Classica Sinica Medica

太衝脈 简体 太冲脉

tài chōng mài

Great surge vessel

Also rendered: Chong vessel (Transliteration, common in clinical writing) · Penetrating vessel (Older English rendering)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
tài chōng mài
Simplified
太冲脉
Literal
The great surge: 衝 is a rushing current, a thoroughfare.

In brief

The Chong vessel — the ‘surge’ — tied in this chapter to the flourishing and decline of the menses. It rises and falls on the same seven-year schedule as the heavenly water, which is precisely why the two are named together.

衝 carries the sense of a current meeting an obstruction — a surge, a crossroads, a thoroughfare. As a vessel name it is usually transliterated as Chong; this site keeps “surge” because the chapter is using the word’s ordinary sense: the vessel flourishes (盛) and then declines (衰少).

The parallelism is exact. Where the heavenly water arrives, the surge flourishes; where the heavenly water is exhausted, the surge declines. Two names for one event.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The surge vessel 太衝脈
The conduit tied to the menses in this chapter
The conduit tied to the menses in this chapter
太衝脈盛 — 素問·上古天真論

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
素問·上古天真論 Read in context →
二七而天癸至，任脈通，太衝脈盛，月事以時下，故有子 二七而天癸至，任脉通，太冲脉盛，月事以时下，故有子
èr qī ér tiān guǐ zhì, rèn mài tōng, tài chōng mài shèng, yuè shì yǐ shí xià, gù yǒu zǐ
At two sevens the heavenly water arrives, the conception vessel opens, the great surge vessel flourishes, the menses come in season — and so she can conceive.
Named alongside 任脈; the two vessels always appear as a pair in this passage.
素問·上古天真論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：女子七歲，腎氣盛，齒更髮長。二七而天癸至，任脉通，太衝脉盛，月事以時下，故有子。三七腎氣平均，故真牙生而長極。四七筋骨堅，髮長極，身體盛壯。五七陽明脉衰，面始焦，髮始墮。六七三陽脉衰於上。面皆焦。髮始白。七七任脉虛，太衝脉衰少，天癸竭，地道不通，故形壞而無子也。 歧伯曰：女子七岁，肾气盛，齿更发长。二七而天癸至，任脉通，太冲脉盛，月事以时下，故有子。三七肾气平均，故真牙生而长极。四七筋骨坚，发长极，身体盛壮。五七阳明脉衰，面始焦，发始堕。六七三阳脉衰于上。面皆焦。发始白。七七任脉虚，太冲脉衰少，天癸竭，地道不通，故形坏而无子也。
Qí Bó yuē: nǚ zǐ qī suì, shèn qì shèng, chǐ gēng fà zhǎng. èr qī ér tiān guǐ zhì, rèn mài tōng, tài chōng mài shèng, yuè shì yǐ shí xià, gù yǒu zǐ. sān qī shèn qì píng jūn, gù zhēn yá shēng ér cháng jí. sì qī jīn gǔ jiān, fà cháng jí, shēn tǐ shèng zhuàng. wǔ qī yáng míng mài shuāi, miàn shǐ jiāo, fà shǐ duò. liù qī sān yáng mài shuāi yú shàng. miàn jiē jiāo. fà shǐ bái. qī qī rèn mài xū, tài chōng mài shuāi shǎo, tiān guǐ jié, dì dào bù tōng, gù xíng huài ér wú zǐ yě.
Qi Bo said: at seven a girl’s kidney qi is full — the teeth change and the hair grows. At fourteen the heavenly water arrives, the conception vessel opens, the great surge vessel is full, and the menses come down in season, so she can bear children. At twenty-one the kidney qi is even and balanced, so the wisdom teeth come and growth reaches its extreme. At twenty-eight the sinews and bones are firm, the hair has grown to its utmost, and the body is at its fullest strength. At thirty-five the yangming vessel declines, the face begins to sear and the hair begins to fall. At forty-two the three yang vessels decline in the upper part; the face is entirely seared and the hair begins to whiten. At forty-nine the conception vessel is empty, the great surge vessel is decayed and scant, the heavenly water is exhausted and the way of the earth is blocked, so the body is broken down and she can have no children.
「太衝脉盛」——衝讀 chōng；底本作脉，通行本作脈，「太衝脉」本篇2見

Compounds built on this term

太衝脈盛
tài chōng mài shèng
the surge vessel flourishes
Its state at two sevens
太衝脈衰少
tài chōng mài shuāi shǎo
the surge vessel declines
Its state at seven sevens

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng 1998thoroughfare vesselRenders 衝 as thoroughfare.
This sitegreat surge vesselKeeps the current sense the chapter is drawing on.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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