Classica Sinica Medica

閉藏 简体 闭藏

bì cáng

Shutting in and storing · bi cang

Also rendered: The shutting in and the storing (this site; it keeps both verbs, because the chapter turns both of them into instructions) · Bi cang (transliteration; used when the four season names are quoted together as a set)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-09

At a glance

Pinyin
bì cáng
Simplified
闭藏
Literal
閉 bì — to shut the door (《說文》: 閉，闔門也：the door is closed); 藏 cáng — to store away, to hide (《說文》作匨: 藏，匿也). 閉藏 names winter as the season that shuts the door on what has been gathered and puts it away. The chapter reads it as an instruction as much as a description: 水冰地坼，無擾乎陽 — do not disturb the yang.
Shuowen
**「閉」讀 bì，本篇2見**；**「藏」讀 cáng，本篇5見，五見皆動字**；**「閉藏」本篇1見**；**《說文》：閉，闔門也；藏，匿也**；**本篇藏字五見，閉藏、奉藏者少、養藏之道、少陰不藏、藏德不止，皆讀 cáng**

In brief

The name Suwen 2 gives to the three months of winter, and the last of the four season names. The door is shut and what was gathered is put away. The rule drawn from it is the rule for winter: sleep early and rise late, wait for the sun, hide the will away as though you had something to keep, leave the cold for the warm, and let nothing out through the skin. Breaking it harms the kidney, and spring brings flaccidity and inversion.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 閉藏
閉者闔門，藏者匿也；閉藏謂閉而藏之
冬三月，此謂閉藏 — Suwen 2
2
Ice and split earth 水冰地坼
坼讀 chè，裂也；水冰而地裂
冬三月，此謂閉藏。水冰地坼，無擾乎陽 — Suwen 2
3
Do not disturb the yang 無擾乎陽
陽氣閉藏，不可擾動
水冰地坼，無擾乎陽，早卧晚起，必待日光 — Suwen 2
4
The will hidden away 使志若伏若匿
伏匿之狀，如有所私，如已有得
使志若伏若匿，若有私意，若已有得 — Suwen 2
5
Nothing out through the skin 無泄皮膚，使氣亟奪
亟讀 qì，屢也；謂氣屢為所奪
去寒就温，無泄皮膚，使氣亟奪 — Suwen 2
6
What breaking it costs 逆之則傷腎，春爲痿厥
逆冬氣則腎傷，至春而為痿厥
逆之則傷腎，春爲痿厥，奉生者少 — Suwen 2

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·四氣調神大論 Suwen 2 · 四氣調神大論 Read in context →
冬三月，此謂閉藏。水冰地坼，無擾乎陽，早卧晚起，必待日光。使志若伏若匿，若有私意，若已有得，去寒就温，無泄皮膚，使氣亟奪。此冬氣之應，養藏之道也。逆之則傷腎，春爲痿厥，奉生者少。 冬三月，此谓闭藏。水冰地坼，无扰乎阳，早卧晚起，必待日光。使志若伏若匿，若有私意，若已有得，去寒就温，无泄皮肤，使气亟夺。此冬气之应，养藏之道也。逆之则伤肾，春为痿厥，奉生者少。
Dōng sān yuè, cǐ wèi bì cáng. shuǐ bīng dì chè, wú rǎo hū yáng, zǎo wò wǎn qǐ, bì dài rì guāng. shǐ zhì ruò fú ruò nì, ruò yǒu sī yì, ruò yǐ yǒu dé, qù hán jiù wēn, wú xiè pí fū, shǐ qì qì duó. cǐ dōng qì zhī yìng, yǎng cáng zhī dào yě. nì zhī zé shāng shèn, chūn wéi wěi jué, fèng shēng zhě shǎo.
The three months of winter are called the shutting in and the storing. Water is ice and the earth is split; do not disturb the yang. Sleep early and rise late, and always wait for the light of the sun. Make the will as though it were lying low, as though it were hidden, as though one held a private thought, as though one had already gained something. Leave the cold and draw near to the warm; do not let anything out through the skin, or the qi will be taken from you again and again. This is the answer to the qi of winter, and it is the way of nourishing the storing. Going against it harms the kidney; in spring there is flaccidity and inversion, and there is little to hand on to what must come to life.
**「閉藏」本篇1見**；**「坼」讀 chè，為已錄諸篇所無之字**；**「亟奪」之亟讀 qì，舊錄作 jí，非是**
素問·異法方宜論 Suwen 12 · 異法方宜論 Read in context →
北方者，天地所閉藏之域也。 北方者，天地所闭藏之域也。
běi fāng zhě, tiān dì suǒ bì cáng zhī yù yě.
The north is the region where heaven and earth shut away and store.
「天地所閉藏之域也」，北方之域應冬，天地閉藏；王冰：「陰主盛于北，故其氣閉藏，在時則應冬。」

Compounds built on this term

水冰地坼
shuǐ bīng dì chè
water ice and the earth split
本篇1見
無擾乎陽
wú rǎo hū yáng
not disturbing the yang
本篇1見
使志若伏若匿
shǐ zhì ruò fú ruò nì
making the will as though hidden
本篇1見
養藏之道
yǎng cáng zhī dào
the way of nourishing the storing
本篇1見

How it has been translated

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

This siteShutting in and storing · bi cang閉 is a door being shut and 藏 is a thing being put away; winter in this chapter is both
Literalclosing and storingexact; the least interpretive of the three, and the one the chapter's own rules follow
Descriptivethe season of withdrawalreads 藏 well and 閉 poorly — it loses the sense of a door shut against the cold

Entry status

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2026-10-09

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