes and all obtained what they hoped for" shows that the ancients were not asking people to suppress every desire. Rather, their desires were few to begin with, so they were easily satisfied.

"Cravings could not weary their eyes" carries particular weight today. The eyes are where desire most easily enters. How many times a day does a phone pull our gaze away? Where someone else went on holiday, what car they bought, which school their child got into — one after another these pass before our eyes, and the heart follows them.

"High and low did not envy one another" does not mean that there are no differences in society, or that people should not make an effort. It reminds us that we can pursue a better life and admire others' achievements without handing our whole happiness over to the results of comparison.

"The foolish and the wise, the able and the unworthy alike were not alarmed by things" also tells us that being in accord with the Way is not the preserve of the clever or the learned. Ordinary people can do it too.

Then the last line: "because their virtue was whole and not endangered". De, "virtue", here is closely related to the Dao of the Daoists, and should not be understood only as moral character in today's sense. Chapter 51 of the Laozi says, "The Dao gives them life, and De nurtures them," which helps us sense the connection between the Way and its virtue. Our reading is that "virtue being whole" probably means that the nature a person receives from heaven and earth remains intact, undamaged by desire and outside things. This is our own understanding, not the words of the text, and readers are free to form their own.

 

6. Caring for others, and caring for yourself

"Not exhausting oneself recklessly", as we have said, means not overdrawing on oneself. There is one kind of overdrawing that is the hardest to notice, because it comes from love.

Story two: the man caring for his wife (a composite example)

This, too, is a composite example.

George is seventy-five. Three years ago his wife had a stroke, and she can no longer look after herself. Their children all work in other cities, so the work of caring for her falls almost entirely on him.

He gets up at five every day to wash her, feed her and give her her medicines, and helps her do a little exercise. At night, whenever she turns over, he wakes; he is up several times a night. His own meals are often a few mouthfuls eaten standing in the kitchen. When the children urge him to get some help, he always says, "I can still manage."

Then one day, in the supermarket, he suddenly felt dizzy and nearly fell. The doctor told him that his blood pressure was very high and that he was severely short of sleep.

George's devotion to his wife is moving. But if he collapses, who will look after her?

Here "not exhausting oneself recklessly" takes on a new meaning: real love should not be built on overdrawing on oneself without limit. Caring for family also means leaving time to eat, sleep and catch one's breath, and learning to accept the help that is available. Many countries and regions offer some support to people who care for a family member over the long term — in Britain, for example, carers can ask for a "carer's assessment". Arrangements differ from place to place; your local council or authority, community services or family doctor can tell you what is available where you live.

Taking care of yourself is not selfish. It is what lets you keep going for longer.

 

The third question: amid ageing and life's changes, how can we live better?

 

7. The body keeps its own timetable

Having spoken about ways of living, the Yellow Emperor asks another question: when people grow old and can no longer have children, is it because their strength is used up, or because that is the course set by Heaven?

Qi Bo's answer is the famous "sevens for women, eights for men". He describes women's lives in stages of seven years and men's in stages of eight, covering the whole course from growth and development, through fertility and full vigour, to ageing. The full text and a comparison table are in Appendix 1 to this chapter; here we look at a few representative stages:

Stage	Women	Men
Childhood	Age 7: kidney qi flourishes; the adult teeth come in and the hair grows	Age 8: kidney qi is replete; the hair grows and the adult teeth come in
Maturity	Age 14: tiangui arrives; able to bear children	Age 16: tiangui arrives; able to father children
Peak	Age 28: sinews and bones are firm; the body is at its strongest	Age 32: sinews and bones are at their height; the muscles are full and strong
Gradual decline	From 35: the complexion begins to wither; the hair begins to fall	From 40: kidney qi begins to decline; the hair falls and the teeth wither
End of fertility	Age 49: tiangui is exhausted	Age 56: tiangui is exhausted; by 64, the teeth and hair are gone

Qi Bo also explains: "The kidneys govern water; they receive the essence of the five zang organs and six fu organs and store it." In the Inner Classic, the kidneys store the essence and qi of all the organs of the body and govern growth, reproduction and ageing. So the "kidney" of Chinese medicine is a functional system, not the same thing as the anatomical kidney; and tiangui, which brings about the capacity to reproduce, is a substance or function that cannot be equated directly with any one hormone.

Memorising the multiples of seven and eight is not what matters. The most important reminder of this passage is that life has different stages, and the way we look after ourselves should change with our age and the state of our bodies.

When we are young, the body recovers quickly, and it is easy to overdraw on the strength of youth. In middle age, the burdens of work and family are heavy and the body's changes begin to show; this is exactly when we most need to make time for rest in the middle of busyness. In old age, keeping mobile, keeping up muscle strength and good nutrition, and staying in touch with family and friends become especially important.

Ageing is a change no one can avoid. "Going along with nature" here does not mean passively waiting to grow old. It means acknowledging the changes in our bodies, caring for ourselves in ways suited to our present age, and not demanding that we stay twenty for ever.

When the body meets its limits

Besides ageing, life brings another kind of change: the body suddenly meets a limit. Perhaps a check-up reveals a long-term condition; perhaps, after a sprain, a knee can no longer climb hills as it used to.

Many people swing to one of two extremes at such times. One is refusing to accept it and pushing on as before, so that the problem keeps getting worse. The other is losing heart all at once — "that's my life over" — and not wanting to do anything at all.

"Going along with nature" here means neither pushing on regardless nor giving up. It is more like getting to know one's body afresh: not forcing the things that cannot be done for now; doing properly the things that still can be done; and sticking steadily with the treatment and rehabilitation the doctor recommends. Someone with an injured knee may no longer be able to climb mountains, but can still walk on the flat, swim and tend a garden. The scope of life has changed; life itself has not ended.

When the Inner Classic speaks of "living out the full span of the heavenly years", it means living fully the years Heaven has given. Living them fully does not require us to be at our best every day, but to look after ourselves as well as we can in whatever state we are in.

 

8. What we are born with, and what we do with it

The Yellow Emperor presses further: some people are old and yet can still have children — why is that? Qi Bo says it is because such a person's "heavenly lifespan exceeds the usual measure, the qi and vessels stay open, and the kidney qi is more than sufficient" — they were born with a longer span than most, and their qi, blood and channels have stayed open. The Yellow Emperor asks again: those who have attained the Way all live to around a hundred — can they still have children? Qi Bo replies:

Those who have the Way can ward off old age and keep the body whole; though their years are many, they can still beget children.

The phrase "ward off old age and keep the body whole" touches on the ancients' deeper understanding of attaining the Way and of states of life, and cannot simply be rewritten as "ageing healthily". This book keeps that traditional meaning, while reminding readers that this is a statement within a classic text and is no medical basis for having children at an advanced age today. Readers interested in the ideas of cultivation can explore them further in other titles.

Nor need we rush to match "warding off old age" with today's anti-ageing products or medical technologies. The "people of the Way" of the ancients belong first of all to a particular view of life and a particular context of self-cultivation. Only by acknowledging that distance can we really hear what the classic is saying, rather than turning ancient words into modern advertising slogans.

"A heavenly lifespan that exceeds the usual measure" shows that the ancients recognised that people are born with different endowments. For today's readers, this passage can prompt a simple reflection: our bodies are shaped partly by what we are born with and partly by how we live. We cannot choose the conditions of our birth; but whether we smoke, whether we drink too much, whether we stay active, whether we take sleep seriously, whether we have the check-ups we need — these are very largely in our own hands.

