Classica Sinica Medica

發矇 简体 发蒙

fā méng

Opening the blind · fa meng

Also rendered: Opening the film (exact, and it loses the ear) · Dispelling the mist (evocative, and it is a guess) · Opening the blind (keeps the paradox: the ear, not the eye)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-25

At a glance

Pinyin
fā méng
Simplified
发蒙
Literal
發 fā — to open out, to set going; 矇 méng — the film over an eye, and by extension any orifice that is stopped up. Together: a needling method that opens what is closed, here the ear.
Shuowen
《說文》：矇，童矇也，一曰不明也。从目蒙聲。發矇謂開其蒙蔽，使之復明復聽。

In brief

A named needling method, listed under the prohibitions: on a 甲乙 day one may not needle the head, nor 發矇 in the ear. The name says what it does — it opens a film, and what it opens here is the ear, later comment identifying the points inside the auditory meatus. Two things follow. First, early needling had methods named for their effect rather than their site. Second, even a good method has days on which it must not be used.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The method 無發矇于耳内
不可在耳內發矇
Do not open the blind within the ear — a named method.
無發矇于耳内 — 靈樞·五禁
2
Its day 甲乙日自乘
甲乙日自乘其氣
On a 甲乙 day, when that stem rules in its own right.
甲乙日自乘 — 靈樞·五禁
3
What it opens 耳内
耳中
The ear is the orifice in question, not the eye the graph first suggests.
耳内 — 靈樞·五禁
4
Its companion 無振埃于肩喉廉泉
不可在肩喉廉泉振埃
Paired in the next line with 振埃, another method named for its manner.
無振埃于肩喉廉泉 — 靈樞·五禁

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
靈樞·五禁 Read in context →
歧伯曰：甲乙日自乘，無刺頭，無發矇于耳内。 歧伯曰：甲乙日自乘，无刺头，无发蒙于耳内。
Qí Bó yuē: jiǎ yǐ rì zì chéng, wú cì tóu, wú fā méng yú ěr nèi.
Qi Bo said: On the jia and yi days, when the stems stand on their own, do not needle the head, and do not open the ear within by the method of releasing the blind.
「發矇」本篇1見，在甲乙禁日之下，與振埃、去爪並列，三皆刺法之名，以手法之象命名，非穴名。
靈樞·刺節真邪 Read in context →
歧伯曰：振埃者，刺外經，去陽病也。發矇者，刺府輸，去府病也。去爪者，刺關節肢絡也。徹衣者，盡刺諸陽之奇輸也。解惑者，盡知調陰陽，補寫有餘不足，相傾移也。 歧伯曰：振埃者，刺外经，去阳病也。发蒙者，刺府输，去府病也。去爪者，刺关节肢络也。彻衣者，尽刺诸阳之奇输也。解惑者，尽知调阴阳，补写有余不足，相倾移也。
Qí Bó yuē: zhèn āi zhě, cì wài jīng, qù yáng bìng yě. fā méng zhě, cì fǔ shū, qù fǔ bìng yě. qù zhǎo zhě, cì guān jié zhī luò yě. chè yī zhě, jìn cì zhū yáng zhī qí shū yě. jiě huò zhě, jìn zhī tiáo yīn yáng, bǔ xiè yǒu yú bù zú, xiāng qīng yí yě.
Qi Bo said: Shaking off the dust is needling the outer channels to remove yang disease; opening the blind is needling the transport of the bowels to remove bowel disease; removing the claw is needling the joints and the network vessels of the limbs; piercing the garment is needling all the anomalous transports of the yang; dissolving bewilderment is knowing how to tune yin and yang and to tonify and drain excess and insufficiency, so that they lean from one to the other.
「發矇」刺節真邪第4段見，義與本條相合，引全段為證。

Compounds built on this term

發
fā
to open out
開也
矇
méng
a film over the eye
目不明也

How it has been translated

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

This siteopening the blindthe method's own image
Literalsetting loose the dim-sightedexact, and misleading here
Clinicalneedling the ear to restore hearingclear, and interpretive

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-25

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Reading path

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