Zhuan, Sheng, Jian, Bing, Tong, He: Six Basic Relations When Qi Meets Qi
The Nine Qi answer “what kind of change is qi undergoing?” But when two channels, two She, or upright and pathogenic qi meet, another question must be answered: what is their relation?
The Mirror Classic of Bian Que gives an extremely important set of correspondences:
When qi is excessive, it is Zhuan; when surplus, it is Sheng; when insufficient, it is Jian; when failing to reach, it is Bing; when mutually connected, qi meets; when qi is harmonious, its command is harmonious.
The later Eight-She tables repeatedly use Zhuan, Sheng, Jian, Bing, and He.
These words are first of all relational terms
Section titled “These words are first of all relational terms”Sheng, for example, is not an organ or a pathogen; it describes one side having relative superiority over another.
Jian and Bing are likewise not merely generic labels of deficiency. Under different relative quantities of qi, two systems enter different forms of coexistence or linkage.
They can therefore be understood first as relational operators of qi interaction: the same two channels can move from He into Jian, Bing, Sheng, or Zhuan depending on relative strength.
How do Zhuan and Sheng differ?
Section titled “How do Zhuan and Sheng differ?”The text gives different conditions:
- excessive → Zhuan;
- surplus → Sheng.
Zhuan therefore indicates a more strongly monopolizing or dominating state than ordinary Sheng.
Likewise:
- insufficient → Jian;
- failing to reach → Bing.
The text differentiates different kinds of weakness instead of calling all of them simply “deficiency.”
Connection and harmony are not the same thing
Section titled “Connection and harmony are not the same thing”The text says, “When mutually connected, qi meets; when qi is harmonious, its command is harmonious.”
Being able to connect means two qi systems can converge. Genuine harmony means the relation after convergence is appropriate. Connection does not automatically mean healthy coordination.
In network terms, two nodes exchanging signals and two nodes exchanging them in balance are different matters.
Why must the Eight-She table be read with both channel names and relational operators?
Section titled “Why must the Eight-She table be read with both channel names and relational operators?”“Right Hand Shaoyin concurrently with left Foot Taiyin” and “left Hand Jueyin overcoming left Foot Taiyin” may involve one of the same foot channels, but because the relational operator differs, the qi-transformational meaning differs.
So an analysis cannot merely count “which two channels pair.” It must preserve the relational layer of Zhuan, Sheng, Jian, Bing, and He.
Later pathology develops from these relations
Section titled “Later pathology develops from these relations”The text next says that excess and insufficiency of the Six Channels, Zhuan-Sheng-Jian-Bing, flourishing and decline, return, entanglement, and speed or delay all arise as channel qi permeates and irrigates the joints.
Disease is thus described dynamically: not merely as too much or too little at one point, but as how quantitative imbalance changes the coupling relation between systems.
The next article brings time back into the model. Within one She there are actually three different layers of tone: endowment, current movement, and temporal shift.