補瀉 简体 补泻

bǔ xiè

Supplementing and draining · bu xie

Also rendered: supplementing and draining (Ordinary English verbs, plain about direction) · supplementation and drainage (The nominal form favoured in technical writing) · tonify and purge (Older rendering; tonify is rare speech, purge is violent) · bu and xie (Bare transliteration)

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
bǔ xiè
Simplified
补泻
Literal
補 is mending — 《說文》 glosses it 完衣也, finishing a garment — and the medical sense follows the domestic one exactly: nothing is added from outside, something worn is made whole. The second half is written in this chapter either 寫 or 冩, both read xiè and standing for 瀉, to sluice off. 所以一者補其不足,一者瀉其有餘。
Shuowen
《說文解字》:補,完衣也。从衣甫聲;寫,置物也。从宀舃聲(瀉為後起字,本篇作寫、冩二形,讀 xiè,通瀉,見下校勘)。

In brief

This is the chapter’s most practical teaching and its most counter-intuitive. Every viscus has one flavour that supplements it and another that drains it, and the pairing is decided not by the phase the viscus belongs to but by what the viscus wants: the liver desires dispersal, so acrid — which is the metal flavour, the phase that conquers wood — supplements it. Bitter firms the kidney but drains the spleen; sweet relaxes the spleen yet drains the heart. A flavour is not a property, it is a lever, and which way it moves depends on the organ at the other end.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Supplement with the flavour it desires 用辛補之
順其性者補
To go with its nature is to supplement.
肝欲散,急食辛以散之,用辛補之,酸冩之 — 素問·藏氣法時論
2
Drain with the flavour that opposes 酸冩之
逆其性者瀉
To go against its nature is to drain.
肝欲散,急食辛以散之,用辛補之,酸冩之 — 素問·藏氣法時論
3
Bitter both drains and supplements 用苦寫之,甘補之
之於脾為瀉,之於腎為補
For the spleen it is draining; for the kidney it is supplementing.
脾欲緩……用苦寫之,甘補之 — 素問·藏氣法時論
4
Draining said of the vessels elsewhere 實則冩之,虚則補之
先去血脉而後調之
First clear the blood vessels, then regulate.
必先去其血脉,而後調之,無問其病,以平爲期 — 素問·三部九候論
5
Draining said of treatment generally 補冩勿失
診家之常法
The ordinary method of the diagnostician.
補冩勿失,與天地如一 — 素問·脉要精微論

