The chapter’s word for the serious illness that does not arise — the one you avoid by following the seasons rather than by any treatment. The transmitted text varies between 苛 and 奇 here; both readings are recorded.
苛 means harsh, exacting, small and persistent — the opposite of a single dramatic event. As a qualifier on 疾 it names the kind of illness that grinds.
The transmitted text is unsettled: the same chapter has 身無奇病 above and 苛疾不起 here, and some editions read 苛 in both places. The variant is recorded rather than resolved here, since the difference does not change the argument.
Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.
Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.
Search the glossary
Reading path
This term belongs to Foundations — the five core concepts, in the order the Suwen introduces them.