 

9. "Not wishing to leave the world": keeping oneself whole within society

The last passage of the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun is spoken by the Yellow Emperor himself. He describes in turn four kinds of people: the true person, the perfected person, the sage and the worthy (the full text is in Appendix 2). The true person and the perfected person belong to the Daoist culture of cultivation and its deeper understanding of states of life; this book introduces them only briefly, leaving fuller discussion to the Inner Growth series.

Among the four, one contrast is especially worth noticing for ordinary readers: the perfected person "leaves the world and departs from common ways", withdrawing from society, while the sage "does not wish to leave the world" and stays within society.

Next there were the sages. They dwelt in the harmony of heaven and earth and followed the patterns of the eight winds; they adjusted their cravings and desires within ordinary life and had no resentment or anger in their hearts; they did not wish to leave the world, wore the dress of their station, and in their conduct did not wish to be seen by the crowd; outwardly they did not wear out their bodies with affairs, inwardly they had no troubles of anxious thought; they made tranquillity and contentment their task and self-fulfilment their achievement. Their bodies did not wear out, their essence and spirit did not scatter, and they too could reach a hundred.

The sage lives among people, with his own actions and dealings. Yet he can "adjust his cravings and desires within ordinary life", tempering his tastes and wants in the middle of worldly life; he has "no resentment or anger in his heart", not trapped by grievance and irritation; "outwardly he does not wear out his body with affairs, inwardly he has no troubles of anxious thought", not overworking the body nor carrying a heavy load of worry; and he "makes tranquillity and contentment his task and self-fulfilment his achievement", treating calm cheerfulness as his proper business and inner satisfaction as his success.

Most of us cannot leave work and family behind. We need to earn a living, look after the people we love, and deal with all kinds of complicated matters. The passage on the sage tells us that even in a complicated society, we can learn to temper desire, lessen resentment and look after the spirit. We can work conscientiously without being tense all the time; we can care for our families without turning every matter into a stone weighing on our hearts.

At the same time, we should be clear that the true person, the perfected person, the sage and the worthy are descriptions of states of life in traditional Chinese culture. We do not reduce them to grades of "mental health", nor claim that modern science has verified them. We simply take from them the part that can help ordinary people today.

 

10. Three questions readers often ask

Q: Did people in high antiquity really all live to a hundred?

A: The classic does say: "The people of high antiquity all lived past a hundred years, and yet their movements showed no decline." We should present this record faithfully, and we should also distinguish between what a classic narrates and population lifespan data that can be independently checked. In his answer Qi Bo specifically says "those who knew the Way", which shows he is focusing on the people of high antiquity who understood the Way, rather than simply claiming that everyone lived that long. Readers can start by understanding the question about life that this dialogue raises.

Q: I don't understand yin and yang, and I'm not Chinese. Is any of this useful to me?

A: In the end, the principle of yin and yang lives in everyday life: work by day and rest at night; rest after effort and move after rest; add a layer when it is cold and take one off when it is hot. You do not need to master a theory before you start going to bed on time, leaving a little room at the end of a meal, and comparing yourself with others a little less.

Q: If I follow this chapter, will I never get ill?

A: This chapter is about the overall shape of a life, not a prescription that guarantees you will never be ill. People fall ill for many reasons — some inborn, some environmental, some to do with age. The wisdom of the ancients can help us take a fresh look at our habits; when something really is wrong with the body, we still need to see a doctor promptly. Even so, if we put the principles of this chapter into practice, then even when we are ill we may find it easier to stay calm through treatment and recovery, to work with our treatment and to look after ourselves.

 

11. Six things you can do today, after reading this chapter

These six things are not exercises laid down in the Inner Classic. They are everyday suggestions from Fang Tianliang, drawn from the ideas of this chapter, for readers today.

First, watch your routine for a week. For seven days in a row, note when you go to sleep and when you get up, and see whether the times swing widely. Try to steady your bedtime and waking time, and for the hour before bed, keep your phone at a distance.

Second, eat and drink with moderation. Before looking for supplements, look at whether you often eat too much or too late, and whether you often use alcohol to unwind. Putting down your chopsticks or fork when you are about eighty per cent full is a simple place to start.

Third, keep moderately active. Walking, cycling, swimming, gardening, suitable strength exercises — choose what you can keep up for the long term. If you do not usually exercise much, start by walking a little further each day, and avoid suddenly doing too much.

Fourth, cut down on needless comparison and stimulation from information. Keep a stretch of time each day when you do not check messages or scroll on your phone.

Fifth, adjust your life to the seasons. Add clothes when it is cold, keep out of the wind and rain when you can, get outdoors on sunny days, and adjust activity and rest as the seasons change.

Sixth, faced with a difficulty you cannot change for now, separate what you can do from what you cannot. Take a sheet of paper and ask yourself three questions:

•       What is the problem I am really facing now?

•       Which things can I act on and change today?

•       Which things are not mine to decide for now? While I wait, can I at least look after my eating, my sleep and my body?

Write down the things you can do, and do the smallest of them today. Write down, too, the things you cannot decide for now, acknowledge them, and then bring your attention back to your own life.

One last word: if you have lasting symptoms — long-term sleeplessness, unusual sleepiness during the day, persistent low mood, or weight loss you cannot explain — please see a doctor promptly. You can start by contacting your family doctor or your local non-emergency health advice line; in an emergency, call your local emergency number (for example 999 in the UK, 911 in the US and Canada, 000 in Australia, 120 in mainland China). Finding and dealing with problems early is itself a way of taking responsibility for yourself.

These are directions to choose from, not tasks you must complete every day. The next section will help you pick one and put it into practice, step by step.

 

12. Putting this chapter into practice: starting with one old habit

The previous section listed six things you could do today. Many readers will get this far and think: I understand all of this; I just can't keep it up.

This section does not go over the reasoning again. It covers only one thing: how to change an old habit, one step at a time.

Classic text: Qi Bo says that those in high antiquity who knew the Way "ate and drank with moderation, kept regular hours in rising and resting, and did not exhaust themselves recklessly" (see section 2 for the original and its explanation).

Interpretation: These three phrases leave today's readers with three ways in: eating, sleeping, and the balance between work and rest. "Moderation" and "regular" describe not a moment of resolve, but an everyday pattern kept up day after day. The ancients pointed the direction; how to get there from the life we are living now is something we have to work out for ourselves.

What you can do today: The methods below come from modern research on behaviour change and from everyday experience. Fang Tianliang has brought them together in the spirit of this chapter; they are not exercises laid down in the Inner Classic.

 

Three ways in: choose one first

Of the three ways in below, please choose just one. There is no need to change your sleep, your eating and your work–rest balance all at once. Try to change three things at a time, and often none of them holds.

•       Keeping regular hours: for example, no longer dealing with work just before bed, or getting up at roughly the same time each day. The NHS's advice on sleep also stresses going to bed and getting up at similar times each day, keeping to this on days off as far as you can, giving yourself time to wind down before bed, and avoiding phones, tablets and computers in the hour before bed.

•       Eating and drinking with moderation: for example, serving yourself one portion and sitting down to eat it slowly; when you have finished, pausing to notice whether you are still hungry before deciding whether to have more, rather than eating on the go and helping yourself again and again without noticing. Or you could start by turning to alcohol to unwind less often. The UK Chief Medical Officers' low-risk drinking guidelines advise that people who drink regularly should not drink more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days, with several drink-free days each week.

•       Not exhausting yourself recklessly: for example, getting up and moving after sitting for a long time, or keeping a stretch of time each week with nothing scheduled. The UK Chief Medical Officers' 2019 physical activity guidelines likewise advise keeping sedentary time to a minimum and, where physically possible, breaking up long periods of inactivity with at least light activity.

