Guanyuan · the gate of the origin

At a glance

Pinyin

guān yuán

Simplified

关元

Literal

關元 guān yuán — the gate of the origin. A point on the lower abdomen, and the first named point in this chapter: 衝脉起於關元，隨腹直上, the surge vessel rises from Guanyuan and goes straight up the abdomen. Chapter 39 names it for one reason only — it needs an address for the pain that can be felt beating under the hand. Cold lodges in the surge vessel, the vessel stops, the qi follows, and therefore 喘動應手 the throbbing answers the hand. Every other site in the chapter is described by what it is — outside the vessel, between the stomach and the intestines, along the spine — and this one is simply named, because by the time the Suwen was written the point already had a name. Later acupuncture numbers it the fourth point of the conception vessel; the chapter itself says only where it is and what rises from it.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：關，以木橫持門戶也——**本義為門閂、為關鍵**；**元，始也**——**本義為首，引申為始、為本**。「關」讀 guān、**「元」讀 yuán，**二字本篇各1見、1見**，**「關元」1見**——**本篇穴名惟此一見，為本站首見之穴名**。**「關元」之名，後世以為任脉第四穴（CV 4）**，**本篇但言「衝脉起於關元，隨腹直上」，不言其所屬之脉**——**後世之說可以明其地，不可以改其文**。**本站「太衝脈」（#158）見於第一篇「太衝脈盛，月事以時下」，**即此「衝脉」，惟彼作「脈」（「脈」）而此从底本作「脉」（「脉」）**——**同脉而二形，本站各从底本，不為統改**。