Establishing Life Through Water and Fire
Originally published February 19, 2020
The following is my literal translation of the Shuǐ huǒ lìmìng lùn 《水火立命論》 (Treatise on Establishing Life Through Water and Fire), by Cài Yíjì 蔡貽績 from the Qing dynasty. I came across this work while doing research on the interactions of Yīn and Yáng as expressed in Huáinánzǐ Chapter Three on the Heavenly Patterns, which In in turn was working on to wrap my head around the meanings of 施 (“deploy”) and 化 (“transform”) and 別 (“differentiate”) and 搏 (“strike”) as associated with the actions of Yáng and Yīn in cosmogenesis and the creation of human life….
夫人何以生，生於火也。人生於寅，寅者火也，火，陽之體也。造化以陽為生之根，人生以火為命之門。儒者曰：天開於子，子為元。醫者曰：人生於水，腎為元。孰知子為陽初也，腎為火藏也。陰生於陽，故水與火為對名。而火不與水為對體。其與水為對者，後天之火，離火也。其不與水為對者，先天之火，乾火也。夫乾、陽之純也，夫陽、火之生也，夫水、火之原也。後天之火有形而先天者無形，有形之火水之所克，無形之火水之所生。
然取水者，迎月之光而不迎其魄何也？魄，陰也，而光借於日則陽也，水不生於水而生於火明也。故其藏於水也，其象在坎，一陽陷於二陰之中而命門立焉。蓋火也，而腎水寄之矣，而其生於火也，其象在乾，純陽立於離卦之先，左旋而坎水出焉，右旋而兌水納焉。蓋水也，而陰陽之火則分而寄之矣，此所謂後天中之先天也。陽生陰寄，運於三焦，水升火降，所謂既濟，故養生莫先於養火。
奈何世之人並不究其由來，惟知氣血則曰氣陽血陰，惟知臟腑則曰臟陰腑陽，即知水火者不過離心坎腎而已。孰知氣血更有氣血之根，陰陽更有真陰真陽之所，水火更有真水真火之原也。
凡暴病而卒死，絕處而得生者，皆在乎根本真處而得之，非泛泛在乎氣血間也。學者能明水火為氣血之根，水火為真陰真陽之所，芎、歸辛竄僅可調榮，難補真陰真水；苓、朮、甘草僅可調衛，難補真陽真火；即炮薑、炙草僅可溫中難到腎經，其為水火真陰真陽之寶者，惟仲景八味而已。故不求真陰真陽而欲求生者，用四君、四物以補真陰真陽者，並不達水火立命之本真陰真陽之至理者也。
How are humans created? Humans are created in fire. They are created in the [third earthly branch] Yīn, which is fire. Fire is the substance of Yáng. Creation takes Yáng as the root of life. Human life takes fire as the gate of the lifespan (mingmen). Scholars say that heaven opens in [the first heavenly branch] Zǐ, and that Zǐ is the origin. Doctors say that humans are created from water, and that the kidney is the origin. Who is aware that Zǐ is the beginning of Yáng and that the kidney is a storage of fire? Yin is created from Yáng, and for this reason water is a paired name with fire. And yet, fire is not a paired substance with water! The way in which it does form a pair with water is as Later Heaven fire, which is as [the trigram] Lí Fire ☲. The way in which it does not form a pair with water is as Earlier Heaven fire, which is [the trigram] Qián Fire ☰ . Now Qián is the purest form of Yáng [in the three Yáng lines of the trigram]; Yáng is the birth of fire; and water is the source of fire. Later Heaven fire has a physical form, while earlier Heaven is formless. The fire that has a physical form is what is overcome by water, while the fire that is formless is what is created by water.
Now why is it that to collect [medicinally or spiritually charged, potentized] water, you collect it under the brightness of the full moon but not under the dim light of the barely waxing or waning moon? That small sliver [after all] is Yīn, and, the full moon’s radiance, being borrowed from the sun, is Yáng. It is because water is not created by water, but by the brightness of fire and because this is stored in the water. This is represented by the trigram Kǎn ☵ , which has a single Yáng trapped between two Yīn, and this is how the Gate of Life (mìngmén) is established. Now in terms of fire, the kidney water is dependent on it because it is created in fire. [Fire] is represented by the trigram Qián ☰, which is pure Yáng established before the trigram Lí ☲. Rotating to the left, Kǎn water emerges from it, and rotating to the right Duì Water ☱ absorbs it. Now water! It depends on the fire of Yīn and Yáng separating. This is what is called “earlier heaven within later heaven.” Yáng creates and Yīn depends on it. Moving in the Sānjiāo, water bears upward and fire bears downward, which is referred to as Jì Jì (“having forded the river" and the name of hexagram 63 ䷾). For this reason, in nurturing life nothing is more primary than nurturing fire!
How can it be that the common people fail to investigate this causation! Only knowing about Qì and blood that “Qì is Yáng and blood is Yīn” and only knowing about the Zàng and Fǔ organs that “the Zàng organs are Yīn and the Fǔ organs are Yáng,” their understanding of water and fire thus also does not go beyond Lí heart and Kǎn kidney. Who would know that Qì and blood furthermore have a root of Qì and blood, and that Yīn and Yáng furthermore have locations of genuine Yīn and genuine Yáng, and that water and fire furthermore have their source of genuine water and genuine fire!
In all cases of sudden death from a violent illness or surviving what appears to be a hopeless situation, the outcome rests in obtaining what is the genuine position of the core root, and is not a case of floating aimlessly in the space of Qì and blood. Those who study this are able to understand that water and fire are the root of Qì and blood, and that water and fire are the locations of genuine Yīn and genuine Yáng. The acrid and scurrying nature of Chuānxiōng and Dāngguī is only able to attune Yíng Provisioning but has difficulty supplementing genuine Yīn and genuine water. Fúlíng, Báizhú, and Gāncǎo are only able to attune Wèi Defense but have difficulty supplementing genuine Yáng and genuine fire. Now blast-fried Gānjiāng and mix-fried Gāncǎo are only able to warm the center but have difficulty reaching the kidney channel. It is only Zhāng Zhòngjǐng’s Eight Ingredients that constitute the treasure of water and fire and genuine Yīn and genuine Yáng. Thus if people fail to pursue genuine Yīn and genuine Yáng, and yet want to pursue life, and if people use Sìjūnzǐ Tāng or Sìwù Tāng to supplement genuine Yīn and genuine Yáng, they will in fact fail to attain the ultimate principle, which is that the foundation for the process of water and fire establishing life is found in genuine Yīn and genuine Yáng!
