Yang link vessel · yang wei

At a glance

Pinyin

yáng wéi

Simplified

阳维

Literal

陽維 yáng wéi — the yang link vessel, one of the eight extraordinary vessels and the one that binds the yang channels together. Chapter 41 names it once, and gives it the same two signs it gives the others: the painful spot swells, and the place to needle is where the vessel joins greater yang below the calf, a foot above the ground. 維 is the cord that ties — the same 維 that holds a net to its rope — and the vessel's name says what it does: it links, rather than runs. The chapter also names its counterpart, 陰維, in the entry that follows, where the feiyang vessel meets it.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：維，車蓋維也——**从糸隹聲，繫物之大繩**；**引申為維繫、維絡**。「維」讀 wéi，**本篇3見**：**陽維二見、陰維一見**；「陽」讀 yáng**本篇22見**，「陰」讀 yīn**17見**。**「陽維之脉」2見**，**「陰維之會」一見**——**本篇言陽維而即以陰維為其所會**，**二維對舉，是八脉之說之濫觴**。「合」讀 hé**「脉與太陽合腨下間」之合讀 hé**；「尺」讀 chǐ**「去地一尺所」之尺為度名**，**非診脈之尺（本站第五八七條之「尺」）**。