Beginning and end · zhong shi

Also rendered: Beginning and end (literal, and it keeps the pair) · The whole course (interpretive, and it loses the symmetry)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-10-24

At a glance

Pinyin: zhōng shǐ
Simplified: 终始
Literal: 終 zhōng — end; 始 shǐ — beginning. The pair names the whole course of a disease and of its treatment, and the chapter insists that one must know the end before choosing the beginning.
Shuowen: 《說文》：終，絿絲也；始，女之初也。「終始」本篇5見，皆在開篇與篇末，為全篇之綱；「始」5見，「終」16見。

In brief

The whole course of treatment, from the first stirring of disease to its resolution. 凡刺之道，畢于終始 — the way of needling is complete in beginning and end — and the method is then made concrete: hold the wrist pulse and the neck pulse, compare them, and you know which side is excessive. The chapter’s arithmetic of one, two, three and four times is the working out of this single idea, and its closing signs describe what an end looks like when treatment has failed.

Senses in the classical corpus

The whole course 畢于終始

刺道之始終

The way of needling is complete in beginning and end.

凡刺之道，畢于終始 — 靈樞·終始

The rule of the channels 終始者，經脉爲紀

以經脉為綱紀

Beginning and end take the channels as their rule.

終始者，經脉爲紀 — 靈樞·終始

Knowing both 明知終始

知終知始，五藏為紀

Knowing both, one takes the five zang as the rule.

明知終始，五藏爲紀 — 靈樞·終始

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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1 passages

靈樞·終始 Read in context →

凡刺之道，畢于終始。明知終始，五藏爲紀，陰陽定矣。陰者主藏，陽者主府。陽受氣于四末，陰受氣于五藏。故寫者迎之，補者隨之。知迎知隨，氣可令和。和氣之方，必通陰陽。五藏爲陰，六府爲陽。傳之後世，以血爲盟。敬之者昌，慢之者亡。無道行私，必得天殃。凡刺之道，毕于终始。明知终始，五藏为纪，阴阳定矣。阴者主藏，阳者主府。阳受气于四末，阴受气于五藏。故写者迎之，补者随之。知迎知随，气可令和。和气之方，必通阴阳。五藏为阴，六府为阳。传之后世，以血为盟。敬之者昌，慢之者亡。无道行私，必得天殃。

fán cì zhī dào, bì yú zhōng shǐ. míng zhī zhōng shǐ, wǔ zàng wéi jì, yīn yáng dìng yǐ. yīn zhě zhǔ zàng, yáng zhě zhǔ fǔ. yáng shòu qì yú sì mò, yīn shòu qì yú wǔ zàng. gù xiě zhě yíng zhī, bǔ zhě suí zhī. zhī yíng zhī suí, qì kě lìng hé. hé qì zhī fāng, bì tōng yīn yáng. wǔ zàng wéi yīn, liù fǔ wéi yáng. chuán zhī hòu shì, yǐ xuè wéi méng. jìng zhī zhě chāng, màn zhī zhě wáng. wú dào xíng sī, bì dé tiān yāng.

The way of needling is complete in beginning and end. When beginning and end are clearly known, and the five zang are taken as the rule, yin and yang are settled. Yin governs the zang, yang governs the fu. Yang receives its qi from the four extremities, yin receives its qi from the five zang. Therefore the reducing method meets it, the supplementing method follows it. Knowing how to meet and how to follow, one can bring the qi into harmony. The way to harmonise qi must pass through yin and yang: the five zang are yin, the six fu are yang. Hand this down to later generations, sealing it with blood. Those who revere it flourish; those who slight it perish. To practise privately without the Way is to invite Heaven’s calamity.

「終始」本篇5見：首段「畢于終始」「明知終始」，次段「請言終始」「終始者，經脉爲紀」，末段「傳于終始」。一篇之中四見，皆為綱領。

Compounds built on this term

終始第九

zhōng shǐ dì jiǔ

Beginning and End, chapter nine

篇題

陰陽俱溢

yīn yáng jù yì

yin and yang both overflowing

本篇脈法

How it has been translated

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

This site	beginning and end	the chapter's own title
Literal	end and beginning	exact word order, odd in English
Clinical	the full course of treatment	clear, and it drops the phrase

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-24

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