Màifǎ 脈法
Methods of the Vessels
Anonymous (Mawangdui tomb 3 manuscript corpus, sealed 168 BCE)
About the work
The Màifǎ 脈法 (“Methods of the Vessels”) is a short medical text from the silk manuscript cache of Mawangdui 馬王堆 tomb 3, Changsha, Hunan, sealed 168 BCE. It addresses diagnostic and therapeutic principles concerning the body’s vessels (mài 脈/眽), including the use of moxibustion technique, prognosis based on vessel states, and a concise taxonomy of four types of harm (sì hài 四害) that arise from improper treatment. The text is partly fragmentary, with numerous lacunae in the surviving silk. At approximately 200 characters it is among the shorter medical texts from the Mawangdui corpus.
Abstract
The Màifǎ was excavated in 1973 from Mawangdui tomb 3 and published among the medical manuscripts of the Mawangdui corpus (馬王堆漢墓帛書整理小組, 《馬王堆漢墓帛書》, 文物出版社, 1985; definitive edition in 裘錫圭 et al., 《長沙馬王堆漢墓簡帛集成》, 中華書局, 2014). The title 脈法 is a modern editorial designation; no title appears on the manuscript itself.
The text opens with a statement of purpose: “以眽法明教下，眽亦聽人之所貴殹” (“In order to illuminate [vessel] methods and teach those below: the vessels also follow what people value”). This pedagogic framing suggests the text may have been used as instruction material within a medical tradition.
The substantive content proceeds in short, compressed statements. A key diagnostic maxim states: “聽人寒頭而煖足，治病者取有餘而益不足殹” — “Listen [to the body]: [when] the head is cold and the feet warm, the physician treats disease by taking from excess and supplementing insufficiency.” This principle of yin-yang balance anticipates the canonical therapeutic logic of the Huángdì Nèijīng 黃帝內經.
A passage on moxibustion technique instructs the practitioner on proper moxa placement and the criterion for adding moxa: “病甚，陽上於環二寸而益為一久” — “When the illness is severe [and yang qi] rises two cùn above the huán [point], add one moxibustion.” The four harms (sì hài 四害) are listed schematically: (1) going deep but too shallow (謂上不遝, “called not reaching the top”); (2) going shallow but deep (胃之過, “called going too far”); (3) going large but small; (4) going small but large — the last being described as “石食肉殹” (“stone eating flesh”), completing the set of four diagnostic and technical errors.
The closing lines reference a related text on vessels and urge careful study: “眽之縣，書而熟學之” (“The subtleties of the vessels — write them out and study them thoroughly”). A final appeal to “季子忠謹，學…” names a disciple figure (季子, “Younger Master”) and emphasizes the importance of careful application to patients.
The text is anonymous; no attributed author appears. Dating follows that of the broader Mawangdui medical corpus: the manuscripts were likely composed late Warring States to early Western Han (c. 300–168 BCE), and the tomb was sealed 168 BCE.
Translations and research
- Harper, Donald. Early Chinese Medical Literature: The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts. London: Kegan Paul International, 1998. — Translation and commentary; pp. 197–207.
- 馬王堆漢墓帛書整理小組 (ed.). 《馬王堆漢墓帛書》, vol. 4. 北京: 文物出版社, 1985.
- 裘錫圭 et al. (eds.). 《長沙馬王堆漢墓簡帛集成》, 7 vols. 北京: 中華書局, 2014.
- Hinrichs, T.J., and Linda L. Barnes (eds.). Chinese Medicine and Healing: An Illustrated History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.