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
7 passages
素問·藏氣法時論 Read in context →
肝欲散,急食辛以散之,用辛補之,酸冩之。 肝欲散,急食辛以散之,用辛补之,酸写之。
Gān yù sàn, jí shí xīn yǐ sàn zhī, yòng xīn bǔ zhī, suān xiè zhī.
The liver desires dispersal, so hasten to give acrid to disperse it. Use acrid to supplement it and sour to drain it.
本篇言補瀉,其法在「所欲」二字:辛本屬金,金克木,而於肝反為補者,以肝所欲在散,辛能散也;酸本屬木,而於肝則為瀉者,以酸收與所欲之散相反也。故下文「心欲耎……用鹹補之,甘冩之」「脾欲緩……用苦寫之,甘補之」「肺欲收……用酸補之,辛寫之」「腎欲堅……用苦補之,鹹寫之」五條,皆以此為例。苦之雙向(補腎而瀉脾)尤見補瀉不在味性而在臟之所欲。與第十七篇「補冩勿失,與天地如一」、第二十篇「實則冩之,虚則補之」之就虛實立言者,義相表裡。
素問·血氣形志 Read in context →
今知手足陰陽所苦,凡治病必先去其血,乃去其所苦,伺之所欲,然後寫有餘,補不足。 今知手足阴阳所苦,凡治病必先去其血,乃去其所苦,伺之所欲,然后写有余,补不足。
Jīn zhī shǒu zú yīn yáng suǒ kǔ, fán zhì bìng bì xiān qù qí xuè, nǎi qù qí suǒ kǔ, sì zhī suǒ yù, rán hòu xiě yǒu yú, bǔ bù zú.
Now that you know what the yin and yang of the hand and foot suffer from: in treating any illness you must first remove the blood, and only then remove what it suffers from. Watch for what it wants, and thereafter drain the surplus and supplement the insufficiency.
「伺之所欲,然後寫有餘,補不足」:本篇補瀉之義,最為切實——不是總綱,而是次第:先去其血、去其所苦,伺其所欲,而後可言補瀉。與第二十二篇「用辛補之,酸冩之」之以五味為補瀉之具者同條而義別:彼論以何物補、以何物瀉,本篇則論何時可補可瀉——補瀉不是一法,而是血去苦除之後的一步。底本作「寫」,本站詞頭從通行作「補瀉」。
素問·八正神明論 Read in context →
帝曰:余聞補冩,未得其意。歧伯曰:冩必用方,方者,以氣方盛也,以月方。滿也,以日方温也,以身方定也。 帝曰:余闻补写,未得其意。歧伯曰:写必用方,方者,以气方盛也,以月方。满也,以日方温也,以身方定也。
Dì yuē: yú wén bǔ xiè, wèi dé qí yì.Qí bó yuē: xiè bì yòng fāng, fāng zhě, yǐ qì fāng shèng yě, yǐ yuè fāng mǎn yě, yǐ rì fāng wēn yě, yǐ shēn fāng dìng yě.
The Emperor says: I have heard of supplementing and draining, but I have not grasped what is meant. Qibo says: Draining must use the square; and the square means acting when the qi is just then at its height, when the moon is just then full, when the sun is just then warm, and when the body is just then settled.
本篇補瀉之論自成一段,而其要不在補瀉之施而在方員之辨:「冩必用方……𥙷必用員,員者,行也,行者,移也」,末以「故員與方非鍼也」一句收住——「𥙷」讀 bǔ,即「補」之異體,本篇惟此一見;本篇「補」三見、「𥙷」一見,二形並見,各從底本;「冩」讀 xiè,通瀉,本篇六見,底本無「寫」形;「員」讀 yuán,通圓;「方」讀 fāng。「方」之義是「正當其時」——氣方盛、月方滿、日方溫、身方定,而後吸則內鍼、呼則引鍼。是故補瀉之分在此為時與法之分,不只是手法之分。
素問·離合真邪論 Read in context →
帝曰:補冩奈何?歧伯曰:此攻邪也。 帝曰:补写奈何?歧伯曰:此攻邪也。
Dì yuē: bǔ xiè nài hé?Qí bó yuē: cǐ gōng xié yě.
The Emperor says: And what of supplementing and draining? Qibo says: This is attacking the evil.
本篇補瀉之問,答得極短:「此攻邪也」——不復如第二十六篇那樣分說方員,可知本篇之瀉專指攻邪出血之一法。「冩」讀 xiè 通瀉,本篇七見;「補」讀 bǔ,本篇四見。上文第十四段瀉法、第十七至十八段補法,呼吸進出之際全相反:瀉則吸進呼出(「大氣皆出」),補則呼進吸出(「大氣留止」),是本站補瀉條最切實的圖解。
素問·通評虚實論 Read in context →
歧伯曰:絡滿經虚,灸陰剌陽;經滿絡虚,剌陰灸陽。 歧伯曰:络满经虚,灸阴刺阳;经满络虚,刺阴灸阳。
