巨刺

jù cì

Great puncture · ju ci

Also rendered: Great puncture (this site; literal from the two graphs, and the word the tradition uses) · Ju ci (how the word is usually left in English writing on the Suwen, transliterated alongside 繆刺 as miu ci)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-10-04

At a glance

Pinyin: jù cì
Simplified: 巨刺
Literal: 巨 jù — great, large, what is on the bigger scale; 刺 cì — to puncture, the word the Suwen uses for the whole art. The chapter names it once, and it names it against its partner in the same breath: 身形有痛，九𠉀莫病，則繆刺之；痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之. Two cases, two methods. The first is pain in the body with the nine probes showing nothing — the pulse has not moved, so the disorder is not yet in the channels, and the crossing puncture takes the network vessels. The second is pain on the left with the vessel diseased on the right — the pulse has moved, and on the wrong side — and the great puncture takes the channels. 王冰 says it that way: 繆刺 takes the network vessels and 巨刺 the channels; both cross over, and the difference is depth. The site has carried 繆刺 since chapter 27 and has had no entry for its partner, which is the argument for making one here. The pair is the last thing this chapter says about method, and the sentence after it closes the book on the art: 必謹察其九𠉀，鍼道備矣.
Shuowen: **「巨」讀 jù，本篇1見；大也，从工，規矩之器**；**「刺」讀 cì，本篇13見；从刀从朿，直傷也**；**「巨刺」本篇1見，與「繆刺」1見同句對舉**；**王冰注：繆刺者刺絡脉，巨刺者刺經脉；左痛刺右，右痛刺左，二者皆取對側，所別者在深淺**；**「繆」讀 miù，本篇1見**；**「脉」讀 mài，本篇从「脉」，不从「脈」**；**「九𠉀」本篇3見；「𠉀」讀 hòu，「候」之俗省**；**「身形」shēn xíng——形體也；「病」讀 bìng**；**「痛」讀 tòng、「左」讀 zuǒ、「右」讀 yòu**；**「謹」讀 jǐn、「察」讀 chá、「備」讀 bèi**

In brief

The great puncture — 巨 jù, great; 刺 cì, to puncture — and the chapter introduces it by setting it beside the crossing puncture: 身形有痛，九𠉀莫病，則繆刺之；痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之. The two cases are distinguished by what the pulse is doing. Pain with the nine probes quiet means the disorder has not reached the channels, and 繆刺 takes the network vessels. Pain on one side with the vessel diseased on the other means the channels are involved, and 巨刺 takes them. 王冰 puts it in one line: the crossing puncture takes the network vessels, the great puncture takes the channels — both go to the opposite side, and what separates them is depth. This is the distinction the tradition has kept, and it is why the chapter gives the two methods in one sentence rather than one. The site has had 繆刺 since chapter 27 without its partner; the word occurs once here and has not appeared on the site before.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 巨刺

巨者大也；刺者从刀从朿，直傷也

痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之。 — Suwen 62

The case it answers 痛在於左而右脉病者

痛在一側而其脉病在對側——脉已動，是邪在經，故刺其經

痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之。 — Suwen 62

Its partner, in the same sentence 則繆刺之

身形有痛而九𠉀莫病者，脉未動，邪在絡，故繆刺之；與巨刺對舉

身形有痛，九𠉀莫病，則繆刺之。 — Suwen 62

What separates the two 刺經脉 / 刺絡脉

王冰：繆刺刺絡脉，巨刺刺經脉；二者皆取對側，所別者在深淺

痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之。 — Suwen 62

Where it stands in the chapter 鍼道備矣

巨刺為本篇言刺法之末，下句「必謹察其九𠉀，鍼道備矣」即收全篇

必謹察其九𠉀，鍼道備矣。 — Suwen 62

The graph this base text uses 刺

本篇「刺」13見，皆作「刺」；「脉」不从「脈」

痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之。 — Suwen 62

Occurrences in the classics

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

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2 passages

Suwen 62 Suwen 62 · 調經論 Read in context →

身形有痛，九𠉀莫病，則繆刺之。痛在於左而右脉病者，巨刺之。身形有痛，九候莫病，则缪刺之。痛在于左而右脉病者，巨刺之。

Shēn xíng yǒu tòng, jiǔ hòu mò bìng, zé miù cì zhī. Tòng zài yú zuǒ ér yòu mài bìng zhě, jù cì zhī.

