Root and knot · gen jie

Also rendered: Root and knot (literal, and both images survive) · Root and tie (exact to 結, and it is not idiomatic)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-24

At a glance

Pinyin: gēn jié
Simplified: 根结
Literal: 根 gēn — the root, where a plant takes hold; 結 jié — to tie, to knot, the place a cord is made fast. A channel roots at its extremity and is knotted at the head or trunk.
Shuowen: 《說文》：根，木株也；結，締也。「根結」本篇1見，一在「不知根結」，一在篇題。「根」字13見、「結」字9見，十二經各一，文句一律。

In brief

The pair that gives the chapter its name and its method. A channel has a root at its extremity — Zhiyin for taiyang, Lidui for yangming, Qiaoyin for shaoyang, and the well points of the three yin — and a knot where its qi gathers: the eye, the nape, the ear, the throat, the chest. The opening paragraph says what is at stake in losing them: 不知根結，五藏六府，折關敗樞，開闔而走，陰陽大失，不可復取. The doctrine is not the five transports of Chapter Two, though it uses the same verbs: the transports describe a limb, root and knot describe a whole channel from its tip to its destination. The chapter then lists all twelve channels’ root, flow, pour and entry, and closes the first movement with 此所謂十二經者，盛絡皆當取之.

Senses in the classical corpus

The pair 不知根結

根在四末，結在頭項

Root at the extremities, knot at the head and neck.

不知根結，五藏六府，折關敗樞 — 靈樞·根結

The consequence 折關敗樞

失其根結則關樞壞

Lose them and the passes and pivots fail.

折關敗樞，開闔而走 — 靈樞·根結

Where the remedy lies 九鍼之玄，要在終始

知終始則一言而畢

The mystery of the nine needles lies in beginning and end.

九鍼之玄，要在終始 — 靈樞·根結

Occurrences in the classics

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

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1 passages

靈樞·根結 Read in context →

歧伯曰：天地相感，寒暖相移，陰陽之道，孰少孰多？陰道偶，陽道奇。發于春夏，陰氣少，陽氣多，陰陽不調，何補何寫？發于秋冬，陽氣少，陰氣多，陰氣盛而陽氣衰，故莖葉枯槁，濕雨下歸，陰陽相移，何寫何補？奇邪離經，不可勝數，不知根結，五藏六府，折關敗樞，開闔而走，陰陽大失，不可復取。九鍼之玄，要在終始，故能知終始，一言而畢；不知終始，鍼道咸絶。歧伯曰：天地相感，寒暖相移，阴阳之道，孰少孰多？阴道偶，阳道奇。发于春夏，阴气少，阳气多，阴阳不调，何补何写？发于秋冬，阳气少，阴气多，阴气盛而阳气衰，故茎叶枯槁，湿雨下归，阴阳相移，何写何补？奇邪离经，不可胜数，不知根结，五藏六府，折关败枢，开阖而走，阴阳大失，不可复取。九针之玄，要在终始，故能知终始，一言而毕；不知终始，针道咸绝。

Qí Bó yuē: tiān dì xiāng gǎn, hán nuǎn xiāng yí, yīn yáng zhī dào, shú shǎo shú duō? yīn dào ǒu, yáng dào qí. fā yú chūn xià, yīn qì shǎo, yáng qì duō, yīn yáng bù tiáo, hé bǔ hé xiě? fā yú qiū dōng, yáng qì shǎo, yīn qì duō, yīn qì shèng ér yáng qì shuāi, gù jīng yè kū gǎo, shī yǔ xià guī, yīn yáng xiāng yí, hé xiě hé bǔ? qí xié lí jīng, bù kě shèng shù, bù zhī gēn jié, wǔ zàng liù fǔ, zhé guān bài shū, kāi hé ér zǒu, yīn yáng dà shī, bù kě fù qǔ. jiǔ zhēn zhī xuán, yào zài zhōng shǐ, gù néng zhī zhōng shǐ, yī yán ér bì; bù zhī zhōng shǐ, zhēn dào xián jué.

Qi Bo said: Heaven and earth affect one another, cold and warmth shift into one another. In the way of yin and yang, which is few and which is many? The yin way is even, the yang way is odd. When it issues in spring and summer, yin qi is few and yang qi is many; yin and yang are not regulated — what is supplemented and what is reduced? When it issues in autumn and winter, yang qi is few and yin qi is many; yin qi is abundant and yang qi declines, and so stems and leaves wither and dry, and wet rain descends and returns. Yin and yang shift into one another — what is reduced and what is supplemented? Strange evil departs from the channels beyond all counting; and if one does not know root and knot, the five zang and six fu will snap their passes and ruin their pivots, open and close and run away, and yin and yang will be greatly lost and cannot be taken again. The mystery of the nine needles lies in beginning and end: therefore one who knows beginning and end finishes in a single word, and one who does not, has the way of the needle entirely cut off.

「根結」本篇1見，一在篇題，一在「不知根結」。「根」字13見、「結」字9見，十二經各一，皆「根于某，結于某」之例。此與《本輸》五輸不同：彼言一肢之井滎腧經合，此言一經之首尾。

Compounds built on this term

根溜注入

gēn liū zhù rù

root, flow, pour, enter

本篇十二經之例

根于至陰

gēn yú zhì yīn

rooted at Zhiyin

太陽之根

結于命門

jié yú mìng mén

knotted at the life gate

太陽之結

How it has been translated

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

This site	root and knot	the chapter's two words, and the body is a plant and a cord at once
Literal	root and binding	exact, and it loses the noun
Clinical	the beginning and end of a channel	clear, and it drops the image

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-24

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