Classica Sinica Medica

A Discourse on Essentials Inscribed on Jade Tablets

玉版論要

Yù bǎn lùn yào

The fifteenth chapter is the book's own statement of method, and it announces that status in its title: these are the essentials, written on jade so that they will not be lost. It opens by pairing two arts that the tradition kept side by side — assessment, which measures how deep an illness lies, and the anomalous, which names the illnesses that do not follow the rule — and then insists that both come back to one thing. That one thing is stated in four lines that later commentators never stopped quoting: the spirit turns and does not return; if it returns it no longer turns, and the mechanism is lost. Everything after that is an application. The chapter reads the face: colour at a given depth tells you both the remedy and the number of days it will take, and colour that has climbed is rebellion while colour that has descended is compliance — with the sides reversed for men and for women. Then it turns to the pulse, and gives the criterion by which the whole prognostic tradition later worked: moving into what conquers you is death, moving into what you conquer is life. Practise the method of the anomalous beginning with the greater yin. The chapter closes where the book's cosmology always closes, with the eight winds and the four seasons conquering in turn, ending and beginning again — and with the warning that once the counter-movement has passed, the count cannot be taken up again.

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黄帝問曰：余聞揆度、奇𢘆，所指不同，用之奈何？ 黄帝问曰：余闻揆度、奇𢘆，所指不同，用之奈何？
huáng dì wèn yuē: yú wén kuí duó, qí héng, suǒ zhǐ bù tóng, yòng zhī nài hé?
黄帝问道：我听说「揆度」与「奇恒」，二者所指不同，应当怎样运用呢？
The Yellow Emperor asks: I have heard of assessment and of the anomalous. The two point at different things. How are they used?
歧伯對曰：揆度者，度病之淺深也；奇𢘆者，言奇病也。請言道之至數，五色脉變，揆度奇𢘆，道在於一。 岐伯对曰：揆度者，度病之浅深也；奇𢘆者，言奇病也。请言道之至数，五色脉变，揆度奇𢘆，道在于一。
qí bó duì yuē: kuí duó zhě, duó bìng zhī qiǎn shēn yě; qí héng zhě, yán qí bìng yě. qǐng yán dào zhī zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī.
岐伯回答说：揆度，是度量疾病的浅深；奇恒，是讲说异常的奇病。请容我讲说医道中最为切要的理数：五色的变化、脉象的变化、揆度与奇恒，其道都归结于一。
Qibo replies: assessment is measuring the shallowness and depth of an illness; the anomalous speaks of strange illness. Let me speak of the ultimate numbers of the Way: the shifts of the five colours, the shifts of the pulse, assessment and the anomalous — the Way lies in the one.
神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機。至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，命曰合玉機。 神转不回，回则不转，乃失其机。至数之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，命曰合玉机。
shén zhuǎn bù huí, huí zé bù zhuǎn, nǎi shī qí jī. zhì shù zhī yào, pò jìn yǐ wēi, zhù zhī yù bǎn, mìng yuē hé yù jī.
神机运转向前而不回返，一旦回返便不复运转，于是丧失其生机之枢要。至数的要领，切近而微细，所以刻著于玉版之上，命名为「合玉机」。
The spirit turns and does not turn back; if it turns back it no longer turns, and so its mechanism is lost. The essential of the ultimate numbers is close at hand and minute; it is inscribed on jade tablets and named “joined to the jade mechanism.”
容色見上下左右，各在其要。其色見淺者，湯液主治，十日已。其見深者，必齊主治，二十一日已。其見大深者，醪酒主治，百日已。色夭面脱，不治，百日盡已。 容色见上下左右，各在其要。其色见浅者，汤液主治，十日已。其见深者，必齐主治，二十一日已。其见大深者，醪酒主治，百日已。色夭面脱，不治，百日尽已。
