The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine
The Immortal Embraces the One and Expounds the Way
Observing the way of heaven, grasping the actions of heaven, all is complete.
Heaven has five thieves; those who see them will prosper. The five thieves reside in the heart and are enacted in heaven. The universe is in our hands, and all things arise from our bodies. The nature of heaven is humanity. The human heart is a mechanism. Establishing the way of heaven determines humanity. Heaven unleashes killing opportunities, moving stars and changing lodgings.
The earth unleashes killing opportunities, dragons and snakes rise on land. Humanity unleashes killing opportunities, causing heaven and earth to alternate repeatedly. When heaven and humanity unite in action, myriad changes find their foundation. Nature has both skillfulness and clumsiness, which can be concealed. The evils of the nine orifices depend on three essentials, which can move or be still.
Fire arises from wood; calamities must be overcome. Treachery arises from nations; when time moves, it must collapse. Understanding this through cultivation is called a sage. Heaven gives birth to life and death; this is the principle of the way.
The Law for Enriching the Nation and Ensuring Peace for the People
Heaven and earth are thieves of all things. All things are thieves of humanity. Humanity is a thief of all things. When these three thieves are properly addressed, the three talents will be secure.
Thus it is said: “Eat at the right time, and all bones will be buried. Move with its mechanisms, and all things will find peace.” People know their spirit but do not understand why they have spirit; thus they become spiritual beings themselves. The sun and moon have their cycles; sizes are determined.
Holy achievements arise from this; divine clarity emerges from it.
The mechanisms of thievery cannot be seen or known by anyone in the world. A gentleman secures it with diligence【to exhaustion】; a petty person takes it lightly.
The Art of Strong Armies Winning Battles
The blind excel at hearing; the deaf excel at seeing. Severing benefits from one source requires tenfold military strength.
Three reversals day and night require ten thousand times military strength. The heart arises from objects; it dies due to objects—the mechanism lies before our eyes. Heaven shows no grace yet gives great grace.
Thunderbolts and fierce winds leave no one unbewildered. Ultimate joy leads to foolishness; ultimate stillness leads to purity. Heaven’s utmost privacy uses utmost public principles.
Capture them—control lies within vital energy (qi). Life is rooted in death; death is rooted in life. Grace arises from harm; harm arises from grace. Fools regard heavenly principles as sacred while I regard temporal matters as philosophical.