Qí bó yuē: luò mǎn jīng xū, jiǔ yīn cì yáng; jīng mǎn luò xū, cì yīn jiǔ yáng.
Qibo says: where the network vessels are full and the channels empty, cauterise the yin and needle the yang; where the channels are full and the network vessels empty, needle the yin and cauterise the yang.
「絡滿經虚,灸陰剌陽;經滿絡虚,剌陰灸陽」——本篇雖不見「補瀉」二字之字面,而此十六字正是補瀉之法:灸者補、刺者瀉,灸其虚之所在、刺其實之所在。「灸」讀 jiǔ;「剌」讀 cì,本篇十二見;「滿」讀 mǎn,本篇十二見;「虚」讀 xū,本篇二十見。本站此條以「補瀉」立目,本篇之補瀉寄於灸刺,而不復以補瀉為名——與第二十六篇「冩必用方」「𥙷必用員」之明言補瀉者異,然其理則一。
素問·剌熱 Read in context →
熱病先胸脅痛,手足躁,剌足少陽,補足太陰。 热病先胸胁痛,手足躁,刺足少阳,补足太阴。
Rè bìng xiān xiōng xié tòng, shǒu zú zào, cì zú shào yáng, bǔ zú tài yīn.
When a heat disease begins with pain in the chest and flanks and fretting of the hands and feet, needle the foot shaoyang and supplement the foot taiyin.
「補瀉」之目於本站已立(id 712),本篇惟見「補」而不見「瀉」:「熱病先胸脅痛,手足躁,剌足少陽,補足太陰」——「補」讀 bǔ,本篇惟此一見,底本作「補」,不作第二十六篇之異體「𥙷」,亦不作「补」;「熱」讀 rè;「病」讀 bìng;「先」讀 xiān;「胸」讀 xiōng;「脅」讀 xié;「痛」讀 tòng;「手」讀 shǒu;「足」讀 zú;「躁」讀 zào;「剌」讀 cì;「少」讀 shào;「陽」讀 yáng;「太」讀 tài;「陰」讀 yīn。「剌足少陽」而「補足太陰」者:胸脅為少陽之部,手足躁為脾虛而四肢不寧,故瀉其邪於少陽而補其虛於太陰——一瀉一補,本篇立法之要。本篇言瀉不著「瀉」字而以「剌」當之:凡言「剌…」者即瀉其經之有餘,凡言「補…」者即補其經之不足,與本站「補瀉」條所收他篇之義可互注,讀者勿泥於字之有無。
素問·鍼解 Read in context →
補冩之時者,與氣開闔相合也。 补写之时者,与气开阖相合也。
Bǔ xiè zhī shí zhě, yǔ qì kāi hé xiāng hé yě.
The timing of supplementing and draining — it is matching the opening and closing of the qi.
「「補」讀 bǔ「冩」讀 xiè之時者,與氣開闔相合也」——本篇底本作「補冩」,「冩」為「寫/瀉」之異體,讀 xiè;第二十六篇「余聞補冩」「冩必用方」已挂本目,同一語例;「補冩」本篇二見:「補冩之時者,與氣開闔相合也」——言其時;「九鍼之名,各不同形者,鍼窮其所當補冩也」——言其用;「時」讀 shí、「之時」讀 shí;「闔」讀 hé、「開闔」之闔讀 hé,本篇1見;本篇之補瀉不論藥味而論鍼下之氣,與第二十二篇「辛補之,酸寫之」之例相發

Compounds built on this term

補
bǔ
to supplement
說文:完衣也;補其不足之謂
冩(寫)
xiè
to drain
本篇二形並見,通「瀉」,見本篇校勘
補寫
bǔ xiè
supplementing and draining
本篇用字作補寫、補冩
徐補
xú bǔ
gradual supplementing
後世補法之一端,本篇未及
以平爲期
yǐ píng wéi qī
taking balance as the aim
第二十篇:無問其病,以平爲期

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fengsupplementing and drainingThey keep one pair of words for 補瀉 everywhere, which has the virtue of always meaning the same thing.
Unschuldto supplement and to drainHe uses the verbs, and lets the objects show what is supplemented.
This sitesupplementing and draining補 is mending cloth, not pouring in, and 瀉 is opening a sluice, not attacking. 'Tonify' and 'purge' would make the chapter sound like a battle, when it is describing which way a lever moves.

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2026-09

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