Classica Sinica Medica

玉機 简体 玉机

yù jī

The jade mechanism

Also rendered: the jade mechanism (Literal; keeps both words) · the jade pivot (Reads 機 as pivot rather than trigger) · the jade engine (Too modern; 機 is not a motor)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
yù jī
Simplified
玉机
Literal
玉 jade; 機 the trigger, the thing that sets a crossbow off (《說文》: 主發者也 — that which governs the release). A mechanism, and by extension the pivot on which everything turns.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：玉，石之美有五德者；機，主發者也（段注：弩之發機，引申為樞機、機要）。

In brief

The name the chapter gives to what it has just written down: 命曰合玉機, it is called joined to the jade mechanism. What the mechanism is, the chapter has said two clauses earlier — 神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機, the spirit turns and does not return, and when it returns the 機 is lost. So 機 here is the pivot of life itself, and the title claims that this short text is fitted to it. The book later gives the same words to a whole treatise, 《玉機真藏論》.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The pivot of life 乃失其機
神轉不回則不失其機；回則不轉，乃失其機
神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機 — Suwen 15
2
The name given to the text 命曰合玉機
合，謂合於玉機之要；一說與《玉機真藏論》相合
著之玉版，命曰合玉機 — Suwen 15
3
The same words in a later treatise 玉機真藏論
《素問》第十九篇，論四時之脈與真藏脈
（第十九篇） — Suwen 19

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 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「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」。機即神機、生機之樞要；王冰：「回轉不轉，乃失生氣之機矣。」「合玉機」之義，一說合於玉機之要，一說與第十九篇《玉機真藏論》相合。
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.”
「著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》」：本篇玉機之義，為帝所得脈之大要之書名，而即本篇之所以名篇者。與第十五篇「命曰合玉機」同條而義進：第十五篇以「合玉機」名其論，本篇則徑以《玉機》名篇——機者，樞機也；上文「神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機」，即機之所以為機。機在則轉，機失則不轉而死。

Compounds built on this term

玉
yù
jade
說文：石之美有五德者
機
jī
the trigger; the pivot
說文：主發者也
神轉不回
shén zhuǎn bù huí
the spirit turns and does not return
本篇論「機」之語
玉版
yù bǎn
jade tablets
本篇「著之玉版」
真藏脈
zhēn zàng mài
the true storing pulse
《玉機真藏論》所論

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe jade mechanism, or the jade pivotBoth circulate; pivot is the more common gloss for 機 in medical writing.
This sitethe jade mechanism機 is the release of a crossbow — the small part that decides whether the whole thing fires. That is exactly the image the chapter needs for 神轉不回: a turning that must not reverse, and a small part whose failure loses everything. Pivot is blander and would lose the sense that something is released.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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