róng sè jiàn shàng xià zuǒ yòu, gè zài qí yào. qí sè jiàn qiǎn zhě, tāng yè zhǔ zhì, shí rì yǐ. qí jiàn shēn zhě, bì jì zhǔ zhì, èr shí yī rì yǐ. qí jiàn dà shēn zhě, láo jiǔ zhǔ zhì, bǎi rì yǐ. sè yāo miàn tuō, bù zhì, bǎi rì jìn yǐ.
面容气色显现于面部的上下左右，各在其要领之部位。病色浅的，用汤液主治，十日可愈；色深的，必须用药剂主治，二十一日可愈；色大深的，用醪酒主治，百日可愈。若面色枯夭、肌肉消脱，则不可治，百日之内必尽。
The complexion appears above, below, left and right, each in its own place. Where the colour shows shallow, decoctions govern the treatment and it ends in ten days. Where it shows deep, compounded preparations must govern and it ends in twenty-one days. Where it shows very deep, fermented wine governs and it ends in a hundred days. When the colour is withered and the face fallen, it cannot be treated, and in a hundred days it is finished.
脉短氣絶，死。病温虚甚死。 脉短气绝，死。病温虚甚死。
mài duǎn qì jué, sǐ. bìng wēn xū shèn sǐ.
脉来短促而气将断绝的，主死；患温病而正气极虚的，也主死。
A short pulse with the qi cut off is death. Warm disease with severe depletion is death.
色見上下左右，各在其要。上爲逆，下爲從。女子右爲逆，左爲從：男子左爲逆，右爲從。易重陽死，重陰死。 色见上下左右，各在其要。上为逆，下为从。女子右为逆，左为从：男子左为逆，右为从。易重阳死，重阴死。
sè jiàn shàng xià zuǒ yòu, gè zài qí yào. shàng wéi nì, xià wéi cóng. nǚ zǐ yòu wéi nì, zuǒ wéi cóng: nán zǐ zuǒ wéi nì, yòu wéi cóng. yì chóng yáng sǐ, chóng yīn sǐ.
病色显现于上下左右，各在其要领之位：病色上行为逆，下行为从。女子病色见于右为逆、见于左为从；男子病色见于左为逆、见于右为从。若变易其常位而见重阳、重阴者死。
The colour appears above, below, left and right, each in its own place: above is rebellion, below is compliance. In a woman the right is rebellion and the left compliance; in a man the left is rebellion and the right compliance. Where it is exchanged, doubled yang is death and doubled yin is death.
陰陽反他。治在權衡相奪，奇𢘆事也，揆度事也。 阴阳反他。治在权衡相夺，奇𢘆事也，揆度事也。
yīn yáng fǎn tā. zhì zài quán héng xiāng duó, qí héng shì yě, kuí duó shì yě.
阴阳反其常位。治疗之法在于权衡轻重而相与夺取，这既是奇恒之事，也是揆度之事。
Yin and yang are overturned. The treatment lies in weighing and taking from one another: this is the business of the anomalous, and it is the business of assessment.
搏脉痺躄，寒熱之交。脉孤爲消氣，虚泄爲奪，血孤爲逆，虚爲從。 搏脉痹躄，寒热之交。脉孤为消气，虚泄为夺，血孤为逆，虚为从。
bó mài bì bì, hán rè zhī jiāo. mài gū wéi xiāo qì, xū xiè wéi duó, xuè gū wéi nì, xū wéi cóng.
脉来搏击有力而见痹证、足躄，是寒热二气交争所致。脉来孤绝而无从容和缓之胃气，为消气；脉虚而兼泄利，为夺。血孤为逆，脉虚为从。
A hammering pulse with blockage and lameness is an intermingling of cold and heat. A solitary pulse means the qi is being consumed; depletion with discharge means it is being taken away; solitary blood is rebellion; depletion is compliance.
行奇𢘆之法，以太陰始。行所不勝曰逆，逆則死。行所勝曰從，從則活。八風四時之勝，終而復始，逆行一過，不復可數。論要畢矣。 行奇𢘆之法，以太阴始。行所不胜曰逆，逆则死。行所胜曰从，从则活。八风四时之胜，终而复始，逆行一过，不复可数。论要毕矣。
xíng qí héng zhī fǎ, yǐ tài yīn shǐ. xíng suǒ bù shèng yuē nì, nì zé sǐ. xíng suǒ shèng yuē cóng, cóng zé huó. bā fēng sì shí zhī shèng, zhōng ér fù shǐ, nì xíng yī guò, bù fù kě shǔ. lùn yào bì yǐ.
施行奇恒之法，以太阴为始。病气传行至所不胜之脏曰逆，逆则死；传行至所胜之脏曰从，从则活。八风与四时之递相胜复，终而复始，循环不已；若逆行一次而不能复返常序，则生化之数不复可数。
To practise the method of the anomalous, begin with the greater yin. To move into what does not conquer is called rebellion, and rebellion is death; to move into what one conquers is called compliance, and compliance means living. The conquests of the eight winds and the four seasons end and begin again; once the counter-movement has passed over, the count cannot be taken up again. The discourse on essentials is complete.

