六化六變简体六化六变

liù huà liù biàn

The six transformations and the six changes · liu hua liu bian

Also rendered: The six transformations and the six changes (this site; 化 and 變 kept apart, as the chapter keeps them) · The six workings and the six upheavals (livelier, and it reads 變 as damage, which the text only sometimes means)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin: liù huà liù biàn
Simplified: 六化六变
Literal: 化 huà — to transform, the slow working that turns one thing into its season's product; 變 biàn — to change, the sharp turn that comes when the working is thwarted. The chapter holds the two apart from its first line to its last: 化 is what a qi does when nothing opposes it, 變 is what it does when something does. Read against 勝復淫治 in the same sentence, 六化六變 is the whole subject of the discourse, stated before a word of it is given.
Shuowen: **《說文》：化，教行也；變，更也**。**「六化六變」本篇一見，在全篇首句「黄帝問曰：六化六變，勝復淫治，甘苦辛鹹酸淡先後，余知之矣」**；**「化」本篇306見，「變」本篇27見，二者皆全篇用字之要**；**六氣之化六，其變亦六，合而十二，篇末「凡此十二變者」即承此而言**

In brief

The chapter’s opening question, and its subject. 六化 are the six transformations proper to the six qi — 厥陰風化、少陰熱化、太陰濕化、少陽火化、陽明燥化、太陽寒化 — which the closing passage states as a flat list: 故太陰雨化，施於太陽；太陽寒化，施於少陰. 六變 are the six changes, the same qi turning violent when the season it enters is not its own, which the chapter gives as thirteen paragraphs of 所至 and closes with 凡此十二變者，報德以德，報化以化. The question is answered by the whole discourse, not by any one sentence: 化 in the sixty-year table, 變 in the passage on 鬱發, and the two together in the closing 六氣正紀.

Senses in the classical corpus

The two words 六化六變

化者其常，變者其失常

六化六變 — Suwen 71

化 as a list 厥陰風化、少陰熱化、太陰濕化

六氣各歸不勝而爲化

故太陰雨化，施於太陽 — Suwen 71

變 as a list 凡此十二變者

六氣所至，其變十三段

報德以德，報化以化 — Suwen 71

The pair's companions 勝復淫治

勝復淫治四者並舉

勝復淫治 — Suwen 71

Where 化 is judged 正化日、邪氣化日

六十甲子表以此判一歲

所謂正化日也 — Suwen 71

Where 變 is judged 其變

六司天之政皆列其變

其變炎烈沸騰 — Suwen 71

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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1 passages

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

黄帝問曰：六化六變，勝復淫治，甘苦辛鹹酸淡先後，余知之矣。夫五運之化，或從五氣，或逆天氣；或從天氣，而逆地氣；或從地氣，而逆天氣；或相得，或不相得，余未能明其事。欲通天之紀，從地之理，和其運，調其化，使上下合德，無相奪倫，天地升降，不失其宜，五運宣行，勿乖其政，調之正味，從逆奈何？黄帝问曰：六化六变，胜复淫治，甘苦辛咸酸淡先后，余知之矣。夫五运之化，或从五气，或逆天气；或从天气，而逆地气；或从地气，而逆天气；或相得，或不相得，余未能明其事。欲通天之纪，从地之理，和其运，调其化，使上下合德，无相夺伦，天地升降，不失其宜，五运宣行，勿乖其政，调之正味，从逆奈何？

Huáng dì wèn yuē: liù huà liù biàn, shèng fù yín zhì, gān kǔ xīn xián suān dàn xiān hòu, yú zhī zhī yǐ. Fú wǔ yùn zhī huà, huò cóng wǔ qì, huò nì tiān qì; huò cóng tiān qì, ér nì dì qì; huò cóng dì qì, ér nì tiān qì; huò xiāng dé, huò bù xiāng dé, yú wèi néng míng qí shì. Yù tōng tiān zhī jì, cóng dì zhī lǐ, hé qí yùn, tiáo qí huà, shǐ shàng xià hé dé, wú xiāng duó lún, tiān dì shēng jiàng, bù shī qí yí, wǔ yùn xuān xíng, wù guāi qí zhèng, tiáo zhī zhèng wèi, cóng nì nài hé?

Huang Di asked: the six transformations and six changes, prevalence and revenge, excess and governance, and the order of sweet, bitter, pungent, salty, sour and bland — I know them already. But as to the transformations of the five circuits: some follow the five qi, some oppose the qi of heaven; some follow the qi of heaven and oppose the qi of earth; some follow the qi of earth and oppose the qi of heaven; some are in accord and some are not in accord — I have not been able to make these matters clear. I wish to thread the order of heaven, follow the pattern of earth, harmonise the circuits and tune the transformations, so that above and below join in virtue and do not steal one another’s order, so that the rising and falling of heaven and earth lose nothing of what is fitting and the five circuits spread and move without thwarting their governance. When one adjusts them with the correct flavours, what of following and opposing?

**「六化六變」本篇1見，即全篇首句**；**此段以「六化六變，勝復淫治，甘苦辛鹹酸淡先後」並列四事，下文一一答之**；**全篇之目即在此句，篇末「凡此十二變者」為其總收**

Compounds built on this term

六氣正紀

liù qì zhèng jì

the regular record of the six qi

本篇一見；篇末以此領十二變

十二變

shí èr biàn

the twelve changes

本篇一見；六化六變之變具於此

勝復淫治

shèng fù yín zhì

prevalence, revenge, excess, order

本篇一見，與六化六變同句

其變

qí biàn

its changes

六司天之政每段皆有，本篇16見

How it has been translated

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

This site	the six transformations and the six changes	a pair of nouns for a pair of verbs the chapter never lets merge
Literal	six transformations, six alterations	accurate; the second word loses the sense of a sharp turn
Interpretive	what the six qi do when at peace, and when thwarted	says what the chapter means, and cannot stand as a term

Entry status

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2026-10-14

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