Classica Sinica Medica

治未病

zhì wèi bìng

Treating what is not yet ill

Also rendered: Treating potential disease (Clinical phrasing, common in modern writing)

Core vocabulary Cultivation

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
zhì wèi bìng
Simplified
治未病
Literal
To treat the not-yet-ill.

In brief

The line that made prevention central to Chinese medicine: don’t wait for the disease. The chapter closes with the image that makes the point — digging a well only once you are thirsty.

The phrase has had a long afterlife, and most of it assumes more than the sentence says. What the chapter says is narrow and practical: the person who follows the seasons does not end up with the illness, so the work is done before there is anything to treat.

The closing image is deliberately undignified. Digging a well when you are thirsty, casting a spear when the fighting has already started — the point is not that treatment is useless but that it is too late.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Preventive treatment 治未病
Treating before illness is established
Treating before illness is established
不治已病，治未病 — 素問·四氣調神大論

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
4 passages
素問·陰陽應象大論 Read in context →
故善治者治皮毛，其次治肌膚，其次治筋脉，其次治六府，其次治五藏。治五藏者，半死半生也。 故善治者治皮毛，其次治肌肤，其次治筋脉，其次治六府，其次治五藏。治五藏者，半死半生也。
gù shàn zhì zhě zhì pí máo, qí cì zhì jī fū, qí cì zhì jīn mài, qí cì zhì liù fǔ, qí cì zhì wǔ zàng. zhì wǔ zàng zhě, bàn sǐ bàn shēng yě.
Therefore the good practitioner treats at the skin and body hair; the next best treats at the flesh and skin; the next at the sinews and vessels; the next at the six bowels; the next at the five viscera. To treat only at the five viscera is half death and half life.
本篇把「治未病」具體化：以病位由表入裏的深淺定醫之高下，與第二篇「聖人不治已病，治未病」相呼應。
素問·剌熱 Read in context →
病雖未發，見赤色者剌之，名曰治未病。 病虽未发，见赤色者刺之，名曰治未病。
Bìng suī wèi fā, jiàn chì sè zhě cì zhī, míng yuē zhì wèi bìng.
Even though the disease has not yet erupted, when the red colour is seen one needles it. This is called treating the disease before it is disease.
「治未病」之目於本站已立（id 181），本篇則是其名之所自出，而其義別為一端：「病雖未發，見赤色者剌之，名曰治未病」——「病」讀 bìng，本篇二十六見；「雖」讀 suī，本篇惟此一見，不作「虽」；「未」讀 wèi，本篇四見；「發」讀 fā，本篇惟此一見，底本不作「发」；「見」讀 jiàn，本篇三見；「赤」讀 chì，本篇七見；「色」讀 sè，本篇四見；「者」讀 zhě，本篇二十三見；「剌」讀 cì，本篇十七見；「之」讀 zhī；「名」讀 míng；「曰」讀 yuē，本篇三見；「治」讀 zhì，本篇二見。《素問》言治未病者二：第二篇四氣調神大論「聖人不治已病治未病」就養生言之，此則就針刺言之——病未發而先見其色，即因其色而刺之。二者義別而理一：皆於病之未成形處下手。後世「治未病」之說雖大暢於《難經》《金匱》，其源則在是二篇。
素問·四氣調神大論 Read in context →
是故聖人不治已病治未病，不治已亂治未亂，此之謂也。夫病已成而後藥之，亂已成而後治之，譬猶渴而穿井。鬭而鑄錐，不亦晚乎？ 是故圣人不治已病治未病，不治已乱治未乱，此之谓也。夫病已成而后药之，乱已成而后治之，譬犹渴而穿井。斗而铸锥，不亦晚乎？
Shì gù shèng rén bù zhì yǐ bìng zhì wèi bìng, bù zhì yǐ luàn zhì wèi luàn, cǐ zhī wèi yě. fú bìng yǐ chéng ér hòu yào zhī, luàn yǐ chéng ér hòu zhì zhī, pì yóu kě ér chuān jǐng. dòu ér zhù zhuī, bù yì wǎn hū?
And so the sage does not treat what is already ill — he treats what is not yet ill; he does not order what is already in disorder — he orders what is not yet in disorder. This is what that means. To give medicines once the illness has formed, to bring order once the disorder has formed, is like digging a well only when one is thirsty, or casting an awl only when the fight is on: is that not too late?
「是故聖人不治已病治未病」——本篇結語；下文渴而穿井、鬭而鑄錐，皆喻其晚；「治未病」本篇1見
靈樞·逆順 Read in context →
故曰：上工治未病，不治已病，此之謂也。 故曰：上工治未病，不治已病，此之谓也。
gù yuē: shàng gōng zhì wèi bìng, bù zhì yǐ bìng, cǐ zhī wèi yě.
Hence it is said: the superior physician treats the not-yet-ill, not the already ill. This is what that means.
「治未病」逆順第7段見，義與本條相合，引全段為證。

Compounds built on this term

未病
wèi bìng
not-yet-illness
The state that is treated
已病
yǐ bìng
established illness
What the sage does not wait for

How it has been translated

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

This sitetreating what is not yet illClumsy by design; a smoother phrase loses the paradox.
Common Englishpreventive treatmentAccurate, and loses the grammatical trick of treating a negative.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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