Classica Sinica Medica

五決 简体 五决

wǔ jué

The five decisions

Also rendered: the five decisions (Literal) · the five determinations (More formal) · the five judgments (Legal flavour) · the five criteria (Loses 決)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
wǔ jué
Simplified
五决
Literal
決 to release water through a channel, and by extension to settle a matter, to decide; 五決 the five by which a case is settled.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：決，行流也（引申為決斷、判決）。

In brief

The chapter’s rule for starting an examination, and one of the few places in the Canon where the method is stated rather than simply used. 王冰：五決，謂以五藏之脈，為決生死之綱紀也。And the chapter says outright that the five decisions are the five pulses. Before any of that, it says, establish the mother — the qi that ought to be in season — since only then can one tell which qi is the evil and which is the right.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The five pulses as the rule 五決爲紀
王冰：以五藏之脈，為決生死之綱紀
診病之始，五決爲紀 — Suwen 10
2
Establishing the mother first 先建其母
王冰：母，謂應時之王氣也（王讀 wàng）
欲知其始，先建其母 — Suwen 10
3
What the five decisions are 五脉也
Stated plainly, in case anyone takes 決 for something else
所謂五決者，五脉也 — Suwen 10

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·五藏生成 Suwen 10 · 五藏生成 Read in context →
診病之始，五決爲紀。欲知其始，先建其母。所謂五決者，五脉也。 诊病之始，五决为纪。欲知其始，先建其母。所谓五决者，五脉也。
zhěn bìng zhī shǐ, wǔ jué wéi jì. yù zhī qí shǐ, xiān jiàn qí mǔ. suǒ wèi wǔ jué zhě, wǔ mài yě.
To begin examining an illness, take the five decisions as the rule. To know where it began, first establish its mother: the qi that ought to be in season. Only then can one ask which qi is the evil and which is the right. What is called the five decisions is the five pulses.
本篇自道其診法：五決即五藏之脉；未論脉先「建其母」，王冰「母，謂應時之王氣也」，王讀 wàng。

Compounds built on this term

五脉
wǔ mài
the five pulses
The pulses of the five storing organs
紀
jì
the rule, the leading thread
What the five decisions supply
母
mǔ
the mother
王冰：應時之王氣也
指别
zhǐ bié
telling apart with the fingers
What the physician does with 小大、滑濇、浮沈

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe five determinations / the five diagnostic keysVaries; 決 is often softened into a noun of method.
This sitethe five decisionsKept in the verbal sense: 決 is what settles a matter, and the chapter's point is that the pulse is what settles it. The word also means releasing water through a channel, which is not an accident, but the text here is deciding, not draining.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths