Classica Sinica Medica

灸刺

jiǔ cì

Cautery and puncture · jiu ci

Also rendered: cautery and puncture (Keeps both methods as verbs of doing) · moxibustion and needling (The modern clinical names) · burning and piercing (Closer to what the graphs say) · jiu ci (Bare transliteration)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
jiǔ cì
Simplified
灸刺
Literal
灸 is burning, and the graph carries the phonetic for long — a burn applied and held; 說文 glosses it simply as scorching. 刺 is a straight wound — 說文 glosses it as inflicting directly — and it is the ordinary word for needling throughout the Suwen. The base text writes 剌, and that graph is a different word: 說文 glosses 剌 as 戾, perverse, and it is read là. The two graphs differ by a stroke and copyists have confused them since the Han; the reading here is cì throughout, as the chapter's six needling rules at the end make unavoidable.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：灸，灼也。从火久聲；刺，直傷也。从刀从朿。剌，戾也。从刀从束，束亦聲（讀 là）——二字形近，本篇底本八見皆作「剌」，當讀 cì。本篇之目：治之以灸剌；是謂五藏之俞，灸剌之度也。

In brief

The pair of external methods the Suwen sets against drugs: burning moxa and needling. Chapter 24 reaches for it twice — once as the treatment for disease of the vessels, and once as what the back transport points are measured for. The graph the base text writes deserves a note of its own: 剌 with the phonetic 束 is a separate word meaning perverse, and it stands here for 刺, to pierce. Every one of the chapter’s eight occurrences is to be read cì, and the closing six-channel rules settle it — they are rules about letting blood, and 剌 là would make nonsense of them.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The treatment for disease of the vessels 治之以灸剌
形樂志苦者病生於脉，故治以灸刺
形樂志苦，病生於脉，治之以灸剌 — Suwen 24
2
What the back points are measured for 灸剌之度也
五俞既定，即為灸刺取穴之法度
是謂五藏之俞，灸剌之度也 — Suwen 24
3
A graphic trap 剌
底本作剌（là），刺（cì）之形近字；本篇八見皆讀 cì
治之以灸剌 — Suwen 24
4
The same confusion elsewhere 繆剌
本站第十四篇底本亦作剌，已立「繆刺」目
温衣繆剌其處 — Suwen 14
5
One method among several 治之以鍼石
本篇分肉、筋、咽嗌、不仁而異其治
形樂志樂，病生於肉，治之以鍼石 — Suwen 24

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
4 passages
素問·血氣形志 Suwen 24 · 血氣形志 Read in context →
形樂志苦，病生於脉，治之以灸剌。 形乐志苦，病生于脉，治之以灸刺。
Xíng lè zhì kǔ, bìng shēng yú mài, zhì zhī yǐ jiǔ cì.
Form at ease and will embittered: the disease arises in the vessels; treat it with cautery and puncture.
本篇「灸剌」二見：一為形樂志苦、病生於脉之治法，一為篇末「是謂五藏之俞，灸剌之度也」。底本作「剌」，讀 là，《說文》訓「戾也」；「刺」讀 cì，《說文》訓「直傷也」——二字只差一筆，自漢以來傳寫相亂。本篇「剌」八見，皆當讀 cì：篇末六條刺法全是出血、出氣之事，若讀 là 則不可通。第十四篇「温衣繆剌其處」之剌同此例，本站已從通行本立「繆刺」目（id 509），本條亦然，詞頭從通行本作「灸刺」而存底本之形於此。「灸」讀 jiǔ，灼艾也；本站第十二篇「灸爇」條（id 455）可參。
素問·通評虚實論 Suwen 28 · 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.
「灸陰剌陽」「剌陰灸陽」二句，是本站此條「灸刺」之目最整齊之一例：灸與刺對舉，各有其位（陰陽）、各有其用（補瀉）。**「剌」讀 cì，本篇十二見**，皆「刺」之形近字，底本無一處作「刺」，故本站此條之「刺」字於本篇皆作「剌」；「灸」讀 jiǔ。本篇下文刺法諸節（癰疽、掖癰、暴癰、霍亂、癇驚）則專言刺而不言灸，蓋彼皆實證急證，宜瀉不宜補。
素問·剌熱 Suwen 32 · 剌熱 Read in context →
病甚者爲五十九剌。 病甚者为五十九刺。
Bìng shèn zhě wéi wǔ shí jiǔ cì.
In cases that are severe, use the fifty-nine needlings.
「灸刺」之目於本站已立（id 768），本篇不見「灸」而專言「剌」，是灸刺二法中之刺法一端：「病甚者爲五十九剌」——「病」讀 bìng；「甚」讀 shèn，本篇七見；「者」讀 zhě；**「爲」讀 wéi，本篇五見，底本不作「為」**；「五」讀 wǔ；「十」讀 shí；「九」讀 jiǔ，本篇二見；**「剌」讀 cì，本篇十七見，無一作「刺」**。**「五十九剌」者，五十九穴之刺也**，目見《素問》第六十一水熱穴論及《靈樞·熱病》，本篇但舉其數而不列其穴；**本篇二見皆綴於「病甚」之後**，一作「病甚者爲五十九剌」，一作「病甚爲五十九剌」，文異而義同——**是五十九剌為熱病之重劑，非甚者不用**，與本站「灸刺」條所收第二十四篇「灸刺之度」之為常法者輕重有別。
素問·奇病論 Suwen 47 · 奇病論 Read in context →
帝曰：病脅下滿，氣逆，二三歲不已，是爲何病？歧伯曰：病名曰息積。此不妨於食，不可灸刺，積爲導引服藥，藥不能獨治也。 帝曰：病胁下满，气逆，二三岁不已，是为何病？歧伯曰：病名曰息积。此不妨于食，不可灸刺，积为导引服药，药不能独治也。
Dì yuē: bìng xié xià mǎn, qì nì, èr sān suì bù yǐ, shì wéi hé bìng? Qí bó yuē: bìng míng yuē xī jī. Cǐ bù fáng yú shí, bù kě jiǔ cì, jī wéi dǎo yǐn fú yào, yào bù néng dú zhì yě.
The Emperor asks: an illness of fullness below the ribs, with counterflowing qi, that has not let up for two or three years — what illness is this? Qi Bo answers: the illness is named breath accumulation. It does not interfere with eating. It must not be cauterised or needled; for accumulation one uses guiding-and-pulling and takes medicines, for medicine alone cannot cure it.
「此不妨於食，不可「灸」讀 jiǔ「刺」讀 cì」——**本篇「灸刺」1見**；**灸讀 jiǔ、刺讀 cì，此二字連言，為外治之總名**；**息積之病，食不妨而灸刺不可，唯宜導引服藥，故下文云「積爲導引服藥，藥不能獨治也」**；「妨」讀 fáng，**妨讀 fáng**。

Compounds built on this term

灸
jiǔ
cautery
灼艾之法
刺
cì
to puncture
說文：直傷也
剌
là
perverse
底本所寫之字，與刺形近而音義並別
灸爇
jiǔ ruò
cautery
本站第十二篇已立目（id 455）
繆刺
miù cì
contralateral puncture
本站第十四篇已立目（id 509）

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng[moxibustion and] needlingThey give the modern pair and drop 灸's literal sense of burning.
Unschuldcauterization and piercingHe keeps both as actions, which is closer to how the graphs read in Han Chinese.
This sitecautery and puncture灸 is a burn and 刺 is a straight wound, and the chapter is listing two things you do to a body, not two specialties. 'Moxibustion and needling' names the descendants of these methods rather than the methods themselves.

Entry status

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2026-09

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Reading path

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