布政之常

bù zhèng zhī cháng

What is regular in the spreading of governance · bu zheng zhi chang

Also rendered: What is regular in the spreading of governance (this site; 政 as the qi's administration of the world, a word the chapter uses of rulers too) · The regularity of governance (shorter; it loses 布, which is what makes the governance go out)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin: bù zhèng zhī cháng
Simplified: 布政之常
Literal: What is regular in the spreading of governance. 布 bù — to spread out, to publish (《說文》: 布，枲織也); 政 zhèng — governance, the working of a thing as it is administered. 政 is one of the four words the chapter uses for how a qi behaves — 德、化、政、令 — and 布政 is the qi's governance going out into the world.
Shuowen: **《說文》：布，枲織也**。**「布政之常」本篇1見，止在此段之末**；**其句曰「太陽所至爲藏化，布政之常也」**；**「政」本篇32見，多作「其政肅」「其政嚴」，作「布政」者止此**；**「報政以政」與此目同用一政字**

In brief

The sixth of the eight categories. Its paragraph gives each qi a kind of made thing rather than a season: 厥陰所至爲生化，少陰所至爲榮化，太陰所至爲濡化，少陽所至爲茂化，陽明所至爲堅化，太陽所至爲藏化，布政之常也. The six are the six outcomes as they appear in what has been produced — bloomed, softened, flourishing, hardened, stored. Where 氣化之常 said what the qi was doing, 布政之常 says what has been done: the same year read from its results. The word 政 is what a ruler does in the world, and the passage borrows it for the qi without strain.

Senses in the classical corpus

The phrase 布政之常

六氣之政，布之而有常

布政之常也 — Suwen 71

Its six forms 生化、榮化、濡化、茂化、堅化、藏化

六氣各繫一化

爲藏化 — Suwen 71

政 elsewhere 其政肅、其政嚴

六司天之政每段言之

其政肅 — Suwen 71

Its place 十三段之第六段

德化之後，氣變之前

布政之常也 — Suwen 71

德與政德化之常、布政之常

德者其性，政者其事

報政以政 — Suwen 71

Its sum 凡此十二變者

八常俱在十二變之内

報令以令 — 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 →

厥陰所至爲生化，少陰所至爲榮化，太陰所至爲濡化，少陽所至爲茂化，陽明所至爲堅化，太陽所至爲藏化，布政之常也。厥阴所至为生化，少阴所至为荣化，太阴所至为濡化，少阳所至为茂化，阳明所至为坚化，太阳所至为藏化，布政之常也。

Jué yīn suǒ zhì wéi shēng huà, shào yīn suǒ zhì wéi róng huà, tài yīn suǒ zhì wéi rú huà, shào yáng suǒ zhì wéi mào huà, yáng míng suǒ zhì wéi jiān huà, tài yáng suǒ zhì wéi cáng huà, bù zhèng zhī cháng yě.

Where ceasing yin arrives it is the transformation of birth; where lesser yin, the transformation of flourishing; where greater yin, the transformation of moistening; where lesser yang, the transformation of luxuriance; where yang brightness, the transformation of hardening; where greater yang, the transformation of storing — the constant of the laying out of governance.

**「布政之常」本篇1見，即此段之末**；**此段以生化、榮化、濡化、茂化、堅化、藏化六者分繫六氣，而以布政之常總之**；**「政」字六司天之政作「其政肅／嚴」，與此目同用一政字而所指異**

Compounds built on this term

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

氣變之常

qì biàn zhī cháng

what is regular in the qi's changes

本篇一見；十三段之第七

其政

qí zhèng

its governance

六司天之政皆有，本篇8見

報政以政

bào zhèng yǐ zhèng

to answer governance with governance

本篇一見；十二變之總則

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 spreading of governance	the year read from its results rather than from its working
Literal	spreading governance's regularity	exact and opaque
Gloss	what the season's qi has brought about, as it shows in the things it has made	right, and long

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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