Neijing Tu

The Neijing Tu (simplified Chinese: 內经图 ; traditional Chinese:

內經圖 ; pinyin: Nèijīng tú; Wade–Giles: Nei-ching t'u) is a Daoist
"inner landscape" diagram of the human body illustrating Neidan
'internal alchemy', Wu Xing, Yin and Yang, and Chinese
mythology.

Contents
Title
History
Contents
See also
References
External links

Title
The name Neijing tu combines nei 內 "inside; inner; internal", jing
經 "warp (vs. woof); scripture, canon, classic; (TCM) meridian;
channel", and tu 圖 "picture; drawing; chart; map; plan". This title,
comparable with Huangdi Neijing 黃帝內經 "Yellow Emperor's
Inner Canon", is generally interpreted as a "chart" or "diagram" of
"inner" "meridians" or "channels" for circulating qi in neidan
practices. The Neijing Tu

English translations of Neijing tu include:

"Diagram of the Internal Texture of Man" (Needham 1983:114)

"Diagram of the Inner Scripture" (Ching 1997:188)
"Chart of Inner Passageways" (Despeux and Kohn 2003:184)
"Diagram of Internal Pathways" (Komjathy 2004:40)
"Chart of the Inner Warp" or "Chart of the Inner Landscape" (Despeux 2008:767)

Neijing tu 內經圖 has an alternate writing of Neijing tu 內景圖 "Diagram of Interior Lights" (Kohn
景 經
2000:499, 521), using jing "view; scenery; condition" as a variant Chinese character for jing .

History
While the original Neijing tu provenance is unclear, it probably dates from the 19th century (Komjathy
2004:11). All received copies derive from an engraved stele dated 1886 in Beijing's White Cloud Temple
白雲觀 that records how Liu Chengyin 柳誠印based it on an old silk scroll discovered in a library on
Mount Song (in Henan). In addition, a Qing Dynasty colored scroll Neijing tu was painted at the Ruyi
Guan 如意館 "Palace of Fulfilled Wishes" library in the Forbidden City (Despeux 2008:767).

The Neijing Tu was the precursor for the Xiuzhen Tu 修真圖 "Cultivating Perfection Diagram". The
earliest anatomical diagrams with Daoist Neidan symbolism are attributed to Yanluozi 煙蘿子(fl. 10th
century) and conserved in the 1250 CE Xiuzhen shishu 修真十書 "Cultivating Perfection Ten Books"
(Kohn 2000:521).

Contents
The Neijing tu laterally depicts a human body (resembling either meditator or fetus) as a microcosm of
nature – an "inner landscape" (Schipper 1993:100–112) with mountains, rivers, paths, forests, and stars.
Joseph Needham (1983:114) coins the term "microsomography" and describes the Neijing tu as "much
more fanciful and poetical" than previous Daoist illustrations.

The textual descriptions include names of zangfu organs, two poems attributed to Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓
(born ca. 798 CE, one of the Eight Immortals), and quotations from the Huangting jing 黃庭經
"Yellow
Court Scripture".

The Neijing image of a mountain with crags on the skull and spinal column elaborates upon the "body-as-
mountain" metaphor, first recorded in 1227 CE (Despeux and Kohn 2003:185). The head shows Kunlun
Mountains, upper dantian "cinnabar field", Laozi, Bodhidharma, and two circles for the eyes (labelled
"sun" and "moon"). The flanking poem explains.

The white-headed old man's eyebrows hang down to earth;

The blue-eyed foreign monk's arms support heaven.

If you aspire to this mysticism;

You will acquire its secret. (tr. Wang 1992:145)

Chinese constellations figure prominently. The heart depicts Niulang 牛郎 "the cowherd" "Altair" holding
the Beidou 北斗 "Northern Dipper" "Big Dipper". Together with his archetypal lover Zhinü 織女 "the
weaver girl" "Vega" (see Qi Xi), they propel qi up to the tracheal Twelve-Storied Pagoda. The liver and
gall bladder are a forest, the stomach is a granary, and the intestines caption reads "the iron ox ploughs the
field where coins of gold are sown" (tr. Needham 1983:116) referring to the Elixir of life. At base of the
spine are treadmill waterwheels (an early Chinese invention) being run by two children representing yin
and yang.

See also
Xiuzhen Tu
Meridian (Chinese medicine)
Nadi (yoga)
Microcosm–macrocosm analogy

References
 Ching, Julia. 1997. Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom.
Cambridge University Press.
Despeux, Catherine. 2008. "Neijing tu and Xiuzhen tu", in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, ed.
Fabrizio Pregadio, Routledge, 767–771.
Despeux, Catherine and Livia Kohn. 2003. Women in Daoism. Three Pines Press.
Needham, Joseph. 1983. Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and
Chemical Technology; Part 5, Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy.
Cambridge University Press.
Kohn, Livia, ed. 2000. Daoism Handbook. Brill.
Komjathy, Louis. 2004. Daoist Texts in Translation (https://web.archive.org/web/2005052600
5650/http://www.daoistcenter.org/Articles/Articles_pdf/Texts.pdf) (Internet Archive copy).
Schipper, Kristofer M. 1993. The Taoist Body. University of California Press.
Wang, David Teh-Yu. 1992. "Nei Jing Tu, a Daoist Diagram of the Internal Circulation of
Man," The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 49–50:141–158.

External links
Diagram of the Inner Channels (Neiching T'u) (https://web.archive.org/web/2015082400321
1/http://thelaughingidiot.yolasite.com/resources/Diagram%20of%20the%20Inner%20Chann
els%20%28NeichingT'u%29.pdf) translation of the text (Internet Archive copy)
內經圖 (http://www.mediafire.com/file/kcjw0zktmjh/NeichingT'u.pdf), Bilingual (Chinese-
English) text of Neijing tu with word-by-word translation and transcription (7 MB PDF file)
內經圖 (http://www.daoism.cn/up/data/033njt.htm), Neijing tu image (obsolete link)
內經圖 (https://web.archive.org/web/20040908215643/http://www2.cmu.edu.tw/~cmcshow/n
eijin.htm), Neijing tu color image
氣功與內經圖 (http://www.taoism.org.hk/taoist-world-today/current-info-on-taoist-temples/lect
ure43.htm), Qigong and Neijing tu (in Chinese)
Neijing Tu (http://www.artic.edu/taoism/renaissance/k136/spinalcord.php), clickable image
details, The Art Institute of Chicago
Explanation of the Inner Alchemy Chart (http://www.universal-tao.com/tao/inner_alchemy.ht
ml), Universal Tao Center
Inner Landscape of Human's Body/Nei Jing Tu (http://www.damo-qigong.net/pics/tu/neijing/n
eijing.htm), DaMo Qigong
Neijing tu (Chart of the Inner Warp) (http://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/neijing_tu.html), from
the Golden Elixir website

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