Classica Sinica Medica

肺朝百脉

fèi cháo bǎi mài

The lung courted by the hundred vessels · fei chao bai mai

Also rendered: the lung is courted by the hundred vessels (Keeps 朝 as an audience) · the hundred vessels converge on the lung (Takes away the court, leaves the traffic) · the lung governs the hundred vessels (Stronger than the text: it says they come) · fei chao bai mai (Bare transliteration)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
fèi cháo bǎi mài
Simplified
肺朝百脉
Literal
肺 is flesh (肉) with 巿 as sound; 《說文》 classifies it rather than describing it — 金藏也, the store of metal. 朝 is morning: a sun starting up beside running water. Since morning was when a ruler received, the same word came to mean to hold audience and to be visited. So the phrase gives the lung an audience of vessels, not a plumbing.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：肺，金藏也。从肉巿聲；朝，旦也。从倝舟聲（段玉裁注：旦者，朝之时也；引申为朝见、朝廷之偁）；脈，血理分袤行體中者（或从肉作脉）。

In brief

Four words that carry the whole argument of the chapter’s middle. Every vessel reports to the lung, which is why the lung’s own movement — breathing — is the place where the circulation can be read off. The sentence immediately before has traced food qi from stomach to sinew to heart to vessels; the sentence after takes the union of hair and vessel essence into the storehouse, out to the four viscera, and back to the steelyard, where balance makes the inch at the qi mouth. Read together, they are the reason a single pulse site can judge the body, and the reason later doctrine could put diagnosis at the wrist at all.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The line itself 肺朝百脉
百脈皆會於肺而朝宗焉
脉氣流經，經氣歸於肺，肺朝百脉，輸精於皮毛 — Suwen 21
2
What the lung then does 輸精於皮毛
肺受百脈之朝，輸布其精於皮毛
肺朝百脉，輸精於皮毛 — Suwen 21
3
Where the sentence goes next 氣歸於權衡
氣會於肺，復歸於權衡，權衡平則氣口成寸
府精神明，留於四臓，氣歸於權衡 — Suwen 21
4
Why the wrist can judge everything 氣口成寸，以決死生
百脈朝肺，故寸口之地可決死生
權衡以平，氣口成寸，以決死生 — Suwen 21
5
What the word means in Shuowen 朝，旦也
旦為受朝之時，故引申為朝見
《說文解字》：朝，旦也。从倝舟聲 — Shuowen

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·經脉别論 Suwen 21 · 經脉别論 Read in context →
食氣入胃，濁氣歸心，淫精於脉。脉氣流經，經氣歸於肺，肺朝百脉，輸精於皮毛。毛脉合精，行氣於府。府精神明，留於四臓，氣歸於權衡。權衡以平，氣口成寸，以決死生。 食气入胃，浊气归心，淫精于脉。脉气流经，经气归于肺，肺朝百脉，输精于皮毛。毛脉合精，行气于府。府精神明，留于四脏，气归于权衡。权衡以平，气口成寸，以决死生。
Shí qì rù wèi, zhuó qì guī xīn, yín jīng yú mài. Mài qì liú jīng, jīng qì guī yú fèi, fèi cháo bǎi mài, shū jīng yú pí máo.Máo mài hé jīng, xíng qì yú fǔ. Fǔ jīng shén míng, liú yú sì zàng, qì guī yú quán héng. Quán héng yǐ píng, qì kǒu chéng cùn, yǐ jué sǐ shēng.
Food qi enters the stomach; the turbid qi returns to the heart, which steeps essence into the vessels. Vessel qi flows through the channels, channel qi returns to the lung; the lung is courted by the hundred vessels and conveys essence to skin and hair. Hair and vessels unite their essence and move qi into the storehouse; the spirit brightness of the storehouse lodges in the four viscera, and the qi returns to the steelyard. When the steelyard is level, the qi mouth forms the inch, by which death and life are decided.
本篇之樞。食氣自胃而歸肺，肺受百脈之朝，復輸其精於皮毛——此所以呼吸之地即為血氣之會。下文緊接「毛脉合精，行氣於府……氣歸於權衡，權衡以平，氣口成寸，以決死生」：正因百脈朝肺，故寸口一處可以診全身而決死生。「朝」，《說文》訓「旦也」——旦者君主受朝之時，故引申為朝見；本篇用此字，非謂水之匯流，乃謂百脈之來會而自陳。與本站「氣口」「寸口」「權衡」諸條相參。

Compounds built on this term

肺
fèi
the lung
說文：金藏也
朝
cháo
to hold audience; to be received
說文：旦也
百脉
bǎi mài
the hundred vessels
本篇：百脈朝肺
氣口
qì kǒu
the qi mouth
本篇：氣口成寸，以決死生
寸口
cùn kǒu
the wrist pulse
與氣口同指而名別

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fengthe lung faces the hundred vesselsTheir 朝 keeps the direction of turning toward, as in facing an audience.
Unschuldall the vessels flow to the lungHe makes the sentence a statement of circulation rather than of assembly.
This sitethe lung is courted by the hundred vesselsThe word is the one for being received in the morning, and the difference matters for what follows: if the vessels merely converge, then the lung is a junction, and nothing explains why this spot should be the one that decides life and death. If they come to audience, then the lung is where the accounts are rendered, and the next line — the balanced steelyard, the inch that forms at the qi mouth — is simply where the rendering is read. Governing would give the lung more than the sentence gives it.

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