ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the numerological bases inherent in the Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經 (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon), in particular the integration of Five and Six in the Wuyun liuqi 五運六氣 (Five Circuits and Six qi) chapters of 762 CE. Wang Bing’s revision of the Suwen 素問 (Simple Questions) followed his interests in self-cultivation and his ideals of health. His seven interpolated chapters on Wuyun liuqi were the culmination of a Tang dynasty attempt to resolve and systematise earlier discontinuities between the number of organs and channels in the human body, focused on Five and Six. Wuyun liuqi was a complex map of the cycles of the cosmos designed to predict seasonal imbalances. Climate change was the seen as the root of disease, so Wuyun liuqi theory offered a way to predict times of extreme climate change which could lead to epidemics or pandemics.