Textual notes

Readings follow the base edition; significant variants are recorded here.

  1. 奇𢘆奇恒

    底本作「𢘆」，「恒（恆）」之古文異體，今通行作「恒」。本篇五見。

  2. 必齊主治必齐主治

    「齊」讀 jì，通「劑」，謂和合配伍之劑；與第十四篇「必齊毒藥」同例。

  3. 陰陽反他阴阳反他

    「他」字諸家疑有誤：一說當作「作」，謂陰陽反作；一說如字，謂反易而至他位。二說並存，此从底本。

  4. 搏脉痺躄搏脉痹躄

    「躄」讀 bì，謂兩足不能行。

  5. 逆行一過，不復可數逆行一过，不复可数

    「過」讀 guò，次也、遍也；「數」讀 shǔ，計數之數，不讀 shù。

  6. 用之奈何用之奈何

    底本作「奈」；第十四篇底本作「柰」。二字古通，各从底本之舊。

Cite this page

APA

Huangdi Neijing · Suwen 黃帝內經素問 (c. 3rd c. BCE – 1st c. CE; recension c. 762 CE). Yù bǎn lùn yào 玉版論要 [A Discourse on Essentials Inscribed on Jade Tablets], Chapter 15. In Classica Sinica Medica. Base text: 《重廣補註黃帝內經素問》二十四卷，唐·王冰注，宋·林億、孫奇、高保衡等校正，宋·孫兆重改誤。據上海涵芬樓《四部叢刊初編》影印明嘉靖二十九年（1550）顧從德覆宋刊本錄入，卷一牌記題「上海涵芬樓景印明顧氏翻宋本」。底本與影印本均屬公有領域。 Retrieved 13 October 2026, from https://classicstcm.com/classics/huangdi-neijing-suwen/jade-tablet-essentials/

MLA

"Yù bǎn lùn yào 玉版論要 [A Discourse on Essentials Inscribed on Jade Tablets]." Huangdi Neijing · Suwen 黃帝內經素問, chapter 15, Classica Sinica Medica, 2026, https://classicstcm.com/classics/huangdi-neijing-suwen/jade-tablet-essentials/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026. Base text: 《重廣補註黃帝內經素問》二十四卷，唐·王冰注，宋·林億、孫奇、高保衡等校正，宋·孫兆重改誤。據上海涵芬樓《四部叢刊初編》影印明嘉靖二十九年（1550）顧從德覆宋刊本錄入，卷一牌記題「上海涵芬樓景印明顧氏翻宋本」。底本與影印本均屬公有領域。

Chinese scholarly

《黃帝內經素問·玉版論要》（Huángdì Nèijīng Sùwèn）。《重廣補註黃帝內經素問》二十四卷，唐·王冰注，宋·林億、孫奇、高保衡等校正，宋·孫兆重改誤。據上海涵芬樓《四部叢刊初編》影印明嘉靖二十九年（1550）顧從德覆宋刊本錄入，卷一牌記題「上海涵芬樓景印明顧氏翻宋本」。底本與影印本均屬公有領域。Classica Sinica Medica，2026 年 10 月 13 日 存取，https://classicstcm.com/classics/huangdi-neijing-suwen/jade-tablet-essentials/。

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