Why Does Each Person Have an Inherited Tone?
Upon entering the “Ten Tones,” the Mirror Classic of Bian Que does not begin with Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, and Yu. It first asks: why are people’s voices inherently different?
The text answers:
People’s tones and voices differ because what they receive at endowment differs. Tone is the breath of qi, and voice is the harmony of tone. When qi is harmonious, tone is harmonious; when qi is counterflowing, tone is counterflowing. The inherited tone is the root of voice and breath.
“Inherited tone” is the core idea here.
Innate difference should not be treated directly as disease
Section titled “Innate difference should not be treated directly as disease”If everyone’s voice, breathing, and pulse were originally identical, diagnosis could simply compare everyone against one fixed norm. But the Mirror Classic acknowledges early that “what is received at endowment differs.”
Thus, before judging deviation, one must first know the person’s original background of qi, voice, and breath.
At the end of the book this becomes more explicit in the sections on Shaoyin-type, Taiyin-type, Jueyin-type people, and so on: different types can have different normal ratios of respiratory entry and exit and different pulse-movement divisions.
“Inherited tone” is therefore not decorative language. It anticipates the later individualized baseline.
Voice does not arise only from the mouth
Section titled “Voice does not arise only from the mouth”The text gives a sequence of descriptions of the structures of phonation:
The gate of tone and voice is the epiglottis; the fan of tone and voice is the lips; the mechanism of tone and voice is the tongue and teeth; the barrier of tone and voice is the uvula.
It also says that qi enters and exits above and below through the throat, that the lung stores qi and gathers the hundred vessels, that great qi accumulates in the chest, and that this connects with Chong and Ren and with the epiglottis.
The Mirror Classic therefore views voice as an output of whole-body qi dynamics passing through the respiratory and vocal apparatus, not merely a local product of the throat.
Why is the lung central?
Section titled “Why is the lung central?”Because the lung governs breathing. The first series already established breath as a temporal baseline; if tone arises from breath, the lung naturally becomes a crucial gateway in the transformation from breath to voice.
Yet the text does not stop at the lung. It also links Chongmai, the great collateral of Shaoyin, the tongue, transverse bone, and epiglottis. Its intention is clearly that inherited tone reflects an integrated pathway crossing chest, abdomen, channels, and vocal structures.
Why is dawn specifically mentioned?
Section titled “Why is dawn specifically mentioned?”The text says: “Thus at dawn, essence-yang permeates and irrigates, so tone and voice become clear and pulse and breath can be known.”
This reveals another important idea: even within one person, tone and breath are affected by temporal phase. Measurement cannot entirely ignore time of day.
The Mirror Classic’s “baseline” therefore has at least three layers:
- differences in endowment between people;
- differences within the same person across the day;
- deviations caused by the current illness.
If these three are mixed together, normal individual variation can easily be mistaken for disease.
The next article looks at how the text uses a “standard” and a series of proportional operations to establish the basic measures of Yong, Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu, and Su.