How do you choose? Ask yourself two questions: which of these most often leaves me with regrets the next day? And which one am I confident I can start doing this week? If the answers differ, start with the second. Get a taste of "I can do this" first, then turn to the hardest one. Once one way in has settled, consider the next.

 

Why can't I keep it up?

Many people put their failure to change a habit down to "not enough willpower". In fact, the more common reasons lie elsewhere.

•       The goal is too big and too vague. "Go to bed earlier" or "eat less" is a direction, not a specific action to take this evening.

•       Old habits have their own switches. We sit down on the sofa and pick up the phone; we open the fridge and take a snack without thinking. Old habits start automatically at familiar times and in familiar places, while a new behaviour has to be remembered and decided on afresh each time.

•       Our surroundings take the old habit's side. The phone is by the pillow, the snacks within reach, the bottle in plain sight.

•       One slip, and we give up altogether. The thought "I've already broken it today, so I may as well forget it" often does more harm than the slip itself.

•       The old habit is solving a problem for you. Scrolling before bed may be the only time in the day that is your own; a drink in the evening may be how you ease the pressure. Take it away without putting anything in its place, and it is very hard to let go.

In section 3, on "chasing what pleases the heart", we saw that the more used we are to getting things straight away, the harder waiting becomes. So the methods below are not about forcing ourselves harder. They are about making the new behaviour easier to do, and the old habit less easy to slip into.

 

Step one: make the action smaller

A good "smallest action" meets three conditions: you can name the specific action; you can manage it even on tired, busy days; and you can start it within a few minutes.

Way in	A goal that is too big	Where you can start
Keeping regular hours	Be asleep by eleven every night	At half past ten, take your phone out of the bedroom to charge
Eating with moderation	Eat with restraint	Serve one portion and sit down to eat it slowly; when it is finished, pause before deciding whether to have more
Not exhausting yourself	Move more, sit less	Each time a phone call ends, get up and walk about for a moment

Small enough to seem "a bit silly" is often just right. Whether an action lasts matters more than how much you do at the start. When to do a little more is something to judge at your seven-day review.

 

Step two: give the action a fixed "place"

Rather than saying "I'm going to bed earlier", attach the new action to something that already happens every day, and put it in one sentence: "When … , I will …"

•       When I have brushed my teeth, I will put my phone to charge in the living room.

•       When I sit down at the table, I will first finish the portion I have served, then pause, ask myself whether I am still hungry, and decide whether to have more.

•       When a phone call ends, I will get up and walk about for a moment.

Psychologists call a plan like this — one that settles in advance "what I will do in which situation" — an "implementation intention". Analyses pooling many studies have found that such specific plans, on the whole, help people turn intentions into action; but the effect varies from person to person and goal to goal, and it is not guaranteed to work for everyone (see the references at the end of this volume).

The same method works for obstacles too. Think first about the situation most likely to trip you up, then write an "If … , then …" sentence. For example: "If a work message arrives after ten, then I will reply only 'I'll get back to you in the morning', and put the phone down."

In the early stages, reminders can help. Name a phone alarm after the action itself — "Phone out of the bedroom" rather than "Time for bed" — or put a small note on the fridge or by the door. Reminders help us remember at the start; it is by attaching the action to the same situation each time that, over time, we may come to need the reminder less.

 

Step three: change your surroundings so the good choice is the easy one

The most tiring point of the day is often when it is hardest to hold ourselves to anything. Rather than wrestling with ourselves each time, it is better to arrange our surroundings in advance: make the new behaviour a little easier, and the old habit a little more trouble.

•       Sleep: buy an ordinary alarm clock, so the phone no longer needs to sit by the bed; after dinner, get ready what you need to take tomorrow, so there is one thing fewer to worry about at bedtime.

•       Eating: sit at the table to eat, rather than eating while looking at a screen or getting on with other things; keep alcohol and snacks out of sight and out of easy reach; keep some washed fruit at home. When eating out, order one dish and see whether you need anything more once you have finished it.

•       Work and rest: put your water glass somewhere you have to stand up to reach; write rest time into your calendar as you would a meeting.

A change to your surroundings, made once, often works for many days — much less effort than making a fresh resolution every day.

 

Step four: find another way to meet the original need

Removing the phone, the alcohol and the snacks solves only half the problem. As we saw above, an old habit often meets a real need. If the need is still there and only the old way of meeting it is gone, we drift back without noticing. So first ask yourself: what was this old habit doing for me? Then arrange something else to do that job.

•       If scrolling is how you get some time of your own: set aside a short stretch in advance when you do no work and no housework, and do something quiet that you enjoy — read a few pages, listen to some music, chat with someone at home, or simply sit by the window with a hot drink.

•       If a drink in the evening is how you unwind: try something else that lets you breathe out — a short walk after dinner, a hot bath, a phone call to a friend. If the pressure itself is so great that nothing helps you relax, that is a sign it is time to talk to someone.

•       If you eat on the go because there never seems to be time: set aside a fixed slot for meals in your day — even ten or fifteen minutes — and sit down to eat.

The replacement does not have to be perfect. As long as it genuinely meets part of the original need, the new habit is more likely to stay.

 

On busy days: have a "minimum version" ready

For every smallest action, please prepare an even smaller version, kept for days of overtime, caring for family, travel or feeling unwell.

Usual version	Minimum version for busy days
At half past ten, phone out of the bedroom; write down three things to do tomorrow	At half past ten, put the phone somewhere you cannot reach from bed
Serve one portion and eat it sitting down; pause when finished before deciding whether to have more	When there is no time to sit down and eat slowly, at least pause before having more and ask yourself whether you are still hungry
When a call ends, get up and walk about for a moment	When a call ends, stand up for a moment if your body allows

The minimum version is the same action done to a lesser degree, not a different action. If you manage the minimum version, the day counts. It keeps the habit from breaking on the hardest days.

When you are unwell and need to rest, you can pause. There is no need to force yourself through it just to "keep the chain going".

 

When you stop: how to come back

Interruptions are almost bound to happen: illness, travel, something happening at home, or simply a day when you really do not want to. What matters is how you come back afterwards.

In a study at University College London, volunteers each chose a new eating, drinking or activity behaviour and did it every day in the same setting, and were followed for twelve weeks. Missing an occasional day did not noticeably affect the habit-forming process; but those who were very inconsistent found it hard to form a habit (see the references at the end of this volume).

So, after an interruption, you can:

•       Not make up for it. If you missed yesterday, there is no need to do double today.

•       Not punish yourself. No self-blame, and no extra targets.

•       Come back small. Start again at the next opportunity, with the minimum version.

•       Write down one line about why. On your record sheet, note: what interrupted me? What could I do next time the same thing happens?

One practical suggestion: try not to miss twice in a row. This is the author's advice, not a research finding; if you do miss twice in a row, simply start again next time. After a longer break, such as illness or a work trip, do only the minimum version for the first week back, and return to the usual version once your rhythm has recovered.

 

Every seven days: look back

Every seven days, spend a few minutes looking over your record and answer four questions:

•       How many times did I manage it in these seven days? How many with the usual version, and how many with the minimum version?

•       What situation tripped me up most often?

•       What one thing will I adjust next week: make the action smaller, choose a different fixed place, change one thing in my surroundings, or keep it as it is? What do I especially need to watch for next week?

•       Was there a moment in these seven days when I thought, "I did it — that was good"?

To decide what comes next, you can go by this:

•       Still often not managing it: first make the action smaller, or move it to a better-suited situation, rather than blaming yourself.

