五十營简体五十营

wǔ shí yíng

The fifty circuits · wu shi ying

Also rendered: The fifty circuits (literal, and it keeps the patrol) · Fifty rounds (plainer, and it is the same count)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-24

At a glance

Pinyin: wǔ shí yíng
Simplified: 五十营
Literal: 五十 wǔ shí — fifty; 營 yíng — a camp, a circuit, the round a guard makes. The qi goes round the body fifty times in a day and a night.
Shuowen: 《說文》：營，市居也，引申為環繞往來。「五十營」本篇2見，一在「一日一夜五十營」，一在「所謂五十營者」。「營」字3見，皆此二處。

In brief

The chapter’s measure of the pulse, and the earliest passage in the book to make a count of beats into a measure of organ depletion. 一日一夜五十營，以營五藏之精 — in a day and a night the qi makes fifty circuits and so carries the essence of the five zang. The test is to hold the vessel mouth and count: fifty beats without one interruption means all five receive qi; forty with one means one is empty; thirty, twenty, ten, and less than ten mean two, three, four and five. The arithmetic is exact and the conclusion is not therapeutic but prognostic: 子之短期，要在終始, and the pulse that foretells the short term is 乍數乍疏, now frequent and now sparse. The number fifty is the one the Han calendars gave the body; what matters here is that it can be counted at the wrist.

Senses in the classical corpus

The count 一日一夜五十營

氣行五十周於身

Fifty circuits in a day and a night.

一日一夜五十營 — 靈樞·根結

The measure 五十動而不一代

脉五十至無歇為常

Fifty beats without a pause means all five zang receive qi.

五十動而不一代者，五藏皆受氣 — 靈樞·根結

The decline 四十動一代

每一代則一藏無氣

Each interruption subtracts one viscus.

四十動一代者，一藏無氣 — 靈樞·根結

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

靈樞·根結 Read in context →

一日一夜五十營，以營五藏之精，不應數者，名曰狂生。所謂五十營者，五藏皆受氣，持其脉口，數其至也。五十動而不一代者，五藏皆受氣；四十動一代者，一藏無氣；三十動一代者，二藏無氣；二十動一代者，三藏無氣；十動一代者，四藏無氣；不滿十動一代者，五藏無氣。子之短期，要在終始。所謂五十動而不一代者，以爲常也，以知五藏之期。子之短期者，乍數乍疏也。一日一夜五十营，以营五藏之精，不应数者，名曰狂生。所谓五十营者，五藏皆受气，持其脉口，数其至也。五十动而不一代者，五藏皆受气；四十动一代者，一藏无气；三十动一代者，二藏无气；二十动一代者，三藏无气；十动一代者，四藏无气；不满十动一代者，五藏无气。子之短期，要在终始。所谓五十动而不一代者，以为常也，以知五藏之期。子之短期者，乍数乍疏也。

yī rì yī yè wǔ shí yíng, yǐ yíng wǔ zàng zhī jīng, bù yīng shù zhě, míng yuē kuáng shēng. suǒ wèi wǔ shí yíng zhě, wǔ zàng jiē shòu qì, chí qí mài kǒu, shǔ qí zhì yě. wǔ shí dòng ér bù yī dài zhě, wǔ zàng jiē shòu qì; sì shí dòng yī dài zhě, yī zàng wú qì; sān shí dòng yī dài zhě, èr zàng wú qì; èr shí dòng yī dài zhě, sān zàng wú qì; shí dòng yī dài zhě, sì zàng wú qì; bù mǎn shí dòng yī dài zhě, wǔ zàng wú qì. zi zhī duǎn qī, yào zài zhōng shǐ. suǒ wèi wǔ shí dòng ér bù yī dài zhě, yǐ wéi cháng yě, yǐ zhī wǔ zàng zhī qī. zi zhī duǎn qī zhě, zhà shuò zhà shū yě.

In one day and one night there are fifty circuits, by which the essence of the five zang is carried. One whose number does not answer to this is called a reckless life. What is called the fifty circuits is that the five zang all receive qi; one holds the vessel mouth and counts its arrivals. Fifty beats without one interruption: the five zang all receive qi. Forty beats with one interruption: one zang has no qi. Thirty with one: two zang have no qi. Twenty with one: three zang have no qi. Ten with one: four zang have no qi. Less than ten with one: the five zang have no qi. To foretell the short term, the essential lies in beginning and end. What is called fifty beats without one interruption is the constant measure, and by it one knows the term of the five zang. Foretelling the short term is when the pulse is now frequent and now sparse.

「五十營」本篇2見，「營」字3見，皆在此段。五十動而一代以下，節節減十：四十、三十、二十、十、不滿十，凡五等，配五藏。此為以脉數測藏氣之始，與《素問·平人氣象論》「五十動而不一代」相足。

靈樞·五十營 Read in context →

黃帝曰：余願聞五十營奈何？黄帝曰：余愿闻五十营奈何？

Huáng Dì yuē: yú yuàn wén wǔ shí yíng nài hé?

Huang Di said: I should like to hear about the fifty circuits.

「五十營」五十營第1段見，義與本條相合，引全段為證。

Compounds built on this term

五十動

wǔ shí dòng

fifty beats

本篇脉法

一代

yī dài

one interruption

脉來一歇

狂生

kuáng shēng

reckless life

不應數者之名

How it has been translated

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

This site	the fifty circuits	營 is a circuit before it is nourishment, and the chapter counts circuits
Literal	fifty camps	exact to the graph, and it is not English
Clinical	fifty beats to the circuit	clear, and it mixes the two halves

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Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-24

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