Classica Sinica Medica

有故無殞 简体 有故无殒

yǒu gù wú yǔn

There being a cause, there is no death · you gu wu yun

Also rendered: There being a cause, there is no death (this site; 故 as the case that justifies the drug) · No cause, no death (the stock Chinese phrase read the other way; the chapter's line has 有故, not 無故)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin
yǒu gù wú yǔn
Simplified
有故无殒
Literal
有故 — there being a cause, i.e. an illness that requires it; 無殞 — no death, 殞 being to fall and perish (《說文》: 殞，從高下也). The four graphs are the chapter's licence to use strong medicine: where there is a real cause, the treatment may not be withheld, and the harm the text warns of does not follow.
Shuowen
**《說文》：殞，從高下也**。**「有故無殞」本篇1見，為全篇末問之答**；**問曰「婦人重身，毒之何如」，答曰「有故無殞，亦無殞也」**；**下文即曰「大積大聚，其可犯也，衰其太半而止，過者死」，為此語之界**；**「殞」本篇2見，皆在此段之内**

In brief

The chapter’s answer to its own hardest question. 黄帝問曰：婦人重身，毒之何如？歧伯曰：有故無殞，亦無殞也 — a pregnant woman with a disease must be treated; if the disease is really there, the strong drug does not kill. The licence is immediately bounded: 大積大聚，其可犯也，衰其太半而止，過者死. The rule is therefore not permission to be bold but a rule about proportion: treat the cause, and stop when the disease is mostly gone. It is the last clinical sentence of the chapter, coming after the sixty years of the table and the five treatments for pent-up qi, and it is placed there deliberately — everything before it describes what the year does; this one says what may be done in return.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The question 婦人重身，毒之何如
妊娠而病，峻藥可否用
婦人重身，毒之何如 — Suwen 71
2
The answer 有故無殞
有當用之故，則不傷胎
有故無殞，亦無殞也 — Suwen 71
3
Its bound 衰其太半而止
病去太半即止，不可過
衰其太半而止 — Suwen 71
4
Its warning 過者死
過用則反致死
過者死 — Suwen 71
5
Its companions 大積大聚，其可犯也
積聚之病亦以此法
大積大聚 — Suwen 71
6
Its place 篇末治則之終
六十年之紀既畢，乃言治法
有故無殞 — Suwen 71

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
1 passages
Suwen 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：不遠熱則熱至，不遠寒則寒至，寒至則堅否腹滿，痛急下利之病生矣。熱至則身熱，吐下霍亂，癰疽瘡瘍，瞀鬱注下，瞤瘛腫脹，嘔鼽衄頭痛，骨節變，肉痛，血溢，血泄，淋閟之病生矣。帝曰：治之柰何？歧伯曰：時必順之，犯者治以勝也。黄帝問曰：婦人重身，毒之何如？歧伯曰：有故無殞，亦無殞也。帝曰：願聞其故，何謂也？ 歧伯曰：不远热则热至，不远寒则寒至，寒至则坚否腹满，痛急下利之病生矣。热至则身热，吐下霍乱，痈疽疮疡，瞀郁注下，瞤瘛肿胀，呕鼽衄头痛，骨节变，肉痛，血溢，血泄，淋閟之病生矣。帝曰：治之奈何？歧伯曰：时必顺之，犯者治以胜也。黄帝问曰：妇人重身，毒之何如？歧伯曰：有故无殒，亦无殒也。帝曰：愿闻其故，何谓也？
Qí bó yuē: bù yuǎn rè zé rè zhì, bù yuǎn hán zé hán zhì, hán zhì zé jiān pǐ fù mǎn, tòng jí xià lì zhī bìng shēng yǐ. Rè zhì zé shēn rè, tù xià huò luàn, yōng jū chuāng yáng, mào yù zhù xià, shùn chì zhǒng zhàng, ǒu qiú nǜ tóu tòng, gǔ jié biàn, ròu tòng, xuè yì, xuè xiè, lín bì zhī bìng shēng yǐ. Dì yuē: zhì zhī nài hé? Qí bó yuē: shí bì shùn zhī, fàn zhě zhì yǐ shèng yě. Huáng dì wèn yuē: fù rén chóng shēn, dú zhī hé rú? Qí bó yuē: yǒu gù wú yǔn, yì wú yǔn yě. Dì yuē: yuàn wén qí gù, hé wèi yě?
Qi Bo said: if one does not keep far from heat, heat arrives; if one does not keep far from cold, cold arrives. When cold arrives, illnesses of hard blockage, fullness of belly, urgent pain and flux arise. When heat arrives, there is fever, vomiting and purging with cholera, abscesses and sores, dim pent flux below, twitching and convulsion with swelling and distension, vomiting, snivelling, nosebleed and headache, altered joints, painful flesh, blood spilling, blood pouring, and strangury and stoppage. Huang Di said: how is one to treat them? Qi Bo said: the season must be followed; what has been offended is treated with what prevails over it. Huang Di asked: when a woman is with child, what of using poisons? Qi Bo said: where there is cause there is no destruction, nor will she be destroyed. Huang Di said: I wish to hear the cause — what is meant?
**「有故無殞」本篇1見，即此段**；**此段為全篇末問：黄帝問曰婦人重身，毒之何如，歧伯答以此語，又曰亦無殞也**；**下文「大積大聚…衰其太半而止，過者死」即此語之限**

Compounds built on this term

重身
chóng shēn
heavy with child
本篇一見；本站已立目
大積大聚
dà jī dà jù
great accumulations
本篇一見；其可犯也，衰其太半而止
四畏
sì wèi
the four things to beware of
本篇一見；與此語同為用藥之界
毒藥
dú yào
strong medicine
本篇一見，即「毒之何如」之毒

How it has been translated

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

This sitethere being a cause, there is no deaththe chapter's licence and the bound it puts on itself in the same breath
Literalhaving cause, no perishingexact, and it loses the clinical force
Glossif the disease is really there, the strong drug will not killwhat it says, and too long for a headword

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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