Vessel of the womb · bao mai

At a glance

Pinyin

bāo mài

Simplified

胞脉

Literal

胞 bāo, the womb, the enclosing organ; 脉 mài, vessel. The vessel that belongs to the heart and nets into the womb, and whose closing is given as the reason the menses stop. Two lines of the chapter carry the whole of gynaecological physiology in this text: the womb vessel belongs to the heart and connects into the womb, and when qi presses upward on the lung the heart qi cannot pass downward — so the menses do not come.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：胞，兒生裹也，从肉从包——胎衣也，引申為胞宮。**「胞」讀 bāo，本篇三見**（胞脉×2、胞中×1）；「脉」讀 mài，本篇六見之一，底本不作「脈」。「者」讀 zhě；**「屬」讀 shǔ，本篇一見，連屬也，不讀 zhǔ**；「心」讀 xīn；「而」讀 ér；**「絡」讀 luò，本篇一見**；「於」讀 yú；「中」讀 zhōng；「今」讀 jīn；「氣」讀 qì；「上」讀 shàng；「迫」讀 pò；「肺」讀 fèi；「不」讀 bù；「得」讀 dé；「下」讀 xià；「通」讀 tōng；「故」讀 gù；「月」讀 yuè；「事」讀 shì；「來」讀 lái；「也」讀 yě；**「閉」讀 bì，本篇一見**。**「胞脉者，屬心而絡於胞中」是《素問》言婦人生理之樞要**：心主血、胞主月事，故胞脉一閉而月事不來。後世「心主血脈」、「胞脈屬心」之說，皆本於此。**本篇以「氣上迫肺」釋「心氣不得下通」，是以上下之氣機釋胞脉之閉**——非胞自有病，乃氣機不通使之然。