寶鑑Bogam

Formulas · Text · Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

The Navel

Je

한글 제  ·  Pinyin Qi

The middle of the body and the door that shut at birth — the cinnabar field below it, the moxa that opens it again, and the navel that turns outward when a person is dying

臍

A short chapter about one opening. The navel is named for being level — stretch a man's arm to the sky and his foot to the ground, measure the cord, and the midpoint falls at the navel. Three chon below it is the lower cinnabar field, four chon square against the spine between the two kidneys, which the Nanjing calls the root of the twelve channels, the gate of breathing and the source of the three burners. From that the chapter takes its argument: in the womb the child breathes through the navel with its mother, and at birth the gate shuts; so to warm a body that has spent itself, open it again. The two long sections that follow are all external — powder packed into the navel inside a ring of dough, a slice of bark laid over it, moxa burnt on top, or a pill worn in the navel and changed weekly, or aromatics quilted into a silk belly-band. The rules are as careful as the recipes: stop the moment warmth is felt, never let it hurt, and burn one cone for each year of your age. It ends on the navel read as a sign — a throbbing pain there meaning the source of qi has already failed, and a navel that pushes outward meaning death.

21.1 The Navel Lies at the Middle of the Body 臍居一身之中

21.1.1
Source원문

臍者齊也, 言其上下齊也. 身之半, 正謂臍中也. 當伸臂指天, 舒足至地, 以繩量之, 則中正當臍. 天樞之穴, 正當臍兩傍各二寸, 是爲身半也. 《內經》

Translation영역
臍, the navel, means level — that is, the upper and lower halves are level at it. The half of the body means exactly the middle of the navel. Stretch the arms to point at the sky and the feet down to the ground and measure with a cord: the exact middle falls at the navel. The point Cheonchu lies two chon to either side of the navel, and this is the body's halfway.
Clinical note임상 주석
臍者齊也 — the graph glossed by its homophone, as the Gallbladder chapter's 7.5.1 glossed 膽 by 敢. With the arms raised the navel is very nearly the midpoint of a standing figure, and the measurement can be checked with a piece of string.

Naegyeong 內經

21.2 Below the Navel Is the Cinnabar Field 臍下有丹田

21.2.1
Source원문

下丹田在臍下三寸, 方圓四寸, 着於脊梁兩腎之間. 左靑右白, 上赤下黑, 中央黃色, 名曰大海, 貯其精血. 《正理》

Translation영역
The lower cinnabar field is three chon below the navel, four chon square and round, set against the spine between the two kidneys. Green on the left and white on the right, red above and black below, yellow at the centre, it is named the great sea, and it stores the essence and blood.
Clinical note임상 주석
The Body chapter's 1.9 gave the three cinnabar fields; this is the lower one seen from the navel's side. The five colours at its five aspects are the five phases laid over an inward space, and 大海, the great sea, is the same name the Qi chapter gave the sea of qi.

Jeongni 正理

21.2.2
Source원문

十二經脈皆係於生氣之源. 所謂生氣之源者, 謂腎間動氣, 卽下丹田也. 此五藏六府之本, 十二經脈之根, 呼吸之門, 三焦之源也. 《難經》

Translation영역
The twelve channels all tie to the source of engendering qi. What is called the source of engendering qi is the stirring qi between the kidneys — that is, the lower cinnabar field. It is the root of the five viscera and six bowels, the root of the twelve channels, the gate of breathing and the source of the three burners.
Clinical note임상 주석
腎間動氣 — the stirring qi between the kidneys, which the Nanjing's eighth difficulty makes the root of everything. The Kidney chapter's 6.2 put the gate of life there and the Three Burners chapter's 12.2.6 made that bowel formless; this passage is where the three claims meet.

Nangyeong 難經

21.3 Refining the Navel to Extend Life 煉臍延壽

21.3.1
Source원문

宜長生延壽丹ㆍ小接命熏臍秘方ㆍ接命丹ㆍ灸臍得延年詳見身形.

Translation영역
Long Life and Extended Years Elixir, the Minor Secret Formula for Joining Life by Steaming the Navel, Join Life Elixir, and Moxaing the Navel to Gain Years treated in detail in the Body chapter are appropriate.
Clinical note임상 주석
Three registered preparations and a cross-reference to the Body chapter's account of the man who was moxaed at the navel every year and lived past a hundred. All four work the same spot by the same means: heat, held long and kept below the threshold of pain.

Donguibogam · Je

21.4 The Navel Should Be Kept Warm 臍宜溫煖

21.4.1
Source원문

宜用代灸塗臍膏ㆍ溫臍種子方ㆍ溫臍兜肚方ㆍ封臍艾.

