齊戒简体斋戒

zhāi jiè

Fasting and purification · zhai jie

Also rendered: Fasting and purification (this site; it keeps both halves, because 齊 is the fasting and 戒 is the keeping from) · Zhai jie (transliteration; how the phrase appears where the received graph 齋 is being written rather than the base graph 齊)

Cultivation

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin: zhāi jiè
Simplified: 斋戒
Literal: 齊 zhāi — in this reading the same word as 齋: to fast and make oneself clean before what is holy (《說文》: 齋，戒潔也); 戒 jiè — to guard against, to keep oneself from (《說文》: 戒，警也). 齊戒 is the two together: the fasting and the abstaining by which a person is made fit to approach what is not ordinary. This chapter writes 齊, the older graph; the received text writes 齋. The requirement it lays down is not about the text but about the reader: the discourse is laid in the chamber of the spirit and may not be brought out by anyone who has not prepared.
Shuowen: **「齊」本篇2見而二讀：「華實齊化」讀 qí，此讀 zhāi**；**「戒」讀 jiè，本篇1見，止在「齊戒」一詞內**；**《說文》：齋，戒潔也；戒，警也**；**「齊戒」本篇1見，止此一句；通行本作「齋戒」**；**字形从底本作「齊」，音義从通行作齋戒，與「寖汗出」从寢同例**

In brief

The fasting and abstaining by which a person is made fit to approach what is holy, and the condition this chapter attaches to its own discourse: 非齊戒不敢發 — without it, he does not dare bring the text out. The chapter writes 齊, and the received text writes 齋; the site follows the base for the graph and the received text for the reading, which is what it does elsewhere with a base graph whose meaning is settled. What is being guarded is not the paper. It is the reader: the discourse has been laid in the chamber of the spirit and is to be handed on with care, and the fasting is what makes a person able to receive it.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 齊戒

齊讀為齋，戒者警也；齋戒以潔其身

非齊戒不敢發 — Suwen 69

What it prepares for 非齊戒不敢發

不齋戒則不敢發所藏之書

非齊戒不敢發 — Suwen 69

What is laid away 藏之靈室

所不敢發者，即藏於靈室之篇

乃擇良兆而藏之靈室 — Suwen 69

Why 慎傳也

慎其傳授，非其人則不傳

慎傳也 — Suwen 69

The graph 齊

底本作「齊」，通行本作「齋」

非齊戒不敢發 — Suwen 69

The other reading 華實齊化

同篇「齊」又讀 qí，同時之義

華實齊化 — Suwen 69

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

1 passages

Suwen 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →

帝曰：善。所謂精光之論，大聖之業，宣明大道，通於無窮，究於無極也。余聞之，善言天者，必應於人；善言古者，必驗於今；善言氣者，必彰於物；善言應者，同天地之化；善言化言變者，通神明之理。非夫子孰能言至道歟？乃擇良兆而藏之靈室，每旦讀之，命曰氣交變，非齊戒不敢發，慎傳也。帝曰：善。所谓精光之论，大圣之业，宣明大道，通于无穷，究于无极也。余闻之，善言天者，必应于人；善言古者，必验于今；善言气者，必彰于物；善言应者，同天地之化；善言化言变者，通神明之理。非夫子孰能言至道欤？乃择良兆而藏之灵室，每旦读之，命曰气交变，非斋戒不敢发，慎传也。

Dì yuē: shàn. Suǒ wèi jīng guāng zhī lùn, dà shèng zhī yè, xuān míng dà dào, tōng yú wú qióng, jiū yú wú jí yě. Yú wén zhī, shàn yán tiān zhě, bì yìng yú rén; shàn yán gǔ zhě, bì yàn yú jīn; shàn yán qì zhě, bì zhāng yú wù; shàn yán yìng zhě, tóng tiān dì zhī huà; shàn yán huà yán biàn zhě, tōng shén míng zhī lǐ. Fēi fū zǐ shú néng yán zhì dào yú? Nǎi zé liáng zhào ér cáng zhī líng shì, měi dàn dú zhī, mìng yuē qì jiāo biàn, fēi zhāi jiè bù gǎn fā, shèn chuán yě.

Huang Di said: good. This is what is called the discourse of essential light, the work of the great sage: it proclaims and makes bright the great way, reaching into the endless and fathoming the boundless. I have heard it said that he who speaks well of heaven must find its answer in the human being; he who speaks well of antiquity must find its proof in the present; he who speaks well of the qi must find it displayed in things; he who speaks well of answering is at one with the transformation of heaven and earth; he who speaks well of transformation and of change penetrates the pattern of spirit brightness. Who but you, master, could speak the utmost way? So I have chosen a good omen and laid it away in the chamber of the spirit, reading it every morning; it is named the Meeting of the Qi and Change. Without fasting and purification I dare not open it — hand it on with care.

**「齊戒」本篇1見，止此一句**；**「齊」本篇2見而二讀：第十三段「華實齊化」讀 qí，此讀 zhāi**；**底本作「齊」从止，通行本作「齋戒」；字形从底本，音義从通行**；**「非齊戒不敢發」與第三段「傳非其人，慢泄天寶」同一心事**；**「慎傳也」三字是本篇之末句，「慎」讀 shèn，本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

靈室

líng shì

the chamber of the spirit

本篇1見；藏之靈室，非齊戒不敢發

氣交變

qì jiāo biàn

the meeting of the qi and change

本篇1見；所不敢發者即此篇

慎傳

shèn chuán

handing on with care

本篇1見；與「傳非其人，慢泄天寶」相應

齋戒

zhāi jiè

fasting and purification

本篇0見，是「齊戒」之通行寫法

How it has been translated

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

This site	fasting and purification	the two halves of the word: 齊 makes a person clean and 戒 keeps a person from what would undo it
Transliteration	zhai jie	how the phrase is written throughout the received text; right about the referent, and it gives no hint of what is being done
Descriptive	ritual preparation	acceptable, and it generalises: the chapter is naming a fast and an abstention, not a ceremony

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-08

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