Classica Sinica Medica

神轉不回 简体 神转不回

shén zhuǎn bù huí

The spirit turns and does not return

Also rendered: the spirit turns and does not return (Literal; keeps the two verbs) · the spirit revolves without reversing (Astronomical in flavour) · the spirit moves forward, never back (Plain paraphrase)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
shén zhuǎn bù huí
Simplified
神转不回
Literal
神 the spirit; 轉 to turn, to roll onward (《說文》: 運也); 不 not; 回 to turn round, to double back (《說文》: 轉也). The two verbs are nearly the same word, and the sentence is built on the difference between them: turning onward is life, turning back is not.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：神，天神，引出萬物者也（醫籍引申為一身之主宰）；轉，運也（段注：引申為流轉、遷轉）；回，轉也（段注：引申為回返、邪曲）。

In brief

Four lines that later commentators never stopped quoting, and the doctrine the chapter is written to deliver: the spirit’s motion is one-directional. If it reverses, it is no longer turning, and the mechanism is lost. Everything in the chapter — the colour that climbs and is called rebellion, the pulse that travels into what conquers it, the season that runs backwards — is an instance of this one rule. It is also the nearest the book comes to saying what life is: a turning that goes one way.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The motion of the spirit is one-directional 神轉不回
王冰：「回轉不轉，乃失生氣之機矣。」
神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機 — Suwen 15
2
Reversal loses the mechanism 回則不轉，乃失其機
回則逆行，逆行則不復運轉
神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機 — Suwen 15
3
The same rule in the colours 上爲逆，下爲從
色上行曰逆、下行曰從，即回與不回之別
上爲逆，下爲從 — Suwen 15
4
The same rule in the seasons 逆行一過，不復可數
四時八風終而復始；逆行一過則數不復可計
逆行一過，不復可數 — Suwen 15

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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2 passages
素問·玉版論要 Suwen 15 · 玉版論要 Read in context →
神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機。至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，命曰合玉機。 神转不回，回则不转，乃失其机。至数之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，命曰合玉机。
shén zhuǎn bù huí, huí zé bù zhuǎn, nǎi shī qí jī. zhì shù zhī yào, pò jìn yǐ wēi, zhù zhī yù bǎn, mìng yuē hé yù jī.
The spirit turns and does not turn back; if it turns back it no longer turns, and so its mechanism is lost. The essential of the ultimate numbers is close at hand and minute; it is inscribed on jade tablets and named “joined to the jade mechanism.”
本篇總綱之語。王冰：「回轉不轉，乃失生氣之機矣。」本篇下文「上爲逆，下爲從」「行所不勝曰逆，逆則死；行所勝曰從，從則活」「八風四時之勝，終而復始，逆行一過，不復可數」皆此一義之應用。與第十四篇「神不使也」論神之義互相發明：彼言神之不能用，此言神之不可回。
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至數，五色脉變，揆度奇恒，道在於一。神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機。至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》。 帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至数，五色脉变，揆度奇恒，道在于一。神转不回，回则不转，乃失其机。至数之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦读之，名曰《玉机》。
Dì jù rán ér qǐ, zài bài ér qǐ shǒu yuē: shàn. Wú dé mài zhī dà yào, tiān xià zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī. Shén zhuǎn bù huí, huí zé bù zhuǎn, nǎi shī qí jī. Zhì shù zhī yào, pò jìn yǐ wēi, zhù zhī yù bǎn, cáng zhī zàng fǔ, měi dàn dú zhī, míng yuē Yù jī.
The Emperor starts up in alarm, bows twice and touches his head to the ground: “Good. I have the great essentials of the pulse — the ultimate numbers under heaven, the changes of the five colours and the pulse, assessment and the anomalous-constant. The way lies in the one. The spirit turns and does not turn back; if it turns back it no longer turns, and the pivot is lost. The essential of the ultimate numbers is immediate and minute: write it on a jade tablet, store it in the storehouse of the viscera, read it every morning, and call it the Jade Mechanism.”
「神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機」：底本作「迴」，第十五篇同文作「回」，各從底本而互注。本篇神轉不回之義，為脈之大要所歸之一。與第十五篇「神轉不回，回則不轉，乃失其機」同條而義同：二篇同文，第十五篇在於論色脉之要，本篇則在全篇傳變之論既畢之後——五藏之氣受其所生、舍其所生、死於其所不勝者，皆神之轉也；傳至所不勝而不復轉者，即失其機而死。

Compounds built on this term

神
shén
the spirit
說文：天神，引出萬物者也
轉
zhuǎn
to turn onward
說文：運也
回
huí
to turn back
說文：轉也
機
jī
the mechanism, the pivot
說文：主發者也；本篇「乃失其機」
神不使
shén bù shǐ
the spirit no longer serves
第十四篇；與本篇論神之語互相發明

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe spirit turns and does not turn backThe usual rendering, and close to the text.
This sitethe spirit turns and does not return回 is not simply reverse; it is coming back to where you started, and in this book that is always the catastrophe — the colour that climbs back, the season that runs backwards, the disease that travels into what conquers it. Turn back suggests a direction; return suggests arriving at the beginning again, which is what the chapter is warning about.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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