Running piglet · ben tun

Also rendered: Running piglet (literal, and it keeps the animal the name is made of) · Rushing piglet (plainer, and 奔 is a run not a rush)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-24

At a glance

Pinyin: bēn tún
Simplified: 奔豚
Literal: 奔 bēn — to run, to rush; 豚 tún — a piglet. Qi that mounts from the lower abdomen in surges, like something alive running upward.
Shuowen: 《說文》：奔，走也；豚，小豕也。「奔豚」本篇1見，在腎脉；「奔」字1見，別有「息賁」之賁，音同而字異。

In brief

The accumulation of the kidney, described by its movement rather than its substance. 微急，爲沉厥奔豚，足不收，不得前後 — a slightly urgent kidney pulse gives sinking reversal and the running piglet, with the feet not gathered and no passage before or behind. The name says what the patient feels: something rushes up from below, reaches the chest and the throat, and then subsides. The chapter pairs it with 沉厥, sinking reversal, because both are failures of the kidney’s downward office; and it adds the two signs that make the diagnosis, cold feet and blocked passages, which are the same failure seen from the other end.

Senses in the classical corpus

The name 奔豚

氣自少腹上衝，如豚之奔

Qi rushing up from the lower abdomen like a piglet.

微急，爲沉厥奔豚 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

Its pulse 腎脉急甚，爲骨癲疾

腎脉微急則為奔豚

It follows a slightly urgent kidney pulse.

腎脉急甚，爲骨癲疾；微急，爲沉厥奔豚 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

Its company 沉厥

沉厥與奔豚並見

It comes together with sinking reversal.

爲沉厥奔豚 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

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·邪氣藏府病形 Read in context →

腎脉急甚，爲骨癲疾；微急，爲沉厥奔豚，足不收，不得前後。緩甚，爲折脊；微緩，爲洞，洞者，食不化，下嗌還出。太甚，爲陰痿；微大，爲石水，起臍已下至小腹，腄腄然，上至胃腕，死不治。小甚，爲洞泄；微小，爲消癉。滑甚，爲癃㿉；微滑，爲骨痿，坐不能起，起則目無所見。濇甚，爲大癰；微濇，爲不月沉痔。肾脉急甚，为骨癫疾；微急，为沉厥奔豚，足不收，不得前后。缓甚，为折脊；微缓，为洞，洞者，食不化，下嗌还出。太甚，为阴痿；微大，为石水，起脐已下至小腹，腄腄然，上至胃腕，死不治。小甚，为洞泄；微小，为消瘅。滑甚，为癃㿉；微滑，为骨痿，坐不能起，起则目无所见。涩甚，为大痈；微涩，为不月沉痔。

shèn mài jí shèn, wéi gǔ diān jí; wēi jí, wéi chén jué bēn tún, zú bù shōu, bù dé qián hòu. huǎn shèn, wéi zhé jí; wēi huǎn, wéi dòng, dòng zhě, shí bù huà, xià yì hái chū. tài shèn, wéi yīn wěi; wēi dà, wéi shí shuǐ, qǐ qí yǐ xià zhì xiǎo fù, chuí chuí rán, shàng zhì wèi wàn, sǐ bù zhì. xiǎo shèn, wéi dòng xiè; wēi xiǎo, wéi xiāo dān. huá shèn, wéi lóng tuí; wēi huá, wéi gǔ wěi, zuò bù néng qǐ, qǐ zé mù wú suǒ jiàn. sè shèn, wéi dà yōng; wēi sè, wéi bù yuè chén zhì.

When the kidney pulse is extremely urgent there is bone falling sickness; slightly urgent, there is sinking reversal and running piglet, the feet not gathered, and no passage before or behind. Extremely slow, there is a broken spine; slightly slow, there is the through-flux, and the through-flux means food is not transformed but comes back out as it is swallowed. Too extreme, there is yin flaccidity; slightly large, there is stone water, rising from below the navel to the lower abdomen, drooping and swollen, reaching up to the stomach duct, death without cure. Extremely small, there is through-flux diarrhoea; slightly small, there is wasting thirst. Extremely slippery, there is retention and hanging; slightly slippery, there is bone flaccidity, unable to sit up, and on rising seeing nothing. Extremely rough, there is great abscess; slightly rough, there is monthly obstruction and sinking haemorrhoid.

「奔豚」本篇1見，在腎脉「微急」之下，與「沉厥」連文。「奔」字1見，唯此一處；肺脉「息賁」作賁，音同而形異，非一字。足不收、不得前後，即腎之下降失職，與上衝同為一病之兩面。

Compounds built on this term

沉厥

chén jué

sinking reversal

本篇連文

息賁

xī bēn

rushing breath

肺脉之積，音同字異

How it has been translated

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

This site	running piglet	the name is an image and the site keeps it
Literal	galloping pig	exact, and it is comic in English
Clinical	ascending kidney qi	clear, and it loses the name

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-24

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