When the body is in pain but the nine probes show no disease, use criss-cross needling: take the right for the left and the left for the right, and needle the network vessels shallowly. When the pain is on the left and the vessel on the right is diseased, use the great needling, which strikes the channel itself.

**「巨刺」本篇1見，與「繆刺」同句對舉**；**「巨」讀 jù、「刺」讀 cì；本篇「刺」13見**；**王冰：繆刺刺絡脉，巨刺刺經脉；二者皆取對側，所別者在深淺**；**上句「身形有痛，九𠉀莫病，則繆刺之」——九𠉀不病者脉未動，邪在絡**；**本篇「九𠉀」3見，「𠉀」讀 hòu，「候」之俗省**；**下句「必謹察其九𠉀，鍼道備矣」以鍼道收全篇**

素問·繆刺論 Suwen 63 · 繆刺論 Read in context →

歧伯曰：邪客於經，左盛則右病，右盛則左病，亦有移易者，左痛未已，而右脉先病，如此者，必巨刺之，必中其經，非絡脉也。故絡病者，其痛與經脉繆處，故命曰繆刺。歧伯曰：邪客于经，左盛则右病，右盛则左病，亦有移易者，左痛未已，而右脉先病，如此者，必巨刺之，必中其经，非络脉也。故络病者，其痛与经脉缪处，故命曰缪刺。

Qí bó yuē: xié kè yú jīng, zuǒ shèng zé yòu bìng, yòu shèng zé zuǒ bìng, yì yǒu yí yì zhě, zuǒ tòng wèi yǐ, ér yòu mài xiān bìng, rú cǐ zhě, bì jù cì zhī, bì zhòng qí jīng, fēi luò mài yě. Gù luò bìng zhě, qí tòng yǔ jīng mài miù chù, gù mìng yuē miù cì.

Qi Bo says: When evil lodges in the channels, a full left makes the right diseased and a full right makes the left diseased. There are also cases that shift, where the pain on the left has not yet ended and the vessel on the right is already affected. In such a case one must use the great puncture, and one must hit the channel itself, not the network. As for disease of the network, its pain lies at a place that crosses the channel rather than following it, and that is why it is named contralateral puncture.

「左痛未已，而右脉先病，如此者，必巨刺之，必中其經，非絡脉也」——**「巨刺」本篇2見，與「繆刺」對舉而別其淺深**：**邪客於經，左盛則右病、右盛則左病，亦有移易者，必巨刺之而中其經**；**絡病者其痛與經脉繆處，故命曰繆刺——中經者巨，刺絡者繆**；**「巨」讀 jù；「中」此讀 zhòng，本篇「中」16見，惟此一見讀 zhòng，餘皆讀 zhōng（中指、胸中、耳中、樞中）**

Compounds built on this term

繆刺

miù cì

the crossing puncture

身形有痛，九𠉀莫病，則繆刺之；「繆」讀 miù，本目已立，出第二十七篇

九𠉀

jiǔ hòu

the nine probes

九𠉀莫病、必謹察其九𠉀；「𠉀」讀 hòu，「候」之俗省

刺經脉

cì jīng mài

puncturing the channels

王冰以巨刺為刺經脉，與繆刺之刺絡脉相對

鍼道

zhēn dào

the way of the needle

必謹察其九𠉀，鍼道備矣；「鍼」讀 zhēn、「道」讀 dào

How it has been translated

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

This site	great puncture	literal from the graphs — 巨 great, 刺 to puncture — and kept beside the crossing puncture because the chapter gives them in one sentence and the tradition defines them against each other
Wang Bing	puncturing the channels	王冰's line, 巨刺者刺經脉, which is the distinction that has been kept ever since: the great puncture goes deeper than its partner, and to the opposite side for the same reason
Later usage	contralateral needling	the modern term for both 巨刺 and 繆刺, which does not distinguish them; useful as a heading, but it flattens the one difference this chapter is making

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-04

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