五并

wǔ bìng

The five convergences · wu bing

Also rendered: the five convergences (Says they flow together at a place) · the five gatherings (Plainer, loses the direction) · the five mergers (Suggests the two become one, which they do not) · wu bing (Bare transliteration)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: wǔ bìng
Simplified: 五并
Literal: 并 is drawn as two men standing together — 《說文》 glosses it 相從也, following along with — and must not be confused with 並, which is side by side. The chapter writes 并 eight times and never 並, and the difference matters: these are not two things placed next to each other but several things arriving at one place.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：并，相從也。从从幵聲（段注：相從，相合也；與「並」之並列者異字，見本篇校勘）。

In brief

The chapter explains its own term in the last four characters: a viscus is depleted, and the others gather into the empty place. Essence qi gathering in the heart gives unstoppable joy; in the lung, grief; in the liver, anxiety; in the spleen, fearfulness; in the kidney, terror. This is not possession but crowding — the sound organ’s qi has somewhere to be, the depleted one’s has none, so everything flows into it, and the patient’s mood is decided by which organ is being crowded. It is one of the few places in the book where a state of mind is given a purely mechanical cause.

Senses in the classical corpus

Gathering in the heart 精氣并於心，則喜

心虛而他氣并之，故喜不自禁

精氣并於心，則喜 — Suwen 23

Gathering in the lung 并於肺，則悲

悲者肺之志，氣并于肺則悲甚

并於肺，則悲 — Suwen 23

The mechanism, stated by the chapter 虚而相并者也

本臟先虛，而後他臟之氣相并就之

是謂五并，虚而相并者也 — Suwen 23

Grief and anxiety assigned variously 并於肝，則憂

悲憂二字，《甲乙》《太素》互易

并於肝，則憂 — Suwen 23

Depletion as the prior condition 虚

第十九篇「五實五虚」之論虛者與此相發

五實五虚 — Suwen 19

Occurrences in the classics

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

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1 passages

素問·宣明五氣 Suwen 23 · 宣明五氣 Read in context →

五精所并：精氣并於心，則喜，并於肺，則悲，并於肝，則憂，并於脾則畏，并於腎，則恐，是謂五并，虚而相并者也。五精所并：精气并于心，则喜，并于肺，则悲，并于肝，则忧，并于脾则畏，并于肾，则恐，是谓五并，虚而相并者也。

Wǔ jīng suǒ bìng: jīng qì bìng yú xīn, zé xǐ, bìng yú fèi, zé bēi, bìng yú gān, zé yōu, bìng yú pí zé wèi, bìng yú shèn, zé kǒng, shì wèi wǔ bìng, xū ér xiāng bìng zhě yě.

Where the five essences gather: when essence qi gathers in the heart there is joy; in the lung, grief; in the liver, anxiety; in the spleen, fearfulness; in the kidney, terror. This is called the five convergences, and it happens because one viscus has been depleted and the others gather into the empty place.

本篇「五并」一條，自釋之語最要：「虚而相并者也」——本臟先虛，他臟之精氣乃相并就之，故所現之喜、悲、憂、畏、恐，皆非本臟之志過極，而是他臟之氣乘虛而聚。讀此條當與第十九篇「五實五虚」對看：彼論虛實之形，此論虛之所以招并。又「悲」「憂」二字，《甲乙》《太素》與本篇互易（作「并於肺則憂，并於肝則悲」），本篇各從底本，而以校勘存其異同。「并」讀 bìng，與「並」之並列義異字，本篇八見皆此讀。

Compounds built on this term

并

bìng

to gather into

說文：相從也；與「並」異字

五并

wǔ bìng

the five convergences

本篇第三條之目

精氣

jīng qì

essence qi

本篇「五精所并」之所并者

虚

xū

depleted

本篇作「虚」，不作「虛」，見本篇校勘

相并

xiāng bìng

gathering into one another

本篇末句：虚而相并者也

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	the five [qi] merging	They render 并 by a verb of joining and keep the mechanism in the clause around it.
Unschuld	the five [kinds of] union	He keeps the noun abstract, since what is being stated is the mechanism rather than the event.
This site	the five convergences	并 is two men coming together, and the chapter's point is that the depleted organ stays the reason for it. 'Merging' would lose the emptiness that does the attracting.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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