Classica Sinica Medica

脾精

pí jīng

The essence of the spleen · pi jing

Also rendered: The essence of the spleen (this site; 精 is what is refined and sent, not a substance stored) · Spleen essence (clear, and it suggests a store rather than a distribution)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-17

At a glance

Pinyin
pí jīng
Simplified
脾精
Literal
脾 pí — the spleen, the earth viscus, which rules the four limbs; 精 jīng — what is refined out of food and drink. 脾精 is not a store but a delivery: what the spleen refines and sends out to the limbs.
Shuowen
《說文》：精，擇也，謂擇米而使其精。「脾精」本篇1見；王冰注「四支解墯，此脾精之不行也」，以脾精不布釋四肢懈惰。「脾」字本篇7見，「精」字1見，即在此句。

In brief

脾精 names the answer to the case Lei Gong misreads. A man has slack and heavy limbs, pants, coughs and passes blood; Lei Gong takes it for injury of the lung and dares not treat. Huang Di shows where the illness actually sits: 四支解墯，此脾精之不行也 — the four limbs slack and heavy is the essence of the spleen not moving. The spleen rules the limbs, and its refined essence is what keeps them filled; when it does not move, the limbs go lax. The same paragraph has already said why: 脾氣之外絶，去胃外歸陽明, the spleen qi cut off from without and returning to the yang brightness, so that what should have gone to the limbs has gone elsewhere.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
What the spleen refines 脾精
脾所化之精微
The refined essence transformed by the spleen.
此脾精之不行也 — 素問·示從容論
2
Failing to move 脾精之不行
不行，不布於四肢
Not moving means not spreading to the four limbs.
此脾精之不行也 — 素問·示從容論
3
What it should fill 四支
脾主四肢
The spleen governs the four limbs.
四支解墯 — 素問·示從容論
4
What shows when it fails 四支解墯
四肢懈惰無力
The four limbs slack and without strength.
四支解墯 — 素問·示從容論
5
Where it leaves its course 脾氣之外絶
脾氣外絕，去胃歸陽明
Spleen qi is cut off outwardly, leaving the stomach and returning to yang brightness.
是脾氣之外絶 — 素問·示從容論

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·示從容論 Read in context →
今夫脉浮大虚者，是脾氣之外絶，去胃外歸陽明也。夫二火不勝三水，是以脉亂而無常也。四支解墯，此脾精之不行也。 今夫脉浮大虚者，是脾气之外绝，去胃外归阳明也。夫二火不胜三水，是以脉乱而无常也。四支解墯，此脾精之不行也。
Jīn fú mài fú dà xū zhě, shì pí qì zhī wài jué, qù wèi wài guī yáng míng yě. Fú èr huǒ bù shèng sān shuǐ, shì yǐ mài luàn ér wú cháng yě. Sì zhī xiè duò, cǐ pí jīng zhī bù xíng yě.
Now the pulse that is floating, large and empty is the spleen qi cut off from without, leaving the stomach and returning outside to the yang brightness. Two fires cannot overcome three waters, and so the pulse is disordered and without constancy. The four limbs slack and heavy is the essence of the spleen not moving.
「脾精」本篇1見；此段先言「脾氣之外絶，去胃外歸陽明」，次言「二火不勝三水」，終以此句收之，三句一貫；王冰注以脾精不布釋四支解墯，正與雷公「以為傷肺」相對

Compounds built on this term

脾氣
pí qì
spleen qi
本篇二見
脾虚
pí xū
spleen deficiency
本篇一見
四支
sì zhī
the four limbs
本篇二見
解墯
jiě duò
laxness and listlessness
另有專目

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe essence of the spleenwhat the spleen refines and delivers to the four limbs
Literalspleen essenceexact, and it invites the reader to look for a depot
Descriptivewhat the spleen sends to the limbsclear, and it loses the word 精

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-17

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