Classica Sinica Medica

玉版

yù bǎn

Jade tablets

Also rendered: jade tablets (Literal; keeps the material and the object) · jade plates (Slightly modern-sounding) · the jade record (Reads 版 as a document rather than an object)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
yù bǎn
Simplified
玉版
Literal
玉 jade, the finest of stones (《說文》: 石之美者); 版 a split piece, a tablet (《說文》: 判也 — a piece split off). A writing tablet of jade, i.e. something meant to last.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：玉，石之美有五德者（段注：引申為珍美之稱）；版，判也（段注：片也，引申為簡版、書版）。

In brief

What the chapter’s title is named for, and the chapter’s claim about itself: these essentials are 著之玉版, inscribed on jade, so that they will survive. It is the same gesture the book makes in chapter 8 with 靈蘭之室, the chamber where the treatise is stored — a text declaring that what it contains is worth the most durable material available. The rest of the chapter is short, dense and hard, which is the point.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
A writing tablet of jade 著之玉版
玉以為版，取其堅久不磨
著之玉版，命曰合玉機 — Suwen 15
2
Why it is inscribed 至數之要，迫近以微
其要切近而微細，恐久而失傳，故著之玉版
至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版 — Suwen 15
3
The chapter named for it 玉版論要
篇題；論要即論其至要
玉版論要篇第十五 — Suwen 15

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·玉版論要 Suwen 15 · 玉版論要 Read in context →
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.
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.”
本篇「至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，命曰合玉機」。篇題《玉版論要》即取此義：論其至要，著之于玉，以垂久遠。與第八篇「藏之靈蘭之室，以傳保焉」同為《素問》自重其文之例。
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至數，五色脉變，揆度奇恒，道在於一。神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機。至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》。 帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至数，五色脉变，揆度奇恒，道在于一。神转不回，回则不转，乃失其机。至数之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦读之，名曰《玉机》。
Dì jù rán ér qǐ, zài bài ér qǐ shǒu yuē: shàn. Wú dé mài zhī dà yào, tiān xià zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī. Shén zhuǎn bù huí, huí zé bù zhuǎn, nǎi shī qí jī. Zhì shù zhī yào, pò jìn yǐ wēi, zhù zhī yù bǎn, cáng zhī zàng fǔ, měi dàn dú zhī, míng yuē Yù jī.
The Emperor starts up in alarm, bows twice and touches his head to the ground: “Good. I have the great essentials of the pulse — the ultimate numbers under heaven, the changes of the five colours and the pulse, assessment and the anomalous-constant. The way lies in the one. The spirit turns and does not turn back; if it turns back it no longer turns, and the pivot is lost. The essential of the ultimate numbers is immediate and minute: write it on a jade tablet, store it in the storehouse of the viscera, read it every morning, and call it the Jade Mechanism.”
「至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》」：本篇玉版之義，為至數之所著。與第十五篇「著之玉版，命曰合玉機」同條而義進：第十五篇以玉版為著錄之所，本篇則益以「藏之藏府，每旦讀之」——著之而不藏之，藏之而不讀之，皆非所以為寶；本篇書名《玉機》，即由此文而出。
素問·天元紀大論 Suwen 66 · 天元紀大論 Read in context →
帝曰：光乎哉道，明乎哉論。請著之玉版，藏之金匱，署曰天元紀。 帝曰：光乎哉道，明乎哉论。请著之玉版，藏之金匮，署曰天元纪。
Dì yuē: guāng hū zāi dào, míng hū zāi lùn. Qǐng zhù zhī yù bǎn, cáng zhī jīn guì, shǔ yuē tiān yuán jì.
Huang Di said: how radiant the dao, how clear the discourse. Let it be inscribed on jade tablets and stored in the golden cabinet, titled the Celestial Primordial Record.
「請著之玉版」——**「玉版」讀 yù bǎn，本篇1見**；**「著」讀 zhù，著之于版也；「署」讀 shǔ，題其名也**；**本篇末云請著之玉版、藏之金匱、署曰天元紀，與第十五篇著之玉版同例**；**「藏」讀 cáng**

Compounds built on this term

玉
yù
jade
說文：石之美有五德者
版
bǎn
a split tablet
說文：判也
著
zhù
to set down, to inscribe
本篇「著之玉版」
靈蘭之室
líng lán zhī shì
the Chamber of the Numinous Orchid
第八篇藏書之室；與本篇著之玉版同為重視其文之意
玉機
yù jī
the jade mechanism
本篇下文「命曰合玉機」

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishjade tabletsStandard; the word tablet is what is used for bamboo and wooden writing strips and transfers cleanly.
This sitejade tabletsKept literal. The chapter is called 玉版論要 and the phrase 著之玉版 is the chapter's own statement of why it exists; turning the tablets into a record or a document loses the object, and the object is the argument — the most durable material there is, for the fewest possible words.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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