災简体灾

zāi

Disaster · zai

Also rendered: Disaster (this site; it keeps the word general, which is what the chapter needs for the sixth of its six terms) · Zai (transliteration; used where the graph's oldest sense — a fire from heaven — is in play)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin: zāi
Simplified: 灾
Literal: 災 zāi — a disaster, and in the oldest form a flood or a fire in a house (《說文》: 災，天火曰災；从火巛聲). In the 運氣 chapters it is the last of the six things the chapter names for each of the five directions — 德 virtue, 化 transformation, 政 governance, 令 command, 變 change, 災 disaster — and it is the one that is named by what it actually does: 散落 the scattering fall in the east, 燔爇 the burning in the south, 霖潰 the soaking collapse in the centre, 蒼隕 the green falling in the west, 冰雪霜雹 the ice and hail in the north.
Shuowen: **「災」讀 zāi，本篇13見**；**《說文》：災，天火曰災；从火巛聲**；**「災變」本篇2見，二字連言**；**本篇五方之災各有其名：散落、燔爇、霖潰、蒼隕、冰雪霜雹**；**「災」與「眚」對言：災言其事，眚言其所，見第四十六段「災眚者，傷之始」**

In brief

The disaster itself, and the sixth of the six terms by which this chapter sets out each of the five directions: 德 virtue, 化 transformation, 政 governance, 令 command, 變 change, 災 disaster. It is the only one of the six the chapter names by instance rather than by kind — what the disaster does, not what disaster is: in the east things scatter and fall, in the south they burn, in the centre the rain soaks and collapses, in the west the green falls, in the north there is ice, snow, frost and hail. It is paired with 眚 throughout, and the pair divides the one event into the thing and the place: 災 is what happens, 眚 is where it lands.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graph 災

天火曰災；引申為一切災害

其災散落 — Suwen 69

The sixth term 其變振發，其災散落

德化政令變災，災居其末

其災散落 — Suwen 69

In the east 其災散落

風之變甚，則物散落

其變振發，其災散落 — Suwen 69

In the south 其災燔爇

火之變甚，則燔爇

其變銷爍，其災燔爇 — Suwen 69

In the centre, west and north 其災霖潰、蒼隕、冰雪霜雹

各隨其方而異

其變肅殺，其災蒼隕 — Suwen 69

Paired with calamity 災眚者，傷之始

災言其事，眚言其所

災眚者，傷之始 — Suwen 69

Occurrences in the classics

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

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3 passages

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

歧伯曰：夫氣之動變，固不常在，而德化政令災變，不同其候也。帝曰：何謂也？歧伯曰：東方生風，風生木，其德敷和，其化生榮，其政舒啓，其令風，其變振發，其災散落。歧伯曰：夫气之动变，固不常在，而德化政令灾变，不同其候也。帝曰：何谓也？歧伯曰：东方生风，风生木，其德敷和，其化生荣，其政舒启，其令风，其变振发，其灾散落。

Qí bó yuē: fú qì zhī dòng biàn, gù bù cháng zài, ér dé huà zhèng lìng zāi biàn, bù tóng qí hòu yě. Dì yuē: hé wèi yě? Qí bó yuē: dōng fāng shēng fēng, fēng shēng mù, qí dé fū hé, qí huà shēng róng, qí zhèng shū qǐ, qí lìng fēng, qí biàn zhèn fā, qí zāi sàn luò.

Qi Bo said: the stirring changes of the qi are by nature not constant, and virtue, transformation, governance, command, disaster and change do not share the same signs. Huang Di said: what does that mean? Qi Bo said: the east generates wind and wind generates wood. Its virtue is harmony spread abroad, its transformation growth and flowering, its governance opening and spreading, its command wind, its change shaking and bursting forth, its disaster scattering and falling.

**「災」本篇13見，此段有其1**；**「東方生風，風生木」是五方之第一方，六名之第一套**；**六名之序：德、化、政、令、變、災，五方皆同**；**「其變振發，其災散落」——變在災前，變甚而後成災**；**「敷和」讀 fū hé，「舒啓」讀 shū qǐ，皆東方木之德政**

Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →

故乘危而行，不速而至，暴虐無德，災反及之，微者復微，甚者復甚，氣之常也。故乘危而行，不速而至，暴虐无德，灾反及之，微者复微，甚者复甚，气之常也。

Gù chéng wēi ér xíng, bù sù ér zhì, bào nüè wú dé, zāi fǎn jí zhī, wēi zhě fù wēi, shèn zhě fù shèn, qì zhī cháng yě.