•       It already feels fairly easy: keep it as it is for a while longer, so it settles; there is no hurry to add more.

•       The load is light and you want to: if you have mostly been using the minimum version, try returning to the usual version; once the usual version feels easy, simply keep it up — there is no need to keep adding tasks.

Whichever applies, adjust only one thing at a time. There is no rule here that you must "hit the target in week one and step up in week two"; the pace is set by your real life.

One thing needs to be said clearly: seven days is the interval for looking back, not a deadline for forming a habit. The study mentioned above used twelve weeks of records to estimate, with a statistical model, roughly how long each person would take to reach near-"automatic" behaviour. The estimates varied widely: for some, less than three weeks; for others, more than eight months. The often-quoted "66 days" is not a deadline that applies to everyone either. There is no single number of days that fits every person and every habit. After an interruption, you can always start again at the next suitable opportunity.

 

An example from daily life: the man in Hamburg who takes his work to bed

Do you remember the man in his early fifties at the start of this chapter, who lives in Hamburg? He often gets ready for bed at eleven, then picks up his phone again to check his email. Let us imagine how his story continues; this is still a fictional example.

After reading this chapter, he chose "keeping regular hours" from the three ways in. First, following the previous section, he recorded his sleep and waking times for seven days, and found a simple pattern: whenever his phone was by the bed, getting ready for sleep at eleven and only really putting it down after midnight was a common occurrence.

The smallest action he set himself was: "When I have brushed my teeth, I will put my phone to charge in the kitchen." His minimum version: at the very least, put the phone somewhere he could not reach from bed. He also made two changes to his surroundings: he bought an ordinary alarm clock, and after dinner he sorted out the papers for the next day's meetings and wrote down three things to do tomorrow.

In the first seven days he managed the usual version four times and the minimum version once. Looking back, he noticed that the two days he missed were both Tuesday and Thursday — the evenings when American colleagues always sent emails. He did not blame himself; he adjusted just one thing, adding an "If … , then …" plan: "If a work email arrives after ten, then I will reply only 'I'll get back to you before nine tomorrow morning', and take the phone out of the room."

In the third week he went on a work trip and stayed in a hotel, and the whole routine fell apart. He did not wait to "start again once I'm home". In the hotel, he did only the minimum version: the phone went on the desk, not by the pillow. In his first week back he still did only the minimum version, and returned to the usual version in the second week.

More than a month on, he has not managed it every day, but "putting the phone down before bed" no longer takes a decision each evening. He says he is less on edge in the mornings before he leaves the house. At weekends, though, he still often feels tired. Following the reminder at the start of this chapter, he booked an appointment with his family doctor for a check-up, rather than drawing his own conclusions from changing his routine alone.

What he got right was not trying especially hard on any one day, but a few very plain things: changing only one thing; making the action small; arranging his surroundings in advance; coming back small after a break; and adjusting only one thing each week.

 

My seven-day record

You can copy the tables below into a notebook, or photocopy them. Each day takes only a minute or two.

Before you start	My plan
The way in I have chosen (just one)
My smallest action
Fixed place: When … , I will …
Minimum version for busy days
One thing I have changed in my surroundings
The situation most likely to trip me up: If … , then …

Date	Done? (usual / minimum / not done)	Obstacle or discovery (one line)
Day 1    /
Day 2    /
Day 3    /
Day 4    /
Day 5    /
Day 6    /
Day 7    /

Day 7 review	My answers
How many times did I manage it? (usual ___, minimum ___)
What tripped me up most often
The one thing I will adjust next week
What I need to watch for next week
A moment when I felt "I did it"

The record is there to help you see yourself clearly, not to give yourself a score. If filling it in every day starts to feel like pressure, you can simply write a few lines at the seven-day review.

 

When it is more than a habit

Changing a habit is something you can begin by yourself. But some situations need professional help, and cannot be solved by persistence alone:

•       If you have long-term sleeplessness, unusual sleepiness during the day, persistent low mood, weight loss you cannot explain, or similar problems, please follow the advice at the end of the previous section and contact your family doctor promptly.

•       If you are trying to drink less and, when you cut down or stop, you get shaking, sweating, a racing heartbeat, anxiety, poor sleep or nausea, you may have become dependent on alcohol. In that case, stopping suddenly can be dangerous: contact your family doctor or an alcohol support service first, and plan how to cut down with their help. If you have severe symptoms, such as visible shaking, fits or hallucinations, seek emergency medical help immediately.

•       If you have a long-term condition, take regular medicines, are pregnant, or have a history of an eating disorder, talk to your doctor or another suitable health professional before making significant changes to your eating or activity. If keeping a food record makes you more and more anxious, or you start to restrict your eating strictly, please stop recording and talk to your doctor as soon as you can.

•       If you care for a family member and simply cannot manage "not exhausting yourself recklessly", the problem is usually not willpower but the load itself. See George's story in section 6, and ask your local council, community services or family doctor what support is available.

•       If you have thoughts of harming yourself or ending your life, please seek professional help promptly; if there is imminent danger, call your local emergency number at once.

Our own reading is this: the "regular" in "keeping regular hours" does not mean never breaking the pattern. It means being able to return to it after you have.

 

Conclusion: what is it that we have lost?

Let us return to the Yellow Emperor's original question: is it that the times have changed, or that people have lost something?

The times really have changed. Today we have modern hospitals, medicines and surgery, and many illnesses the ancients could do nothing about can now be treated. Nor should we blame individuals for every health problem: illness, losing a job, the death of someone we love — so much is not ours to decide.

But in the places where we can decide, Qi Bo's answer has been written down for more than two thousand years: model yourself on yin and yang, keep in harmony with the arts and methods, eat and drink with moderation, keep regular hours, and do not exhaust yourself recklessly. When things go well, do not squander yourself; when things are hard, do not let fear swallow you.

None of this looks profound. The hard part has never been understanding it, but doing it — and not doing it once, but going on doing it.

In the next volume we turn to the Si Qi Tiao Shen Da Lun, the Great Treatise on Regulating the Spirit with the Four Seasons. Spring, summer, autumn and winter will not change for our sake. What we can change is how we live with the seasons, and how we face the circumstances we cannot change.

 

Appendix 1 to Volume 1: "sevens for women, eights for men" — text and table

Original text:

帝曰：人年老而无子者，材力尽邪？将天数然也？岐伯曰：女子七岁，肾气盛，齿更发长；二七而天癸至，任脉通，太冲脉盛，月事以时下，故有子；三七，肾气平均，故真牙生而长极；四七，筋骨坚，发长极，身体盛壮；五七，阳明脉衰，面始焦，发始堕；六七，三阳脉衰于上，面皆焦，发始白；七七，任脉虚，太冲脉衰少，天癸竭，地道不通，故形坏而无子也。丈夫八岁，肾气实，发长齿更；二八，肾气盛，天癸至，精气溢泻，阴阳和，故能有子；三八，肾气平均，筋骨劲强，故真牙生而长极；四八，筋骨隆盛，肌肉满壮；五八，肾气衰，发堕齿槁；六八，阳气衰竭于上，面焦，发鬓颁白；七八，肝气衰，筋不能动，天癸竭，精少，肾脏衰，形体皆极；八八，则齿发去。肾者主水，受五脏六腑之精而藏之，故五脏盛，乃能泻。今五脏皆衰，筋骨解堕，天癸尽矣，故发鬓白，身体重，行步不正，而无子耳。

English translation:

