Classica Sinica Medica

虚實 简体 虚实

xū shí

Vacuity and repletion · xu shi

Also rendered: Vacuity and repletion (this site; the two are a presence and an absence rather than two quantities) · Deficiency and excess (the common modern rendering; it reads them as amounts to be measured, which is not what the chapter asks about)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-10-02

At a glance

Pinyin
xū shí
Simplified
虚实
Literal
虚 xū — empty: what has been drawn away from a place, or what is not there. 實 shí — full: what has come in and remains. 《說文》 gives 虛 as 大丘也, a great mound — 段玉裁 notes that a great mound is empty and open, which is how the graph came to mean empty — and 實 as 富也, wealth, 从宀从貫, goods strung under a roof. The pair is the whole subject of chapter 53: asked for its essential point, Qibo gives three pairings that hold in health, then five ways of being the reverse of them, and closes on the exchange at the needle hole by which the one is let out and the other kept in. The chapter writes 虚 in the form the base text uses, not 虛.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：「虛，大丘也」（段玉裁注：大丘空曠，故引申為空虚）；「實，富也，从宀从貫，貫為貨物」。「虚」讀 xū、**本篇12見，底本作「虚」不从「虛」**；「實」讀 shí、**本篇8見，讀 shí**；「氣」讀 qì、**本篇16見，「氣實」「氣虚」皆以氣為本**；「形」讀 xíng、**本篇2見，讀 xíng，形體之形**；「要」讀 yào、**「虚實之要」之要，讀 yào，本篇1見**；**「虚實」二字連言，本篇1見（「願聞虚實之要」）**。

In brief

The pair chapter 53 takes as its subject: 虚實之要, the essential point of vacuity and repletion. Three pairings are given as the constant — qi and body, grain and qi, vessel and blood, each replete with replete and vacuous with vacuous — and to be the reverse of any of them is illness. Five reversals follow, each with its cause, and the chapter ends by saying what the two are at the needle: repletion is qi entering and is heat, vacuity is qi going out and is cold. The site leaves the pair as vacuity and repletion, the rendering chapter 28 already uses.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 虚實
虚者空虚、實者充實；《說文》虚為大丘而引申為空虚，實為富而从宀从貫
願聞虚實之要 — Suwen 53
2
The first constant 氣實形實，氣虚形虚
氣與形相應：氣實則形實，氣虚則形虚
氣實形實，氣虚形虚，此其常也 — Suwen 53
3
The other two constants 榖盛氣盛，榖虚氣虚；脉實血實，脉虚血虚
榖與氣、脉與血亦然，三組皆以「反此者病」結之
榖盛氣盛，榖虚氣虚，此其常也 — Suwen 53
4
The reversals 此謂反也
反其常者五：氣虚身熱、榖入多而氣少、榖不入而氣多、脉盛血少、脉少血多
氣虚身熱，此謂反也 — Suwen 53
5
What each is made of 夫實者，氣入也；虚者，氣出也
實者氣入於内，虚者氣泄於外，二句為虚實之實義
夫實者，氣入也 — Suwen 53
6
How they are read as heat and cold 氣實者，熱也；氣虚者，寒也
氣實則熱，氣虚則寒，為虚實之定驗
氣實者，熱也 — Suwen 53

