Yin-yang crossing · yin yang jiao

At a glance

Pinyin

yīn yáng jiāo

Simplified

阴阳交

Literal

陰 yin and 陽 yang, the two orders of qi in the body; 交 jiāo, to cross, to meet and tangle. The name is a diagnosis and a verdict in three words. In an ordinary warmth disease sweating cools the body and the vessel grows quiet. Here sweat pours out — which should be essence expelling the evil — and the heat returns at once, and the vessel stays agitated and swift. What goes out is the essence; what stays in is the evil. Yin and yang have changed places, and the exchange itself is the disease.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：交，交脛也，从大，象交形——引申為相錯、相接。「陰」讀 yīn；「陽」讀 yáng；**「交」讀 jiāo，本篇三見**（陰陽交、交爭、相錯之義）。「病」讀 bìng；「名」讀 míng；「者」讀 zhě；「死」讀 sǐ；「也」讀 yě。**此證是本篇第一證，亦是全篇最重之一語**：歧伯對「病名爲何」之問，答以「病名陰陽交，交者死也」六字，名與斷同時給出，不待再問。下文即為之疏解：汗出於榖、榖生於精，故「汗者，精氣也」；今汗出而熱復，則精外出而邪獨留，是「邪勝」——**「交」之義，即邪正交爭而邪反勝，二者之位相交易**。舊注或以為陰陽之氣交併而亂，或以為死生之交關，皆不如本文「邪勝」二字之直截。又下文「今邪氣交爭於骨肉而得汗者，是邪却而精勝也」——**同一「交爭」而結果相反：精勝則生，邪勝則死**，是「交」字本身不含死生，死生在於孰勝。