The chisel needle · chan zhen

At a glance

Pinyin

chán zhēn

Simplified

镵针

Literal

鑱鍼 chán zhēn — one of the nine needles. 鑱 is a chisel, a tool for cutting into stone; the needle of that name has a head that is broad and slightly rounded, made for breaking into something hard rather than for slipping between things. It is the right tool for the marrow-adhering disease, where the evil has gone deep into the bone, and the chapter's choice of it is deliberate: this is the one case in the chapter that the ordinary needle will not answer. Note that in 以鑱鍼鍼絶骨 the word 鍼 appears twice — once as the instrument and once as the verb 'to needle'.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：鑱，銳也；鍼，所以縫也——**鑱為銳器，鍼本縫衣之具，醫書借為刺病之器**。「鑱」讀 chán，本篇1見；「鍼」讀 zhēn，本篇4見，**不作「針」（「針」）、不作「针」（「针」）**；本站第十四篇已立「鍼石」之目（id 504），第四十七篇之外又有「九鍼」之目（id 456），**「鑱鍼」即九鍼之一，與此二條互注**。**「以鑱鍼鍼絶骨」六字中，前一「鍼」字是名詞，後一是動詞**——**同字而一名一動，是《素問》屬辭之常**，與第三十五篇「無剌熇熇之熱」之「剌」為動詞者同例。「以」讀 yǐ；「絶」讀 jué；「骨」讀 gǔ。**九鍼之名，見於《靈樞》**：**鑱鍼者，頭大末銳，主瀉陽氣**——**本篇用之以治胕髓病，正取其瀉**。