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
6 passages
Suwen 53 Suwen 53 · 刺志論 Read in context →
黄帝問曰：願聞虚實之要。 黄帝问曰：愿闻虚实之要。
Huáng dì wèn yuē: yuàn wén xū shí zhī yào.
The Yellow Emperor asks: I wish to hear the essential point of vacuity and repletion.
**「虚實之要」本篇1見——「虚」讀 xū、**本篇12見，讀 xū**；「實」讀 shí、**本篇8見，讀 shí**；「聞」讀 wén、「要」讀 yào、**「願聞虚實之要」之要讀 yào，本篇1見**；**本篇以「虚實」為綱：三組之常、五種之反，皆就此二字而論**
素問·鍼解 Suwen 54 · 鍼解 Read in context →
黄帝問曰：願聞九鍼之解，虚實之道。 黄帝问曰：愿闻九针之解，虚实之道。
Huáng dì wèn yuē: yuàn wén jiǔ zhēn zhī jiě, xū shí zhī dào.
The Yellow Emperor asks: I wish to hear the explanation of the nine needles, and the way of vacuity and repletion.
「願聞九鍼之解，「虚」讀 xū「實」讀 shí之道」——**本篇「虚實」2見（「虚實之道」「虚實之要」），讀 xū shí**；**本目為第五十三篇「虚實之要」所立；本篇以「虚實之道」發端，與之同實**；「道」讀 dào、**「虚實之道」之「道」讀 dào，見 id 174**；**本篇所解者，皆針家虚實之舊訓**：**「刺虚則實之」「滿而泄之」「邪勝則虚之」「徐而疾則實」「疾而徐則虚」，「虚」「實」二字貫於全篇**
素問·調經論 Suwen 62 · 調經論 Read in context →
帝曰：實者何道從來？虚者何道從去？虚實之要，願聞其故。 帝曰：实者何道从来？虚者何道从去？虚实之要，愿闻其故。
Dì yuē: shí zhě hé dào cóng lái? Xū zhě hé dào cóng qù? Xū shí zhī yào, yuàn wén qí gù.
The Emperor asks: by what road does the excess come, and by what road does the deficiency go? I want to hear the reason of deficiency and excess.
「實者何道從來？虚者何道從去？虚實之要，願聞其故」——**「虚實」本篇6見，為一篇之綱**：**開篇「百病之生，皆有虚實」，中段「余已聞虚實之形」，收篇「經脉之病，皆有虚實」，三發其問而後答之**；**「虚」本篇29見，底本从「虚」，不从「虛」，本篇無「虛」字**；**本篇之虚實不在脉象而在血氣之相并：有者為實，無者為虚**
素問·繆刺論 Suwen 63 · 繆刺論 Read in context →
切而從之，審其虚實而調之。 切而从之，审其虚实而调之。
Qiè ér cóng zhī, shěn qí xū shí ér tiáo zhī.
Feel them and follow them; examine the vacuity and the repletion and regulate accordingly.
「切而從之，審其虚實而調之」——**「虚實」本篇1見，在末章刺法之總綱中**：**先視其經脉，切而從之，審其虚實而調之；不調者經刺之，有痛而經不病者繆刺之**；**「虚」本篇1見，底本从「虚」，不从「虛」，本篇無「虛」字**；**「虚」讀 xū、「實」讀 shí**
素問·三部九候論 Suwen 20 · 三部九候論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：必先度其形之肥瘦，以調其氣之虚實，實則冩之，虚則補之。必先去其血脉，而後調之，無問其病，以平爲期。 歧伯曰：必先度其形之肥瘦，以调其气之虚实，实则写之，虚则补之。必先去其血脉，而后调之，无问其病，以平为期。
Qí bó yuē: bì xiān duó qí xíng zhī féi shòu, yǐ tiáo qí qì zhī xū shí, shí zé xiě zhī, xū zé bǔ zhī. Bì xiān qù qí xuè mài, ér hòu tiáo zhī, wú wèn qí bìng, yǐ píng wéi qī.
Qibo says: first measure the fatness or thinness of the form, and by that regulate the emptiness or repletion of the qi — if replete, drain it; if empty, supplement it. One must first clear the blood vessels and only then regulate. Do not inquire after the name of the disease; take balance as the term.
「以調其氣之虚實」——先度形之肥瘦，然後調氣之虚實：實則冩之，虚則補之；**「虚實」本篇2見**
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
黄帝曰：余聞虚實，以決死生，願聞其情。歧伯曰：五實死，五虚死。 黄帝曰：余闻虚实，以决死生，愿闻其情。歧伯曰：五实死，五虚死。
Huáng dì yuē: yú wén xū shí, yǐ jué sǐ shēng, yuàn wén qí qíng. Qí bó yuē: wǔ shí sǐ, wǔ xū sǐ.
“I have heard that emptiness and repletion decide life and death — I wish to hear the particulars.” There are five repletions that kill, and five emptinesses that kill.
「余聞虚實」，黄帝聞虛實可以決死生而問其情。本篇遂列五實五虛，而以漿粥入胃、身汗得後利判其可活。

Compounds built on this term

虚實
xū shí
vacuity and repletion
本篇1見
虚實之要
xū shí zhī yào
the essential point of the two
本篇一見（黄帝之問）
氣實形實
qì shí xíng shí
qi replete and the body replete
本篇一見，三常之首
氣虚身熱
qì xū shēn rè
qi vacuous while the body is hot
本篇一見，五反之首

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This sitevacuity and repletionkept as chapter 28 has it, because chapter 53 is built on the pair and asks for its essential point
Later medicine虚實 xū shíread as two states of the qi — what has been drawn away, and what has come in and stayed
Modern editions虚证、实证 deficiency and excess patternsthey name two pattern types and lose the single pair whose measure the chapter wants

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-02

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