Classica Sinica Medica

三品

sān pǐn

The three grades · san pin

Also rendered: The three grades (this site; 品 is a rank or class, and the three are the upper, middle and lower of the pharmacopoeia) · The three classes of drugs (clearer, and the chapter's word is the rank itself rather than the drugs in it)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin
sān pǐn
Simplified
三品
Literal
三 sān — three; 品 pǐn — a class, a rank, what is sorted into kinds (《說文》: 品，眾庶也). 三品 is the sorting of the drugs of the pharmacopoeia into upper, middle and lower.
Shuowen
**《說文》：品，眾庶也**。**「三品」本篇2見**；**「品」字本篇亦止此2見**；**一見於「非上下三品之謂也」，一見於「帝曰：三品何謂」**；**「上下」二字在此為三品之首尾，故「上下三品」一見**；**「善惡」本篇一見，「殊貫」本篇一見，皆在此段**

In brief

The three grades of the pharmacopoeia — upper, middle and lower — and the chapter’s one sentence about them: 帝曰：三品何謂？歧伯曰：所以明善惡之殊貫也. The whole weight of the entry lies in the exchange just before it. The emperor has asked about 方制君臣, and the answer has been 主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使，非上下三品之謂也 — the lord and ministers of a prescription are not the graded drugs of the materia medica. Pressed on what the grades then are for, the chapter answers with 殊貫: they mark the difference in what each drug is good for and the constancy of it, so that the same drug’s rank does not change with the disease while its office in a formula does. The distinction is the chapter’s own, and it is why 方制君臣 and 三品 stand apart on this site.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The three 上、中、下
藥分三等
非上下三品之謂也 — Suwen 74
2
What it is not 非方中之君臣
方制君臣與藥品各為一事
非上下三品之謂也 — Suwen 74
3
Its purpose 明善惡之殊貫
别其善惡，定其常分
所以明善惡之殊貫也 — Suwen 74
4
The word 殊 殊
善惡各别而不相混
善惡之殊貫 — Suwen 74
5
The word 貫 貫
一物之性有常，終始相貫
善惡之殊貫 — Suwen 74
6
Against it 方制君臣
一藥可君可臣，其品不改
主病之謂君 — 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：三品何謂？歧伯曰：所以明善惡之殊貫也。帝曰：善。病之中外何如？歧伯曰：調氣之方，必别陰陽，定其中外，各守其鄉，内者内治，外者外治，微者調之，其次平之，盛者奪之。汗者下之。寒熱温涼，衰之以屬，隨其攸利。謹道如法，萬舉萬全，氣血正平，長有天命。帝曰：善。 帝曰：三品何谓？歧伯曰：所以明善恶之殊贯也。帝曰：善。病之中外何如？歧伯曰：调气之方，必别阴阳，定其中外，各守其乡，内者内治，外者外治，微者调之，其次平之，盛者夺之。汗者下之。寒热温凉，衰之以属，随其攸利。谨道如法，万举万全，气血正平，长有天命。帝曰：善。
Dì yuē: sān pǐn hé wèi? Qí bó yuē: suǒ yǐ míng shàn è zhī shū guàn yě. Dì yuē: shàn. Bìng zhī zhōng wài hé rú? Qí bó yuē: tiáo qì zhī fāng, bì bié yīn yáng, dìng qí zhōng wài, gè shǒu qí xiāng, nèi zhě nèi zhì, wài zhě wài zhì, wēi zhě tiáo zhī, qí cì píng zhī, shèng zhě duó zhī. Hàn zhě xià zhī. Hán rè wēn liáng, shuāi zhī yǐ shǔ, suí qí yōu lì. Jǐn dào rú fǎ, wàn jǔ wàn quán, qì xuè zhèng píng, cháng yǒu tiān mìng. Dì yuē: shàn.
Huang Di said: what is meant by the three grades? Qi Bo said: it is to make plain the different kinds of good and evil in drugs. Huang Di said: good. What of illness within and without? Qi Bo said: in the formula that tunes the qi one must distinguish yin and yang, fix the inner and the outer, and let each keep to its own quarter: what is within treated from within, what is without treated from without; what is slight, tune it; what is next, level it; what is full, take it away. What should sweat, carry it down. Cold, heat, warm and cool are lessened according to what they belong to, following where it benefits. Walk carefully by the law, and ten thousand undertakings in ten thousand are whole; the blood and qi are upright and level, and a man’s heavenly span is long. Huang Di said: good.
**「三品」本篇2見，此為後一見**；**前一見作「非上下三品之謂也」，是自方制君臣而分之**；**「所以明善惡之殊貫也」八字為其釋**；**「善惡」「殊貫」二詞本篇各一見，皆在此八字之内**；**此段下即接「病之中外何如」，是藥論既畢而復言病位**

Compounds built on this term

方制君臣
fāng zhì jūn chén
the lord and his ministers in a formula
本篇一見；本章明言二者不同
善惡之殊貫
shàn è zhī shū guàn
the difference and constancy of good and bad
本篇一見；三品之所以立
有毒無毒
yǒu dú wú dú
toxic and non-toxic
本篇二見；藥性之别，與三品相參
所治爲主
suǒ zhì wéi zhǔ
what it treats decides
本篇一見；藥之貴賤随所治

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe three gradesthe ranking of drugs by their own standing, which the chapter holds apart from their office in a formula
Literalthe three ranksexact, and it does not say of what
Descriptivethe upper, middle and lower grades of the materia medicaclear, and unusable where the chapter says 三品何謂

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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