Classica Sinica Medica

三陽直心 简体 三阳直心

sān yáng zhí xīn

The three yang straight to the heart · san yang zhi xin

Also rendered: The three yang straight to the heart (this site; 直 is a course, not a moral quality) · The three yang entering the heart directly (literal, and directly loses the force of 直 as a straight line)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-17

At a glance

Pinyin
sān yáng zhí xīn
Simplified
三阳直心
Literal
直 zhí — straight, seen true, without a bend; 心 xīn — the heart, 在身之中, the centre of the body. 直心 is not a moral phrase here: it says the qi goes straight at the centre without passing through the usual channels.
Shuowen
《說文》：直，正見也；心，人心，土藏，在身之中。直者，不由曲徑之謂。「三陽直心」本篇1見；「直」字本篇1見；此句上承「薄爲腸澼」，下接「坐不得起，卧者便身全」；王冰注以此為三陽之氣直衝於心

In brief

This is the one place in the chapter where a condition is given a name of its own: 此謂三陽直心. It closes a sequence that began with 三陽者，至陽也 and ran through 積并則爲驚, 九竅皆塞, 陽氣滂溢, 乾嗌喉塞, and 薄爲腸澼; after the yang has gathered, blocked the nine openings, overflowed, dried the throat, and pressed into the yin to make dysentery, it goes straight at the heart. The two signs that follow are postural, and they are the reason the phrase is worth an entry: 坐不得起，卧者便身全 — sitting, the patient cannot rise; lying down, the body is at ease. The qi that runs straight at the centre is tolerable only while the body is level. Read with the chapter’s own logic, 直 is the key word: the other signs are movements through the conduits, this one is a movement with no conduit at all.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The phrase 此謂三陽直心
三陽之氣直衝於心
The qi of the three yangs charges straight into the heart.
此謂三陽直心 — 素問·著至教論
2
What precedes it 薄爲腸澼
陽并於陰，迫而為腸澼
Yang merges into yin and presses into intestinal flux.
薄爲腸澼 — 素問·著至教論
3
The sign when upright 坐不得起
坐則氣逆，故不得起
Sitting, the qi rebels, so one cannot rise.
坐不得起 — 素問·著至教論
4
The sign when level 卧者便身全
卧則氣平，身乃得安
Lying down, the qi levels, and the body finds ease.
卧者便身全 — 素問·著至教論
5
Why 直 直
不由他經，直入於心
Not by way of another channel, but straight into the heart.
三陽直心 — 素問·著至教論
6
The overflow before it 陽氣滂溢
陽氣盛溢，無所不至
Yang qi brims over and reaches everywhere.
陽氣滂溢 — 素問·著至教論

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·著至教論 Read in context →
帝曰：三陽者，至陽也。積并則爲驚，病起疾風，至如礔礰，九竅皆塞，陽氣滂溢，乾嗌喉塞，并於陰，則上下無常，薄爲腸澼，此謂三陽直心，坐不得起，卧者便身全。三陽之病，且以知天下，何以别陰陽，應四時，合之五行。 帝曰：三阳者，至阳也。积并则为惊，病起疾风，至如礔礰，九窍皆塞，阳气滂溢，干嗌喉塞，并于阴，则上下无常，薄为肠澼，此谓三阳直心，坐不得起，卧者便身全。三阳之病，且以知天下，何以别阴阳，应四时，合之五行。
Dì yuē: sān yáng zhě, zhì yáng yě. Jī bìng zé wéi jīng, bìng qǐ jí fēng, zhì rú pī lì, jiǔ qiào jiē sè, yáng qì pāng yì, gān yì hóu sè, bìng yú yīn, zé shàng xià wú cháng, bó wéi cháng pì, cǐ wèi sān yáng zhí xīn, zuò bù dé qǐ, wò zhě biàn shēn quán. Sān yáng zhī bìng, qiě yǐ zhī tiān xià, hé yǐ bié yīn yáng, yìng sì shí, hé zhī wǔ xíng.
Huang Di said: the three yang are the utmost yang. Piled up and joined they make fright; the illness rises like a swift wind and arrives like a thunderbolt; the nine openings are all stopped, the yang qi floods over, the gullet dries and the throat is blocked. Joined into the yin, above and below lose their constancy, and pressing in they make a flux of the bowel. This is what is meant by the three yang running straight into the heart: a man cannot rise from sitting, and lying down his body is at ease. What has been said is the illness of the three yang, and from it one may know all under heaven — how to tell yin and yang apart, answer the four seasons, and join them to the five phases.
「三陽直心」四字，本篇1見，為全篇唯一自具病名之證；上承「薄爲腸澼」，下接「坐不得起，卧者便身全」；句讀從王冰本，「卧者便身全」五字連讀；此句之前，九竅皆塞、陽氣滂溢、乾嗌喉塞，皆一路積并之勢

Compounds built on this term

直心
zhí xīn
straight to the heart
本篇一見；不由曲徑
腸澼
cháng pì
dysentery
本篇一見；直心之前一證
坐不得起
zuò bù dé qǐ
sitting and unable to rise
本篇一見
至陽
zhì yáng
the utmost yang
本篇一見；三陽直心之氣

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 yang straight to the heartkeeps the line of the qi, which is what the posture signs answer
Literalthree yang, straight heartexact, and it reads as a compound noun rather than a course
Descriptivethe yang converging on the centreclear, and it loses the word the chapter chose

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-17

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths