Atlas of Acupuncture

1.2 The 12 Primary Channels (jing zheng)

Nguyen Van Nghi (1996) compares the three Yin and three Yang

channels to doors. The door (taiyangor taiyin) is closed to pre-

vent the entry of unwelcome guests such as external pathogenic

factors. But the door can also be opened to let in friends.

Whether the door opens and closes well depends largely on the

hinges (shaoyang, shaoyin). Only if the hinges function

smoothly can the energy circulate adequately. The doorframe

(or closing mechanism) (yangming, jueyin) closes towards the

Interior; in other words, it protects and supports what is con-

tained on the inside. (➞Fig. 1.21).

The literature is somewhat contradictory about which are the

deeper of the six great channels, the shaoyinor the jueyinchan-

nels. Pirog (1996) has contributed an interesting theory in sug-

gesting that the shaoyinchannels occupy the deepest position in

the body. They are located in such a medial location (near the

middle of the body) that, when a person is standing in a normal

position, the shaoyinchannels are covered and not directly visi-

ble. According to Pirog, the shaoyindoes not function like a

hinge, but rather like a fixed pivot, similar to the axis of a mill

wheel, which itself is immobile, but is able to cause movement.

When the Qi has reached the deepest point of the shaoyin, and the

‘Yin of the jueyinis exhausted’, it has to revert. In other words: it

has to return to a more superficial level on the outside or it has to

transform into Yang. In that sense, it is the P and LIV channels

that again start the flow of the Qi towards the Yang, from the

inside to the outside and from below to above (➞Fig. 1.22).

Yang channel

Yin channel

Deep Yin–Yin connection (Circadian)

Interior

Yin channels

shao

yin

(HE

/KI

D)

juey

in(P/LIV)

taiyi

n(LU/SP

)

yan

gming(L.I./ST

)

shaoya

ng(T.B/G.B

.)

taiyang(S.I./BL)

Exterior

Yang channels

Fig. 1.20 Relationships of the three Yin and three Yang

channels (according to Nguyen Van Nghi, 1996)

a

b

shaoyang

(Hinge)

Taiyang opens to the outside

shaoyang

(Hinge)

Yangming closes towards the inside

to the Yin channels

shaoyin

(Hinge/Pivot)

Taiyin opens toward the

outside to the Yang channels

shaoyin

(Hinge/Pivot)

Jueyin closes towards the

inside to the Yin

yangming

(Closer)

taiyang

(Opener)

jueyin

(Closer)

taiyin

(Opener)

Fig. 1.21 The six great channels as opener, hinge and frame of

a door

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