One Person Has Three Layers of Tone: Endowment, Current Movement, and Shift
“Eight She II” further divides “tone” into three layers. This is crucial for understanding individual difference and temporal change throughout the book.
The text first says:
Qi has fixed She and is named according to where it resides; above, below, center, and outside are divided into three spheres.
It then describes three roles of tone.
Layer 1: the tone of endowed qi in a fixed She
Section titled “Layer 1: the tone of endowed qi in a fixed She”Jue, Zhi, Gong, Shang, Yu, Yong, and Su are the tones of endowed qi in fixed She, by which the mechanism of qi transformation proceeds.
This layer corresponds to more foundational endowment and tonal class.
It asks: in its more fundamental qi-transformational classification, what tone does this person and this She belong to?
Layer 2: the tone of moving qi in a fixed She
Section titled “Layer 2: the tone of moving qi in a fixed She”Zheng, Shao, Zhong, Kai, Pan, Zhi, Yu, Jia, Tai, and Shang—the ten qi of one tone—are the tones of moving qi in fixed She, used to measure the starting places of Ying-Wei interaction and current progression.
This layer uses the ten degrees to describe present movement.
Within the same basic tonal class, where in the high-low scale is qi currently located?
Layer 3: the tone of positional shift
Section titled “Layer 3: the tone of positional shift”What differs according to time and responds to the time is the tone of positional shift, by which the amount of channel flow and infusion is known.
Time now enters the model.
The same person and basic inherited tone can shift with temporal phase. Such shift does not replace the person’s endowment; it is a deviation within current movement.
The text summarizes:
Endowed qi is the beginning of transformation. Qi of current progression is where movement occurs. Shifted qi is the measure of movement.
These three layers must not be confused
Section titled “These three layers must not be confused”If a temporary shift is mistaken for endowment, a transient deviation can be misclassified as constitution. If one looks only at endowment, one may miss current pathology.
The three layers can therefore be summarized as:
- endowment: the relatively stable starting background;
- current movement: what is actually operating now;
- shift: deviation relative to time and position.
This is a sophisticated layered concept.
Only “three tones transforming through lü” constitute a true qi-She
Section titled “Only “three tones transforming through lü” constitute a true qi-She”The text says:
When the three tones transform through lü, shifting against one another, changing in hidden alternation, entangling and repeatedly moving while governing one another, this is called a qi-She.
She is therefore not a static acupoint name. It is a dynamic state formed by these three layers of qi transformation at a junction.
This explains the need for so many symbols: if endowment, current condition, temporal shift, and position are all to be retained simultaneously, one label such as “deficient” or “excessive” is far too coarse.
The next article enters the dense Eight-She table and examines how it layers hand-foot channels, left-right position, Nine Qi, ten transformation tones, Twelve Lü, and Zhuan-Sheng-Jian-Bing-He in one record.