五法

wǔ fǎ

The five laws · wu fa

Also rendered: the five laws (Keeps 法 as a binding standard rather than a technique) · the five methods (Plainer; loses the sense that these bind the practitioner)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: wǔ fǎ
Simplified: 五法
Literal: 五 is five and 法 is 灋 in the old script — 說文 explains it as a form of punishment, with 廌 the unicorn that gored the guilty party in judgement, and 去 for sending him away; the sense of a standard or method grows out of a rule that is enforced. Chapter 25 uses it for the five things a physician must have before he touches a needle, and the first of them is not a technique. The chapter also insists that the five are established together and yet each has what comes before it: a set, and an order within the set.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：灋，刑也。平之如水，从水；廌，所以觸不直者去之，从去。引申為法度、法式。本篇之目：故鍼有懸布天下者五……五法俱立。各有所先。

In brief

The five requirements chapter 25 sets for anyone who would use a needle: govern the spirit, know how to nourish the body, know true drugs from false, regulate the size of the stone, and know the examination of depots, viscera, blood and qi. Three of the five are not about needling at all, which is the surprise the chapter is built around. It adds that the five are established together and each has its own priority — so the list is not a checklist but an order of dependence, with the governance of the spirit at the top of it.

Senses in the classical corpus

The five, and the claim that they are public 懸布天下者五

懸而公示，非祕傳

故鍼有懸布天下者五 — Suwen 25

First: the spirit 一曰治神

五法之首，不在鍼

一曰治神 — Suwen 25

Second and third: body and drugs 知養身、知毒藥爲真

一養其身，一辨其藥

二曰知養身，三曰知毒藥爲真 — Suwen 25

Fourth and fifth: instrument and examination 制砭石小大、知府藏血氣之診

一制其器，一診其藏

四曰制砭石小大，五曰知府藏血氣之診 — Suwen 25

Established together 五法俱立

俱立謂並立，缺一不可

五法俱立 — Suwen 25

Yet each has its priority 各有所先

雖俱立，而施行有先後

各有所先 — Suwen 25

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·寶命全形論 Suwen 25 · 寶命全形論 Read in context →

故鍼有懸布天下者五，黔首共餘食，莫知之也。一曰治神，二曰知養身，三曰知毒藥爲真，四曰制砭石小大，五曰知府藏血氣之診。五法俱立。各有所先。故针有悬布天下者五，黔首共余食，莫知之也。一曰治神，二曰知养身，三曰知毒药为真，四曰制砭石小大，五曰知府藏血气之诊。五法俱立。各有所先。

Gù zhēn yǒu xuán bù tiān xià zhě wǔ, qián shǒu gòng yú shí, mò zhī zhī yě.Yī yuē zhì shén, èr yuē zhī yǎng shēn, sān yuē zhī dú yào wéi zhēn, sì yuē zhì biān shí xiǎo dà, wǔ yuē zhī fǔ zàng xuè qì zhī zhěn. Wǔ fǎ jù lì. Gè yǒu suǒ xiān.

Therefore there are five things about the needle that hang proclaimed beneath heaven, and yet the black-haired people share their leftover food and none of them know them. First, to govern the spirit. Second, to know how to nourish the body. Third, to know the true from the false among potent drugs. Fourth, to regulate the size of the stone needle. Fifth, to know the examination of the depots, the viscera, the blood and the qi. The five methods are established all together, and each has what comes before it.

「故鍼有懸布天下者五，黔首共餘食，莫知之也」——五法不是祕傳，是懸之於天下而公示者；百姓「共餘食」而不知，是本篇最冷的一句话。五法之目：一曰治神，二曰知養身，三曰知毒藥爲真，四曰制砭石小大，五曰知府藏血氣之診。五者之中，惟四、五兩條是針石之事，其餘三條皆在針外——這正是本篇立言之處。「五法俱立。各有所先」：俱立者並立而不可缺，有所先者施行有先後；故下文「凡剌之真，必先治神」即以治神為先。「黔」讀 qián；「餘」讀 yú；「診」讀 zhěn；「藏」讀 zàng；「真」讀 zhēn，謂辨藥之真偽。

Compounds built on this term

五法

wǔ fǎ

the five laws

用鍼者所必備之五事

懸布

xuán bù

hanging proclaimed

「鍼有懸布天下者五」，謂公示而非祕傳

治神

zhì shén

governing the spirit

五法之首，說見本站該條

砭石

biān shí

the stone needle

本站第十二篇已立目（id 453）

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 [requirements]	They supply 'requirements', which captures the binding sense but is a supplied noun.
Unschuld	the five laws	He keeps 法 as law, which sits oddly beside a list that is mostly practical knowledge.
This site	the five laws	法 in this chapter is what a practitioner is held to, and the chapter's own phrase 各有所先 says they are not equal items. 'Laws' carries the obligation; 'methods' would make the list sound optional.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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