The Emperor said: When people grow old and have no children, is it that their strength is used up, or is it the course set by Heaven? Qi Bo said: At seven, a girl's kidney qi flourishes; her adult teeth come in and her hair grows long. At twice seven, tiangui arrives, the ren vessel opens, the taichong vessel flourishes, her menses come at their times, and so she can bear children. At three times seven, her kidney qi is in balance, so her wisdom teeth come in and she reaches her full height. At four times seven, her sinews and bones are firm, her hair is at its longest, and her body is at its strongest. At five times seven, the yangming vessels decline; her face begins to wither and her hair begins to fall. At six times seven, the three yang vessels decline in the upper body; her whole face withers and her hair begins to turn white. At seven times seven, the ren vessel is depleted, the taichong vessel declines, tiangui is exhausted and the way of the earth no longer flows; so her body declines and she can no longer bear children. At eight, a boy's kidney qi is replete; his hair grows long and his adult teeth come in. At twice eight, his kidney qi flourishes, tiangui arrives, his essence overflows, yin and yang are in harmony, and so he can father children. At three times eight, his kidney qi is in balance and his sinews and bones are strong, so his wisdom teeth come in and he reaches his full height. At four times eight, his sinews and bones are at their height and his muscles are full and strong. At five times eight, his kidney qi declines; his hair falls and his teeth wither. At six times eight, yang qi is exhausted in the upper body; his face withers and the hair at his temples turns grey. At seven times eight, his liver qi declines and his sinews cannot move freely; tiangui is exhausted, his essence is scant, his kidneys decline, and his whole body reaches its limit. At eight times eight, his teeth and hair are gone. The kidneys govern water; they receive the essence of the five zang and six fu organs and store it, so only when the five zang organs flourish can it be released. Now the five zang organs have all declined, the sinews and bones are slack, and tiangui is used up; so the hair at the temples is white, the body is heavy, the gait is unsteady, and there are no children.

Stage	Women	Men
1	Age 7: kidney qi flourishes; adult teeth come in, hair grows long	Age 8: kidney qi is replete; hair grows long, adult teeth come in
2	Age 14: tiangui arrives, the ren vessel opens, menses come at their times; can bear children	Age 16: kidney qi flourishes, tiangui arrives, essence overflows; can father children
3	Age 21: kidney qi is in balance; wisdom teeth come in, full height reached	Age 24: kidney qi is in balance, sinews and bones are strong; wisdom teeth come in
4	Age 28: sinews and bones are firm, hair is at its longest, the body is at its strongest	Age 32: sinews and bones are at their height; muscles are full and strong
5	Age 35: the yangming vessels decline; the face begins to wither, the hair begins to fall	Age 40: kidney qi declines; the hair falls, the teeth wither
6	Age 42: the three yang vessels decline above; the whole face withers, the hair begins to whiten	Age 48: yang qi is exhausted above; the face withers, the temples turn grey
7	Age 49: the ren vessel is depleted, tiangui is exhausted, the way of the earth no longer flows	Age 56: liver qi declines, the sinews cannot move freely, tiangui is exhausted, essence is scant
8	—	Age 64: the teeth and hair are gone

A further note: modern medicine observes that the timing of development, menopause and ageing varies from person to person. The NHS in the UK, for example, notes on its "Menopause" page that the menopause usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55 (see the references for this volume). This is an observation of modern medicine, which belongs to a different system of knowledge from the Inner Classic; we set the two side by side for readers' reference.

 

Appendix 2 to Volume 1: the true person, the perfected person, the sage and the worthy — the text

Original text:

黄帝曰：余闻上古有真人者，提挈天地，把握阴阳，呼吸精气，独立守神，肌肉若一，故能寿敝天地，无有终时，此其道生。中古之时，有至人者，淳德全道，和于阴阳，调于四时，去世离俗，积精全神，游行天地之间，视听八达之外，此盖益其寿命而强者也，亦归于真人。其次有圣人者，处天地之和，从八风之理，适嗜欲于世俗之间，无恚嗔之心，行不欲离于世，被服章，举不欲观于俗，外不劳形于事，内无思想之患，以恬愉为务，以自得为功，形体不敝，精神不散，亦可以百数。其次有贤人者，法则天地，象似日月，辨列星辰，逆从阴阳，分别四时，将从上古合同于道，亦可使益寿而有极时。

English translation:

The Yellow Emperor said: I have heard that in high antiquity there were true persons. They held up heaven and earth, grasped yin and yang, breathed the essential qi, stood alone guarding the spirit, and their flesh was as one; so their lifespan could outlast heaven and earth, without end. This was life lived through the Way. In middle antiquity there were perfected persons. Pure in virtue and whole in the Way, they were in harmony with yin and yang and attuned to the four seasons; they left the world and departed from common ways, gathered their essence and made their spirit whole, roamed between heaven and earth, and saw and heard beyond the eight directions. These lengthened their lives and grew strong, and they too returned to the state of the true person. Next there were the sages. They dwelt in the harmony of heaven and earth and followed the patterns of the eight winds; they adjusted their cravings and desires within ordinary life and had no resentment or anger in their hearts; they did not wish to leave the world, wore the dress of their station, and in their conduct did not wish to be seen by the crowd; outwardly they did not wear out their bodies with affairs, inwardly they had no troubles of anxious thought; they made tranquillity and contentment their task and self-fulfilment their achievement. Their bodies did not wear out, their essence and spirit did not scatter, and they too could reach a hundred. Next there were the worthies. They took heaven and earth as their model, the sun and moon as their likeness; they distinguished and ordered the stars, went with or against yin and yang according to their course, and marked the four seasons apart. They sought to follow the ancients and be united with the Way, and they too could lengthen their lives, though to a limit.

 

Appendix 3 to Volume 1: a short glossary of key terms

These terms belong to the traditional Chinese view of life. In English it is best to keep the original word and explain it, rather than simply matching it with energy, hormones, psychology or immunity.

Chinese	Meaning in this chapter	Suggested English
道 Dao	The root of how heaven, earth and all things move; also bound up with how people live and come to know themselves	Dao (the Way) — not merely a method
阴阳 yin yang	Two aspects that oppose and complete each other, each waxing as the other wanes	yin and yang
形与神 xing and shen	Body and spirit; Shen governs the activity of life	body (xing) and spirit (Shen)
精 jing	The essence and reserve of life	Jing (essence)
气、真气 qi, zhenqi	The force that drives the activity of life; the normal life qi of the body	Qi; true Qi (zhenqi)
天年 tiannian	The span of life granted by Heaven	the years granted by Heaven
天真 tianzhen	The original endowment a person receives from Heaven	the original endowment from Heaven
朴 pu	Uncarved wood; natural, unadorned authenticity	Pu (the uncarved block)
肾、天癸 shen (kidney), tiangui	The functional system that stores essence and governs growth and reproduction; the substance or function that brings about fertility	the kidney system; tiangui

 

Notes and references

On the position of the Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun. In the standard received text this is the first chapter of the Suwen, a result of the Tang-dynasty scholar Wang Bing's rearrangement of the work. According to the notes of the Song-dynasty editors led by Lin Yi, in the earlier edition annotated by Quan Yuanqi this chapter stood in the ninth scroll; Wang Bing moved it to the head of the whole book when he reordered the chapters.

•       Text of the Inner Classic: Chong Guang Bu Zhu Huangdi Neijing Suwen, standard received text (annotated by Wang Bing, Tang dynasty; revised by Lin Yi et al., Song dynasty); Yao Chunpeng, annotated translation of the Huangdi Neijing (Zhonghua Book Company); Guo Aichun, Huangdi Neijing Suwen Jiaozhu.

