氣化之常简体气化之常

qì huà zhī cháng

What is regular in the qi's transformation · qi hua zhi chang

Also rendered: What is regular in the qi's transformation (this site; three graphs already used in 氣化運行先天, kept in the same sense) · The regularity of qi transformation (tighter; it reads as a law rather than a category)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin: qì huà zhī cháng
Simplified: 气化之常
Literal: What is regular in the qi's transformation. The third of the eight categories, and the one whose name is closest to the chapter's own subject: 氣化 is what the opening line of the six 司天 paragraphs is about (氣化運行先天), and here it is given its six particular forms.
Shuowen: **「氣化之常」本篇1見，止在此段之末**；**其句曰「太陽所至爲藏，爲周密，氣化之常也」**；**「氣化」本篇24見，多作「氣化運行先天」，作「氣化之常」者止此**；**前有司化之常，後有德化之常，三者皆以「化」名**

In brief

The third of the eight categories. Its paragraph gives each qi a verb of growth or rest: 厥陰所至爲生，爲風摇；少陰所至爲榮，爲形見；太陰所至爲化，爲雲雨；少陽所至爲長，爲蕃鮮；陽明所至爲收，爲霧露；太陽所至爲藏，爲周密，氣化之常也. The six are the life-cycle of the year in order — birth, bloom, transformation, growth, harvest, storage — each with the weather that shows it. The category is what the chapter has been describing from its first page: the working of the qi, seen now in the single season each of the six calls its own.

Senses in the classical corpus

The phrase 氣化之常

六氣之化，各如其常

氣化之常也 — Suwen 71

Its six verbs 生、榮、化、長、收、藏

一年生物之序

爲藏，爲周密 — Suwen 71

Its weather 風摇、形見、雲雨、蕃鮮、霧露

各以其時之象言

爲雲雨 — Suwen 71

Its place 十三段之第三段

司化之後，德化之前

氣化之常也 — Suwen 71

Its larger use 氣化運行先天

六司天之政皆以此發端

氣化運行先天 — Suwen 71

Its sum 凡此十二變者

八常俱在十二變之内

位之常也 — 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 →

厥陰所至爲生，爲風摇；少陰所至爲榮，爲形見；太陰所至爲化，爲雲雨；少陽所至爲長，爲蕃鮮；陽明所至爲收，爲霧露；太陽所至爲藏，爲周密；氣化之常也。厥阴所至为生，为风摇；少阴所至为荣，为形见；太阴所至为化，为云雨；少阳所至为长，为蕃鲜；阳明所至为收，为雾露；太阳所至为藏，为周密；气化之常也。

Jué yīn suǒ zhì wéi shēng, wéi fēng yáo; shào yīn suǒ zhì wéi róng, wéi xíng xiàn; tài yīn suǒ zhì wéi huà, wéi yún yǔ; shào yáng suǒ zhì wéi zhǎng, wéi fán xiān; yáng míng suǒ zhì wéi shōu, wéi wù lù; tài yáng suǒ zhì wéi cáng, wéi zhōu mì; qì huà zhī cháng yě.

Where ceasing yin arrives there is birth and the shaking of wind; where lesser yin arrives, flourishing and form appearing; where greater yin arrives, transformation and cloud and rain; where lesser yang arrives, growth and luxuriant brightness; where yang brightness arrives, gathering and mist and dew; where greater yang arrives, storing and closing close — the constant of the transformation of qi.

**「氣化之常」本篇1見，即此段之末**；**此段以生、榮、化、長、收、藏六者分繫六氣，而以氣化之常總之**；**「氣化」二字六司天之政皆作「氣化運行先天／後天」，此處別為一目**

Compounds built on this term

司化之常

sī huà zhī cháng

what is regular in the office

本篇一見；十三段之第二

德化之常

dé huà zhī cháng

what is regular in the qi's virtue

本篇2見；十三段之第四、第五

氣化

qì huà

the transformation of the qi

本篇24見

蕃鮮

fán xiān

lush and bright

本篇一見；少陽所至之象

How it has been translated

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

This site	what is regular in the qi's transformation	the third of the eight categories, and the closest to the chapter's own subject
Literal	qi transformation's regularity	exact and clumsy
Gloss	the season's own working of growth and rest, as each qi gives it	right, and long

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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Reading path

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