Classica Sinica Medica

心系

xīn xì

The heart's tie · xin xi

Also rendered: The heart's tie (keeps the physical image) · The cardiac ligament (anatomical, and it is an identification) · The heart's mooring (literary, and it is not in the text)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-25

At a glance

Pinyin
xīn xì
Simplified
心系
Literal
心 xīn — the heart; 系 xì — the cord by which a thing hangs. Not 「system」: the graph names a physical attachment, and the chapter treats it as one.
Shuowen
《說文》：系，繫也。「心系」本篇3見，皆在論泣之所以出，一緊一舉，遂成欬而泣出之連鎖。

In brief

The cord by which the heart hangs, and the pivot of the chapter’s explanation of tears. Grief gathers the qi, the gathered qi tightens the heart’s tie, the tightened tie lifts the lung, and the lifted lung drives fluid upward — hence coughing with tears. Because the tie and the lung cannot stay lifted, the movement is now up and now down, and so the tears come with the cough rather than before it. The passage is the book’s only anatomical account of the heart’s suspension, and it is used here purely as a mechanism of fluid.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The tightening 心系急
心系拘急
The heart's tie tightens.
心系急 — 靈樞·五癃津液别
2
The chain 心系急則肺舉
心系拘急，肺就上举
The tie tightens and the lung lifts.
心系急則肺舉 — 靈樞·五癃津液别
3
The overflow 肺舉則液上溢
肺举则液上溢
The lung lifts and the fluid overflows upward.
肺舉則液上溢 — 靈樞·五癃津液别
4
The alternation 乍上乍下
忽上忽下
Now up and now down.
乍上乍下 — 靈樞·五癃津液别

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·五癃津液别 Read in context →
五藏六府，心爲之主，耳爲之聽，目爲之𠉀，肺爲之相，肝爲之將，脾爲之衛，腎爲之主外，故五藏六府之津液，盡上滲于目。心悲氣并則心系急，心系急則肺舉，肺舉則液上溢。夫心系與肺不能常舉，乍上乍下，故欬而泣出矣。中𤍠則胃中消榖，消榖則蟲上下作。腸胃充郭，故胃緩，胃緩則氣逆，故唾出。 五藏六府，心为之主，耳为之听，目为之𠉀，肺为之相，肝为之将，脾为之卫，肾为之主外，故五藏六府之津液，尽上渗于目。心悲气并则心系急，心系急则肺举，肺举则液上溢。夫心系与肺不能常举，乍上乍下，故欬而泣出矣。中𤍠则胃中消榖，消榖则虫上下作。肠胃充郭，故胃缓，胃缓则气逆，故唾出。
wǔ zàng liù fǔ, xīn wéi zhī zhǔ, ěr wéi zhī tīng, mù wéi zhī hòu, fèi wéi zhī xiàng, gān wéi zhī jiàng, pí wéi zhī wèi, shèn wéi zhī zhǔ wài, gù wǔ zàng liù fǔ zhī jīn yè, jìn shàng shèn yú mù. xīn bēi qì bìng zé xīn xì jí, xīn xì jí zé fèi jǔ, fèi jǔ zé yè shàng yì. fū xīn xì yǔ fèi bù néng cháng jǔ, zhà shàng zhà xià, gù kài ér qì chū yǐ. zhòng rè zé wèi zhōng xiāo gǔ, xiāo gǔ zé chóng shàng xià zuò. cháng wèi chōng guō, gù wèi huǎn, wèi huǎn zé qì nì, gù tuò chū.
Of the five zang and six fu, the heart is the master; the ear listens for it, the eye watches for it, the lungs are its minister, the liver its general, the spleen its guard, and the kidney governs the outside. So the fluids of the five zang and six fu all seep upward into the eyes. When the heart grieves, the qi gathers, the heart thread tightens, the lungs are lifted, and the fluid overflows upward. But the heart thread and the lungs cannot stay lifted; they rise and fall by turns, and so one coughs and tears come. Inner heat consumes grain in the stomach, and as the grain is consumed the worms stir up and down. The stomach and intestines are filled out, the stomach is slack, its qi rebels, and so spittle comes out.
「心系」本篇3見，皆在「心悲氣并」之後：系急則肺舉，肺舉則液溢，遂欬而泣出。

Compounds built on this term

心悲氣并
xīn bēi qì bìng
grief gathers the qi
心系急之由
欬而泣出
kài ér qì chū
coughing with tears
心系乍上下之效

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe heart's tiethe text's own image
Literalthe heart's cordexact, and it is plain
Clinicalthe heart's suspensory attachmentclear, and it is an interpretation

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-25

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Reading path

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