•       Daoist classics: Laozi, Chapters 19, 25, 51 and 80.

•       Modern interpretation: Cai Biming (蔡璧名), Yi Dao Tong Yuan: Dang Lao Zhuang Yujian Huangdi Neijing (医道同源：当老庄遇见黄帝内经) (Taipei: Ping An Wenhua, 2019).

•       Modern medical sources: NHS. Menopause. nhs.uk; World Health Organization, Constitution (1948).

•       Habit formation: Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2010, 40: 998–1009. Note: 96 volunteers, followed for 12 weeks (84 days); 82 provided enough data for analysis, and the data of 39 fitted the model well. The range of 18–254 days is the model's estimate of the time needed to reach near-automaticity, not the length of actual follow-up.

•       Implementation intentions: Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P. Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2006, 38: 69–119. Note: pooled 94 independent tests; overall effect medium to large (d = 0.65), with considerable variation between studies.

•       Sleep: NHS Every Mind Matters. How to fall asleep faster and sleep better. nhs.uk (accessed 28 October 2026).

•       Physical activity: UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines, 2019.

•       Alcohol: UK Chief Medical Officers' Low Risk Drinking Guidelines, 2016; NHS. Alcohol-use disorder: Treatment. nhs.uk (accessed 28 October 2026).

 

Appendix: Explore All 81 Volumes of the Suwen

《黄帝内经·素问》八十一册中英文目录

Each volume in The Yellow Emperor's Classic for Modern Life explores one chapter of the Suwen through classical wisdom, modern medical knowledge and practical reflections on everyday life. All 81 volumes are available as individual books, so you can choose the subjects that interest you most; themed sets and the complete collection (available at a discount) can also be read in sequence for a broader understanding of this ancient Chinese classic.

