Classica Sinica Medica

大絡 简体 大络

dà luò

Great network vessels · da luo

Also rendered: Great network vessels (this site; literal from the two graphs, and it keeps 絡 as the branching side of the channel rather than a vessel in its own right) · The great luo vessels (how the word is usually left in English writing on the Suwen, transliterated because nothing in English distinguishes a network from a vessel)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-05

At a glance

Pinyin
dà luò
Simplified
大络
Literal
大 dà — great, what is on the larger scale; 絡 luò — a net, and in the body the vessels that branch off the channels rather than running alongside them. The chapter names it twice, and the two sentences are the ones the whole argument rests on. First, where the evil goes when it cannot get in: 今邪客於皮毛，入舍於孫絡，留而不去，閉塞不通，不得入於經，流溢於大絡，而生奇病也 — the network is blocked, the channel will not take it, and so it overflows into the great network vessel and makes a disease with no proper name. Then, what the great network vessel does that nothing else in the body does: 夫邪客大絡者，左注右，右注左，上下左右，與經相干，而布於四末 — it pours from the left into the right and from the right into the left, runs up and down and to either side, meets the channels, and spreads out to the four extremities. That crossing is the reason this chapter has a method at all. If the evil stayed on the side it entered, puncturing the opposite side would be nonsense; because the great network vessel carries it across, 其氣無常處，不入於經俞，命曰繆刺 — the qi has no fixed place, it does not enter the transport points of the channels, and that is what the crossing puncture is for.
Shuowen
**「大」讀 dà，本篇8見**；**「絡」讀 luò，本篇23見**；**「大絡」本篇2見：「流溢於大絡」一見、「邪客大絡者」一見**；**本篇之絡凡三層：「孫絡」1見、「絡脉」2見、「大絡」2見——孫絡最細，絡脉次之，大絡為絡之大者**；**「經」讀 jīng，本篇13見；本篇之要全在經絡二層：邪不得入於經，故溢於大絡**；**「注」讀 zhù，灌注也；「左注右，右注左」——大絡橫貫左右，故邪客於此者病見於對側**；**「干」讀 gān，犯也；「與經相干」謂與經相犯**；**「四末」讀 sì mò，本篇1見；末者，四肢之端**；**「奇病」讀 qí bìng，本篇1見；奇者，不循常經之病**；**「閉塞」讀 bì sè、「不通」讀 bù tōng**；**「脉」讀 mài，本篇从「脉」，不从「脈」，本篇無「脈」字**

In brief

The great network vessels — 大 dà, great; 絡 luò, a net — and this chapter names them twice, in the two sentences its whole argument depends on. The first says where an evil goes when it cannot get in: 不得入於經，流溢於大絡，而生奇病也 — the fine network is blocked, the channel will not take it, and it overflows into the great network vessel. The second says what that vessel does: 夫邪客大絡者，左注右，右注左，上下左右，與經相干，而布於四末 — it pours left into right and right into left. That crossing is why the chapter has a method; an evil that stayed where it entered could not be treated from the far side, and the chapter says as much in the line that names its method: 其氣無常處，不入於經俞，命曰繆刺. The word is not the channel and not the fine network; it is the largest of the connecting vessels, the one big enough to cross the body’s midline. It has not appeared in any chapter transcribed on this site before.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 大絡
大者，大也；絡者，網也，經之別出而橫行者
不得入於經，流溢於大絡，而生奇病也。 — Suwen 63
2
Where the evil goes when the channel will not take it 流溢於大絡
邪客皮毛、入舍孫絡而閉塞不通，不得入於經，乃流溢於大絡而生奇病
不得入於經，流溢於大絡，而生奇病也。 — Suwen 63
3
What it does that no channel does 左注右，右注左
大絡橫貫左右，故邪客於此者左注於右、右注於左，病乃見於對側
夫邪客大絡者，左注右，右注左 — Suwen 63
4
How far it reaches 與經相干，而布於四末
上下左右皆與經相犯，而其氣布於手足之端
上下左右，與經相干，而布於四末。 — Suwen 63
5
Why it matters to method 命曰繆刺
邪在大絡則其氣無常處而不入於經俞，故左病取右、右病取左，繆刺之法由此而立
夫邪客大絡者，左注右，右注左 — Suwen 63
6
The graph this base text uses 絡
本篇「絡」23見，皆作「絡」；「脉」18見，从「脉」而不从「脈」
入舍於孫絡，留而不去，閉塞不通 — Suwen 63

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
Suwen 63 Suwen 63 · 繆刺論 Read in context →
今邪客於皮毛，入舍於孫絡，留而不去，閉塞不通，不得入於經，流溢於大絡，而生奇病也。夫邪客大絡者，左注右，右注左，上下左右，與經相干，而布於四末。 今邪客于皮毛，入舍于孙络，留而不去，闭塞不通，不得入于经，流溢于大络，而生奇病也。夫邪客大络者，左注右，右注左，上下左右，与经相干，而布于四末。
Jīn xié kè yú pí máo, rù shè yú sūn luò, liú ér bù qù, bì sè bù tōng, bù dé rù yú jīng, liú yì yú dà luò, ér shēng qí bìng yě. Fú xié kè dà luò zhě, zuǒ zhù yòu, yòu zhù zuǒ, shàng xià zuǒ yòu, yǔ jīng xiāng gān, ér bù yú sì mò.
But here the evil lodges in the skin and the hair and settles in the grandchild network. It stays and does not leave, the network is blocked and will not open, the evil cannot get into the channels, and it floods into the great network, which gives rise to an unusual disease. When evil lodges in the great network, the left pours into the right and the right pours into the left. Above and below, left and right, it interferes with the channels and spreads out to the four extremities.
**「大絡」本篇2見，皆在繆刺所由生之處**：**「不得入於經，流溢於大絡，而生奇病也」一見——邪不得入經，故溢於大絡**；**「夫邪客大絡者，左注右，右注左，上下左右，與經相干，而布於四末」一見——大絡橫貫左右，故病見於對側，此繆刺之法所由立**；**本篇之絡凡三層：孫絡1見、絡脉2見、大絡2見**；**「大」讀 dà、「絡」讀 luò、「經」讀 jīng**；**「注」讀 zhù，灌注也；「四末」讀 sì mò；「奇病」讀 qí bìng**；**「脉」讀 mài，底本从「脉」，不从「脈」，本篇無「脈」字**

Compounds built on this term

孫絡
sūn luò
the grandchild network
入舍於孫絡，留而不去，閉塞不通；本篇1見，絡之最細者
絡脉
luò mài
the network vessel
本篇2見；巨刺中其經而非絡脉，繆刺則刺其絡
奇病
qí bìng
a strange disease
流溢於大絡而生奇病也；奇者，不循常經之病，故不可經刺
四末
sì mò
the four extremities
而布於四末；末者四肢之端，本篇1見

How it has been translated

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

This sitegreat network vesselsliteral from the graphs — 大 great, 絡 a net — and kept distinct from 經 and from 絡脉, because this chapter runs on exactly that difference: the evil overflows into the great network when the channel refuses it, and the great network is what carries it to the far side
Later usagethe great luothe form acupuncture writing uses, with 絡 transliterated; faithful, and it hides the picture of a net that the name carries
Clinicalthe major collateralthe modern anatomical term, which is right about the anatomy and says nothing about why this chapter cares — that it crosses the midline, and so makes needling the opposite side sensible

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-05

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Reading path

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