Where Do The Vapours Go?

清陽發腠理，濁陰走五臟

The pure Masculin spurts out in the lineaments, the turbid Feminine penetrates the five organs¹.

筋骨之強弱，肌肉之堅脆，皮膚之厚薄，腠理之疏密，各不同

The strength or weakness of the fascias and bones, the sturdiness of brittleness of the flesh and the muscles, the thickness or thinness of the skin, the sparsity or density of the lineaments, each according to its own².

腠者，是三焦通會元真之處，為血氣所注。理者，是皮膚臟府之文理也

The lineaments, it is where the triple burner harmonise the true original, where the blood and the vapours pour. The vein lines, it is the pattern of the skin and the internal organs³.

其流溢之氣，内溉臟腑，外濡腠理

When the vapours are overflowing, inside it irrigates the internal organs, outside it moistens the lineaments⁴.

There is a trinity in the internal practices called 氣，理，血， vapours, veins and blood. It is helping in the other riddle, 氣隨血行, vapours circulate following the blood. Indeed, as the blood nourishes the body circulating through its vessels, the vapours should do the same through an alike type of vessel to provide for, at least, one’s vitality and spirit. Hence, 理 in its meaning of vein is placed at the centre of this trinity to stress on the similarity of the blood and the vapours circulatory systems. To decipher this riddle, one can look at the term 腠理, lineaments, used in Chinese Traditional Medicine.

I. The Patterns Where The Vapours Flow

Two characters, one quite common, 理, here mainly in its meaning of patterns or veins. The other one, 腠, is much less used, most of the time found in Chinese Traditional Medicine. 

To understand it, one can look at a more used homophone with a close writing, 湊. It originally meant a place on the water where people meet. Instead of the radical for water in 湊, it is the one for flesh in 腠. Basically then 腠 should convey by extension the meaning of a place where … in the flesh. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine declares that this is the place where blood and vapours pour (see third quote). Though making links with the modern science is always at best wobbly, one cannot help but to notice that the capillaries, small blood vessels, may fit this statement. 

Nevertheless, what is important, as far as training goes, is to note that, as there is a whole network of veins, arteries and so on … for the blood, the vapours should also flow through a similar kind of network, hence 理 as veins in 氣，理，血. It is also interesting to notice that whether vapours or fascias the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine always describes lines (maybe for the obvious reason they are within easy reach) while they are actually webs with bigger and smaller veins and very similar to the blood circulatory system as stated earlier.

As engaging as may be the fact that vapours might flow in cavities through the skin and the internal organs, probably also along the fascia webs, since we are talking about the know-how that are internal practices, the issue remains how to train this.

II. Training Lineaments

The internal practices main basic training can be seen as stretching for the external, breathing for the internal. Training lineaments follows such methods. A more advanced training is coming from the 拍打功, the patting and beating skills, a known way to strengthen the body.

2.1 Stretched and Empty

Internal arts are all about elasticity as far as the body is concerned, stretching being the cornerstone of the training. Strengthening the lineaments shall work exactly as for the fascias, more especially through the deep, intensive and acrobatic stretching.

Empty breathing would be the main method used to train lineaments. As for any other type of breathing, it is an evolutive technique which is refined with time. Training the lineaments with this skill is first done while practising iron. In short, one has to, when emptying totally the stomach while exhaling, tense the whole body, every and any part of it, by relaxing and stretching the muscles to their maximum (the fingers extending forwards and as apart from each other as possible).

2.2 Patting and Beating

There actually are quite different ways to train what is often referred as Paidagong. In this instance, the idea is to use the fact vapours circulate following the blood. Certainly, when the skin is slapped or pinched, it gets red. This is a defence system involving the dilatation of the capillaries to bring more blood to the area. For internal practices, likewise, vapours can also rush to the place to protect the hit area. Indeed, after all, the vapours flowing around the skin are often referred as 衛氣, protecting vapours.

To train the lineaments, the idea is, contrary to the whole body training, isolate one part and slap and pinch it until it hardens. This is quite a tricky training. First because it is an almost 24/7 until one can learn in a similar way he/she can move a ball of vapours around in his/her stomach to the chest area, to move and concentrate vapours in the trained area. Second, one cannot tense, even less contract the muscles involved, the hardness has to be the same obtained in the stomach while filing it with vapours. Third, only the trained part will harden, all the muscles around have to stay as lax as possible. Fourth, this is a time-consuming training since one can only train a little part at a time. Finally, it will require the help of another person, especially when going for even more advanced exercises. That is why this skill is all but lost in modern times.

This post has purposely left aside an actually even more interesting part of the lineaments theory, their link to the internal organs (third quote) and how to train it. After all, old practices are all about self-discovery…

1. ‘黃帝內經·素聞·陰陽應象大論’，Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, Frequent Questions, Feminine and Masculine Ought to Appear Great Doctrine 

2. ‘黃帝內經·靈樞·論痛’，Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, Divine Pivot, Discussing Ache

3. ‘金匮要略·脏腑经络先病脉证’，Essentials of the Golden Chamber, Organs and Viscera Meridians Pulse Evidence of Pre-Existing Diseases

4. ‘黃帝內經·靈樞·脈度’，Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, Divine Pivot, Pulse Assessment

(臟腑，藏府, 臟府 and all that jazz. From one version to another, the same text can have the term for internal organs written in different ways, which can be a bit confusing. If it does not change the meaning, it may be interesting to notice that for the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine the term 藏府 is used because the five organs are supposed to have a storage function, expressed by 藏 which also means to store, while the six viscera are just a place of transformation and transit, hence 府 which by also meaning residence conveys the idea of coming and going. Hence in the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, Other Discussions About the Five Organs: ’What are called the five organs, storing the essential liquids and the vapours without pouring – them – out, hence full but not replete. The six viscera, transmitting and transforming but not storing, hence replete but not full – 所謂五藏者，藏精氣而不寫也，故滿而不能實。六府者，傳化物而不藏，故實而不能滿也 – ).