Volume	Chinese title	English title
Volume 1 HJ01 (this book)	上古天真论（含总论） ——上古之人为什么百岁而不衰？	Volume 1  The Years Granted by Heaven (with the General Introduction) — Why did the people of high antiquity live past a hundred without growing frail?
Volume 2 HJ02	四气调神大论 ——春生、夏长、秋收、冬藏：怎样安顿我们的身与心？	Volume 2  Living by the Seasons — Birth in spring, growth in summer, gathering in autumn, storing in winter: how do we settle body and mind?
Volume 3 HJ03	生气通天论 ——人的生命力从哪里来，又是怎样被耗散的？	Volume 3  Keeping the Fire Alight — Where does our vitality come from, and how do we lose it?
Volume 4 HJ04	金匮真言论 ——古人怎样为生命"分类"，我们今天又该怎样阅读？	Volume 4  The Golden Cabinet — How did the ancients classify life, and how should we read their system today?
Volume 5 HJ05	阴阳应象大论 ——阴阳是什么？它怎样帮助我们看懂变化、情绪与衰老	Volume 5  The Sun After Noon — What are yin and yang, and how can they help us understand change, emotion and ageing?
Volume 6 HJ06	阴阳离合论 ——在开与合之间，人怎样找到自己的"枢"？	Volume 6  The Hinge of the Door — Between opening and closing, how do we find our pivot?
Volume 7 HJ07	阴阳别论 ——怎样分辨身体发出的信号？	Volume 7  Reading the Signals — How do we tell what the body is trying to say?
Volume 8 HJ08	灵兰秘典论 ——身体像一个国家：谁来当家，怎样协同？	Volume 8  When the Ruler Is Clear — The body as a state: who is in charge, and how do the parts work together?
Volume 9 HJ09	六节藏象论 ——藏于内，形于外：怎样读懂身体的"光华"？	Volume 9  What Shows on the Outside — Stored within, seen without: how do we read the body's "radiance"?
Volume 10 HJ10	五藏生成篇 ——五味、睡眠与"合参"：怎样照顾一个正在长大的身体？	Volume 10  Rest, Flavour and the Whole Picture — Flavours, sleep and seeing the whole: how do we care for a growing body?
Volume 11 HJ11	五藏别论 ——众说纷纭时，怎样做一个清醒的病人？	Volume 11  When the Experts Disagree — How can we be clear-headed patients when everyone claims to be right?
Volume 12 HJ12	异法方宜论 ——同一种病，为什么治法各不相同？	Volume 12  Different Lands, Different Remedies — Why can the same illness call for different treatments?
Volume 13 HJ13	移精变气论 ——好的医疗，既需要专业知识，也需要认真倾听	Volume 13  Being Heard — Good care needs both expertise and a willingness to listen
Volume 14 HJ14	汤液醪醴论 ——病为本，工为标：治病，需要病人和医生一起努力	Volume 14  The Patient Is the Root — Healing takes patient and physician working together
Volume 15 HJ15	玉版论要篇 ——看懂"颜色"的变化，分清"寻常"与"不寻常"	Volume 15  Shades of Change — Reading changes in colour, and telling the ordinary from the unusual
Volume 16 HJ16	诊要经终论 ——认识生命的节律，也学会面对生命的终点	Volume 16  Seasons and Endings — Understanding life's rhythms, and learning to face its end
Volume 17 HJ17	脉要精微论 ——得强则生：看懂身体发出的"力量信号"	Volume 17  The Strength to Stand — "Those who keep their strength live": reading the body's signals of strength
Volume 18 HJ18	平人气象论 ——先认识"正常"，才能发现"异常"	Volume 18  Knowing Your Normal — You have to know what is normal before you can spot what is not
Volume 19 HJ19	玉机真藏论 ——浆粥入胃，虚者得活：小小一口水，也能救命	Volume 19  A Sip That Saves — "When thin gruel enters the stomach, the depleted live"
Volume 20 HJ20	三部九候论 ——上下相应：从头到脚，全面地看一个人	Volume 20  From Head to Toe — "Above and below as one": looking at the whole person
Volume 21 HJ21	经脉别论 ——生病起于过用：好东西，也要有分寸	Volume 21  Too Much of a Good Thing — "Illness arises from overuse": even good things need a sense of measure
Volume 22 HJ22	藏气法时论 ——毒药攻邪，五谷为养：顺时而养，药与食各有其位	Volume 22  Medicine to Fight, Food to Nourish — Illness has its hours, and medicine and food each have their place
Volume 23 HJ23	宣明五气篇 ——久坐伤肉，久视伤血：任何姿势，久了都是负担	Volume 23  Too Long in One Position — "Long sitting harms the flesh; long looking harms the blood": any posture, held too long, becomes a burden
Volume 24 HJ24	血气形志篇 ——形苦志苦：身体的累与心里的累	Volume 24  Tired in Body, Weary in Mind — When the body toils and the mind suffers
Volume 25 HJ25	宝命全形论 ——莫贵于人：如临深渊，手如握虎	Volume 25  As If Holding a Tiger — "Nothing is more precious than a human being": care as if at the edge of an abyss
Volume 26 HJ26	八正神明论 ——因天时而调血气：天气、月亮与那一声"不对劲"	Volume 26  When the Wind Blows — Weather, the moon and the feeling that "something's wrong"
Volume 27 HJ27	离合真邪论 ——诛罚无过，夺人正气：治疗，也要分清敌我	Volume 27  Friend or Foe — "Punishing the innocent robs people of their upright qi": treatment, too, must know friend from foe
Volume 28 HJ28	通评虚实论 ——邪气盛则实，精气夺则虚：同一张餐桌上的"太多"与"太少"	Volume 28  Too Much, Too Little — "When the pathogen flourishes, there is excess; when essence is robbed, there is deficiency": two kinds of illness at one dinner table
Volume 29 HJ29	太阴阳明论 ——脾病而四肢不用：吃进去的，未必都能"用上"	Volume 29  What the Body Can Use — "When the spleen is ill, the limbs fail": what we eat is not always what we can use
Volume 30 HJ30	阳明脉解篇 ——弃衣而走，登高而歌：突然"变了一个人"，先找身体的原因	Volume 30  Suddenly Not Herself — "Throwing off clothes and running, climbing high and singing": when someone suddenly changes, look first for a bodily cause
Volume 31 HJ31	热论 ——病热少愈，食肉则复：好了一半，最要当心	Volume 31  Not Quite Better — "When a febrile illness is a little better, eating meat brings it back": take most care when you are halfway well
Volume 32 HJ32	刺热篇 ——饮之寒水，居止寒处：热浪中的老人与"病虽未发"的信号	Volume 32  Keeping Cool — "Give cold water to drink, keep them in a cool place": older people in a heatwave, and the signs before illness strikes
Volume 33 HJ33	评热病论 ——邪之所凑，其气必虚：生病不是因为你"不够强"	Volume 33  Not Your Fault — "Where pathogens gather, the qi must be deficient": falling ill does not mean you weren't "strong enough"
Volume 34 HJ34	逆调论 ——胃不和则卧不安：睡不好，有时要从肚子里找原因	Volume 34  Restless Stomach, Restless Sleep — "When the stomach is not in harmony, sleep is not peaceful": sometimes the cause of poor sleep lies in the belly
Volume 35 HJ35	疟论 ——寒栗鼓颔，头痛如破：旅行归来后的发烧，不要只当感冒	Volume 35  Fever After Travel — "Shivering with chattering jaws, a headache as if splitting": a fever after travel is not just a cold
Volume 36 HJ36	刺疟篇 ——适肥瘦，出其血：针刺有讲究，反复发热更要查清原因	Volume 36  Finding the Cause — "Adjust to whether the patient is fat or thin": needling has its rules, and recurring fever needs its cause found
Volume 37 HJ37	气厥论 ——善食而瘦，谓之食亦：越吃越瘦，不一定是好事	Volume 37  Eating More, Weighing Less — "Eating a great deal yet growing thin": when losing weight is not good news
Volume 38 HJ38	咳论 ——五藏六府皆令人咳，非独肺也：咳嗽，不一定只是肺的事	Volume 38  Not Only the Lungs — "All five zang and six fu organs can make a person cough, not the lungs alone": a cough is not always about the lungs
Volume 39 HJ39	举痛论 ——百病生于气也：疼痛、情绪与身体	Volume 39  Knots in the Stomach — "Many illnesses arise from qi": pain, emotion and the body
Volume 40 HJ40	腹中论 ——旦食则不能暮食，名为鼓胀：肚子越来越大，不一定是"发福"	Volume 40  More Than Middle-Age Spread — "Eating in the morning, unable to eat by evening; this is called drum distension": a growing belly is not always weight gain
Volume 41 HJ41	刺腰痛篇 ——得之举重伤腰：腰痛很常见，多数会好转，但要认得危险信号	Volume 41  Lifting Too Much — "It comes from lifting something heavy and injuring the lower back": back pain is common and usually improves, but know the warning signs
Volume 42 HJ42	风论 ——风者善行而数变：脸突然歪了，先排除中风	Volume 42  Swift as the Wind — "Wind moves readily and changes often": when your face suddenly droops, rule out a stroke first
Volume 43 HJ43	痹论 ——风寒湿三气杂至，合而为痹：关节痛，不一定只是"湿气重"	Volume 43  Not Just the Damp — "Wind, cold and damp arrive together and combine to form bi": joint pain is not always "too much damp"
Volume 44 HJ44	痿论 ——治痿者独取阳明：腿软无力，不只是"老了"	Volume 44  Not Just Getting Old — "To treat wei, take yangming alone": weak legs are not only a matter of age
Volume 45 HJ45	厥论 ——暴不知人：突然晕倒，多数是一过性的，但要查清原因	Volume 45  When You Suddenly Faint — "Suddenly not knowing people": most faints pass quickly, but the cause needs finding
Volume 46 HJ46	病能论 ——人之不得偃卧者何也：躺不平、夜里憋醒，要想到心脏	Volume 46  One Pillow Too Many — "Why can some people not lie flat?": when you can't lie down without breathlessness, think of the heart
Volume 47 HJ47	奇病论 ——此肥美之所发也：嘴里发甜、口渴尿多，要查一查血糖	Volume 47  A Sweet Taste in the Mouth — "This arises from rich, sweet food": a sweet taste, thirst and passing a lot of urine are reasons to check your blood sugar
Volume 48 HJ48	大奇论 ——不瘖舌转，可治：中风之后，康复的路有多长	Volume 48  One Step at a Time — "If speech is not lost and the tongue still turns, it can be treated": how long is the road to recovery after a stroke?
Volume 49 HJ49	脉解篇 ——欲独闭户牖而处：冬天一来，就只想关上门窗一个人待着	Volume 49  Closing the Shutters — "Wishing to shut the doors and windows and stay alone": when winter comes, all you want is to close the curtains and be by yourself