Translation영역
Moxa-Substitute Navel Paste, the Warm the Navel and Sow Seed Formula, the Warm the Navel Belly-Band Formula and Navel-Sealing Mugwort should be used.
Clinical note임상 주석
Four ways to keep one spot warm: a paste stuck on, a powder moxaed, a band worn, and a packet ironed. The section title is the whole prescription — 臍宜溫煖, the navel should be kept warm — and everything under it is a method of doing that.

Donguibogam · Je

21.5 The Pattern of Throbbing at the Navel 臍築證

21.5.1
Source원문

臍築湫痛, 命將難愈. 湫者深也. 盖臍爲生氣之源, 築痛者, 生氣已絶也. 《仲景》

Translation영역
Throbbing and deep pain at the navel — such a life will hardly be saved. 湫 means deep. The navel is the source of engendering qi, and throbbing pain there means the engendering qi is already cut off.
Clinical note임상 주석
A visible, painful pulsation at the navel. In a wasted patient the abdominal aorta becomes easy to see and feel, and Zhongjing reads it as the root qi laid bare — which, as a prognosis, is not far wrong.

Junggyeong 仲景

21.5.2
Source원문

臍下築者, 腎氣動也. 理中湯方見寒門去朮, 加桂 一兩. 腎惡燥, 故去朮. 恐作奔豚, 故加桂皮. 若悸者, 加茯苓 一兩. 《海藏》

Translation영역
Throbbing below the navel is the kidney qi stirring. Regulate the Centre Decoction formula in the Cold Damage chapter with the atractylodes removed and 1 nyang of cinnamon added. The kidney hates dryness, so the atractylodes is removed; for fear of running piglet, cinnamon bark is added. If there is palpitation, add 1 nyang of poria.
Clinical note임상 주석
Zhongjing's own modification of Ijung-tang, quoted with its reasons. 奔豚, running piglet — a sensation of something surging up from the lower abdomen to the chest — is what the cinnamon guards against, and it is the classical name for a panic surge.

Haejang 海藏

21.5.3
Source원문

白朮閉氣故去之, 桂瀉奔豚, 茯苓伐腎邪, 故加之. 《入門》

Translation영역
White atractylodes shuts in the qi, so it is removed; cinnamon drains running piglet and poria cuts down the kidney's evil, so they are added.

Immun 入門

21.5.4
Source원문

臍下發痛者, 腎經也, 非熟地黃不能除. 《湯液》

Translation영역
Pain breaking out below the navel belongs to the kidney channel, and nothing but cooked rehmannia can remove it.

Tangaek 湯液

21.6 Ominous Signs at the Navel 臍凶證

21.6.1
Source원문

病人臍腫反出者死. 臍反出, 此爲脾先死. 《扁鵲》

Translation영역
A patient whose navel swells and turns outward dies; the navel turning outward means the spleen has died first.
Clinical note임상 주석
A navel that everts. In gross ascites the umbilicus is pushed out and flattens or protrudes, and it is a late sign — the tradition read it as the spleen giving way, which in a cirrhotic abdomen is close enough.

Pyeonjak 扁鵲

21.6.2
Source원문

水腫臍突出者死. 《丹心》

Translation영역
In water swelling, where the navel protrudes, death.

Dansim 丹心

21.6.3
Source원문

凡人膿從臍中出者, 腸癰也. 《集要》

Translation영역
Where pus comes out from within the navel, it is intestinal welling-abscess.

Jibyo 集要

21.6.4
Source원문

腸癰爲病, 汚臍生瘡, 或膿從臍出. 《東垣》

Translation영역
Intestinal welling-abscess as a disease fouls the navel and raises a sore there, or the pus comes out from the navel.
Clinical note임상 주석
An appendiceal or other intra-abdominal abscess discharging at the umbilicus. It happens — the umbilicus is the one place where the abdominal wall is thin and has no muscle — and both sources name the cause correctly.

Dongwon 東垣

21.7 A Child's Navel Sore 小兒臍瘡

21.7.1
Source원문

詳見小兒門.

Translation영역
Treated in detail in the Children chapter.

Donguibogam · Je

About this translation 凡例

Base text: Donguibogam (東醫寶鑑, 1613 first edition), Outer Form, Volume 3, Navel chapter. The Chinese text is collated against the public-domain Wikisource transcription and a printed edition; original character forms (脉, 人參) are retained. Terminology follows Wiseman & Feng, A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine. Translation and clinical notes are original to this site. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.