Therefore it rides upon the danger and goes, arriving uninvited, violent and without virtue, and the disaster falls back upon it: the slight is revenged slightly and the severe severely. This is the constant of the qi.

**「災」本篇1見，止在「災反及之」**；**此段以「故乘危而行，不速而至，暴虐無德，災反及之」總五不及之復**；**「眚」另立一目，本篇10見**

Suwen 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →

帝曰：善。夫子言可謂悉矣，然何以明其應乎？歧伯曰：昭乎哉問也！夫六氣者，行有次，止有位，故常以正月朔日平旦視之，睹其位而知其所在矣。運有餘，其至先；運不及，其至後，此天之道，氣之常也。運非有餘，非不足，是謂正歲，其至當其時也。帝曰：勝復之氣，其常在也。災眚時至，侯也柰何？歧伯曰：非氣化者，是謂災也。帝曰：天地之數，終始柰何？帝曰：善。夫子言可谓悉矣，然何以明其应乎？歧伯曰：昭乎哉问也！夫六气者，行有次，止有位，故常以正月朔日平旦视之，睹其位而知其所在矣。运有余，其至先；运不及，其至后，此天之道，气之常也。运非有余，非不足，是谓正岁，其至当其时也。帝曰：胜复之气，其常在也。灾眚时至，侯也奈何？歧伯曰：非气化者，是谓灾也。帝曰：天地之数，终始奈何？

Dì yuē: shàn. Fú zǐ yán kě wèi xī yǐ, rán hé yǐ míng qí yìng hū? Qí bó yuē: zhāo hū zāi wèn yě! Fú liù qì zhě, xíng yǒu cì, zhǐ yǒu wèi, gù cháng yǐ zhèng yuè shuò rì píng dàn shì zhī, dǔ qí wèi ér zhī qí suǒ zài yǐ. Yùn yǒu yú, qí zhì xiān; yùn bù jí, qí zhì hòu, cǐ tiān zhī dào, qì zhī cháng yě. Yùn fēi yǒu yú, fēi bù zú, shì wèi zhèng suì, qí zhì dāng qí shí yě. Dì yuē: shèng fù zhī qì, qí cháng zài yě. Zāi shěng shí zhì, hóu yě nài hé? Qí bó yuē: fēi qì huà zhě, shì wèi zāi yě. Dì yuē: tiān dì zhī shù, zhōng shǐ nài hé?

Huang Di said: good. What you have said may be called thorough — but how is its answer made clear? Qi Bo said: how bright the question is! As to the six qi, their movement has an order and their resting has a position; so one always observes them at daybreak on the first day of the first month, and seeing their position knows where they are. When the circuit is in surplus it arrives early; when the circuit falls short it arrives late — this is the way of heaven and the constant of qi. When the circuit is neither in surplus nor short, it is called an upright year and its arrival keeps its season. Huang Di said: the qi of prevalence and revenge has its constant. Disaster and calamity come in season — how is one to watch for them? Qi Bo said: what is not the transformation of qi is called disaster. Huang Di said: as to the numbers of heaven and earth, what of their ending and beginning?

**「災」本篇17見，多在六十甲子表「災某宫」之内**；**此段「非氣化者，是謂災也」，以災與氣化相對**

Compounds built on this term

眚

shěng

calamity

本篇8見；災眚者，傷之始

災變

zāi biàn

disaster and change

本篇2見；德化政令災變，不同其候也

德化政令

dé huà zhèng lìng

virtue, transformation, governance and command

本篇4見，六名之前四

卒然災合

cù rán zāi hé

a disaster that comes suddenly

本篇13見之一；卒讀 cù

How it has been translated

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

This site	disaster	the sixth of the six terms; the chapter gives it a name per direction, and the general word is what holds them together
Transliteration	zai	how the graph appears in writing on the 運氣 method; right about the referent, and it loses the fire the graph is written with
Descriptive	the destructive change	acceptable, and it slides toward 變: the chapter keeps 變 and 災 apart, change first and the disaster it ends in

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2026-10-08

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