Classica Sinica Medica

砭石

biān shí

The stone needle

Also rendered: stone needle (Literal) · bian stone (Pinyin, usual in modern TCM English) · stone lancet (Surgical reading; adds a blade the text does not mention)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
biān shí
Simplified
砭石
Literal
砭 to pierce with a stone; 石 stone. The word is its own definition — the instrument is named after what it is made of and after what it does.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：砭，以石刺病也；石，山石也。

In brief

The therapy of the east. Its people eat fish and crave salt; fish heats the inside and salt gets the better of the blood, so the texture of the skin is loose and they break out in abscesses. For that, the stone is the thing to open them with. Wang Bing: the stone needle is a needle made of stone, and the Classic of Mountains and Seas speaks of a mountain whose stone is like jade and can be used as a needle. Wang Bing adds a sentence that matters: people of the east still use it. This chapter’s claim is that the method came out of a place, not out of a sage’s head.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Piercing with a stone 砭
說文「以石刺病也」；王冰「謂以石為針也」
其治宜砭石 — Suwen 12
2
The method of the east 亦從東方來
王冰：「故砭石東人今用之。」五方各出一法，砭石屬東
故砭石者，亦從東方來 — Suwen 12
3
Suited to abscesses 其病皆爲癰瘍
癰瘍已成，宜決而去之，故用石而非藥
其病皆爲癰瘍，其治宜砭石 — Suwen 12
4
A stone from a mountain 高氏之山，有石如玉
王冰引《山海經》；新校正云「氏」一作「伐」
（王冰引《山海經》） — Suwen 12 (Wang Bing)

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
素問·異法方宜論 Suwen 12 · 異法方宜論 Read in context →
魚者使人熱中，鹽者勝血，故其民皆黑色疏理，其病皆爲癰瘍，其治宜砭石。故砭石者，亦從東方來。 鱼者使人热中，盐者胜血，故其民皆黑色疏理，其病皆为痈疡，其治宜砭石。故砭石者，亦从东方来。
yú zhě shǐ rén rè zhōng, yán zhě shèng xuè, gù qí mín jiē hēi sè shū lǐ, qí bìng jiē wéi yōng yáng, qí zhì yí biān shí. gù biān shí zhě, yì cóng dōng fāng lái.
Fish causes heat within a person; salt gets the better of the blood. Therefore its people are all dark of complexion and loose of grain, and their illnesses are abscesses and sores. Their treatment is suited to the stone needle. Thus the stone needle too came from the east.
東方之民食魚嗜鹹，魚熱中、鹽勝血，故黑色疏理而病癰瘍，治宜砭石。王冰：「砭石，謂以石為針也。《山海經》曰：高氏之山，有石如玉，可以為針，則砭石也。」新校正云：「氏」一作「伐」。又云：「故砭石東人今用之。」
素問·血氣形志 Suwen 24 · 血氣形志 Read in context →
形樂志樂，病生於肉，治之以鍼石。 形乐志乐，病生于肉，治之以针石。
Xíng lè zhì lè, bìng shēng yú ròu, zhì zhī yǐ zhēn shí.
Form at ease and will at ease: the disease arises in the flesh; treat it with needle and stone.
「治之以鍼石」：本篇砭石之義，見於五治之一，與「鍼」連稱而為治肉之法。與第十二篇已載者同條而義別：第十二篇以砭石為東方之治，與毒藥、灸爇、九鍼、導引按蹻並列而各有所宜之地；本篇則不論方宜，止論病位——病生於肉者治之以鍼石，與病生於脉者之用灸剌相對。一以地異其法，一以位異其法。
素問·寶命全形論 Suwen 25 · 寶命全形論 Read in context →
一曰治神，二曰知養身，三曰知毒藥爲真，四曰制砭石小大，五曰知府藏血氣之診。五法俱立。各有所先。 一曰治神，二曰知养身，三曰知毒药为真，四曰制砭石小大，五曰知府藏血气之诊。五法俱立。各有所先。
Yī yuē zhì shén, èr yuē zhī yǎng shēn, sān yuē zhī dú yào wéi zhēn, sì yuē zhì biān shí xiǎo dà, wǔ yuē zhī fǔ zàng xuè qì zhī zhěn. Wǔ fǎ jù lì. Gè yǒu suǒ xiān.
First, to govern the spirit. Second, to know how to nourish the body. Third, to know the true from the false among potent drugs. Fourth, to regulate the size of the stone needle. Fifth, to know the examination of the depots, the viscera, the blood and the qi. The five methods are established all together, and each has what comes before it.
「四曰制砭石小大」：本篇砭石之義，在「制」與「小大」——不是用砭石，而是先定砭石之形制。與第十二篇以砭石為東方之治、第二十二篇「砭石」之與鍼並論者同條而義別：彼論砭石所宜之地與其為治，本篇則以之為五法之一而先言其制——制者，因其病而制其大小。「砭」讀 biān；「制」讀 zhì。

Compounds built on this term

砭
biān
to pierce with a stone
說文：以石刺病也
石
shí
stone
說文：山石也
鍼
zhēn
needle
與南方之微鍼對舉，本篇五法之二
癰瘍
yōng yáng
abscesses and sores
砭石所治之病，見本條

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishbian stoneThe transliteration is now standard in TCM English and has the virtue of not claiming a modern instrument.
This sitestone needle砭 is already defined in the 說文 as 以石刺病 — the word says what the tool is for, so translating costs nothing and gains a reader who has not met the pinyin. Kept 石 as stone rather than jade: Wang Bing's 有石如玉 describes one mountain, not the material everywhere.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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