方制君臣

fāng zhì jūn chén

The lord and his ministers in a formula · fang zhi jun chen

Also rendered: The lord and his ministers in a formula (this site; 方制 is the making of the prescription, and 君臣 the relation inside it) · The sovereign, minister and assistant drugs (familiar in modern pharmacology, and it adds 佐使 as a third rank rather than a duty)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin: fāng zhì jūn chén
Simplified: 方制君臣
Literal: 方 fāng — a prescription, a formula; a thing laid out in order, and also a direction; 制 zhì — to cut out, to lay down a rule (《說文》: 制，裁也); 君臣 — lord and minister. The four graphs say: the making of a formula, in which one drug is lord and the rest serve him.
Shuowen: **《說文》：制，裁也；君，尊也；臣，牽也，事君者**。**「方制君臣」本篇一見**；**「君臣」本篇亦止此一見，即在四字之内**；**「君」字本篇10見，「臣」字本篇10見，「使」字本篇6見**；**「制」字本篇16見，多與數目相連（奇之制、偶之制、制之小中大）**；**「方」字本篇8見**；**底本此語下即接「非上下三品之謂也」，是本章自别方制於藥品**

In brief

The rule by which the drugs in a formula are ranked: one is lord because it attacks the disease, the others are ministers because they second him, and others again are envoys because they carry the ministers’ work out — 主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使. The chapter puts the rule and then immediately fences it off: 非上下三品之謂也, not what the three grades of the pharmacopoeia mean. The numbers that fix it are given earlier, when the emperor asks how large a formula may be: 君一臣二，制之小也；君一臣三佐五，制之中也；君一臣三佐九，制之大也 — one lord, two ministers, the small formula; one lord, three ministers and five assistants, the middle; one lord, three ministers and nine assistants, the large. 君臣 is therefore a relation inside a prescription, not a rank of the drugs in themselves, and the chapter’s point is that the same drug may be lord in one formula and minister in the next.

Senses in the classical corpus

The rule 主病之謂君

主治其病者為君

主病之謂君 — Suwen 74

The second 佐君之謂臣

佐君者為臣

佐君之謂臣 — Suwen 74

The third 應臣之謂使

應臣者為使

應臣之謂使 — Suwen 74

What it is not 非上下三品之謂也

方中之君臣非藥之三品

非上下三品之謂也 — Suwen 74

The sizes 制之小、制之中、制之大

君一臣二為小，君一臣三佐九為大

制之小也 — Suwen 74

Before it 有毒無毒，所治爲主

藥之先後以所治為斷

適大小爲制也 — Suwen 74

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

Suwen 74 Suwen 74 · 至真要大論 Read in context →

帝曰：善。服寒而反熱，服熱而反寒，其故何也？歧伯曰：治其王氣，是以反也。帝曰：不治王而然者，何也？歧伯曰：悉乎哉問也，不治五味屬也。夫五味入胃，各歸所喜，攻酸先入肝，苦先入心，甘先入脾，辛先入肺，鹹先入腎。久而增氣，物化之常也。氣增而久，夭之由也。帝曰：善。方制君臣，何謂也？歧伯曰：主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使。非上下三品之謂也。帝曰：善。服寒而反热，服热而反寒，其故何也？歧伯曰：治其王气，是以反也。帝曰：不治王而然者，何也？歧伯曰：悉乎哉问也，不治五味属也。夫五味入胃，各归所喜，攻酸先入肝，苦先入心，甘先入脾，辛先入肺，咸先入肾。久而增气，物化之常也。气增而久，夭之由也。帝曰：善。方制君臣，何谓也？歧伯曰：主病之谓君，佐君之谓臣，应臣之谓使。非上下三品之谓也。

Dì yuē: shàn. Fú hán ér fǎn rè, fú rè ér fǎn hán, qí gù hé yě? Qí bó yuē: zhì qí wàng qì, shì yǐ fǎn yě. Dì yuē: bù zhì wàng ér rán zhě, hé yě? Qí bó yuē: xī hū zāi wèn yě, bù zhì wǔ wèi shǔ yě. Fú wǔ wèi rù wèi, gè guī suǒ xǐ, gōng suān xiān rù gān, kǔ xiān rù xīn, gān xiān rù pí, xīn xiān rù fèi, xián xiān rù shèn. Jiǔ ér zēng qì, wù huà zhī cháng yě. Qì zēng ér jiǔ, yāo zhī yóu yě. Dì yuē: shàn. Fāng zhì jūn chén, hé wèi yě? Qí bó yuē: zhǔ bìng zhī wèi jūn, zuǒ jūn zhī wèi chén, yìng chén zhī wèi shǐ. Fēi shàng xià sān pǐn zhī wèi yě.

Huang Di said: good. To take cold and grow hot instead, to take heat and grow cold instead — what is the cause? Qi Bo said: it is treating the qi in its season, and hence the reversal. Huang Di said: what of one who does not treat the qi in its season and yet has this? Qi Bo said: how thorough the question is — it is not to treat what the five flavours belong to. When the five flavours enter the stomach each returns to what it likes to attack: sour enters the liver first, bitter the heart, sweet the spleen, acrid the lung, salty the kidney. In time they increase the qi — the constant of the transformation of things. And when the qi is increased and it goes on, that is the cause of an early death. Huang Di said: good. What is meant by sovereign and minister in the making of a formula? Qi Bo said: what governs the illness is called sovereign, what assists the sovereign is called minister, what answers the minister is called assistant. It is not what is meant by the three grades above and below.

**「方制君臣」本篇一見，即此句**；**「主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使」三句，為方中之序**；**「非上下三品之謂也」一句，為本章自别方制與藥品之明文**；**此句上承「有三毒無毒，所治為主」，下接「帝曰：三品何謂」**

Compounds built on this term

三品

sān pǐn

the three grades

本篇2見；本章明言方制君臣非謂此

佐君

zuǒ jūn

to assist the lord

本篇一見；臣之職

應臣

yìng chén

to answer the minister

本篇一見；使之職

有毒無毒

yǒu dú wú dú

toxic and non-toxic

本篇二見；制方之先務

How it has been translated

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

This site	the lord and his ministers in a formula	the ranking inside a prescription, which the chapter says is not a rank of the drugs
Literal	the formula's lords and ministers	exact, and it does not say in what
Descriptive	which drug leads and which second it	clear, and it loses the word 制, which is about making the formula

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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