Volume 50 HJ50	刺要论 ——刺有浅深，各至其理：治疗要恰到好处，不可太过，也不可不及	Volume 50  Just Deep Enough — "Needling has its shallow and deep; each must reach its proper layer": treatment should be just right — neither too much nor too little
Volume 51 HJ51	刺齐论 ——针至筋而去，不及骨也：只治表面、半途而止，病根仍在	Volume 51  Reaching the Root — "The needle reaches the sinew and is withdrawn, never reaching the bone": treating only the surface, or stopping halfway, leaves the underlying problem unaddressed
Volume 52 HJ52	刺禁论 ——藏有要害，不可不察：知道哪里不能碰，比知道哪里能碰更重要	Volume 52  Danger Zones — "The organs have vital points that must be examined": knowing where not to go matters more than knowing where to go
Volume 53 HJ53	刺志论 ——谷入多而气少者，得之有所脱血：吃得不少却总没力气，可能是身体在悄悄失血	Volume 53  Eating Well, Still Exhausted — "Taking in much food yet having little qi comes from loss of blood": when you eat well but are always tired, your body may be quietly losing blood
Volume 54 HJ54	针解篇 ——必正其神者，欲瞻病人目制其神：怕针不是胆小，被看见、被理解，才能安下心来	Volume 54  Afraid of the Needle — "To settle the spirit, look into the patient's eyes": a fear of needles is not cowardice; being seen and understood is what lets us calm down
Volume 55 HJ55	长刺节论 ——刺家不诊，听病者言：说不出口的病，往往最需要说出来	Volume 55  The Lump He Never Mentioned — "The needler does not take the pulse but listens to the patient's words": the problems hardest to talk about are often the ones that most need saying
Volume 56 HJ56	皮部论 ——五色皆见，则寒热也：皮肤是身体的窗口，颜色的变化值得多看一眼	Volume 56  Not Just a Lucky Mole — "When all five colours appear, there is cold and heat": the skin is a window on the body, and a change in colour deserves a second look
Volume 57 HJ57	经络论 ——寒多则凝泣，凝泣则青黑：手指一遇冷就变色，是"体质差"，还是身体在提醒你？	Volume 57  White, Blue, Then Red — "When cold prevails, the blood congeals; when it congeals, the colour is blue-black": when your fingers change colour in the cold, is it a "weak constitution", or your body sending a signal?
Volume 58 HJ58	气穴论 ——背与心相控而痛：后背疼，不一定只是后背的问题	Volume 58  When the Back Speaks for the Heart — "The back and the heart pull on each other in pain": back pain is not always just a problem of the back
Volume 59 HJ59	气府论 ——至骶下凡二十一节，脊椎法也：人老了"缩一点"，不一定只是正常的衰老	Volume 59  Shrinking Without Noticing — "Down to below the sacrum, twenty-one segments in all: this is the method of counting the spine": "shrinking a bit" with age is not always just normal ageing
Volume 60 HJ60	骨空论 ——坐而膝痛，立而暑解：膝盖疼，越不敢动，可能越难好	Volume 60  Knees That Need Moving — "Knee pain when sitting; slackness on standing": with painful knees, the more you avoid moving, the harder recovery may be
Volume 61 HJ61	水热穴论 ——肾者，胃之关也：腿肿、尿里起泡沫，不一定只是"湿气重"	Volume 61  Bubbles in the Bowl — "The kidneys are the gate of the stomach": swollen legs and frothy urine are not always just "too much damp"
Volume 62 HJ62	调经论 ——神有余则笑不休，神不足则悲：情绪的高峰与低谷，都值得被认真对待	Volume 62  Highs and Lows — "When spirit is in excess, there is laughter without end; when spirit is deficient, there is sorrow": the peaks and troughs of mood both deserve to be taken seriously
Volume 63 HJ63	缪刺论 ——左注右，右注左：摔了一跤以后，过几个星期才出现的变化	Volume 63  A Fall He Almost Forgot — "From left it flows to right, from right to left": changes that appear weeks after a fall
Volume 64 HJ64	四时刺逆从论 ——冬者盖藏，血气在中，内著骨髓：漫长冬天里，骨头的疼痛可能另有原因	Volume 64  Winter in the Bones — "Winter is for storing away; blood and qi are within, lodged deep in the marrow": in a long winter, aching bones may have another cause
Volume 65 HJ65	标本病传论 ——小大不利治其标：先解决眼前的急，再处理背后的根	Volume 65  First Things First — "When urine and stool will not pass, treat the branch": deal with the emergency in front of you first, then the root behind it
Volume 66 HJ66	天元纪大论 ——物极谓之变：天气走向极端时，身体也需要被保护	Volume 66  When the Heat Turns Extreme — "When things reach their extreme, it is called change": when the weather turns extreme, the body needs protecting too
Volume 67 HJ67	五运行大论 ——燥胜则地干，寒胜则地裂：冬天孩子的皮肤干裂发痒，需要的是滋润，而不是恐惧	Volume 67  When Dryness Prevails — "When dryness prevails, the earth dries; when cold prevails, the earth cracks": a child's dry, itchy winter skin needs moisture, not fear
Volume 68 HJ68	六微旨大论 ——出入废则神机化灭：夜里的鼾声和停顿，可能是身体在求救	Volume 68  When Breathing Stops at Night — "When exit and entry cease, the spirit mechanism is extinguished": loud snoring and pauses at night may be the body calling for help
Volume 69 HJ69	气交变大论 ——善言古者，必验于今：烟雾弥漫的夏天，哮喘需要的是今天被证实有效的保护	Volume 69  Smoke in the Air — "Those who speak well of the past must verify it in the present": in a smoke-filled summer, asthma needs protection proven to work today
Volume 70 HJ70	五常政大论 ——无毒治病，十去其九：标着"天然"的，不一定无害	Volume 70  Natural Isn't Always Harmless — "Even with non-toxic medicines, stop when nine-tenths of the illness is gone": what is labelled "natural" is not necessarily harmless
Volume 71 HJ71	六元正纪大论 ——有故无殒：怀孕时生病，该治的病要治	Volume 71  When Illness Comes in Pregnancy — "Where there is cause, there is no harm": illness in pregnancy that needs treating should be treated
Volume 72 HJ72	刺法论（遗篇） ——正气存内，邪不可干，避其毒气：传染病面前，增强体质还要加上避免接触和接种疫苗	Volume 72  Passed from Person to Person — "When upright qi is kept within, pathogens cannot intrude — and avoid the toxic qi": against infectious disease, a strong constitution needs avoiding exposure and vaccination as well
Volume 73 HJ73	本病论（遗篇） ——神明失守：老人突然"见鬼"、糊涂，先想到身体出了急病	Volume 73  When the Mind Loses Its Hold — "The spirit loses its hold": when an older person suddenly "sees ghosts" or becomes confused, think first of an acute physical illness
Volume 74 HJ74	至真要大论 ——诸风掉眩，皆属于肝；有者求之，无者求之：头晕天旋地转，要先分清是哪一种	Volume 74  When the Room Starts Spinning — "All wind with shaking and dizziness belongs to the liver" — yet "seek out what is present, and seek out what is absent": when the world spins, first find out which kind of dizziness it is
Volume 75 HJ75	著至教论 ——诵而颇能解，解而未能别：背得出用药说明，不等于真正懂得怎样用药	Volume 75  Knowing It by Heart Isn't Enough — "I can recite and roughly explain, but cannot yet distinguish": being able to recite the instructions for your medicine is not the same as truly knowing how to use it
Volume 76 HJ76	示从容论 ——援物比类，从容求之：气短、脚肿，不一定只是"老了"	Volume 76  Three Pillows to Sleep — "Draw on things to compare and classify, and seek the answer with care": breathlessness and swollen ankles are not necessarily "just old age"
Volume 77 HJ77	疏五过论 ——尝富后贫，名曰失精：生活的重大打击，也会让人"病从内生"	Volume 77  When Fortune Turns — "Once rich, later poor — this is called loss of essence": a major blow in life can also make illness "arise from within"
Volume 78 HJ78	征四失论 ——不问其始，卒持寸口，何病能中：便血不能只靠"把把脉"	Volume 78  More Than a Pulse — "Without asking how it began, seizing the wrist pulse — how can any illness be hit upon?": blood in the stool needs more than "feeling the pulse"
Volume 79 HJ79	阴阳类论 ——冬三月之病，至春正月：寒冬里，独居老人要格外防冷	Volume 79  Out in the Cold — "Illness in the three months of winter … by the first month of spring": in the depths of winter, older people living alone need special protection from the cold
Volume 80 HJ80	方盛衰论 ——少气之厥，令人妄梦：睡梦中拳打脚踢，可能是身体发出的早期信号	Volume 80  Fighting in His Sleep — "Counterflow from scant qi brings wild dreams": punching and kicking in your sleep may be an early signal from the body
Volume 81 HJ81	解精微论（含全书后记） ——厥则目无所见：老人新发头痛、眼前突然发黑，可能是急症	Volume 81  A Curtain Over the Eye (with the Afterword) — "In counterflow, the eyes see nothing": a new headache or sudden loss of vision in an older person may be an emergency

Note: the English titles are reader-friendly publication titles; the English name of each chapter of the Suwen appears on the title page of each volume.

About the Huangdi Neijing series

The Huangdi Neijing, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, consists mainly of two parts, the Suwen and the Lingshu, each of eighty-one chapters.

This series begins with the eighty-one volumes of the Suwen. Each chapter is a book in its own right, published in Chinese and in English, so readers can choose single volumes by interest or read the complete collection.

After the Suwen series, we plan a further series on the eighty-one chapters of the Lingshu, the companion text to the Suwen, exploring the channels, acupuncture points, needling and the ancient understanding of the human body. We hope in the end to offer a modern reading of all one hundred and sixty-two chapters of the Inner Classic.

For more information, please visit our website at theFTL.org.