Classica Sinica Medica

上行極而下 简体 上行极而下

shàng xíng jí ér xià

Rising to the extreme and then descending · shang xing ji er xia

Also rendered: rising to the extreme and then descending (Full rendering, keeps 極 as extreme) · ascending to the limit before descending (Slightly smoother; less literal on 極)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
shàng xíng jí ér xià
Simplified
上行极而下
Literal
上 is up, 行 is to travel, 極 is the extreme — the ridge-pole, the point beyond which there is nothing more — 而 is and then, 下 is down. The phrase describes a movement that exhausts one direction before it reverses, and chapter 29 states it twice, once for yang disease and once for yin, in opposite directions. Yang disease travels up to its extreme and then down; yin disease travels down to its extreme and then up. The chapter has just given the anatomy that makes this intelligible — yin qi rises from the foot to the head and descends by the arm, yang qi rises from the hand to the head and descends to the foot — so the statement is not mysticism but a description of what a channel does when it has nowhere further to go.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：極，棟也，从木亟聲，引申為至盡、窮極之義。「上」讀 shàng，本篇五見；「行」讀 xíng，本篇六見；**「極」讀 jí，本篇二見，底本作「極」，不作「极」**；「而」讀 ér；「下」讀 xià，本篇六見；「陰」讀 yīn；「陽」讀 yáng；「病」讀 bìng；「者」讀 zhě。

In brief

The rule chapter 29 gives for how a disease travels along its channel: it goes one way until it can go no further, and then it reverses. Yang disease rises to the extreme and then descends; yin disease descends to the extreme and then rises. The chapter has prepared the reader for this by describing the two circuits — yin qi up from the foot to the head and down the arm to the fingertips, yang qi up from the hand to the head and down to the foot — so the statement is a consequence of anatomy rather than an oracle. It also explains the line that follows it: wind, being yang, strikes above first; damp, being yin, strikes below first.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The yang rule 陽病者，上行極而下
陽病先上行，至其極而後下行
故曰：陽病者，上行極而下 — Suwen 29
2
The yin rule 陰病者，下行極而上
陰病先下行，至其極而後上行
陰病者，下行極而上 — Suwen 29
3
The circuit behind it (yin) 陰氣從足上行至頭，而下行循臂至指端
陰氣自下而上，復自上而下
故陰氣從足上行至頭，而下行循臂至指端 — Suwen 29
4
The circuit behind it (yang) 陽氣從手上行至頭，而下行至足
陽氣自上而下
陽氣從手上行至頭，而下行至足 — Suwen 29
5
What it explains 傷於風者，上先受之
陽病先見於上，故風先傷上
故傷於風者，上先受之 — Suwen 29
6
And its counterpart 傷於濕者，下先受之
陰病先見於下，故濕先傷下
傷於濕者，下先受之 — Suwen 29

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·太陰陽明論 Suwen 29 · 太陰陽明論 Read in context →
故曰：陽病者，上行極而下；陰病者，下行極而上。 故曰：阳病者，上行极而下；阴病者，下行极而上。
Gù yuē: yáng bìng zhě, shàng xíng jí ér xià; yīn bìng zhě, xià xíng jí ér shàng.
Hence it is said: in yang disease, the evil travels upward to its extreme and then downward; in yin disease, it travels downward to its extreme and then upward.
此二句是本篇以陰陽之性推病勢傳變之例。「故」讀 gù；「曰」讀 yuē；「陽」讀 yáng；「病」讀 bìng；「者」讀 zhě；「上」讀 shàng；「行」讀 xíng；**「極」讀 jí，盡也、至盡頭也**，底本作「極」，不作「极」；「而」讀 ér；「下」讀 xià；「陰」讀 yīn。**「上行極而下」謂陽病先循陽經上行，至其極處而後下行**——陽氣本上行，故病之始多見於上（頭面），及上行至極無可再上，乃反下行而見於下；「下行極而上」則反是：陰氣本下行，故陰病先循陰經下行，至其極處而後上行。二句合觀，與上文「故陰氣從足上行至頭，而下行循臂至指端；陽氣從手上行至頭，而下行至足」二句互明——先陳十二經循行之序，再陳病勢傳變之則，與《靈樞·經脈》可互參。下文「傷於風者，上先受之；傷於濕者，下先受之」即此二句之實註。

Compounds built on this term

上行極而下
shàng xíng jí ér xià
rising to the extreme and then descending
本篇一見，陽病之勢
下行極而上
xià xíng jí ér shàng
descending to the extreme and then rising
本篇一見，陰病之勢
上行
shàng xíng
travelling upward
本篇二見
下行
xià xíng
travelling downward
本篇二見

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng(rendered descriptively)They render the clause as 'yang diseases… ascend and then descend', without giving 極 a noun of its own.
Unschuld(rendered descriptively)Unschuld likewise expands the clause, treating it as a statement about direction rather than a named rule.
This siterising to the extreme and then descendingWe keep 極 as the extreme: the whole point of the sentence is that the movement has a limit and turns at it. A rendering that says only 'up and then down' loses the ridge-pole sense — the point beyond which there is nothing further — that makes the reversal necessary rather than arbitrary.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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